It was in the beginning of the 8th century when Berber Muslims, also known as the Moors or Moorish, a tribe from North Africa, conquered pretty quickly almost the entire Iberian peninsula. The conquest of Hispania was part of the expansion of the Islamic Umayyad Empire. There were only few areas in the North of Hispania that could resist the occupation: Asturias, Navarra and Aragon.  

There was no longer just one religion existing during the Moorish period; Christians and Jews had to face some discriminations; however, they were free to practice their own religion. Nevertheless, conversion to Islam became quite common. The first people who converted to the Islam were mainly members of the aristocracy, because the conversion offered an escape from the limitations and humiliations. The conversion to the Islam hit its peak in the 10th and 11th century, and by that time there were more Muslims than Christians in the region of Al-Andalus (this is how the territory of the Iberian Peninsula that was governed by the Moors was called).

As far as the Muslim community of Spain is concerned, it was characterized by social tensions. This is probably due to the fact that the community was not a unique one, but rather diverse. People coming from North Africa, called the Berber, who had provided the bulk of the invading armies, had many conflicts with the Arab leadership from the Middle East. Little by little, large Moorish populations were established, especially in the valley around the Guadalquivir River, the coastal area around Valencia, and, towards the end of this era, in the mountainous region of Granada.

By that time, Córdoba was the capital of Muslim Spain as well as the largest, richest and most sophisticated city of Europe. This was mainly due to the flourishing trade. The city took also advantage of the intellectual tradition from the Middle East and North Africa Muslims. Yet, not only the Muslims, but also the Jewish scholars established classical Greek learning on the Peninsula. Because of the coexistance of different cultures and different ways of living by that time, Spain is even nowadays characterised by a distinctive culture. As for the agricultural sector, the land ownership system from Roman times did not really change as Muslim leaders rarely dispossessed landowners. However, agriculture could be improved thanks to new crops and cultivation techniques.

It was in the 11th century, when the Muslim Empire began to stand in competition to Taifa kingdoms. The arrival of the North African Muslim ruling empires of the Almoravids and the Almohads restored unity upon Muslim holdings, with a stricter, less tolerant application of Islam. But the Christians had been trying for a long time to reconquer their occupied territory. After some initial successes with invasions in the north, it was pretty clear that the end of the Muslim Empire had begun. In 1492, after seven-and-a-half century long process, the Reconquista of the Iberian peninsula by the Christians was completed with the conquest of Granada.