The
Battle of Guadalete took place in
711 at the
Guadalete River in the extreme south of the
Iberian peninsula. It represented a decisive defeat for the
Visigothic king Rodrigo, who was killed, and a decisive victory for the
Moslem forces that defeated him, 7000
Berbers led by Tariq ibn Ziyab. The governor of Northern Africa, Musa ibn Nusayr, who had sent Tariq, followed the next year with an army of 18,000. The
Moors proceeded to conquer most of the Iberian peninsula within the next five years.
Pelayo of Asturias escaped the defeat and went on to found the Kingdom of Asturias, resisting Moslem overlordship from the northwest corner of the peninsula.