established diplomatic relations with the Christian's Kingdoms of the north. Most of Portugal fell into the hands of the Taifa of Badajoz of the Aftasid Dynasty, and after a short spell of an ephemera taifa of Lisbon in 1022, fell within the dominion of the Taifa of Seville of the Abbadids poets.
The Taifa period ended with the conquest of the Almoravids that came from Morocco in 1086 with a decisive victory in the battle of Sagrajas followed one century later by the Almohads also coming from Marrakesh in 1147 after the second period of taifa.
Al-Andalus was divided into different districts called Kura. Gharb Al-Andalus at its largest was constituted of ten kuras with each a distinct capital and governor. The main cities of the period were Beja, Silves, Alcácer do Sal, Santarém, Lisbon and Coimbra.
The muslim population of the region consisted mainly of Arabs, Berbers and of Latins converted to Islam. The Arabs were principally noblemen coming from Yemen, though they were only few in numbers they constituted the elite of the population. The Berbers were originally from the Atlas mountains and Rif mountains of North Africa and were essentially nomads. The Muslim conquerers that were not of great numbers , stayed largely in the Algarve region, and in general south of the Tage .
Reconquista
During the Reconquista period, Christians reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim and Moorish domination. In 868, the First County of Portugal was formed. A victory over the Muslims at Battle of Ourique in 1139 is traditionally taken as the occasion when the County of Portugal as a fief of the Kingdom of León was transformed into the independent Kingdom of Portugal.
Henry, to whom the newly formed county was awarded by Alfonso VI for his role in reconquering land from the Moors, based his newly formed county in Bracara Augusta (nowadays Braga), capital city of the ancient Roman province, and also previous capital
