Who doesn't love a heartwarming tale? Well, how about a story about a group of wise, kind men who conquer a land filled with uncivilized folks and bring them into a more advanced way of life? They even add in some nifty new technologies, religious tolerance, and universal education. By the time these benevolent conquerors are finished, the people are living in prosperity and the whole country is experiencing a golden age. Sounds like a fairy tale, right? But it's all true! These are the top ten amazing facts about the Moors' rule of Spain in the 8th century.
10 - Count Julian's Revenge
It's always fascinating why one group of men seeks to conquer another. Is it just the search for spoils or for some other reason? In the case of the Moors conquering Spain many would say it was simply for religious reasons, for there was not great wealth to be attained in the undeveloped Visigoth controlled region. However, legend has it that an ally of King Roderick, Count Julian of Ceuta (a Moroccan outpost), betrayed the Gothic king to the Moors because he broke a sacred oath of hospitality.
Roderick had invited the Count's daughter to his country to take advantage of its cultural and educational opportunities. Once there, Roderick impregnates Florinda, the Count Julian's daughter. And in an understandable rage, Julian recovers his daughter and plots revenge. Just, in this case, retaliation included no longer protecting the Goth's flank from the Moors, the area known as Gibraltar.
In 711, Julian's forces assist Tariq, the governor of Tangier, in landing on Gibraltar with 7,000 men. Roderick's army is defeated on the Guadelete river on July 23, 711. Now, some legends have it that Roderick, the last king of the Goths, drowned in the river, while other legends have him in hiding for the rest of his life. However the end came, the Spanish people did not put up much resistance to the conquering Moors. You see, the people were not treated well under the Goths. Taxes were high and persecution frequented at the hand of the cruel and undisciplined Goth king.
9 - Abd al-Rahman - Spain's First Moorish Ruler
Somewhere in this story is a great tale of tragedy and triumph, but this is the life of the first Moorish ruler of Andalus - Moorish Spain. Abd al-Rahman was born in 731 to a Syrian Muslim father and Moroccan mother as a member of the Omeyyad ruling family. After his family was almost completely exterminated, al-Rahman fled Syria and eventually found refuge with his mother's people who were Berber's - an indigenous people of Africa.
An ambitious young man, he found his way to Andalus which had just been conquered by the Moors and continued to have unrest as various factions continued to seek power. After acquiring support due to his royal pedigree, he was able to capture Cordoba and installed himself as ruler in 756 AD.
In spite of occasional civil unrest, al-Rahman is revealed to be a most able leader and ferocious foe. His government was highly centralized, responsive to the people and based on merit. There was religious tolerance to Muslims, Jew and Christian alike without fear of forceful conversion. The roads, bridges, and acequias (water systems) were constructed and well-maintained. And lastly, a standing army was raised to maintain the peace of the people. Al-Rahman's Omeyyads ruled Moorish Spain from 756 until 1031 AD [9b]and during this time Moorish Spain became the richest country in Europe.
8 - Cordoba - Capitol of Moorish Spain
When Cordoba was captured by Abd al-Rahman I in 756, it was the center of an unimpressive Gothic presence. But after two centuries under Moorish rule, Cordoba becomes not only the capital of Moorish Spain - Andalus, it boasts being the most prosperous city in all of Europe.
In 800 AD, Cordoba was just a mega-city with a population of 200,000 when most large European cities could only support tens of thousands of souls. With 27 schools, 50 hospitals, 900 public baths, 80,000 shops and 200,000 houses, it was not only the economic center of Andalus, but the center of a thriving social and cultural dynamo considered to be one the most sophisticated cities of its day.
With fortified high walls, the city was clean and well decorated with narrow well-lit streets. But at the center of this jewel of Moorish Spain was a unifying communal structure - the Mosque of Cordoba that served as a beacon for enlightened thought for over two centuries, when most of Europe was in the dark ages.
However by the 10th century, it was the most prosperous city in Europe, under the leadership of Abd al-Rahman III, with the learned of every creed and religion living side by side in relative peace. In any event, the 13th century brought the recapture Cordoba, by the Christians, it also brought the once great Cordoba's descent into historical obscurity.
7 - Education
One of the most remarkable things about Moorish Spain was their passion for the cultivation of knowledge and their universal system of education. Believing that an educated population makes for a successful people, the Moors set out to create an educational system that challenged the system from the Omeyyad's former rule in Syria.
With a curriculum that included, mathematics, astronomy, art, languages, and philosophy, the Moors were able to create a population with the highest literacy rate in Europe. Coupled with practical skills instruction in agriculture, irrigation science, architecture and silk textiles and you had a population that was positioned to create an unseen age of prosperity.
Also, with whole-hearted support of knowledge acquisition and storage, the Moors supported those scholars who translated books from the Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, and India to Arabic. This passion for scholarship manifested into one of the largest libraries in all of Europe at the Library of Cordoba - with over 400 thousand volumes(when other libraries had maybe a dozen volumes).
Furthermore, this willingness to spread its knowledge universally made Moorish Spain the destination for scholars from all over Europe to the various learning centers of Cordoba, Seville, Valencia, and Granada each with their own specialty.
