Tariq ibn Ziyad (Arabic: طارق بن زياد, died 720) was a Muslim, possibly Berber general who led the Islamic conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711-718 A.D. He is considered to be one of the most important military commanders in Iberian history. Under the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I he led a large army from the north coast of Morocco, consolidating his troops at a large hill now known as Gibraltar. The name "Gibraltar" is the Spanish d...
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Tariq ibn Ziyad (Arabic: طارق بن زياد, died 720) was a Muslim, possibly Berber general who led the Islamic conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711-718 A.D. He is considered to be one of the most important military commanders in Iberian history. Under the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I he led a large army from the north coast of Morocco, consolidating his troops at a large hill now known as Gibraltar. The name "Gibraltar" is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Tāriq (جبل طارق), meaning "mountain of Tariq", named after him.
The 13th-century historian Ibn Idhari states he was from the Ulhasa (French: Oulhaça) tribe. According to Ibn Khaldun, the Ulhasa could be found at that time on both sides of the Tafna river in Tlemcen, Algeria.
Most historians, Arab and Spanish, seem to agree that he was a slave of the emir of Ifriqiya (North Africa), Musa bin Nusayr, who gave him his freedom and appointed him a general in his army. But his descendants centuries later denied he...
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