Coordinates: 39.856667, -4.024444
Toledo is located south of Madrid, near the geographical center of the Iberian Peninsula, and is almost surrounded by the Tagus river. Founded by the Iberians, the city was conquered by the Romans in the second century B.C. and prospered under their rule before becoming the religious and political capital of the Visigothic kingdom of Spain in the sixth century. The city's wealth as the Visigothic capital took on legendary status following the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 711. During the period of Islamic rule on the Iberian Peninsula Toledo was home to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and the similar visual language used in mosques, synagogues, and churches in the city reflects the Arabized culture in which all three groups participated. Toledo retains traces of its Roman and Visigothic past, aspects of which were refurbished during the Islamic period, including the famous bridge known as the Puente de Alcántara. The city's famous gates, including the Puerta Vieja de Bisagra, which evokes the architecture of caliphal Cordoba, are also visible today. Toledo long resisted outside rule, especially from the centralized caliphal government in Cordoba. With the fall of the caliphate of Cordoba in the eleventh-century Toledo became the capital of an independent Taifa kingdom ruled by an Amazigh (Berber) tribe.
Sources:
"Tulaytula." 1999. Enc. Of Islam (New Edition). V. 10. Leiden: Brill, 604-607.
Martinez Caviró, B. 1980. Mudéjar toledano: Palacios y Conventos. Madrid.
Delgado Valero, C. 1987. Toledo Islamico. Ciudad, arte y hstoria. Toledo. Torres Balbás, L. 1973. Ciudades hispano-musulmanas, 2 vols. Madrid.
