DefinePK

Abstract

Reconquista- a cordial series of campaigns in the Iberian peninsula between 8th and 15th centuries by Christians to get back the Spanish land from Muslims (Moors), is usually considered a crusading attempt. However, medieval Andalusian population was multiethnic and pluralistic in its very nature remarked with the establishment of   Convivencia- a period of mutual tolerance and peaceful inter-communal relationship. The living of different faith communities in Andalusia made it a worthwhile subject of studying interfaith relationship, the area less studied in historical enterprise. No less significant is to study the relationship between Reconquista, Christianization of Iberian Peninsula and its impact on Muslim and Jewish natives of medieval Andalus. Using historiographical analysis as a strategy, this paper studies Reconquista, its ideology and its aftermaths on Muslim community. It points out that Church unification and reformation along with Iberian colonization were the main factors which gradually Christianized almost the whole Iberian land. Additionally, it is also emphasized that Reconquista was an actual event and not a myth as considered by some historians.