Battle of Covadonga in the context of "Christian reconquest"

The Reconquista (Spanish and Portuguese for 'reconquest') or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns by Northern Christian polities against Muslim-ruled al-Andalus, which had previously been part of the Visigothic Kingdom before the Muslim Conquest of 711. The Reconquista concluded in 1492 with the capture of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, thereby ending the presence of any Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula.

The beginning of the Reconquista is traditionally dated to the Battle of Covadonga (c. 718 or 722), approximately a decade after the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula began, in which the army of the Kingdom of Asturias achieved the first Christian victory over the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate since the beginning of the military invasion. By the early 11th century, the Caliphate of Córdoba endured state collapse into a series of petty successor states known as taifas. The northern kingdoms advanced further against these fiefdoms and often made them subject to a protection racket system.

43°21′45″N 5°50′35″W / 43.36250°N 5.84306°W / 43.36250; -5.84306

The Kingdom of Asturias was a medieval monarchy in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity to be established in the Iberian Peninsula after the Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711–720s. In the summer of 722, Pelagius defeated an Umayyad army at the Battle of Covadonga, in what is retroactively regarded as the beginning of the Christian Reconquista.

ʿAlqama or ʿAlḳama (Arabic: علقمة) was a distinguished Umayyad general who served in northern Iberia at the beginning of the 8th century.

By order of Munuza, governor of the Kingdom of Asturias, Al Qama commanded an army tasked to end the riot of Pelagius of Asturias. Al Qama's army arrived and set up camp in the Cantabrian Mountains near the town of Covadonga where Pelagius was hiding. After Pelagius refused to surrender, Al Qama ordered his soldiers to enter the mountain pass where they were ambushed in the ensuing Battle of Covadonga. Al Qama was killed and his army dispersed and retreated from Asturias.

Covadonga (Asturian: Cuadonga, from cova domnica "Cave of Our Lady") is one of 11 parishes in Cangas de Onís, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in Northwestern Spain. It is situated in the Picos de Europa mountains. With a permanent population of 55, the parish became a site of pilgrimage and a place of great cultural importance following the 722 Battle of Covadonga, which marked the beginning of the Spanish Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula. The battle, which took place near the village in 722, was the first Christian victory in the Iberian Peninsula over the Arabs invading from north Africa under the Umayyad banner, and is often considered to be the beginning of the almost eight century-long effort to expel Muslim rulers governing Iberia during the Reconquista.

The two lakes of Covadonga, Enol and Ercina, are located in the mountains above the town, and the road leading to the lakes is often featured in the Vuelta a España bicycle race. The Holy Cave of Covadonga is a monument dedicated to Our Lady of Covadonga that commemorates the Battle of Covadonga. It comprises the following: