<P> Many of the ousted Gothic nobles took refuge in the unconquered north Kingdom of Asturias . From there, they aimed to reconquer their lands from the Moors; this war of reconquest is known as the Reconquista . Christian and Muslim kingdoms fought and allied among themselves . The Muslim taifa kings competed in patronage of the arts, the Camino de Santiago attracted pilgrims from all Western Europe, and the Jewish population set the basis of Sephardi culture . </P> <P> During the Middle Ages, the peninsula housed many small states including the Kingdom of Castile, Crown of Aragon, Kingdom of Navarre, Kingdom of León and the Kingdom of Portugal . The peninsula was part of the Almohad Caliphate until it finally uprooted by Castile in the 1230s . The last major Muslim stronghold was Granada, which was conquered by a combined Castilian and Aragonese force in 1492 . Muslims and Jews throughout the period were variously tolerated or shown intolerance in different Christian kingdoms . After the fall of Granada, all Muslims and Jews were ordered to convert to Christianity or face expulsion . Many Jews and Muslims fled to North Africa and the Ottoman Empire, while others publicly converted to Christianity and became known respectively as Marranos and Moriscos . However, many of these continued to practice their religion in secret . The Moriscos revolted several times and were ultimately forcibly expelled from Spain in the early 17th century . </P> <P> The small states gradually amalgamated over time . Portugal was the exception, except for a brief period (1580--1640) during which the whole peninsula was united politically under the Iberian Union . After that point, the modern position was reached and the peninsula now consists of the countries of Spain and Portugal (excluding their islands--the Portuguese Azores and Madeira and the Spanish Canary Islands and Balearic Islands; and the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla), Andorra, French Cerdagne and Gibraltar . </P> <P> The Iberian Peninsula is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas--the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan . It is bordered on the southeast and east by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the north, west, and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean . The Pyrenees mountains are situated along the northeast edge of the peninsula, where it adjoins the rest of Europe . Its southern tip is very close to the northwest coast of Africa, separated from it by the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea . </P>

Are the canary islands part of the iberian peninsula