Andalusia (March of the Two Emperors)

work in progress

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Empire of Andalusia ِمبّارُِ دا َندَلُسَِ Timeline: March of the Two Emperors OTL equivalent: Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha, Cantabria, La Rioja, Murcia, Community of Madrid, most of Extremadura and the Valencian Community, much of Castile y León (excl. core territory of León)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  نُ عَي مَش بانسادُر ﻙا دُِش translit. "No hay más vencedor que Dios" "There is no victor but God"
Anthem:  ال عِشبَّنَِ translit. "El Hispania" "The Hispania"
Andalusia on a map
Capital		Valladolid
Largest city		Cordóba
Other cities		Burgos, València, Toledo, Madrid, Seville, Murcia, Málaga, Alicante, Granada, Cartagena, Badajoz, Mérida, Logroño, Santander
Official languages		Spanish Mozarabic
Regional languages		Castilian Valencian Extremaduran Cantabrian Murcian Castúo Andaluz Ladino Caló Gothic Berber Arabic
Liturgical language		Arabic
Ethnic groups		Castilians Murcians Andaluz Valencians Extremadurans Cantabrians Visigoths Arabs Berbers Gitanos Sephardi Moors Berbers
Religion		95.02% Islam 2.33% Judaism 2.14% Christianity 0.51% Other
Demonym		Andalusian Spaniard
Government		Islamic feodal absolute monarchy
-	Emperor	Raúl III
Legislature		None
Establishment
-	Muslim conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom	711
-	Reconquista	711 - 1254
-	Battle of Segovia	19 December 1252
-	Surrender of Castile	21 May 1253
-	Reconquest of Valencia	30 September 1265
-	Conquest of Cantabria	5 May 1308
-	Consolidation	1355 - 1368
Population
-	2021 estimate	84,359,844
Currency		Andalusian peseta (APS)
Drives on the		right
Internet TLD		.an
Calling code		+ 34

Andalusia, also called Al-Andalus, Spain and Hispania and fully the Empire of Andalusia (Spanish, Castilian, Andaluz, Castúo and Murcian: ِمبّارُِ دا َندَلُسَِ, translit. Imperio de Andalucía; Valencian: َندَلُش ِمبّارِ, translit. Andalús Imperi; Extremaduran: َمبّارُِ َندَلُش, translit. Amperio Andalus; Cantabrian: ِمبّارُِ دا َندَلُسَِ, translit. Imperiu de Andalucía; Caló: َبِللالا ي َندَلُسَِ, translit. Abillele y Andalucía; Gothic: تعُِدَنغَردِ وَندَنلِتجَ, translit. Thiudangardi Wāndānlitjā; Arabic: الإمبراطورية الأندلس, translit. al-imbrāṭūrīẗ al-ʾandls) is a country in Southwestern Europe, where it occupies much of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered by Portugal to the west, Galicia to the northwest, León and the Basque Country to the north and Aragon and Catalonia to the northeast.

Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 42,000 years ago. The first cultures and peoples that developed within the current country's borders were pre-Roman peoples such as the ancient Iberians, the Celts, the Celtiberians, the Vascones, the Turdetani and the Occitans (the latter of whom still live today). Later, foreign Mediterranean peoples such as the Phoenicians and ancient Greeks established trading colonies on the coast, and Carthage assumed control over much of the Mediterranean coastline. From the year 218 BCE, the Romans began colonizing Hispania; with the exception of the Atlantic cornice, they quickly controlled most of the Peninsula. The Romans had driven the Carthaginians out of the Iberian Peninsula by 206 BCE, and divided it into two administrative provinces, Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior. The Romans laid the foundations for modern Spanish culture and identity, and was the birthplace of important Roman emperors such as Trajanus, Hadrianus and Theodosius I.

