Gibraltar جبل طارق
Gibraltar is a Latinized word for the Arabic name Jabal (mountain) Tariq (Tariq Bin Ziyad). During the Arabian Umayyad Caliphate (Damascus as the capital), the empire expanded from the far east till the North African region all the way to Morocco. In 711 CE the expansion extended to the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal), since North Africa is geographically the closest, and was then part of the Islamic-Umayyad empire, many of the Berbers entered the army including the great Tariq Bin Zyad, who was appointed by Musa Bin Naseer (an Arabian general and emir who conquered North Africa) to lead part of the army in this conquest. As they sailed from North Africa (Ceuta) to South of Spain, the opposing army was expecting them on the shore, Tariq decided to adopt a new plan with an element of surprise, and retreated, as it were, until dark. They sailed back via a different route and climbed the mountain cliff (Gibraltar), and surprised the Visigothic army in their own land. The highest number recorded for the Umayyad army was 12,000 and the lowest number recorded for the Visigothic army was 40,000. Contrary to popular belief, the Visigoths were very strong, in their two-century invasion of Spain they never lost a single battle, until the Umayyad army. The mountain was named after Tariq, for his brilliance. 90% of the peninsula was conquered peacefully without any battles.