Alaba wa l-Kila' ('Alava and the forts', northern Spain)

'Alaba wa l-Kila' ("Alava and the forts") was a geographical expression used by Arab chroniclers in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AH (8th–9th centuries CE) for that part of Christian Spain which was most exposed to the summer expeditions (sa'ifa) sent out from Cordova by the Umayyad amirs. ¹

The name was used especially for the northern part of the peninsula, beyond the left bank of the upper valley of the Ebro. The region was bounded on the west by Bureba and by Castilla la Vieja, "Old Castile", which the Arabs called al-Kila', and which stretched from the left bank of the Ebro, opposite the Pancorbo pass, as far as the outskirts of the modern town of Santander. ¹

Alava is now the name of a Spanish province, whose capital is the modern town of Vitoria. ¹