Nestled along the gulf coast between Georgia and Mississippi, Alabama is at the very heart of America's deep south. The state has a history as complex as southern culture, a history that shows in its borders which are, frankly, weird.
The Reconquista, or Christian reconquest of Iberia, took nearly 800 years. The fighting did not come without great attempts by Muslim powers across the strait trying to reestablish their presence in mainland Europe. The last gasp of that effort came in the 1330s, when the powerful Marinid sultanate of what is modern Morocco invaded in an attempt to reverse Christian gains and secure the perilous position of the Sultanate of Granada.