The United Taifas of Al'Andalus
Background
To all intents and purposes the history of the nation begins early in the second decade of the eighth century with the Umayyad conquest of Iberia. The history of Al'Andalus in the generations following this conquest is well known, but the tale of the great ba'ath - or resurrection- is less well known.
Following the fall of Al'Andalus as a unified entity, the Moorish lands that covered most of Iberia were consolidated under a great many Taifas, or minor kingdoms, all independent and none able individually to repulse the hostile interest of the Catholic kingdoms to the north, nor indeed successive Muslim empires of the Maghreb. Early in the eleventh century civil war shattered the Muslim lands and ruined the Umayyad Qurtuba Caliphate that had lately come to prominence, and so dawned the first era of the Taifas. Catholic aggression prompted some to invite help from the Maghreb, successively the Almoravid and Almohad Caliphates, which only resulted in conquest by these more reactionary Muslims, disgusted as they were by the debauched impety they perceived in Andalusi liberalism.
It is after these events and the further progress of the Catholic Reconquista that Andalusi history becomes less widely understood in much of the world. Newborn Catholic-dominated Portugal had wasted little time in establishing itself as a global power by maritime might, and, though Catholics were matched in number by Hebrew citizens and both were swamped by Muslims, Catholic Portuguese culture was carried around the world.
In 1755, however, a catastrophic earthquake approaching a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale struck Lisbon, the Portuguese name for their capital, which the Andalusi had previously called Al'Išbūnah. Tens of thousands perished, and the quake was felt as far away as Scandinavia. Up to one fifth of the city's population may have perished in the earthquake itself and the fires and tsunamis that followed. The fact that the disaster struck on the Catholic holiday of All Saints Day was not lost on the brutally repressed and increasingly despondent Muslim populace, which lept upon this opportunity for revolt. The city's cathedral and the Basilicas of São Paulo, Santa Catrina, São Vicente de Fora, and other churches were totally destroyed by the natural disaster, and many took this as evidence of the corruption of the empire and a sign that it was time to drive the Christians back out of Al'Andalus.
Catholics are hanged in the aftermath as a great 'witch-hunt' sweeps the decimated region
The revolt by the Muslims took on an ordered form through long-underground religious leadership and contacts in the similarly persecuted Jewish community, from where significant funds were derived for a major campaign to drive Catholicism out of Portugal. The effort to restore Muslim control over Iberia initially fell short, but as the tsunami receeded and the dust of war settled, what had briefly been Portugal was once more divided between numerous Muslim Taifas, and a land where Muslims, Jews, and, in time, Christians could all live, if not always as absolute equals, then at least without fear of deadly persecution.
Muslim and Jewish soldiers fight side by side to drive back the Catholic elite
Over the course of several decades the reignited holy wars in Iberia swept back and forth as the Muslims and their Hebrew allies battled a troubled Spanish Empire. Napoleon's attempt to take advantage by the invasion of what had been Portugal and was now the numerous Taifas of Al'Gharb Al'Andalus came unstuck against determined and battle-hardened Andalusi forces, which soon began to receive arms from the British. With failure in Al'Gharb, the French dictator's ambitions for a follow-up invasion of Spain ran into trouble and his attention was turned east, to Russia, leaving the Andalusi -bolstered by British arms and training- to strike decisive blows against a crumbling Spain. Come the end of the Napoleonic Wars Iberia was under Muslim authority once more, all be it a fractious authority that would struggle for years against Catholic guerrilla forces.
In the two centuries since the great ba'ath, Iberia's Taifas have reversed the impact of the reconquista and settled back into competing with one another for both military and cultural prestige, creating a militarised land littered with ornate palaces, gleaming mosques, vast sporting stadia, world-class madrasahs, stunning gardens, exquisitely furnished galleries, renowned theatres, and more recently with numerous super-structures, all designed to awe.
Problems arising from differences between the rulers of the various Taifas eventually became intolerable, leaving the nation's defences dangerously divided and lacking standardisation while also failing to make the most of the great economic potential inherent in the growing population and high quality centres of education. A period of twentieth-century in-fighting ultimately concluded with the establishment of a Sultanate over numerous autonomous Taifas.
This new hereditary Sultanate takes its name -the Saburid Dynasty- from its late founder, and today prospers under its second ruler, Abu Saifullah Abdulhadi al'Wafi ben Sabur al'Andalusi.