page_title: Tariq ibn Ziyad
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tariq ibn Ziyad / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Moorish Castle
context_page_description: Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād also known simply as Tarik in English, was a Berber Umayyad commander sent by his superior Musa ibn Nusayr to initiate the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711–718 A.D. He led a large army and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from the North African coast, consolidating his troops at what is today known as the Rock of Gibraltar. The name "Gibraltar" is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq, meaning "mountain of Ṭāriq", which is named after him.
context_section_description: Musa ibn Nusayr appointed Ṭāriq governor of Tangier after its conquest in 710-711 according to Ibn Abd al-Hakam (803-871), but an unconquered Visigothic outpost remained nearby at Ceuta, a stronghold commanded by a nobleman named Julian, Count of Ceuta.
  After Roderic came to power in Spain, Julian had, as was the custom, sent his daughter, Florinda la Cava, to the court of the Visigothic king for education. It is said that Roderic raped her, and that Julian was so incensed he resolved to have the Muslims bring down the Visigothic kingdom. Accordingly, he entered into a treaty with Ṭāriq (Mūsā having returned to Qayrawan) to secretly convoy the Muslim army across the Straits of Gibraltar, as he owned a number of merchant ships and had his own forts on the Spanish mainland.
  About April 26, 711, the army of Ṭāriq, composed of recent converts to Islam, was landed on the Iberian peninsula (Spain) by Julian. They debarked at the foothills of a mountain which was henceforth named after him, Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq).
  Tariq's army contained about 7,000 composed of largely Berber stock but also Arab troops Roderic, to meet the threat of the Umayyads, assembled an army said to number 100,000. Most of the army was commanded by, and loyal to, the sons of Wittiza, whom Roderic had brutally deposed. Ṭāriq won a decisive victory when Roderic was defeated and killed on July 19 at the Battle of Guadalete. This led Musa ibn Nusayr to assemble 18000 (mostly Arab) troops to plan a second invasion and within a few years Tariq and Musa captured two third of the Iberian peninsula from the Visigoths.
  Tariq split his army into four divisions which went on to capture Córdoba under Mughith al-Rumi, Granada and other places, while he remained at the head of the division which captured Toledo. Afterwards, he continued advancing towards the north, reaching Guadalajara and Astorga. Ṭāriq was de facto governor of Hispania until the arrival of Mūsā a year later.
  Both Tariq and Musa were simultaneously ordered back to Damascus by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I in 714, where they spent the rest of their lives. The son of Musa, Abd al-Aziz who took the command of troops of Al-Andalus was assassinated in 716. In the many Arabic histories written about the conquest of southern Spain, there is a definite division of opinion regarding the relationship between Ṭāriq and Musa bin Nusayr. Some relate episodes of anger and envy on the part of Mūsā, that his freedman had conquered an entire country. Others do not mention, or play down, any such bad blood. On the other hand, another early historian al-Baladhuri (9th century) merely states that Mūsā wrote Ṭāriq a "severe letter" and that the two were later reconciled.
caption: The Moorish Castle's Tower of Homage, symbol of the Muslim rule in Gibraltar.
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix F31fd", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image DateTime": "2007:08:18 18:46:08", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "266", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1416", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5115", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:08:18 18:46:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:08:18 18:46:08", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "709/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "23/5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "31/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2136", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2848", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1292", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "1f1183b383548d33446db5fb5d97e004"}