The reconquista lasted a very long time, with territories and cities changing hands many times. It resists a linear narrative, as some of the wars associated with this long historical process were actually fratricidal civil wars among Muslim and Spanish warlords. Therefore, this is by no means an exhaustive list. One date that students of the reconquista should be aware of is 711 C.E., when the so-called "Moors" invaded the Spanish peninsula, then controlled by Visigothic leaders. The peninsula fell to these invaders in under a decade.

The reconquista dates from the eleventh century, when feuding between various Muslim rulers contributed to a revolt usually associated with "El Cid," whose exploits established a seat of Christian power in Valencia in 1094 CE. Another important event was the fall of the Portuguese city of Lisbon in the mid-twelfth century, the culmination of efforts associated with the Second Crusade on a broader European scale. Over the course of the thirteenth century, a series of campaigns by Spanish Christian rulers and warlords reduced Muslim holdings to a handful of small city-states along the southern coast.

The most important event, however, and the one with the broadest geopolitical significance, was the fall of Granada in 1492. This last stronghold of Muslim power in Spain fell after a long siege by forces sent by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. This was the end of the reconquista and, in many ways, the symbolic unification of Spain as a powerful, unified kingdom.