Andalusia remained under Roman rule until its territory was lost by the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, which ushered in Germanic tribal confederations from Central and Northern Europe. During this period, Andalusia was divided between several different Germanic ethnic groups, mostly the Suevi, Alans, Vandals and Visigoths. The latter maintained an alliance with Rome via foedus, while part of Southern Andalusia belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire. Eventually, the Visigoths emerged as the dominant faction by the sixth century, with the Visigothic Kingdom spanning the vast majority of the Iberian Peninsula, and established its capital in the city of Toledo. The creation of the code of laws, Liber Iudiciorum, by King Recceswinth deeply influenced the structural and legal bases of Andalusia and the survival of Roman Law after the fall of the Roman Empire.

In 711, the Visigothic Kingdom was invaded and conquered by an Arabian army from Morocco, which crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. At the Battle of Guadalete, the Visigothic king Roderic was killed in combat, and the Kingdom quickly collapsed. The Arabs established Al-Andalus, which later became the Emirate of Córdoba after the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate; there, the Visigoths converted to Islam. Under Islamic rule, by the "Moors" as they were called, Andalusia became a major economic, cultural and intellectual center, with the city of Córdoba being among the largest and richest in Europe. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in the northern periphery of Iberia; chiefly León (Which grew from Asturias, founded by a Visigoth noble), Castile, Aragón, Portugal and Navarre. Over the next seven centuries, an intermittent southward expansion of these kingdoms — metahistorically framed as a reconquest, or Reconquista — began penetrating deep into Al-Andalus, using the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba to their advantage.

The tables turned in the 1190's, however, when a Castilian convert to Islam, Ramiro Pescador, successfully unified most of the petty Muslim taifas and began a counter-Reconquista, successfully pushing back northwards and inflicting crushing defeats on León, Castile and Aragón, starting with the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. After concluding peace with Portugal in 1249 and receiving annual tribute from that kingdom, Pescador battled further northwards; his biggest victory was the Battle of Segovia in 1252, where the King of Castile, Alfonso X, was killed in action without an heir. Because his father, Ferdinand III, had annulled his first wedding and remarried, a succession crisis broke out between Frederick, his son with his first wife, and Ferdinand, his son with his second wife; this was used by the Muslims to their advantage. The Castilian War of Succession brought forth the collapse of the kingdom, the independence of León and Galicia, and the conquest of Castile by Ramiro, who crowned himself as Ramiro I of Castile. Fifteen years later, Ramiro reconquered most of Valencia from Aragón, and in 1269, Aragón sued for peace and agreed to pay tribute. Aside from one final war from 1303 - 1308 that led to the conquest of Cantabria by the Muslims, the counter-Reconquista was now over, with Portugal, Galicia, León, Aragón, Catalonia and Navarre all turned into tributary states.

In 1281, to accomodate for his new position of power, Ramiro's successor, Enrique Pescador, established the Empire of Andalusia and crowned himself as the Emperor. From here on, the Moors began assimilating into the various Iberian people, except in the states of Granada, Seville, Jaén and Córdoba and in the south of the state of Murcia, where the Arabic language remains spoken and many still identify as Arab. Between 1304 and 1490, a huge wave of Islamization took place in Andalusia; by 1495, 90% of the Christian population had converted. This went paired by huge population growth as Andalusia recovered its position as a leading commercial, scientific and cultural center in Europe. Anno 2021, Andalusia's population of 84 million is the second largest in Europe, behind only that of the Eastern Roman Empire. Of this population, 95.02% (or 80 million people) adhere to Islam; hence, Andalusia has the largest Muslim population in Europe. The country is a major power in Europe, and continues to be a center of science and commerce.

Politics

Andalusia is a feudal country comprising a variety of vassal and tributary states, most with their own monarch, and the crown land that belongs to the Emperor himself. All of the country's feudal monarchs have absolute power within their domain and their power and supremacy cannot be legally challenged within their kingdom; the Emperor of Andalusia, however, may override them at will. In essence, Andalusia is an absolute monarchy that comprises sub-national monarchies with a similar form of absolutism exercised by the vassals, but only with the Emperor's approval.

There exist four forms of states within the Empire:

• Tributary states, which may freely conduct their own policy in return for an annual transfer of wealth to the Emperor himself (tribute), as well as a promise to follow the Imperial foreign policy. The tribute paid is essentially protection money and equates to a 'service', in that the local monarchs pay an annual sum in return for relative political independence.

