who invaded the iberian peninsula and lived there for eight centuries
Iberian Peninsula From the 8th–15th centuries, only the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula was part of the Islamic world. It became a center of culture and learning, especially during the Caliphate of Córdoba, which reached its height of its power under the rule of Abd-ar-Rahman III and his successor al-Hakam II.[31] The Muslims, who were initially Arabs and Berbers, included some local converts, the so-called Muladi.[32] The Muslims were referred to by the generic name, Moors[33] The Reconquista gained momentum on c. 718, when the Christian Asturians opposed the Moors. The southern march to push out the Muslims continued for three hundred years[citation needed]. For another four hundred years, only the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula was transformed into a Romance-speaking and Arabic-speaking Muslim land, along with pockets of a large minority of Arabic-speaking Sephardi Jews[citation needed].
Islam in Spain Islam was a widespread religion in what is now Spain and Portugal for nine centuries, beginning with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania and ending (at least overtly) with its prohibition by the modern Spanish state in the mid-16th century and the expulsion of the Moriscos in the early 17th century. Although a significant proportion of Moriscos returned to Spain or avoided expulsion through various means, and the decree never affected the country's large enslaved Muslim population, the indigenous practice of Islam had faded into obscurity by the 19th century.[1]