The Lower March (, ''al-Thaghr al-Adnā''; ) was a

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

. It included territory that is now in Portugal. As a borderland territory, it was home to the so-called '' muwalladun'' or indigenous converts and their descendants, some of whom eventually established dynastic lordships. This was the case of Ibn Marwan al-Jilliqi who ruled the Cora of Mérida during the early part of the ninth century, a region with its capital in modern Mérida, including the area of modern

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

. Several rebellions occurred in the territory, most notably caused by Umar ibn Hafsun and two of his sons refusing to recognize the Emir of Cordoba's sovereignty; even after Ibn Hafsun's death, small pockets of independent resistance persisted. It was not until a decade after Ibn Hafsun’s demise that the Emir of Cordoba was able to completely quell the rebellion in the Lower March. In the reign of

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil (; 890–961), or simply ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III, was the Umayyad Emir of Córdoba fro ...

(912–961), the Lower March was combined with the Central March to form an enlarged march with its capital at

Medinaceli Medinaceli () is a municipality and town in the province of Soria, in Castile and León, Spain. Built on a hilltop at about 1210 metres above sea level, the town oversees the Jalón valley. The municipality includes other villages like Torralba ...

in the former Central March. It retained the name of the Lower March.

See also