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The Moors were a nomadic people from North Africa; originally they were the inhabitants of Mauretania. They invaded Spain, taking their Islamic religion and culture with them, in 711, where they overran the Visigoths. They spread northward across the Pyrenees into France, but they were turned back by Charles Martel and his Frankish knights in 732.

In Southern Spain,the Moors established the Umayyad caliphate in Cordoba. The court grew in wealth, power, and culture. Other cities full of Moorish culture were Toledo, Granada, and Seville. The Moors never established a stable central government. In the 11th Century the caliphate fell, and Moorish Spain was captured by the Almoravids, who were supplanted in 1174 by the Almohads. During this period, Christian rulers continued efforts in Northern Spain to recapture the south. In 1085 Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile recaptured Toledo. Cordoba fell in 1236, and one by one the Moorish strongholds surrendered. The last Moorish city, Granada, was captured by Fernidad V and Isabella I in 1492. Most of the Moors were driven from Spain, but two groups, the Mudejares and Moriscos, remained.