When did the Moors first invade Spain?
Moors
In 711, troops mostly formed by Moors from northern Africa led the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. The Iberian peninsula then came to be known in Classical Arabic as al-Andalus, which at its peak included most of Septimania and modern-day Spain and Portugal.
Hispanism
Spain's links with the Arab world began in the Middle Ages with the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Arabic-speaking Moorish kingdoms were present in Spain until 1492, when the Reconquista defeated the Emirate of Granada. Many Moors remained in Spain until their final expulsion in 1609. The Spanish Empire, at its height, included a number of Arabic-speaking enclaves in the Maghreb, such as Spanish Sahara and Spanish Morocco.