central Asian “-stans” of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan). They also marched through north Africa, eventually overrunning Byzantine Carthage in 698, which sounded a death knell for Byzantine control in the region. Then they pressed on through Algeria toward what is now Morocco: the western coast of the continent. In 711 they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and began to ride through the Iberian Peninsula. The arrival of Islam in modern Spain and Portugal created the territory known for centuries as al-Andalus.
