Why did the Muslims conquer Spain?

To acquire the rich lands of the south of Spain. The mid-section they plundered to create a base of support to protect the south. They never conquered the far north.

The conquest of Spain happened due to a the expanding Muslim influence in the North of Africa and the weakened state of Visigothic Kingdom due to civil wars. It is also believed that Muslims were invited to invade Spain by one of the feuding parties.

Montgomery Watt mentions Count Julien, an influential ruler in the region, invited muslims to attack Spain because Roderick, the King had insulted him.

After Roderick was defeated, the Kingdom fell apart, and Muslims took control. With the support from Jews and many other locals, Muslims established their government in the region which continued for many centuries.

Muslim Invasion Of Spain

1. It was part of the push to spread Islam to the world. After the conquest of north Africa, the invasion and conquest of Spain was the next logical step. Apart from adding it to the Arab empire, it would act as a base for further expansion into Europe. The Islamic conquest of Europe was checked by the continued resistance of the Byzantine Empire in the eastern part of Europe (Greece, modern Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia), resistance in Italy (including a failure to capture Rome) and the defeat of an arab army at Tours (Poitiers) in 732, and later Battle of Covadonga in 722 in Spain, which preserved a Christian state in the Peninsular.

2. The kingdoms on the peninsular were weak and divided, and were a tempting target. The most powerful kingdom (that of the Visigoths) was also in civil war.

3. Most likely they originally came for loot and maybe offer alliances, but after discovering how weak the defenses were, and defeating and virtually destroying the Visigoths at the Battle of Guadalete (Rio Barbate) in 711, the Umayyad arab armies moved north and conquest to take advantage of the power vacuum.

Muslim Conquest Of Spain

Because they could. Or more correctly: because Tariq ibn-Ziyad knew he could do it. He was under orders to take it (more) easy. But he conquered most of Spain within one year flat.

The 'why' is not so important. According to the koran, muslims must spread their faith wherever possible. More interesting is 'how could they conquer most of Spain so fast'?

Spain at that time was ruled by the Visigoths. They practiced Arianism. The population however, was not Visigoth but Iberian and practiced Roman Catholicism.

The Visigoth rulers were not popular at all. To say the least. They were also divided: Tariq got active support from members of the royal family to help him. The population didn't care much if they were ruled by muslims or by Visigoths. It was all the same to them. So I can't blame Tariq from seizing his chances.

Not sure Sad, but thank God they did! Read this..

When Muslims (The Moors) first came to Spain, the land resembled the rest of Europe in all its squalor. But within two-hundred years the Moors had turned Al-Andalus into a bastion of culture, commerce and beauty.

Irrigation systems imported from Syria and Arabia turned the dry plains... into an agricultural cornucopia. Olives and wheat had always grown there. The Arabs added pomegranates, oranges, lemons, aubergines, artichokes, cumin, coriander, bananas, almonds, palms, henna, woad, madder, saffron, sugar-cane, cotton, rice, figs, grapes, peaches, apricots and rice.

By the beginning of the ninth century, Moorish Spain was the gem of Europe with its capital city, Cordova. It was the intellectual center of Europe.

At a time when London was a tiny mud-hut village that "could not boast of a single streetlamp", in Cordova "there were half a million inhabitants, living in 113,000 houses. There were 700 mosques and 300 public baths spread throughout the city and its twenty-one suburbs. The streets were paved and lit.

The houses had marble balconies for summer and hot-air ducts under the mosaic floors for the winter. They were adorned with gardens with artificial fountains and orchards.

Paper, a material still unknown to the west, was everywhere. There were bookshops and more than seventy libraries.

To be honest, I don't believe that's correct

Cause they wanted Moor! <drumshot>

It depends