![Castillia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Castillia.jpg)
The term Moor, derived from the ancient
Mauri
Mauri (from which derives the English term "Moors") was the Latin designation for the Berber population of Mauretania, located in the part of North Africa west of Numidia, in present-day northern Morocco and northwestern Algeria.
Name
''Mauri'' ...
, is an
exonym first used by
Christian Europeans to designate the
Muslim inhabitants of the
Maghreb, the
Iberian Peninsula,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
and
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
.
Moors are not a distinct or
self-defined people. The 1911 ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
'' observed that the term had "no real
ethnological
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...
value." Europeans of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and the
early modern period variously applied the name to Arabs and North African Berbers, as well as Muslim Europeans.
The term has also been used in Europe in a broader, somewhat derogatory sense to refer to Muslims in general,
[Menocal, María Rosa (2002). ''Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain''. Little, Brown, & Co. , p. 241] especially those of Arab or Berber descent, whether living in Spain or North Africa. During the colonial era, the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
introduced the names "
Ceylon Moors" and "
Indian Moors
Indian Moors were a grouping of people who existed in Sri Lanka predominantly during its colonial period. They were distinguished by their Muslim faith whose origins traced back to the British Raj. Therefore, Indian Moors refer to a number of eth ...
" in South Asia and
Sri Lanka, and the
Bengali Muslims
Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...
were also called Moors. In the Philippines, the longstanding Muslim community, which predates the arrival of the Spanish, now self-identifies as the "
Moro people
The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro (lit. ''Moro nation'' or ''Moro country''). As Muslim-majorit ...
", an
exonym introduced by Spanish colonizers due to their Muslim faith.
In 711, troops mostly formed by Moors from northern Africa led the
Umayyad conquest of Hispania. The Iberian Peninsula then came to be known in
Classical Arabic as
al-Andalus, which at its peak included most of
Septimania and modern-day
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. In 827, the Moors occupied
Mazara
Mazara del Vallo (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Trapani, southwestern Sicily, Italy. It lies mainly on the left bank at the mouth of the Mazaro river.
It is an agricultural and fishing centre and its port gives shelter to the ...
on
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, developing it as a port. They eventually went on to
consolidate the rest of the island. Differences in religion and culture led to a centuries-long conflict with the
Christian kingdoms of Europe, which tried to reclaim control of Muslim areas; this conflict was referred to as the
Reconquista. In 1224, the Muslims were expelled from Sicily to the
settlement of Lucera, which was destroyed by European Christians in 1300. The
fall of Granada
The Granada War ( es, Guerra de Granada) was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1491 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It e ...
in 1492 marked the end of Muslim rule in Spain, although
a Muslim minority persisted until
their expulsion in 1609.
Name
Etymology
During the classical period, the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
interacted with, and later conquered, parts of
Mauretania, a state that covered modern northern
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
, western
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, and the Spanish cities
Ceuta and
Melilla. The
Berber tribes of the region were noted in the
Classics as ''
Mauri
Mauri (from which derives the English term "Moors") was the Latin designation for the Berber population of Mauretania, located in the part of North Africa west of Numidia, in present-day northern Morocco and northwestern Algeria.
Name
''Mauri'' ...
'', which was subsequently rendered as "Moors" in English and in related variations in other European languages. ''Mauri'' (Μαῦροι) is recorded as the native name by
Strabo in the early 1st century. This appellation was also adopted into Latin, whereas the Greek name for the tribe was ''Maurusii'' ( grc, Μαυρούσιοι). The Moors were also mentioned by
Tacitus as having revolted against the
Roman Empire in 24
AD.
During the Latin Middle Ages, ''Mauri'' was used to refer to Berbers and Arabs in the coastal regions of Northwest Africa.
The 16th century scholar
Leo Africanus
Joannes Leo Africanus (born al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan, ar, الحسن محمد الوزان ; c. 1494 – c. 1554) was an Andalusian diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later ...
(c. 1494–1554) identified the Moors (''Mauri'') as the native Berber inhabitants of the former
Roman Africa Province
Africa Proconsularis was a Roman province on the northern African coast that was established in 146 BC following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, ...
(
Roman Africans). He described Moors as one of five main population groups on the continent alongside
Egyptians,
Abyssinians (Abassins), Arabians and
Cafri (Cafates).
Modern meanings
In medieval
Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...
, variations of the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word for the Moors (for instance,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
: ''moro'',
French: ''maure'',
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
: ''mouro'',
Romanian: ''maur'') developed different applications and connotations. The term initially denoted a specific Berber people in western
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
, but the name acquired more general meaning during the medieval period, associated with "
Muslim", similar to associations with "
Saracens". During the context of the
Crusades and the
Reconquista, the term Moors included the derogatory suggestion of "infidels".
Apart from these historic associations and context, ''Moor'' and ''Moorish'' designate a specific ethnic group speaking
Hassaniya Arabic. They inhabit
Mauritania and parts of
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
,
Western Sahara,
Tunisia,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
,
Niger, and
Mali. In Niger and Mali, these peoples are also known as the
Azawagh Arabs
The Azawagh Arabs ( ar, عرب أزواغ) (also known as nomadic Moors) are nomadic ethnic Arab-ancestry tribes who are settling mainly in the area of Azawagh which is a dry basin covering what is today northwestern Niger, as well as parts of ...
