What if the Muslims Kept Spain?

for 700 years muslims in some form or another held territory in spain yet ever since the initial invasion in the 8th century their territory only shrank with each generation christian raids from the north political infighting and a constant flux of new rulers only weakened islamic control until finally by 1492 only the kingdom of granada remained granada would soon disappear and the spanish empire would that same year discover a new world yeah here's a question what would the history of the world look like if this hadn't been the case what if the catholic monarchies hadn't been able to retake iberia and it remained that way as in this scenario the reconquista failed all right so you might be thinking didn't he already do a video on this and you're right i did but that video was from like five years ago and it looked like this and it was just incredibly general and explained nothing i think this topic deserves a remake and it's because this was one of the fundamental crossroads in history the iberian peninsula is roughly the size of texas and yet the two kingdoms that were born from the reconquista would go on to control most of the americas coastal areas of africa india and east asia not to mention holdings in europe as well if they had failed to expand in their own home then of course none of that would happen and the thing is the point of divergence is a little tricky what's considered a failure in this case ever since the muslims originally invaded iberia they had gradually been pushed back over time the christian kingdoms like the kingdom of astorias survived the initial invasions thanks to defensive geography from there the christians had a base to exploit any internal division among the moors and push south this was a gradual push over 500 years new kingdoms popping up with each step astorias became leon with each victory more kingdoms were born all fighting with the muslims as well as each other by 1200 it was clear the muslims were not going to hold on to spain the only hope the muslims had of holding iberia was by initially wiping out astorius in the first place no raiding in the france no battle of tours just go around the mountains and subjugate the kingdom any attempt to take back the peninsula be it by internal rebellion or outside invasion fails think of it like anatolia anatolia was once the center of the christian world but it was lost and never returned iberia would be the same in that sense in fact even more so considering at the height of muslim spain 80 of its population practiced islam while anatolia still had a large greek population up until the last century while this isn't the most realistic scenario since the cards are really stacked against the muslims it's the best we got going forward leave no remaining kingdom on the peninsula keep out the franks so first things first what would the future hold for the land of al andalus going forward [Music] you've probably heard somebody on this site talk about muslim spain there's a lot of videos about it so i'll keep the summary short it's true islamic spain had a period of time where it was a place of cultural progress and immense learning cordoba at one time was one of the great cities of europe but this kind of made it equal with what the byzantines were doing or the italian city-states islamic spain's success culture and toleration often came in waves al-andalus was not a constant stable place it changed a lot as any medieval state tends to do the yamaravids came in from morocco and thought that cordoba was too liberal and weak then once they were in power the alohads came in and thought that the al-maravids were too liberal and weak and deposed them in such an alternate timeline the al-maravids and almohads never would have been invited into andalus if it wasn't for the christian attacks there's still periods of infighting sure but not enough for the christians to take advantage of keep in mind when saying that the reconquista fails it means that none of the advances that occurred over a period of 700 years happen which means every crusade and war in an attempt to take back land fails for most of the medieval world al andalus would be a direct neighbor and threat to the real populated centers of europe this would be perceived as a much closer threat because let's be honest iberia even today isn't really that populated then i can see how this would have a great effect on the mentality of the houses of europe al andalus is involved in the politics between england and france as andalus benefits from their neighbor being weakened i would see a more stringent warrior culture begin to develop ironically in southern france there'd be much of the same fervent energy of defensive warfare and constant crusading that created the spanish empire now originally i was wondering how the muslims would have affected the early development of these two countries considering so much of aegis history is fighting over feudal lands in western france would the muslims support the kingdom of aquitaine as a way to weaken france and upon research i'd assume no one the crusades would make any alliance or plotting with the christian kingdoms difficult to say the least and two islamic spain would be lucky to even hold onto this much territory as it was now there still may be a kingdom of france in kingdom of england but what exactly that means and how those kingdoms look might be quite different as an example let's assume there's no navarre joan the first of navarre was the mother of three french monarchs and also isabella the she-wolf of france important players of what became the hundred years war a complicated conflict that by the end resulted in the english being kicked off the continent because of feudal politics it really didn't take much to have dramatic consequences on the timeline the birth or death of a monarch or noble shifts lands alliances and wars that we know led to the evolution of modern european nation states without navarre the hundred years war wouldn't happen there still may be some great conflict between england and france over feudal lands on the mainland sure yet the players and reasons for doing so are entirely changed it's entirely possible that without the house of valois the english would have successfully held onto their french possessions the result of this would be england