Al-Walid I's reign saw the most aggressive phase of Umayyad expansion, including Tariq ibn Ziyad's crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar in 711 — the campaign that made al-Andalus a political reality at all. Copper fals from this transitional period were struck as Arab-Byzantine and Arab-Sasanian monetary conventions were still being renegotiated across the caliphate's rapidly extending frontiers. Iberian issues are particularly difficult to attribute with confidence, as early al-Andalus mint infrastructure was improvised and inconsistent.
Al-Walid I's reign saw the most aggressive phase of Umayyad expansion, including Tariq ibn Ziyad's crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar in 711 — the campaign that made al-Andalus a political reality at all. Copper fals from this transitional period were struck as Arab-Byzantine and Arab-Sasanian monetary conventions were still being renegotiated across the caliphate's rapidly extending frontiers. Iberian issues are particularly difficult to attribute with confidence, as early al-Andalus mint infrastructure was improvised and inconsistent.