The Spanish March or Hispanic March (, , Aragonese and , , ), was a military buffer zone beyond the former province of Septimania, established by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Carolingian Empire (Duchy of Gascony, the Duchy of Aquitaine and Carolingian Septimania). In its broader meaning, Hispanic March sometimes refers to a group of early Iberian and trans-Pyrenean lordships or counts coming under Frankish rule. As time passed, these lordships merged or gained independence from Frankish imperial rule. Geographical context The area broadly corresponds to the eastern regions between the Pyrenees and the Ebro River. The local population of the March was diverse. It included Basques in its north-western valleys, Jews, and a large Occitano-Romance-speaking Hispano-Roman population (Occitans and Catalans) governed by the Visigothic Code, all of them under the influence of Al-Andalus culture, since their lords had vowed allegiance to Cordoban rulers until Pepin's conquest of Andalusian Septimania (759). The Pyrenean valleys started to switch loyalties after 785 (Girona, Ribagorza, etc.) with the construction and garrisoning by counts loyal to the Carolingians of new outposts and fortresses on bordering areas. The territory changed with the fortunes of the Empires and the feudal ambitions of those, whether counts or walis, appointed to administer the counties. Eventually, the rulers and people of the March became autonomous and claimed independence. Out of the welter of counties in the region emerged the Principality of Catalonia composed by a myriad of counties with the County of Barcelona as their main power centre. Counties that at various times formed part of the March included: Ribagorza (initially including Pallars), Urgell, Cerdanya, Perelada, Empúries, Besalú, Ausona (Osona), Barcelona, Girona (March of Hispania) and, Conflent, Roussillon, Vallespir and Fenollet (March of Gothia). The nominal boundaries of Gothia and the Hispanic March vary in time, not without confusion. While Navarre and Aragon have sometimes been depicted within the Hispanic March, they were not part of it, but they came under the Carolingian area of influence between 794 and 806 within the Basque (also rendered as "Gascon") marches, or Duchy of Vasconia. Origins The Hispanic March resulted from the expansion south of the Frankish realm from their heartland in Neustria and Austrasia starting with Charles Martel in 732 and after various decades fighting between the Franks and Umayyads (Saraceni) in the Iberian Peninsula. The Muslim invasion reached the