, after the
Azawagh region of the Sahara.
The
authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language does not list any derogatory meaning for the word ''moro'', a term generally referring to people of
Maghrebian origin in particular or Muslims in general. Some authors have pointed out that in modern colloquial Spanish use of the term ''moro'' is derogatory for
Moroccans in particular and
Muslims in general.
In the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, a
former Spanish colony, many modern
Filipinos call the large,
local Muslim minority concentrated in
Mindanao and other southern islands ''
Moros
In Greek mythology, Moros /ˈmɔːrɒs/ or Morus /ˈmɔːrəs/ (Ancient Greek: Μόρος means 'doom, fate') is the 'hateful' personified spirit of impending doom, who drives mortals to their deadly fate. It was also said that Moros gave peop ...
''. The word is a catch-all term, as ''Moro'' may come from several distinct
ethno-linguistic groups such as the
Maranao people. The term was introduced by Spanish colonisers, and has since been appropriated by Filipino Muslims as an
endonym, with many self-identifying as members of the ''Bangsamoro'' "Moro Nation".
''
Moreno
Moreno may refer to:
Places Argentina
*Moreno (Buenos Aires Metro), a station on Line C of the Buenos Aires Metro
*Moreno, Buenos Aires, a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
* Moreno Department, a depatnent of Santiago del Estero Province, ...
'' can mean "dark-skinned" in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, and the Philippines. Also in Spanish, ''morapio'' is a humorous name for "wine", especially that which has not been "baptized" or mixed with water, i.e., pure unadulterated wine. Among Spanish speakers, ''moro'' came to have a broader meaning, applied to both Filipino Moros from Mindanao, and the
moriscos of
Granada. ''Moro'' refers to all things dark, as in "Moor", ''moreno'', etc. It was also used as a nickname; for instance, the
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
ese Duke
Ludovico Sforza was called ''Il Moro'' because of his dark complexion.
![Filà Marraqueix](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Fil%C3%A0_Marraqueix.jpg)
In Portugal, ''mouro'' (feminine,'' moura'') may refer to supernatural beings known as
enchanted ''moura'', where "Moor" implies "alien" and "non-Christian". These beings were siren-like fairies with golden or reddish hair and a fair face. They were believed to have magical properties. From this root, the name moor is applied to unbaptized children, meaning not Christian. In
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
, ''
mairu'' means moor and also refers to a mythical people.
Muslims located in
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
were distinguished by the Portuguese historians into two groups: Mouros da Terra ("Moors of the Land") and the Mouros da Arabia/Mouros de Meca ("Moors from Arabia/Mecca" or "Paradesi Muslims").
[Subrahmanyam, Sanjay."The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500-1650" Cambridge University Press, (2002)] The Mouros da Terra were either descendants of any native convert (mostly from any of the former lower or untouchable castes) to Islam or descendants of a marriage alliance between a Middle Eastern individual and an Indian woman.
Within the context of
Portuguese colonization, in
Sri Lanka (
Portuguese Ceylon
Portuguese Ceylon ( pt, Ceilão Português, Sinhala: පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව ''Puruthugisi Lankawa'', Tamil: போர்த்துக்கேய இலங்கை ''Porthukeya Ilankai'') is the name given to the territory ...
), Muslims of Arab origin are called ''Ceylon Moors'', not to be confused with "Indian Moors" of Sri Lanka (see
Sri Lankan Moors). Sri Lankan Moors (a combination of "Ceylon Moors" and "Indian Moors") make up 12% of the population. The Ceylon Moors (unlike the Indian Moors) are descendants of Arab traders who settled there in the mid-6th century. When the Portuguese arrived in the early 16th century, they labelled all the Muslims in the island as Moors as they saw some of them resembling the Moors in North Africa. The Sri Lankan government continues to identify the Muslims in Sri Lanka as "Sri Lankan Moors", sub-categorised into "Ceylon Moors" and "Indian Moors".
The
Goan Muslims
The Goan Muslims are a minority community who follow Islam in the Indian coastal state of Goa, some are also present in the union territory of Damaon, Diu& Silvassa. They are native to Goa, unlike recent Muslim migrants from mainland India and ...
— a minority community who follow
Islam in the western
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n coastal state of
Goa — are commonly referred as ''Moir'' ( knn, मैर) by
Goan Catholics and
Hindus. ''Moir'' is derived from the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
word ''mouro'' ("Moor").
Moors of the Maghreb
![Great Mosque of Kairouan Panorama - Grande Mosquée de Kairouan Panorama](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Great_Mosque_of_Kairouan_Panorama_-_Grande_Mosqu%C3%A9e_de_Kairouan_Panorama.jpg)
In the late 7th and early 8th centuries CE, the Islamic
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
, established after the death of Muhammad, underwent a period of rapid growth. In 647 CE, 40,000 Arabs forced the
Byzantine governor of northern Africa to submit and pay tribute, but failed to permanently occupy the region. After an interlude, during which the Muslims fought a
civil war, the invasions resumed in 665, seizing Byzantine North Africa up to
Bugia over the course of a series of campaigns, lasting until 689. A Byzantine counterattack largely expelled the Arabs but left the region vulnerable. Intermittent war over the inland provinces of North Africa continued for the next two decades. Further civil war delayed the continuation of further conquest, but an Arab assault took
Carthage and held it against a Byzantine counterattack.
