258 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

Bagdad, however, was not the only centre of Islamic
culture. Cairo and Cordoba were of equal importance. Leav-
ing the story of the further fortunes of Islam in the East
to another chapter, we might here say something about Spain
where the Arab civilisation outlived the misfortunes of the
Abbasids in the East. The Arabs first established themselves
in the Iberian peninsula in 711 A.D. Their leader Tariq^
gave to their landing place its name of Jabal-ut-Tariq (Gib-
raltar) or the Rock of Tariq. Though checked by the
Franks in the north, their kingdom in Spain endured for
five hundred years till the capture of its capital, Cordoba,
in 1236 A.D. by the Christian king of Castile. Even theni
the Arab kingdom of Granada in the south held out for
another two hundred and fifty-six years when it was finally
extinguished in 1492 A.D. During all these seven hundred
and eighty years, the Moors]"as the Muslims were called ini
Spain, organised a wonderful kingdom, " which was the
marvel of the Middle Ages, and which, when all Europe was
plunged in barbaric ignorance and strife, alone held the torch,
of learning and civilization bright and shining before the-
western world."

Cordoba itself in the tenth century is spoken of as " the-
most civilised city in Europe, the wonder and admiration of"
the world/' It had seventy libraries and 900 public baths.
Whenever the Christian rulers of Leon, Navarre or Barcelona,
required a surgeon, an architect, a dress-maker, or a singing-
master, it was to Cordoba that they applied; while the
Madinatu-l-Zahar,^ the summer palace in the vicinity of
Cordoba struck the imagination of travellers as if it were the-
dream palace of the Arabian Nights. " It cannot be denied,"
writes Mr. J. B. Trend, " that while Europe lay for the most
part in misery and decay, both materially and spiritually^
the Spanish Muslims created a splendid civilization and am