as we know it not really existing despite it being a war between england and france the english nobility were french-speaking they lived on the mainland and saw themselves as french first with english peasants it was a conflict over who would control france it was only after this war that the royal court began speaking and the common tongue of the people the sense of an english kingdom was officially born without navarre and perhaps constant muslim harassment from the south the house of valois is weakened in this alternate conflict allowing the english to gain an advantage in the war security was a major factor in the stability of a monarch and if valwa couldn't protect their own borders in the south due to an overstretched military then their support among the french nobility absolutely collapses the english may be able to come in and declare themselves the defenders of christianity in the process holding on to their french possessions defeating the valois and unifying both regions as simply france going forward the french culture in the aristocracy doesn't go away and the french only continue to shape the culture of the british isles becoming at least a second language for the educated in society the english or anglos as they'd be called become just one of the many ethnic groups throughout a giant kingdom alongside the bretons galatians and occitans how long this union may last i can't say this would be a very difficult position to hold simply due to geography yet whether this lasts for 200 years or 500 the result varies the english language as we know it fundamentally changes in such an important period of development french plays a greater part and establishes itself as the sophisticated upper class language the longer this position holds the more it influences the other houses of england until even if there is eventually a revolution or england and france split up the cultural impact remains there's questions on what caused the great vowel shift which established the familiar english we know today but a large portion of the factors seem to just come from the french or not wanting to be the french either way a stable relationship between the two cultures only influences the english to adopt a pseudo-french dialect the language of the upper class trickling down over the next few centuries to the common people now imagining the greatest extent to this i could imagine a distinct dialect between island french and mainland french now while i say that there is one factor that really kicked the french language out of england when henry viii tried to divorce his wife catherine of aragon and the english reformation began [Music] in our timeline in 1492 columbus sailed that big old blue this was the year that changed europe forever yeah in this alternate timeline it would just be another year even without the reconquista europe is already fundamentally changed without the age of discovery without iberian monarchs or nobles exporting to other parts of the continent even nations far flung from the mediterranean still would fundamentally change different rulers houses and wars that i literally cannot predict this is like pressing random at the start of a paradox game so while the kingdoms i talk about in this section are still the ones in our own timeline keep in mind they most likely would not be i still think the holy roman empire and italian states would exist in some form they'd be changed in ways i can't predict so take this all with a grain of salt it's entirely possible that due to hundreds of years of alternate feudal politics somehow a great duke comes to power in swabia and entirely redefines central europe or perhaps the italian city-states reunite under the vatican but for the sake of keeping things understandable i'm going to assume the kingdoms we're familiar with don't fundamentally change at least in central europe up until the 15th century first off the italian peninsula it's most likely that without aragon the french specifically the anju house would hold the mediterranean islands of sicily corsica and sardinia as well as the kingdom of naples or at least they would aim to al-andalus would provide the muslims with a more stable ground to control the mediterranean so it's possible there is a series of constant wars and skirmishes over these islands but as interesting as fighting over islands is there's a greater event on the horizon or in this case not on the horizon while some events seem inevitable the reformation and i'm going to have a lot of protestants hate me for this was not at least the specific reformation that we think about some general reform would always be called for of course however the real reason the reformation was able to take off in the north like it did was at the end of the day politics without the reconquista the reformation loses two major factors that helped kick off the whole thing in the first place charles v and henry viii first charle v ruler of this and overseer of this was a descendant of ferdinand ii of aragon without spain he is never born and the hasberg territory remains just within central europe alongside this there is an alternate line of habsburg royals perhaps they wouldn't even have the whole you know inbreeding thing anyway charles v oversaw the rise of martin luther and tried everything in his power to stop him the only problem was luther's teachings caught on like wildfire especially with the nobility and it was ironically because of charles himself northern europe wished to not be tied to the catholic church and also exploit the new land opportunities that came from independence as other nobles were not simply tired of catholic lands in their territory but the increasingly autocratic nature of charles v without charles the initial spark of the reformation may not have grown as it did in our timeline i mean it's always possible that some ruler would inspire equal amounts of hatred yet charles was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he certainly didn't help the situation now as for the other king henry viii he probably wouldn't have existed either considering the alternate few centuries of lineage but even if he had the entire basis of his split from the church was to divorce his wife catherine of aragon so even if there was still a henry there would not be a divorce that kickstarts his split from the church