Although a
Christian and
pagan Berber rebellion pushed out the Arabs temporarily, the Romanized urban population preferred the Arabs to the Berbers and welcomed a renewed and final conquest that left northern Africa in Muslim hands by 698. Over the next decades, the Berber and urban populations of northern Africa gradually converted to Islam, although for separate reasons.
[Lapidus, 200-201] The Arabic language was also adopted. Initially, the Arabs required only vassalage from the local inhabitants rather than assimilation, a process which took a considerable time.
The groups that inhabited the Maghreb following this process became known collectively as Moors. Although the Berbers would
later expel the Arabs from the Maghreb and form temporarily independent states, that effort failed to dislodge the usage of the collective term.
Modern use in parts of the Maghreb
The term has been applied at times to urban and
coastal
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...
populations of the
Maghreb, the term in these regions nowadays is rather used to denote the
Arab-Berber populations (occasionally somewhat mixed-race) living in
Western Sahara, and
Hassaniya-speaking populations, mainly in
Mauritania,
Western Sahara, and
Northwestern Mali.
Moors of Iberia
![Moorish ceiling at the Sala de los Reyes, Alhambra](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Moorish_ceiling_at_the_Sala_de_los_Reyes%2C_Alhambra.jpg)
In 711 the Islamic Arabs and Moors of Berber descent in
northern Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...
crossed the
Strait of Gibraltar onto the
Iberian Peninsula, and in a series of raids they conquered
Visigothic Christian
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...
. Their general,
Tariq ibn Ziyad
Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād ( ar, طارق بن زياد), also known simply as Tarik in English, was a Berber commander who served the Umayyad Caliphate and initiated the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) ...
, brought most of Iberia under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. They continued northeast across the
Pyrenees Mountains but were defeated by the
Franks under
Charles Martel
Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesm ...
at the
Battle of Tours
The Battle of Tours, also called the Battle of Poitiers and, by Arab sources, the Battle of tiles of Martyrs ( ar, معركة بلاط الشهداء, Maʿrakat Balāṭ ash-Shuhadā'), was fought on 10 October 732, and was an important battle ...
in 732.
The Maghreb fell into a
civil war in 739 that lasted until 743 known as the
Berber Revolt
The Berber Revolt of 740–743 AD (122–125 AH in the Islamic calendar) took place during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and marked the first successful secession from the Arab caliphate (ruled from Damascus). Fired up b ...
. The Berbers revolted against the
Umayyads, putting an end to Eastern dominion over the Maghreb. Despite racial tensions, Arabs and Berbers intermarried frequently. A few years later, the Eastern branch of the
Umayyad dynasty
Umayyad dynasty ( ar, بَنُو أُمَيَّةَ, Banū Umayya, Sons of Umayya) or Umayyads ( ar, الأمويون, al-Umawiyyūn) were the ruling family of the Caliphate between 661 and 750 and later of Al-Andalus between 756 and 1031. In t ...
was dethroned by the
Abbasids and the Umayyad Caliphate overthrown in the
Abbasid revolution (746-750).
Abd al-Rahman I, who was of
Arab-Berber lineage, managed to evade the Abbasids and flee to the Maghreb and then Iberia, where he founded the
Emirate of Córdoba and the
Andalusian branch of the Umayyad dynasty. The Moors ruled northern Africa and Al-Andalus for several centuries thereafter.
Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
, the polymath, mentions that many of the Caliphs in the Umayyad Caliphate and the
Caliphate of Córdoba were blond and had light eyes. Ibn Hazm mentions that he preferred blondes, and notes that there was much interest in blondes in al-Andalus amongst the rulers and regular Muslims:
![Cantigas battle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Cantigas_battle.jpg)
The languages spoken in the parts of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule were
Andalusian Arabic
Andalusi Arabic (), also known as Andalusian Arabic, was a variety or varieties of Arabic spoken mainly from the 9th to the 17th century in Al-Andalus, the regions of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) once under Muslim rule. It b ...
and
Mozarabic
Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...
; they became extinct after the
expulsion of the Moriscos, but
Arabic language influence on the Spanish language
Arabic influence on the Spanish language overwhelmingly dates from the Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula between 711 and 1492. The influence results mainly from the large number of Arabic loanwords and derivations in Spanish, plus a few other ...
can still be found today. The Muslims were resisted in parts of the Iberian Peninsula in areas of the northwest (such as
Asturias
Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain.
It is coextensiv ...
, where they were defeated at the battle of
Covadonga) and the largely
Basque Country in the
Pyrenees. Though the number of Moorish colonists was small, many
native Iberian inhabitants converted to Islam. By 1000, according to
Ronald Segal, some 5,000,000 of Iberia's 7,000,000 inhabitants, most of them descended from indigenous Iberian converts, were Muslim. There were also
Sub-Saharan Africans who had been absorbed into al-Andalus to be used as soldiers and
slaves. The Berber and Sub-Saharan African soldiers were known as "tangerines" because they were imported through
Tangier.
The Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed in 1031 and the Islamic territory in Iberia fell under the rule of the
Almohad Caliphate in 1153. This second stage was guided by a version of Islam that left behind the more tolerant practices of the past. Al-Andalus broke up into a number of
taifas (fiefs), which were partly consolidated under the Caliphate of Córdoba.
