Muslims controlled the southern Europe through the expansion of Moors of North Africa in the 8th–10th centuries . Muslim political entities existed firmly in what is today Spain, Portugal, Sicily, and Malta for several centuries.
But the Muslim response is not bizarre and eccentric; because the Islamic world was so widespread and strategically placed, it was the first to be subjected in a concerted, systematic manner to the colonization process in the Middle East, India, Arabia, Malaya and a significant part of Africa.