inspiring other nobles to do the same even if something like the reformation still occurred thanks to the printing press and other factors it'd be less widespread without the initial actions of two monarchs related in some way to spain this alternate timeline is already a major butterfly effect for instance if the house of valois had been weakened in the hundred years war it's possible the netherlands just doesn't exist dutch identity certainly doesn't without the wars of independence from spain as well as protestantism which define the nation you know now i think about it this whole alternate timeline really just seems like an elaborate way to make sure the dutch never exist while i can go through every single european kingdom and how it be altered things are about to change anyway a world without the portuguese and spanish as i'd imagine you've been waiting for would have one major implication our modern world the colonization of the americas even down to the food we eat came from this age of discovery and all the ramifications thereof the best thing to just assume is global history past 1492 doesn't happen at all like in our own timeline once columbus reached the americas that was what dominated the rest of the millennium so with that said this alternate timeline is simply one possibility the best thing to do is focus on the society of al andalus first had they still controlled spain the muslims would have had to have a very stable society if they had followed the same inner turmoil and ages of typha like in our own history then their christian neighbors would have taken advantage and seized the land anyway so the only possible al-andalus in this alternate timeline not only has to be stable but strong like the golden age of cordoba simply didn't end the natural advantage of their geographic position only brings in more trade culture and science to raise up the society and they also have a military force that can keep the medieval friendship bay much like how spain was a society built from war allendulus would be as well it'd just be in this case from a constant siege mentality and their southern and muslim neighbors would not help as the islamic medieval age was filled with just as many feudal squabbles and politics as in europe and no greater competitor would exist for cordova than the ottoman empire keep in mind cordoba declared itself a caliphate it's like declaring a second pope or a second rome which the french tended to do a lot actually but the point is the ottomans with the seizing of constantinople saw themselves as taking two mantles as well as the new caliphate and there could only be one caliphate well there had been multiple caliphates but they all said they were the real one and they didn't get along same thing here the ottomans and cordoba would be the west and east of the islamic world on opposite ends of the mediterranean since the 700s muslim naval technology has only improved in our timeline the portuguese built the caravel a ship purposely designed for the high seas inspired by triangular shaped portuguese fishing boats that sailed quickly on the mediterranean but these were designs that in themselves were inspired by north african ships i'm not saying north africans invented the caravel they did not however they did inspire the prototype version of the design i know that's very far removed the point is i could imagine in some form an evolutionary parallel cordoba uses a similar design for their own ships that just so happen to resemble caravels cordoba would then attempt to expand into the atlantic not simply to get into the spice trade though that might be a factor later on but to access the west coast of africa before there was a breakdown in the spice trade which inspired the initial voyages into the atlantic portugal in our timeline was already building a mini trade empire themselves just by sailing to receive gold ivory and slaves from the coast the islamic world had slavery just as the portuguese it was just that the slave drive went through the sahara and not by sea but it isn't crazy to imagine that cordoba might wish to quicken or double this trade by using naval routes so despite having different societies a drive for the resources of west africa thanks to their particular location would be similar a similar drive inspires innovation and we know cordoba was certainly good with science that mentality translates into new fields like navigation and shipbuilding it's likely this west african trade would only expand making the cordobans rich to much of the worry of their neighbors and the ottomans this is a trade that only snowballs allowing the muslims to invest more into seafaring eventually building their own equivalents to the caraval now since they were muslims they wouldn't need to find a new path to asia even if the ottomans did take constantinople which yes the ottomans or turks would eventually still take the city the turk migration in anatolia was kind of inevitable alongside the weakening of the byzantines there isn't this dramatic need to sail to india as for al andalus nothing really changed they would continue on sailing down the african coast expanding their trade routes and influence at least until one day when the natural currents of the atlantic simply sweep one more ship off its path the ship most likely a trading vessel would be far from the safety of alan de luz after a few days the ship suddenly discovers land one dense in green and lush tropical trees campfire smoke floating above the canopy this would be the very first site of the new world in this alternate timeline even without the portuguese somebody eventually would find the americas but that is for another time and yes this is a two-parter [Music] you

Channel: AlternateHistoryHub

Views: 1,152,709

Keywords: What if the Reconquista Had Failed, Muslim Spain, Spain alternate history, Spanish Empire history, Portugal history, Age of Discovery, Spanish Empire alternate history, alternate history reconquista, AlternateHistoryHub, AlternateHistoryHub Reconquista, Cordoba, Caliphate of Cordoba, no reconquista, what if the reconquista never happened, alternate history, hundred years war, ottoman america, new world exploration, spanish aztec, history of spain, battle of tours

Id: 1lAKi3ZFurE

Length: 20min 5sec (1205 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 12 2021