![MoorandChristianBattle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/MoorandChristianBattle.png)
The
Kingdom of Asturias, a small northwestern Christian Iberian kingdom, initiated the ''
Reconquista'' ("Reconquest") soon after the Islamic conquest in the 8th century. Christian states based in the north and west slowly extended their power over the rest of Iberia. The
Kingdom of Navarre, the
Kingdom of Galicia, the
Kingdom of León, the
Kingdom of Portugal, the
Kingdom of Aragon, the ''
Marca Hispánica'', and the
Crown of Castile began a process of expansion and internal consolidation during the next several centuries under the flag of Reconquista. In 1212, a coalition of Christian kings under the leadership of
Alfonso VIII of Castile drove the Muslims from Central Iberia. The Portuguese side of the Reconquista ended in 1249 with the conquest of the
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has it ...
( ar, الغرب –
''al-Gharb'') under
Afonso III
Afonso III (; rare English alternatives: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse''), or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin), the Boulonnais ( Port. ''o Bolonhês''), King of Portugal ( ...
. He was the first Portuguese monarch to claim the title "
King of Portugal and the Algarve".
The Moorish
Kingdom of Granada
)
, common_languages = Official language:Classical ArabicOther languages: Andalusi Arabic, Mozarabic, Berber, Ladino
, capital = Granada
, religion = Majority religion:Sunni IslamMinority religions:Roman ...
continued for three more centuries in southern Iberia. On 2 January 1492, the leader of the last Muslim stronghold in
Granada surrendered to the armies of a recently united Christian Spain (after the marriage of
Ferdinand II of Aragón and
Isabella I of Castile, the "
Catholic Monarchs
The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...
"). The Moorish inhabitants received no military aid or rescue from other Muslim nations.
The remaining Jews were also forced to leave Spain, convert to Roman Catholic Christianity, or be killed for refusing to do so. In 1480, to exert social and religious control, Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to allow the
Inquisition in Spain. The Muslim population of Granada
rebelled in 1499. The revolt lasted until early 1501, giving the Castilian authorities an excuse to void the terms of the
Treaty of Granada (1491)
The Treaty of Granada, also known as the Capitulation of Granada or simply the Capitulations, was signed and ratified on November 25, 1491, between Boabdil, the sultan of Granada, and Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Castile, Leó ...
. In 1501, Castilian authorities delivered an ultimatum to the Muslims of Granada: they could either convert to Christianity or be expelled.
![Alhambra Dec 2004 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Alhambra_Dec_2004_5.jpg)
The Inquisition was aimed mostly at Jews and Muslims who had overtly converted to Christianity but were thought to be practicing their faiths secretly. They were respectively called ''
marranos'' and ''moriscos''. However, in 1567 King
Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
directed Moriscos to give up their Arabic names and traditional dress, and prohibited the use of
Arabic. In reaction, there was a
Morisco uprising in the
Alpujarras
The Alpujarra (, Arabic: ''al-bussarat'') is a natural and historical region in Andalusia, Spain, on the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the adjacent valley. The average elevation is above sea level. It extends over two provinces, ...
from 1568 to 1571. In the years from 1609 to 1614, the government expelled Moriscos. The historian Henri Lapeyre estimated that this affected 300,000 out of an estimated total of 8 million inhabitants.
Some Muslims converted to Christianity and remained permanently in Iberia. This is indicated by a "high mean proportion of ancestry from North African (10.6%)" that "attests to a high level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced), driven by historical episodes of social and religious intolerance, that ultimately led to the integration of descendants." According to historian
Richard A. Fletcher
Richard Alexander Fletcher (28 March 1944, in York, England – 28 February 2005, in Nunnington, England) was a historian who specialised in the medieval period.
Early years
Richard Fletcher was the eldest child and only son of Alexander Kendal ...
, "the number of Arabs who settled in Iberia was very small. 'Moorish' Iberia does at least have the merit of reminding us that the bulk of the invaders and settlers were Moors, i.e., Berbers from Algeria and Morocco."
In the meantime, Spanish and Portuguese
expeditions
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
westward from the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
spread Christianity to India, the
Malay peninsula,
Indonesia, and the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. By 1521, the ships of
Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East ...
had reached that island archipelago, which they named ''Las Islas Filipinas'', after
Philip II of Spain. In
Mindanao, the Spaniards named the
kris-bearing people as
Moros
In Greek mythology, Moros /ˈmɔːrɒs/ or Morus /ˈmɔːrəs/ (Ancient Greek: Μόρος means 'doom, fate') is the 'hateful' personified spirit of impending doom, who drives mortals to their deadly fate. It was also said that Moros gave peop ...
or 'Moors'. Today this ethnic group in Mindanao, who are generally Filipino Muslim, are called "Moros".
Moors of Sicily
![MuslimMusiciansAtTheCourtOfRoger](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/MuslimMusiciansAtTheCourtOfRoger.JPG)
The first Muslim conquest of Sicily began in 827, though it was not until 902 that almost the entire island was in the control of the
Aghlabids, with the exception of some minor strongholds in the rugged interior. During that period some parts of southern Italy fell under Muslim control, most notably the port city of
Bari, which formed the
Emirate of Bari
The Emirate of Bari was a short-lived Islamic state in Apulia ruled by non-Arabs, probably Berbers and Black Africans. Controlled from the South Italian city of Bari, it was established about 847 when the region was taken from the Byzantine Empire, ...
from 847 to 871. In 909, the
Aghlabids was replaced by the
Isma'ili
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...
rulers of the
Fatimid Caliphate. Four years later, the Fatimid governor was ousted from Palermo when the island declared its independence under Emir Ahmed ibn-Kohrob. The language spoken in Sicily under Muslim rule was
Siculo-Arabic.