• Protectorates, which may freely conduct internal policies but have no control over their foreign policy. The monarchs in these territories are required to accept the presence of an Imperial resident who advises them on internal matters.

• Vassal states or fiefdoms, where a feudal monarch (a fief) rules in the Emperor's stead and enjoys a very large degree of independence (Including in foreign policy) in return for loyalty, military assistance and the payment of revenues acquired from the fiefdom's economy as taxes, as well as annually transferring part of their military personnel to the Imperial government. The fiefdoms are similar to viceroyalties, but the viceroy is an actual monarch with obligations towards the Emperor.

• The crown land, which comprises the provinces directly administered by the Emperor.

Name and flag	Type	Monarch	Info	OTL
Sultanate of Cantabria شُلتَنَتُ دا سَنتَبرَِ   (Cantabrian)	Tributary state	Sultan Xabier III Torrente	Capital Santander Language Cantabrian (official) Spanish (co-official) Mozarabic (co-official) Religion 98.67% Islam 1.43% Other	Autonomous Community of Cantabria
Crown Domain of the Andalusian Empire دُمِنُِ دا لَ سُرُنَ دال ِمبّارُِ َندَلُز   (Spanish)	None (Crown domain)	Emperor Raúl III Pescador	Capital Valladolid Language Castilian (official) Spanish (co-official) Mozarabic (co-official) Religion 94% Islam 3% Christianity 2.15% Judaism 0.95% Other	Most of Old and New Castile, Community of Madrid
Sharifate of Córdoba شعَرِفَتُ دا سُردُبَ   (Andaluz) شريفات قرطبة   (Arabic)	Fiefdom	Sharif Ignacio II Soldado	Capital Córdoba Language Andaluz (official) Arabic (official) Spanish (co-official) Religion 94.50% Islam 3.24% Judaism 2.19% Christianity 0.07% Other	Province of Córdoba
Emirate of Extremdura مِرَتُ دا اشترامَُرَ (Extremaduran) امِرَتُ دا اشّترامَدُرَ   (Castúo)	Protectorate	Emir German II Ligüerre	Capital Badajoz Language Extremaduran (official) Castúo (official) Spanish (co-official) Mozarabic (co-official) Religion 98.0% Islam 1.5% Christianity 0.5% Other	Most of Extremadura
Emirate of Granada إمارة غرﻧﺎﻃﺔ‎   (Arabic)	Fiefdom	Emir Muhammad XXIV	Capital Granada Language Arabic (official) Mozarabic (co-official) Spanish (co-official) Religion 95.0% Islam 3.5% Judaism 1.0% Christianity 0.5% Other	Provinces of Málaga, Granada, Almería and Cádiz
Emirate of Jaén امِرَتُ دا جََن   (Andaluz) إمارة خاين   (Arabic)	Fiefdom	Emir Aimar VII Santolaria	Capital Jaén Language Andaluz (official) Arabic (official) Spanish (co-official) Religion 99.5% Islam 0.5% Other	Province of Jaén
Sultanate of Murcia شُلتَنَِ دا مُرسَِ   (Murcian)	Fiefdom	Sultan Jorge II Arroyo	Capital Murcia Language Murcian (official) Spanish (official) Mozarabic (co-official) Arabic (co-official in the south of the sultanate) Religion 99% Islam 1% Other	Region of Murcia
Sultanate of Seville شُلتَنَتُ دا شابِللَ   (Andaluz) سلطنة إشبيلية   (Arabic)	Fiefdom	Sultan Ibai IX Castejón	Capital Seville Language Andaluz (official) Arabic (official) Mozarabric (co-official) Spanish (co-official) Religion 99% Islam 1% Other	Provinces of Seville and Huelva
Kingdom of Toledo راِنُ دا تُلادُ   (Spanish)	Protectorate	King Bruno I Baztán	Capital Toledo Language Spanish (official) Mozarabic (co-official) Religion 95% Islam 4% Christianity 1% Other	Southern New Castile
Kingdom of Valencia راغنا دا بَلَنسَِ   (Valencian)	Tributary state	King Silvestre IV Cuadrat	Capital València Language Valencian (official) Spanish (co-official) Mozarabic (co-official) Religion 93% Islam 5% Christianity 2% Judaism	Most of the Valencian Community
Kingdom of the Visigoths تعُِدَنغَردِ غُتتعُِدَِ   (Gothic)	Tributary state	King Thiudareiks IV	Capital Jerez de los Caballeros Language Gothic (official) Spanish (co-official) Mozarabic (co-offical) Religion 91.66% Islam 7.24% Christianity 1.10% Other	Southern tip of the Province of Badajoz, northern tip of the Provinces of Huelva and Seville

