Battle of Guadalete
The Battle of Guadalete took place July 19, 711 at the Guadalete River in the extreme south of the Iberian peninsula. It represented a decisive defeat for the Visigothic king Roderic (or 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.
The Astures led by Pelayo oppose the new invador, escaping defeat thanks to a complex strategy at the battle of Cuadonga(718) which gave them victory, freeing Asturies from the Moslem yoke, and led to Pelayo’s coronation as king. Thus was born the Asturorum Regnum and it was at this point that the Astures began to evolve towards a superior social-state structure.