In 1038, a
Byzantine army under
George Maniakes
George Maniakes (, transliterated as Georgios Maniaces, Maniakis, or Maniaches, , ; died 1043) was a prominent general of the Byzantine Empire of Byzantine Greek origin
during the 11 ...
crossed the strait of Messina. This army included a corps of
Normans
The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...
that saved the situation in the first clash against the Muslims from Messina. After another decisive victory in the summer of 1040, Maniaces halted his march to lay siege to
Syracuse. Despite his success, Maniaces was removed from his position, and the subsequent Muslim counter-offensive reconquered all the cities captured by the Byzantines.
The Norman
Robert Guiscard, son of Tancred, invaded Sicily in 1060. The island was split between three Arab emirs, and the Christian population in many parts of the island rose up against the ruling Muslims. One year later, Messina fell, and in 1072 Palermo was taken by the Normans. The loss of the cities, each with a splendid harbor, dealt a severe blow to Muslim power on the island. Eventually all of Sicily was taken. In 1091, Noto in the southern tip of Sicily and the island of Malta, the last Arab strongholds, fell to the Christians. Islamic authors noted the tolerance of the Norman kings of Sicily.
Ali ibn al-Athir wrote: "They
he Muslims
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
were treated kindly, and they were protected, even against the
Franks. Because of that, they had great love for King Roger."
The Muslim problem characterized Hohenstaufen rule in Sicily under Holy Roman Emperors
Henry VI and his son,
Frederick II. Many repressive measures were introduced by Frederick II to appease the popes, who were intolerant of Islam in the heart of
Christendom. This resulted in a rebellion by Sicilian Muslims, which in turn triggered organized resistance and systematic reprisals and marked the final chapter of Islam in Sicily. The complete eviction of Muslims and the annihilation of Islam in Sicily was completed by the late 1240s when the final deportations to
Lucera took place.
The remaining population of Sicilian Muslims converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
due to the incentives put in place by Fredrich II. Some Muslims from Lucera would also later convert due to oppression on the mainland and had their property returned to them and returned to Sicily.
During the reigns of Frederick II as well as his son,
Manfred, a large amount of Muslims were brought, as slaves, to farm lands and perform domestic labor.
Enslaved persons in Sicily were not afforded the same privileges as the Muslims in mainland Italy. The trend of importing a considerable amount of slaves from the Muslim world did not stop with the
Hohenstaufen but was amplified under the
Aragonese and
Spanish crowns, and was in fact continued until as late as 1838 The majority of which would also come receive the label 'Moors'
Architecture
Moorish architecture is the
articulated
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...
Islamic architecture of northern Africa and parts of Spain and Portugal, where the Moors were dominant between 711 and 1492. The best surviving examples of this architectural tradition are the
Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba
The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba ( es, Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba), officially known by its ecclesiastical name, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption ( es, Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción), is the cathedral of the Roman C ...
and the Alhambra in Granada (mainly 1338–1390),
[Curl p. 502.] as well as the
Giralda in Seville (1184).
[Pevsner, ''The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture''.] Other notable examples include the ruined
palace city of
Medina Azahara
Madinat al-Zahra or Medina Azahara ( ar, مدينة الزهراء, translit=Madīnat az-Zahrā, lit=the radiant city) was a fortified palace-city on the western outskirts of Córdoba in present-day Spain. Its remains are a major archaeological ...
(936–1010) and the
Mosque of Cristo de la Luz, now a church, in
Toledo, the
Aljafería in
Zaragoza and baths such as those at
Ronda
Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...
and
Alhama de Granada
Alhama de Granada is a town in the province of Granada, approx. 50 km from the city of Granada. The name is derived from the thermal baths located there, which are called ''al-hammah'' in Arabic.
History
There is clear evidence that the ...
.
In heraldry
![Canynges arms on the tomb of William II Canynges and Joan Burton, St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, UK - 20101015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Canynges_arms_on_the_tomb_of_William_II_Canynges_and_Joan_Burton%2C_St_Mary_Redcliffe%2C_Bristol%2C_UK_-_20101015.jpg)
Moors—or more frequently their heads, often crowned—appear with some frequency in medieval European
heraldry, though less so since the Middle Ages. The term ascribed to them in
Anglo-Norman ''
blazon'' (the language of English heraldry) is ''maure'', though they are also sometimes called ''moore'', ''blackmoor'', ''blackamoor'' or ''negro''.
Maure
A Moor's head, since the 11th century, is a symbol depicting the head of a black moor.
Origin
The precise origin of the Moor's head is a subject of controversy. But the most likely explanation is that it is derived from the heraldic war flag ...
s appear in European heraldry from at least as early as the 13th century,
and some have been attested as early as the 11th century in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
where they have persisted in the local
heraldry and
vexillology well into modern times in
Corsica and
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
.
