By 654 Islam had spread into all over of North Africa plus the Eastern Mediterranean area. Many areas were ripe for conquest as the divisions caused by Christian doctrinal conflict were weakening defenses against the Muslim invaders.
Also there was much nominal and ineffectual Christianity being practiced, which made it easy for the new religion to take hold. For instance Christianity arrived in Nubia part of modern day Sudan, in the sixth century and it became the state religion. However the Christian faith never caught on among the general public as the church services were in Greek, which none of the people spoke so they failed to understand what was going on. In time it fizzled out to be replaced by Islam.
On the death of King Witiza in 710, Roderic, Duke of Baetica in southern Spain was made King and Witiza's family turned to the North African Muslims for help. The following year Tariq ibn Ziyad, the governor of Tangier, landed at Gibraltar with 7000 men and defeated King Roderic in battle. For the next 300 years most of the Iberian peninsular was to be under Islamic control.
In 732 an army of around 60,000 Muslims led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Governor-General of al-Andalus crossed the Pyrenees and invaded France. Their western advance was halted by Charles Martel, the King of the Francs at the Battle of Tours, near Poitiers on October 10, 732.
Though the Frankish army numbered 30,000, less than half the Muslim force, Abd-ar-Rahman was killed and Charles Martel's men emerged from the battle victorious. Charles's victory stopped the northward advance of the Islamic forces from the Iberian Peninsula and preserved Christianity in Europe during a period when Muslim rule was overrunning the remains of the Byzantine and Persian Empires. The progress of Islam, that was filling the Christian world with alarm, had been checked.
Also there was much nominal and ineffectual Christianity being practiced, which made it easy for the new religion to take hold. For instance Christianity arrived in Nubia part of modern day Sudan, in the sixth century and it became the state religion. However the Christian faith never caught on among the general public as the church services were in Greek, which none of the people spoke so they failed to understand what was going on. In time it fizzled out to be replaced by Islam.
On the death of King Witiza in 710, Roderic, Duke of Baetica in southern Spain was made King and Witiza's family turned to the North African Muslims for help. The following year Tariq ibn Ziyad, the governor of Tangier, landed at Gibraltar with 7000 men and defeated King Roderic in battle. For the next 300 years most of the Iberian peninsular was to be under Islamic control.
In 732 an army of around 60,000 Muslims led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Governor-General of al-Andalus crossed the Pyrenees and invaded France. Their western advance was halted by Charles Martel, the King of the Francs at the Battle of Tours, near Poitiers on October 10, 732.
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| Charles Martel in the Battle of Tours. Charles de Steuben |
Though the Frankish army numbered 30,000, less than half the Muslim force, Abd-ar-Rahman was killed and Charles Martel's men emerged from the battle victorious. Charles's victory stopped the northward advance of the Islamic forces from the Iberian Peninsula and preserved Christianity in Europe during a period when Muslim rule was overrunning the remains of the Byzantine and Persian Empires. The progress of Islam, that was filling the Christian world with alarm, had been checked.
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