At the head of “an army of seven thousand men, chiefly Berbers and slaves, very few only being genuine Arabs,”7 he made his fateful voyage to Spain through the Pillars of Hercules, and landed on what is now, in honor of the invader, called Gibraltar (“Tarek’s Hill” in Arabic). To make clear that retreat was not an option, Tarek ordered all their boats burned on touching European soil: “We have not come here to return. Either we conquer and establish ourselves here or we will perish.”