![Royal Standard of Nasrid Dynasty Kingdom of Grenade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Royal_Standard_of_Nasrid_Dynasty_Kingdom_of_Grenade.svg)
Armigers bearing moors or moors' heads may have adopted them for any of several reasons, to include symbolizing military victories in the
Crusades, as a pun on the bearer's name in the
canting arms of Morese, Negri, Saraceni, etc., or in the case of
Frederick II, possibly to demonstrate the reach of his empire.
The
arms of Pope Benedict XVI feature a moor's head, crowned and collared red, in reference to the arms of
Freising, Germany. In the case of Corsica and Sardinia, the blindfolded moors' heads in the four quarters have long been said to represent the four Moorish emirs who were defeated by
Peter I of Aragon and Pamplona in the 11th century, the four moors' heads around a cross having been adopted to the arms of Aragon around 1281–1387, and Corsica and Sardinia having come under the dominion of the king of Aragon in 1297. In Corsica, the blindfolds were lifted to the brow in the 18th century as a way of expressing the island's newfound independence.
The use of Moors (and particularly their heads) as a heraldic symbol has been deprecated in modern
North America. For example, the College of Arms of the
Society for Creative Anachronism
The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...
urges applicants to use them delicately to avoid causing offence.
In popular culture
* The title character in William Shakespeare's play ''
Othello'', and the derived title character in Verdi's opera ''
Otello'', is a Moor. A lesser-known Moorish character, Aaron, appears in Shakespeare's earlier tragedy ''
Titus Andronicus
''Titus Andronicus'' is a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emul ...
''.
* The
Second Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
song
¡Ay Carmela!
''¡Ay Carmela! '' is a 1990 Spanish comedy-drama film directed by Carlos Saura and based on the eponymous play by José Sanchís Sinisterra. The film stars Carmen Maura, Andrés Pajares, and Gabino Diego as a trio of travelling players perfor ...
talks about the moors fighting alongside
Francisco Franco
*
Morgan Freeman's character Azeem in the 1991 film ''
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' is a Moor whom Robin Hood saves from prison.
* The 2009 documentary film ''
Journey to Mecca
''Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta'' is an IMAX ("giant screen") dramatised documentary film charting the first real-life journey made by the Islamic scholar Ibn Battuta from his native Morocco to Mecca for the Hajj ( Muslim pil ...
'' follows the travels of the Moorish explorer
Ibn Battuta from his native country of
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
for the
Hajj in 1325.
Notable Moors
![AverroesColor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/AverroesColor.jpg)
*
Tariq ibn Ziyad
Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād ( ar, طارق بن زياد), also known simply as Tarik in English, was a Berber commander who served the Umayyad Caliphate and initiated the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) ...
, Moorish general who defeated the
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
and
conquered Hispania in 711
*
Abd ar-Rahman I, founder of the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
Emirate of
Córdoba in 756; along with its succeeding
Caliphate of Córdoba, the dynasty ruled
Islamic Iberia
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mus ...
for three centuries.
*
Ibn al-Qūṭiyya
Ibn al-Qūṭiyya (, died 6 November 977), born Muḥammad Ibn ʿUmar Ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʾIbrāhīm ibn ʿIsā ibn Muzāḥim (), also known as Abu Bakr or al-Qurtubi ("the Córdoban"), was an Andalusian historian and the greatest philologi ...
, Andalusian historian and
grammarian.
*
Yahya al-Laithi Abu Muhammad Yahya ibn Yahya ibn Kathir ibn Wislasen ibn Shammal ibn Mangaya al-Laythi () (died 848), better known as Yahya ibn Yahya, was a prominent Andalusian Muslim scholar. He was responsible for spreading the Maliki school of jurisprudence in ...
, Andalusian scholar who introduced the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
school of jurisprudence in Al-Andalus.
*
Abbas ibn Firnas
Abu al-Qasim Abbas ibn Firnas ibn Wirdas al-Takurini ( ar, أبو القاسم عباس بن فرناس بن ورداس التاكرني; c. 809/810 – 887 A.D.), also known as Abbas ibn Firnas ( ar, عباس ابن فرناس), Latinized Armen ...
, 810–887,
Berber inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
, poet, and scientist in the
Emirate of Córdoba.
*
Maslama al-Majriti
Abu al-Qasim Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Majriti ( ar, أبو القاسم مسلمة بن أحمد المجريطي: c. 950–1007), known or Latin as , was an Arab Muslim astronomer, chemist, mathematician, economist and Scholar in Islamic Spain, ac ...
, died 1007, Andalusian writer believed to have been the author of the ''
Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity'' and the ''
Picatrix
''Picatrix'' is the Latin name used today for a 400-page book of magic and astrology originally written in Arabic under the title ''Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm'' ( ar, غاية الحكيم), which most scholars assume was originally written in the midd ...
''.
*
Al-Zahrawi
Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn al-'Abbās al-Zahrāwī al-Ansari ( ar, أبو القاسم خلف بن العباس الزهراوي; 936–1013), popularly known as al-Zahrawi (), Latinised as Albucasis (from Arabic ''Abū al-Qāsim''), was ...
(Abulcasis),
Andalusian physician and surgeon whose work ''
Al-Tasrif'', published in 1000, remained influential for centuries.
