What is Taifa?
[[File:Taifas2.gif|thumb|300px|Map of the ''taifas'' in 1031]] A '''''taifa''''' (from {{lang-ar|طائفة}} ''ṭā'ifa'', plural طوائف ''ṭawā'if'') was an independent [[Islam|Muslim]]-ruled principality in the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. ''Taifa''s developed during the history of [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]]. They were usually [[emirate]]s or little [[kingdom]]s, but there was one [[oligarchy]] as well, [[Seville]]. A number were formed in the [[Al-Andalus]] ([[Moors|Moorish]] Iberia) after the end of the [[Umayyad Empire|Umayyad]] [[Caliphate of Cordóba]] in 1031. They developed because of an administrative division of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] of [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]] and an ethnic division of its [[:wikt:elite|elite]]. It was divided among [[Arabs]] (a powerful but tiny minority), [[Slavs|Eastern European]] former slaves and Iberian Muslims (known as ''[[muladi|Muladíes]]'' (the great majority). There was a second period when ''taifa''s developed: the middle of the 12th century, when the [[Almoravid dynasty]] was in decline. The ''taifa''s rose once again in [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]. In the 11th century and again in the mid 12th century, the [[emir]]s (rulers) of the ''taifa''s kept fighting among themselves, not only militarily but also for cultural [[wikt:prestige|prestige]]. They tried to recruit the most famous poets and artisans. After the end of the Caliphate, the rival Muslim kingdoms were much weaker than the Christian ones and so they had to submit and to pay [[tribute]]. The ''taifa'' princes appealed for North African warriors to help them fighting Christian kings on two occasions. The Almoravids were invited after the fall of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] (1085), the [[Almohad]]s after the fall of [[Lisbon]] (1147). The warriors did not help the ''taifa'' emirs but rather annexed their lands to their own North African empires. Taifas often hired Christian [[mercenary|mercenaries]] to fight neighbouring realms (both Christian and Muslim). The most dynamic ''taifa'', which conquered most of its