ABSTRACT
Before proceeding with the settlement and the system by which the Muslims settled in Spain, it is advisable to explain the terms which were used by historians and geographers to describe the places of settlement or to define the administrative divisions. After their first victory over the Visigoths, both the Berbers and the Arabs began to settle down in the conquered territories. In that very early period they did not know much about the administrative divisions of Spain, neither had they the time to think about them. They therefore called the places which they had acquired for themselves by the simple Arabic word juz ‘, which means a part, such as juz’ al-Bakrīyyīn, juz’ al-Lakhmiyyīn, and juz’ al-Barbar (i.e. the part of the Bakrītes, the part of the Lakhmites, and the part of the Berbers).1 They also used the words rab’ and manāzil to indicate the places of specific people, such as rab’ al-Yaman,2 the settlement of the Yamanites, and manāzil al-Anṣār,3 the places of settlement of al-Anṣār.
