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Moors in Spain: A Height of a Muslim Nation

When you think of medieval Europe, you usually think of knights, castles, and the church. Rarely,

though, do you think of the Moors, the powerful, benevolent rulers of Spain for nearly 700 years.

While the rest of Europe was still struggling with Feudalism and food shortages, Moorish Spain was a

center of culture, science, and trade. The illustrious Moors brought to the dry Spanish plains irrigationsystems imported from Syria, transforming the area into a rich agricultural cornucopia. Foods

introduced by the Moors were pomegranates, oranges, lemons, aubergines, sugar-cane, cotton, rice,

figs, grapes, and many others. The Moorish conquest and subsequent colonization of Spain had manyeffects on Spanish and European culture.

In the early 8th century Moorish soldiers crossed over to Spain from North Africa. The 10,000 manarmy was lead by Tarik bin Ziyad, who in 711 AD won a major victory over the defenders of the

Iberian peninsula. After this quick victory Tarik ran like a plague through the Iberian Peninsula andafter a month had ended European dominance there. Musa bin Nusayr, the Arab governor of North

Africa, crossed over with 18,000 men to help subdue the peninsula. In the aftermath of the Arab

conquest thousands of eager Arabs flooded into the newly conquered emirate. This quick and easyconquest could not have been accomplished without the events of 755. At that time the current rulers of

Spain were the Visigoths. In 755 the Visigothic King was engaged in a power struggle with his half-

brother, who had claimed the thrown for himself. To subdue this usurper, the King asked for aid from

the Witiza family, a powerful and influential clan in Morocco. The clan agreed and helped in capturingand beheading the usurper. Meanwhile, as the king was busy quelling the rebellion, he was not winning

any popularity contests. The Arabs in turn made pacts with local nobles, who agreed that they wouldwithhold support from the king when the Moors invaded. These agreements, together with theindigenous population's apathy, lead to the speedy take over of Spain.

By the beginning of the 9th century, Spain had become the gem of Europe with its bristling capital at

Cordoba. At a time when London was no more than a wide spot in the road, Cordoba boasted a half-

million citizens, 700 mosques, 300 public baths, and over 70 libraries. The twenty-one suburbs hadpaved and lit streets, with marble and mosaic floors and balconies. Artificial gardens and fountains

graced the city proper, and paper, still unheard of to the west, was in ample supply.

Nearing the end of the 1st Millennium, Cordoba was the intellectual center of Europe. Students from all

over Europe came to be taught by Arab, Christian, and Jewish scholars in the great Library of Cordoba,

which held over 600,000 manuscripts. The rich and complex society had a tolerant view of other faiths.Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived together in harmony, and the society had a literary base. Private

land ownership was encouraged, as well as banking among Jews. Non-believers in the Muslim faithwere simply levied a special tax. Unfortunately, rifts began to form within Arabic Spain, and in 1013

Cordoba fell to a Muslim faction with fanatical religious beliefs. The great library of Cordoba was

torched, and many inhabitants fled the once brilliant city. Luckily, most of the books were spared theflame and were dispersed among the surrounding towns.

As the Moors were fighting and dividing, the Christians in the north were doing the opposite. In the

northern areas of Spain, Christian kingdoms united to drive the Moors from the European continent. In

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1105 the Christians captured Toledo, where the Muslims held vast libraries of Greek, Roman, andArabic books on philosophy and mathematics. These books included the classics of Rome and Greece,

lost to the west for hundreds of years. The intellectual plunder lead to scholars from all over Europe to

come to Toledo. Using Jewish interpreters, the scholars translated the Arabic books, and these works

left lasting jealousies on the scholars of Europe. The texts included medicine, astrology, astronomy,pharmacology, psychology, physics, physiology, zoology, biology, botany, mineralogy, optics,

chemistry, mathematics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, music, meteorology, geography, mechanics,

hydrostasis, navigation, and history. These transcripts helped to light the fire of the renaissance. Whilethe intellectual plunder of Toledo was being studied by European scholars, the Moors were being

pushed back by Christian armies. As every new enclave was taken, more information was seized and

translated. In 1234 the Moors were reduced into the Vassal state of Granada, which fell in 1492. Withthis victory, the intolerant Spaniards killed or exiled all Arab or Jewish people who had retreated into

Granada.

The Moors left a lasting impact on Spain as well as all of Europe. Because of the flood of information

gained, the first universities sprang up and degrees were developed. Directly from the Moors we get theArabic number system still in use today. Also, the concept of zero was gained. Arabic music spread

giving us the keyboard, flute, and harmony. The new agricultural crops gave the Spanish reason to

create vast sugar cane and cotton plantations in the new world. Mathematics and architecture werederived, and optics lead to the use of perspective in painting. The first lawyers began to practice, andfood utensils were beginning to gain favor. As a result of centuries of Moorish domination, many words

from Arabic, the language of Islam, are now used in Spanish. One example is "almirante," Spanish for

admiral, derived from Arabic amir-al-bahr ("prince of the sea"). Many Spanish words beginning with"al" are derived from Arabic articles. Another example of Arabic influence on the Spanish Language is

the word wadi, Arabic for river. Wadi is found in many Spanish river names such as Guadalajara and

Guadalquivir. Altogether the Moors had major impact on Spanish and European culture.