When, as a result of civil strife, almost the entire Iberian Peninsula came under the rule of the Moors, only this territory remained Christian. From here went the expulsion of the Arabs, which dragged on for eight centuries. It is believed that the Reconquista began with the victory of the troops of King Pelayo over the Moors in 718. in the Cavadonga Valley in Asturias. In the ninth century, Alfonso II made the modest town of Oviedo not far from that valley his capital. The capital moved many times as the peninsula was liberated, but Asturias traditionally retains the status of the Kingdom.→