Iberia
In addition to the Carolingian Marca Hispanica, Iberia was home to several marches set up by the native states. The future kingdoms of Portugal and Castile were founded as marcher counties intended to protect the Kingdom of Asturias from the Cordoban Emirate to the south and east respectively. Likewise, Córdoba set up its own marches as a buffer to the Christian states to the north: the Upper March (al-Tagr al-A'la), centered on Zaragoza and countering the eastern Marca Hispanica; the Middle March (al-Tagr al-Awsat), centred on Toledo and later Medinaceli, which faced the western Pyrenees and Asturias; and the Lower March (al-Tagr al-Adna) or Distant March (al-Tagr al-Aqsa), centred on Mérida, and created to protect Córdoba from Asturias. These too would give rise to Kingdoms, the Taifas of Zaragoza, Toledo, and Badajoz.
Read more about this topic: March (territory)