Demographics

Languages and ethnicities

Andalusia is a highly multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country, with its several people largely held together by their mutual adherance to Islam, their similar cultures and languages, and a common ethnic, genetic and cultural heritage. The following ethnic groups exist in the country:

• Castilians
• Murcians
• Cantabrians
• Extremadurans
• Andaluz
• Valencians
• Gitanos
• Mozarabs
• Visigoths
• Moors
• Andalusian Berbers
• Sephardi

Castilians
سَشَاللَنُش

Languages
Castilian (native) Spanish, Mozarabic, Arabic (secondary)
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam (Roman Catholic and Jewish minorities)
Related ethnic groups
Andaluz, Murcians, Cantabrians, Extremadurans, Aragonese people, Leonese people, Asturians, Valencians, Catalans, Portuguese people, Galicians and Mirandese people, Mozarabs

Murcians
مُرسَِنُش

Languages
Murcian (native) Spanish, Mozarabic, Arabic (secondary)
Religion
Islam

Cantabrians / Montañeses
سَنتَبرُش / مُنتَنّاشاش

Languages
Cantabrian (native) Spanish, Mozarabic, Arabic (secondary)
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Castilians, Andaluz, Murcians, Extremadurans, Aragonese people, Leonese people, Asturians, Valencians, Catalans, Portuguese people, Galicians and Mirandese people, Mozarabs

Extremadurans
اشترامانُّش

Languages
Extremaduran and Castúo (native) Spanish, Mozarabic, Arabic (secondary)
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Castilians, Andaluz, Murcians, Cantabrians, Aragonese people, Leonese people, Asturians, Valencians, Catalans, Portuguese people, Galicians and Mirandese people, Mozarabs

Andaluz
َندَلُساش

Languages
Andaluz (native) Arabic, Spanish, Mozarabic (secondary)
Religion
Islam (Jewish minority)

Valencians
بَلانسَِنش

Languages
Valencian (native) Catalan, Spanish, Mozarabic, Arabic (secondary)
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam (Roman Catholic and Jewish minorities)
Related ethnic groups
Catalans, Castilians, Andaluz, Murcians, Cantabrians, Aragonese people, Leonese people, Asturians, Portuguese people, Galicians and Mirandese people, Mozarabs

Gitanos
غِتَنُش

Languages
Caló (native) Romani, Spanish, Mozarabic, Arabic (secondary)
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Other Romani people

Mozarabs
مُزَرَباش

Languages
Mozarabic (native) Spanish, Arabic (secondary)
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Castilians, Murcians, Andaluz, Cantabrians, Aragonese people, Catalans, Valencians, Leonese people, Asturians, Portuguese people, Galicians and Mirandese people

Visigoths
عوتتهيوداي

Languages
Gothic (native) Spanish, Mozarabic, Arabic (secondary)
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam (Significant Arian Christian minority)
Related ethnic groups
Ostrogoths, Crimean Goths, Vandals, Gepids

Moors
المغاربة

Languages
Andalusi Arabic (native) Spanish, Mozarabic (secondary)
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Berbers, Arabs

Andalusian Berbers
ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵏ, ⵎⵣⵗⵏ

Languages
Berber languages (native) Spanish, Arabic, Mozarabic (secondary)
Religion
Sunni Islam and Arian and Catholic Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Arabs, Moors

Sephardi
יהדות ספרד‎

Languages
Ladino (native) Spanish, Mozarabic (secondary)
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Other Jewish ethnic divisions

