By the mid-6th century BC, after the fall of the Phoenicians to the Persian Empire (ancient Iran), much of the southern Iberian peninsular was under the control of Carthage, By this time, the Roman Republic had expanded into Southern Italy and by 272 BC, conquered its southern peninsula. For the next century, the Punic Wars (264 BC-146 BC) were fought, a series of conflicts between the Roman Republic and the Empire of Carthage to gain control over the Italian peninsula, Sicily, Northern Africa and Southern Spain. They all ended with a Roman defeat, and by 206 BC, the Romans arrived in Seville, which they named Hispania. The Romans governed Spain for the next 600 years, and it prospered vastly. That was until the Roman Empire fell in 476 AD. Silingi vandals (an ancient Germanic tribe) occupied Seville until they were banish by the Visigoths. The Visigoth period of Seville was tumultuous. In 579, Prince Hermenegild was persuaded by his Frankish wife to convert to orthodox Christianity. His father King Liuvigild, a devout Arian Christian, considered this treason. Prince Hermenegild’s revolt worried his father, who was mainly concerned that it would strengthen Hermenegild’s ties with the Merovingians, the family of Franks which his wife belonged to, and they would invade Seville. During this father-son feud, Hermengild presented himself as a victim to the Merovingians as he tried to forge alliances in the name of Catholicism. When the Byzantines failed to send aid for the revolt, Liuvigild besieged and took Seville and in 584, banished his son to Valencia; the next year Valencia would be murdered. In 710, King Wittiza (694-710) died, leading to a period of political division. The Visigothic nobility was divided between the followers of Wittiza, and the new king Roderic. Akhila, Wittiza's son, had fled to Morocco after losing the succession struggle. Now this is where the world’s histories begin to collide even further. In 610 , while Muhammad was on a retreat in the Hira’ cave (in modern day Saudi Arabia), the angel Jibrīl (Gabriel), appeared before him, and revealed to him the beginnings of what would later become the Qur'an. This was the beginning of Islam. Upon Muhammad’s death in 632, the first caliphate, Rashidun, was created, and Abū Bakr, a close friend of Muhammad’s was chosen to be the first caliph. Side note: This is what led to the division of Islam into two main groups- Sunni and Shia (or Shiite). The Sunnis believed that the Prophet’s successor should be and elite member of the Islamic community, in this case the first caliph should be Abū Bakr. The Shia believed that the Prophet’s successor should be a member of his bloodline, namely his cousin, Hazrat Ali. The creation of caliphates led to a vast expansion of Islam, mainly through trade and military forces. By the end of the Rashidun caliphate and into the Umayyard caliphate, the Arab forces had conqueror the Levant, Egypt, and Persia. By 710, they began their conquest of Sindh, an Indian subcontinent (today it’s a province of Pakistan), and Maghreb (North Africa). By 711, Muslims from North Africa had begun to cross the Strait of Gibraltar. They were referred to as ‘Moors’, after ‘Mauretania’, the Roman name for North Africa. Now back to the story of Akhila. Remember, Akhila had fled to Morocco shortly after the death of his father King Wittiza. At the time, Arab forces had begun to conquer Morocco. With losing the spot on the Spanish throne, Akhila asked the Muslims to invade Spain. Starting in the summer of 710, the Muslim forces in Morocco had launched several successful raids into Spain, which demonstrated the weakness of the Visigothic state. Taking advantage of the situation, the Muslim Berber commander, Tariq ibn Ziyad, who was stationed in Tangiers at the time, crossed the straits with an army of Arabs and Berbers in 711. The Muslims called this city Isbilya. This was the capital of Al-Andalus, the name given to the Iberian Peninsula as a province of the Islamic Empire. Seville was again a focus of cultural wealth. Later, the Almoravid caliphate (1050-1147) and then the Almohad caliphate (1147-1248) arrived. They would go on to be the great architects of the city, and those responsible for the historic centre that we know today. While Southern Spain was being conquered by the Muslim forces, Northern Spain still remained Christian. For centuries that Castilians attempted to capture Southern Spain, via a series of military campaigns, known as the Reconquista. They were finally successful in 1248. After the Castilian conquest, many public building were constructed, mostly in Gothic styles. However, the Moorish buildings, those built in Mudéjar style, were converted; mosques were converted into churches, alcazars were converted into royal residences. And it wasn’t just the buildings (or the Muslims) that were converted. The Jewish quarter was appropriated by the Church, and those that weren’t killed during the pogrom, were forced to convert to Catholicism. By 1491, the Castilians had conquered the last city in Spain, Granada. Now with complete control over the Iberian Peninsula, the Castilians took more drastic action. All non-Christians were forced to either convert to Catholicism or to emigrate. And so they did, leading to the Christian-majority Spain that we known today.