*
Said Al-Andalusi
Ṣāʿid al-Andalusī (); he was Abū al-Qāsim Ṣāʿid ibn Abū al-Walīd Aḥmad ibn Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṣāʿid ibn ʿUthmān al-Taghlibi al-Qūrtūbi () (1029July 6, 1070 AD; 4206 Shawwal, 462 AH); an Arab qadi of Toledo ...
, 1029–1070, Andalusian
Qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
, historian, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer.
*
Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Arzachel), 1029–1087,
Andalusian astronomer and engineer who developed the
equatorium
An equatorium (plural, equatoria) is an astronomical calculating instrument. It can be used for finding the positions of the Moon, Sun, and planets without arithmetic operations, using a geometrical model to represent the position of a given c ...
and universal (latitude-independent)
astrolabe and compiled a ''
Zij
A zij ( fa, زيج, zīj) is an Islamic astronomical book that tabulates parameters used for astronomical calculations of the positions of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets.
Etymology
The name ''zij'' is derived from the Middle Persian term ' ...
'' later used as a basis for the ''
Tables of Toledo
The ''Toledan Tables'', or ''Tables of Toledo'', were astronomical tables which were used to predict the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets relative to the fixed stars. They were a collection of mathematic tables that describe different aspe ...
''.
*
Artephius Artephius (or Artefius) (c. 1150) is a writer to whom a number of alchemical texts are ascribed. Although the roots of the texts are unclear and the identity of their author obscure, at least some of them are Arabic in origin. He is named as the aut ...
, a writer to whom a number of
alchemical
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
texts are ascribed.
*
Ibn Bajjah
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyà ibn aṣ-Ṣā’igh at-Tūjībī ibn Bājja ( ar, أبو بكر محمد بن يحيى بن الصائغ التجيبي بن باجة), best known by his Latinised name Avempace (; – 1138), was an A ...
(Avempace), died 1138,
Andalusian physicist and
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
whose theory of motion, including the concept of a
reaction
Reaction may refer to a process or to a response to an action, event, or exposure:
Physics and chemistry
*Chemical reaction
*Nuclear reaction
* Reaction (physics), as defined by Newton's third law
*Chain reaction (disambiguation).
Biology and m ...
force, influenced the development of
classical mechanics
Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classi ...
.
*
Ibn Zuhr
Abū Marwān ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Zuhr ( ar, أبو مروان عبد الملك بن زهر), traditionally known by his Latinized name Avenzoar (; 1094–1162), was an Arab physician, surgeon, and poet. He was born at Seville in medieval And ...
(Avenzoar), 1091–1161, Andalusian physician and polymath who discovered the existence of
parasite
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
s and pioneered
experiment
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...
al surgery.
*
Muhammad al-Idrisi
Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي القرطبي الحسني السبتي; la, Dreses; 1100 – 1165), was a Muslim geographer, cartogra ...
, circa 1100–1166,
Moorish geographer and polymath who drew the ''
Tabula Rogeriana
The ''Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāq'' ( ar, نزهة المشتاق في اختراق الآفاق, lit. "The Book of Pleasant Journeys into Faraway Lands"), commonly known in the West as the ''Tabula Rogeriana'' (lit. "''The Book of ...
'', the most accurate world map in pre-modern times.
*
Ibn Tufail
Ibn Ṭufail (full Arabic name: ; Latinized form: ''Abubacer Aben Tofail''; Anglicized form: ''Abubekar'' or ''Abu Jaafar Ebn Tophail''; c. 1105 – 1185) was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath: a writer, Islamic philosopher, Islamic the ...
, circa 1105–1185,
Arabic writer and polymath who wrote ''
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan
''Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān'' () is an Arabic philosophical novel and an allegorical tale written by Ibn Tufail (c. 1105 – 1185) in the early 12th century in Al-Andalus. Names by which the book is also known include the ('The Self-Taught Philosop ...
'', a
philosophical novel
Philosophical fiction refers to the class of works of fiction which devote a significant portion of their content to the sort of questions normally addressed in philosophy. These might explore any facet of the human condition, including the funct ...
.
*
Averroes
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an
Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psy ...
(Ibn Rushd), 1126–1198,
classical Islamic philosopher and polymath who wrote ''
The Incoherence of the Incoherence
''The Incoherence of the Incoherence'' ( ar, تهافت التهافت ''Tahāfut al-Tahāfut'') by Andalusian Muslim polymath and philosopher Averroes (Arabic , ''ibn Rushd'', 1126–1198) is an important Islamic philosophical treatise in w ...
'' and several
Aristotelian commentaries, and established the school of
Averroism.
*
Ibn al-Baitar
Diyāʾ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Mālaqī, commonly known as Ibn al-Bayṭār () (1197–1248 AD) was an Andalusian Arab physician, botanist, pharmacist and scientist. His main contribution was to systematically record ...
, died 1248,
Andalusian botanist and pharmacist who compiled the most extensive
pharmacopoeia
A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea (from the obsolete typography ''pharmacopœia'', meaning "drug-making"), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published by ...
and botanical compilation in pre-modern times.
*
Ibn Khaldun, who wrote about
sociology, historiography and
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
in the ''
Muqaddimah
The ''Muqaddimah'', also known as the ''Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun'' ( ar, مقدّمة ابن خلدون) or ''Ibn Khaldun's Prolegomena'' ( grc, Προλεγόμενα), is a book written by the Arab historian Ibn Khaldun in 1377 which records ...
'' in 1377.
