Moorish Castle started from Gibraltar in 711 and, through to its final recapture by Spaniards in 1462, Moorish rule was gradually undermined until, with the fall of Granada in 1492, Moorish occupation of parts of western Europe came to an end after 781 years. The Moorish conquest of Spain was led by Tarik ibn Ziyad and Musa ibn Nusayr, who may have landed in Europe at or near Gibraltar. Gibraltar thus became the stepping-stone to the Moorish conquests of most of Spain and part of France. This spectacular feat of arms took a mere twenty-one years, no mean task considering the distances
Moorish Gibraltar Gibraltar retreated to the castle and surrendered after a few days to Medina Sidonia. They were expelled along with the city's Jewish population, to be replaced by Spanish Christians. The "Reconquista" of Gibraltar took place on the feast of St. Bernard, whom the Spanish named patron saint of Gibraltar and has remained so ever since. This brought an end to Moorish Gibraltar, just over 751 years after Tariq ibn-Ziyad had begun the conquest of Iberia. Moorish Gibraltar The history of Moorish Gibraltar began with the landing of the Muslims in Hispania and the fall of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo