completion of the conquest under various governors, who had their seat of government in Ḳairawān. The Spanish sub-prefects however often had an almost independent position. They resided at first at Seville, but shortly afterwards chose as the seat of government Cordova, which was thus destined for centuries to become the brilliant residence of the western Caliphate. Until its secession from the eastern main empire, and in fact for centuries afterwards, the destinies of Spain were united in the closest manner with those of Northern Africa through the Berbers, who were now settled on both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar. Thus it came that Spain, on the outbreak of Berber unrest in Northern Africa, was at once drawn into this fatal movement. The only difference was that in Northern Africa the Berbers were the subjects, who had however expected to attain an equal footing with the Arabs by the adoption of Islām, whilst in Spain the Arabs and Berbers had together conquered a foreign land, whose wealth and territory they divided. At this stage the Arabs committed the great mistake of shewing themselves too ostentatiously as the masters, i.e. in Africa they proceeded arrogantly and violently against the proud Berbers, who had cost so much trouble to subdue, whilst in Spain they allotted the Berbers the worst portion of the booty. This caused a first revolt, which was however but partial. The Berber Munusa in Northern Spain declared his independence, and entered into friendly, even family, connexions with the Duke Eudo. His call however found but little response among his countrymen, and he was put down with little trouble (729 or 730).
More serious were the developments in Africa. It was at the time of Caliph Hishām, under whom the revision of Omar's system of taxation, which had gradually become a necessity, was enforced more generally and energetically. The bureaucracy which accompanied this revision, and the Asiatic despotism which was gradually creeping in, were nowhere so unsuitable as in the mountain homes of the Berbers, who were only held in check by diplomacy and the prospect of booty. As with the Orientals in general and especially with the Berbers every national or economical opposition easily assumes a religious tinge, so it was in this case too. We have already spoken of the Khārijites, who had detached themselves from Ali after the battle of Ṣiffīn. Their doctrine was that of the absolute sovereignty of the people, who were justified at all times in deposing an unjust Caliph or Imām. We have already indicated that the Umayyads had much trouble with these people. The profession of the doctrine of the Khārijites was one of the most important forms in which the opposition against the growing despotism and the bureaucracy found expression, especially among the old-Arabian circles, just as, among the Persians, this opposition took the form of the Shī'a. With the increasing tension betwixt Umayyad troops and the Berber populace, the Khārijite ideas had an unsuspected
