[Sidenote: The Christian reconquest.] Meanwhile, a second era of _taifa_ states had sprung up in Spain, but in 1146 the Almohades entered the peninsula, and proceeded to reduce the _taifa_ princes. By 1172 all Moslem Spain was under their sway. Spain was now formed into a province of the Almohade empire, the capital of which was in Africa. The new conquerors did more than merely garrison the peninsula,--they pursued the hated Arabs so zealously that the latter were either destroyed or absorbed. The Berbers were for many years virtually the only Mohammedan element in the peninsula except for the Renegados. The wars with the Christians were also renewed. In 1194 Alfonso VIII of Castile challenged the emperor Yacub to a battle. Yacub accepted, and the battle was fought at Alarcos (Badajoz) in 1195, ending in the rout of the Christians. The war continued, however, and in 1212 the united forces of León, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon gained a great victory at Navas de Tolosa in Andalusia. This was the turning-point in the Christian reconquest. The Almohade state soon fell to pieces, and by 1228 the _taifas_ began to reappear, but one after another they were conquered by the Christian kings. A single Moslem state escaped; in 1230 it had been founded at Arjona, and presently took shape as the kingdom of Granada, establishing its capital in 1238 at the city of the same name. This tiny realm, extending at its greatest from Almería to Gibraltar, was able to maintain itself for over two centuries and a half. _León and Castile_ [Sidenote: Castilian conquests.] [Sidenote: Alfonso VI.]