Andalusia is one of the most ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse countries of Europe, easily on par with the Gaelic Empire, for example. Most of its languages are of the Ibero-Romance language family, having descended from Vulgar Latin. Visigothic is a Germanic language, Berber is Afro-Asiatic, and Arabic is Semitic. With the exception of Ladino, which is written with the Hebrew alphabet, and Berber, which is written with the Berber alphabet, every single language in Andalusia is written with the Arabic alphabet, a practice referred to as aljamiado. The government enforces this and actively prohibits language regulators from publishing standards in the Latin alphabet, or any other alphabet for that matter.

Mozarabic and a standardized form of Castilian called Spanish are the empire's lingua francas. Outside of the southern kingdoms, where it is still in daily use, Arabic is generally used chiefly as the liturgical language, and is taught to all Muslims in school.

Religion

  Islam (95.02%)

  Judaism (2.33%)

  Christianity (2.14%)

  Other (0.51%)

As of the 2021 census, Islam is the largest religion in Andalusia by a landslide, with 95% of its population (or 80 million people) adhering to it. Judaism follows as the second, with 2.33% (1.9 million) and then Christianity with 2.14% (1.8 million). 0.51% of the population (430,000 people) adhere to a different faith. Irreligion is virtually nonexistent in the country; only a few thousand people report not believing in a God, and the government does not recognize irreligion.

Islam is the majority religion of every single ethnic group in the country except for the Sephardis (Who adhere to Judaism). Over the course of history after the Counter-Reconquista, the overwhelming majority of the country adopted Islam, including over 90% of all Christians. A minority, however, maintained their faith. The largest concentrations of non-Muslims in the country can be found in the Visigothic Kingdom, where "only" 91% of the population adheres to Islam, followed by Valencia with 93%. At the other end of the coin, Jaén (99.5%), Murcia and Seville (99% each), and Cantabria (98.67%) have the country's largest population of Muslims.

Religious practice of Islam varies; Murcians, Andaluz, Castilians and Gitanos tend to be the most religious and pious of the country, while the Mozarabs, Sephardi and Visigoths tend to be less religious and more secular, and the Valencians, Cantabrians, Extremadurans and Moors sit between them. Roughly 54.68% of the country's Muslim women and girls aged 13 to 40 veil themselves (usually with the hijab, but sometimes with another type of headscarf). A common trend among the country's veiled Muslim women and girls is to combine their headscarf with Western clothing (eg sweaters, jeans and sneakers or boots), rather than wearing traditional Islamic clothing.

The largest Christian denomination in the country is Roman Catholicism, practiced mostly by a minority of Valencians, Castilians and converts of other ethnicities. The second largest demoninations is Arian Christianity, practiced mainly by a minority of Visigoths and which rejects the Holy Trinity upheld in other Christian demoninations, including Catholicism, Chalcedonian Christianity and most Protestant and Orthodox churches. A significant minority of Berbers have converted to both of these Christian denominations.

Religion and the state

Andalusia is not a secular state. Islam is the country's state religion and is privileged by its legislature; non-Muslims pay an annual tax, the jizya. The precise influence religion has varies per polity, with some being more or less secular, whereas others practice Sharia law fully or partially and where Muslim students are required by law to receive Islamic religious education in primary and secondary education. A table below compares all polities:

Polity	Practice of Sharia law	Sharia courts	Islamic education compulsory
Cantabria	Partial	Family matters only	✔
Crown Domain (Castile)	Full	Family matters and criminal laws	✔
Córdoba	None (Secular)	N/A	❌
Extremadura	Partial	Family matters and criminal laws	✔
Granada	None (Secular)	N/A	❌
Jaén	Full	Family matters and criminal laws	✔
Murcia	Full	Family matters and criminal laws	✔
Seville	Partial	Family matters	❌
Toledo	Full	Family matters and criminal laws	✔
Valencia	Partial	Family matters and criminal laws	❌
Visigothia	None (Secular)	N/A	❌

Most Sharia laws, with some exceptions, do not apply to non-Muslims.