*
Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī
Abū'l-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Qurashī al-Qalaṣādī ( ar, أبو الحسن علي بن محمد بن علي القرشي البسطي; 1412–1486) was a Muslim Arab mathematician from Al-Andalus specializing in Is ...
, 1412–1486,
Moorish mathematician who helped popularize
algebraic symbolism.
*
Leo Africanus
Joannes Leo Africanus (born al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan, ar, الحسن محمد الوزان ; c. 1494 – c. 1554) was an Andalusian diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later ...
, 1494–1554, Andalusian geographer, author and diplomat, who was captured by Spanish
pirates and sold as a slave, but later baptized and freed.
*
Estevanico
Estevanico ("Little Stephen"; modern spelling Estebanico; –1539), also known as Esteban de Dorantes or Mustafa Azemmouri (مصطفى الزموري), was the first African to explore North America.
Estevanico first appears as a slave in Portu ...
, also referred to as "Stephen the Moor", was an explorer in the service of Spain of what is now the southwest of the United States.
*
Ibn Battuta, an Islamic scholar and Moorish explorer who is generally considered one of the greatest travellers of all time.
*
Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
, a Moorish polymath who was considered one of the leading thinkers of the
Muslim World
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
and is widely acknowledged as the father of
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...
studies.
*
Ibn Idhari
Abū al-ʽAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʽIḏārī al-Marrākushī ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد ابن عذاري المراكشي) was a Moroccan historian of the late-13th/early-14th century, and author of the famous ''Al-Bayan al-M ...
, a Moorish historian who was the author of (
Al-Bayan al-Mughrib) an important medieval text on the history of the
Maghreb and
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
.
*
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , ' Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influen ...
,
Andalusian Sufi mystic and philosopher.
*
Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi
Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi or, in full Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn al-ʿArabī al-Maʿāfirī al-Ishbīlī ( ar, أبو بكر محمّد ابن عبدالله ابن العربى المعافرى الأسفلى) born in Sevilla in 1076 ...
, a judge and
scholar
A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...
of
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
law from
al-Andalus.
See also
Notes
*...''Hindu Kristao Moir sogle bhau''- Hindus, Christians and Muslims are all brothers...
References
Bibliography
:''This section's bibliographical information is not fully provided. If you know these sources and can provide full information, you can help Wikipedia by completing it.''
* Jan R. Carew. ''Rape of Paradise: Columbus and the birth of racism in America''. Brooklyn, NY: A&B Books, c. 1994.
* David Brion Davis, "Slavery: White, Black, Muslim, Christian." ''New York Review of Books'', vol. 48, #11 July 5, 2001. Do not have exact pages.
* Herodotus, ''The Histories''
* Shomark O. Y. Keita, "Genetic Haplotypes in North Africa"
* Shomarka O. Y. Keita, "Studies of ancient crania from northern Africa." ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology'' 83:35-48 1990.
* Shomarka O. Y. Keita, "Further studies of crania from ancient northern Africa: an analysis of crania from First Dynasty Egyptian tombs, using multiple discriminant functions." ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology'' 87: 345–54, 1992.
* Shomarka O. Y. Keita, "Black Athena: race, Bernal and Snowden." ''Arethusa'' 26: 295–314, 1993.
* Bernard Lewis, "The Middle East".
* Bernard Lewis. ''The Muslim Discovery of Europe''. NY: Norton, 1982. Also an article with the same title published in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London 20(1/3): 409–16, 1957.
* Bernard Lewis, "Race and Slavery in Islam".
* Stanley Lane-Poole, assisted by E. J. W. Gibb and Arthur Gilman. ''The Story of Turkey''. NY: Putnam, 1888.
* Stanley Lane-Poole. ''The Story of the Barbary Corsairs''. NY: Putnam,1890.
* Stanley Lane-Poole, ''The History of the Moors in Spain''.
* J. A. (Joel Augustus) Rogers. ''Nature Knows No Color Line: research into the Negro ancestry in the white race''. New York: 1952.
* Ronald Segal.
Islam's Black Slaves: the other Black diaspora'. NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2001.
* Frank Snowden. Before Color Prejudice: the ancient view of blacks. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Univ. Press, 1983.
* Frank Snowden. ''Blacks in antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman experience''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1970.
* David M. Goldenberg. ''The Curse of Ham: race and slavery in early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, c2003.
* Lucotte and Mercier, various genetic studies
* Eva Borreguero. "The Moors Are Coming, the Moors Are Coming! Encounters with Muslims in Contemporary Spain." p. 417-32 in ''Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations'', 2006, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 417–32.
External links
"The Moors" by Ross Brann, published on New York University website
a
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
article.
Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia(2006)
Paper presented at an International Conference Organized by The Postgraduate School of Critical Theory and Cultural Studies, University of Nottingham, and The British Council, Morocco, 12–14 April 2001.
Africans in Medieval & Renaissance Art: The Moor's Head Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
(n.d)
* Sean Cavazos-Kottke
Othello's Predecessors: Moors in Renaissance Popular Literature (outline).
Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materi ...
, 1998.
{{Authority control
Medieval Portugal
Ifriqiya
Medieval Algeria
Medieval Morocco
Emirate of Sicily
History of Al-Andalus
Arabs
Arabs in Portugal
Arabs in Spain
Berber
Berbers in Portugal
Berbers in Spain