6 - Ibn Rushd - A Moorish Genius
Ibn Rushd was a renaissance man before the Renaissance. One of the most influential Moors in history, he was born 1126 AD in Cordoba, to a family with deep roots in the law and public service. Rushd was educated in law, medicine, theology, linguistics, and philosophy, but it was his love of reading and writing which made him one of the most influential thinkers from this period.
Though most noted for his commentaries on the works of Aristotle, he, also, wrote several medical texts. Most notably was the "Generalities", which was a comprehensive treatment of medical knowledge up to that time written between 1153 and 1169. The text was so complete until it was still being used in the medical schools of Europe until the 18th century.
With a belief that philosophy could be useful in man's search for truth, he set out to translate the lost works of Aristotle and advocate for Aristotle's insights into the usefulness of critical thinking. During this period, when Islam was becoming fundamentalist in attitude, Rushd was openly advocating that there was no inherent conflict between analytical reasoning and religion. This agreement with Aristotle caught the attention of many in Europeans who were beginning to have a similar debate about the usefulness of philosophy in assessing their Christian religion.
Ibn Rushd arguments influenced many thinkers of the day included, St. Thomas and others[link]. By and large, as such a prolific writer, it was said he loved writing and reading so much until he wrote every day except for on his wedding day and on the day his father died.
5 - The Mezquita
The Great Mosque of Cordoba, or the Mezquita, is one of the oldest buildings from Moorish Spain and still stands today as part of the Cordoba Cathedral complex. With the construction originally beginning in 784 at the command of Abd Al-Rahman I, it was added onto by every ruler thereafter.
With the initial phase being completed in 794 by Hisham, al-Rahman's son, The Mezquita came into true grandeur in the 10th century under Rahman III. It consisted of a hypostyle - a hall with many columns, a prayer hall, a courtyard with a fountain placed in the center, an orange grove, a covered walkway, a minaret (a tower for calling the faithful to prayer) and a mihrab.
Notably, the mihrab was a horseshoe-shaped and highly decorated niche that grabbed the attention of the faithful and pointed them in the direction of Mecca. [5A] The mosque is still considered on the best examples of Saracenic art and in its heyday boasted 4 fountains for washing with water that came from the mountains; reliable lighting by brass lights illuminating well into the night; and an exotic orange grove with trees believed to have been imported from Damascus.
It is truly miraculous that a thousand years after the great purge, the Mezquita has survived and its sheer beauty stands today as part of the Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral complex, a monument to the architectural genius of Moorish Spain.
4 - Alhambra - The Red Fort
Initially a military base, the Alhambra, "the red one" in Arabic, was built in 889 AD on the Sabika hill (a bank of the Darro river), to protect the city of Granada from attack. However, in the 13th century, a palace was added by Al-Hamar and the walls were reinforced with a mile of wall, 30 towers and four main gates.
The 'red fort', named for the color of the mud used to build the walls, was now designed to protect the neighborhoods of - Alicia and Alcazaba. The kingdom was then ruled by the Nasrid clan, who ruled Andalus for 250 years from 1230 to 1492.
Though the walls of the fort are remarkably plain, the living areas for the soldiers, civil servants, and royal families living areas were highly decorated.
Notwithstanding, the royal retreat called the Generalife was added in ??? which cemented it as one of the last architectural gems of the Moorish period. With distinct gardens and fountains, this vacation palace built near the end of the Moorish empire, included canals, fountains and pools with special uses of water for appearance and cooling.
Palacios Nazries were the private residences of the royalty and their harems, whereas the military compound (alacazaba) where the soldiers were housed was located to the west. Finally, the Alhambra became the court of the new rulers, when Granada fell to Ferdinand and Isabella, yet ultimately fated to house a Franciscan monastery.
3 - Pueblos Blancos
One of the most iconic relics of Moorish Spain is the pueblos blancos, or the white villages. These small villages set among the mountains, were developed as the farmers sought refuge from the warring parties of Andalus in the valleys and low lands.
Eventually, the popular design took hold where the villagers would build their homes around a hill which had at its apex a fort or a mosque. Characteristically, the villages have narrow streets, with wide windows with grills and decorated with bright flower pots. The houses are white because the whitewash made of limestone prevents the house from taking on too much heat in this arid country.
Since the expulsion, the mosques were mostly removed and churches or other structures reside at the highest point. Even centuries later, these relics stand beautiful and captivating with a few of the most famous white villages still thriving, a thousand years hence, in - Grazalema, Arcos de al Frontera, and Ronda.
2 - Acequias
One of the most remarkable technologies the Moors brought to Spain was the acequias, or irrigation system. The acequias is a complex system of channels that brings water from various sources, like the Sierra Nevada mountains, and guides the water to reservoirs and tanks to be stored and further directed to the bathhouses, farms, buildings and various gardens for use. It's been said, "when one has water, one has power." And thus with this water technology, the Moors brought the knowledge of how to live in an arid land and create a virtual paradise.
This system of water control allowed the Moors to grow food year-round in the fertile lands of Spain with less than adequate rainfall. Not only was the water used for the imported fruits and crops that it could now grow for an increasingly urban population, but the water was used to provide hydration and cooling for the public bath houses, pools, and gardens.
Of course, what came along with a shared supply of water resources, were the eventual disputes. So the Moors create water courts, where the people could go to resolve conflicts arising from issues of using water from channel system. Interestingly, areas that still use the acequias water systems around the world, still have water tribunals to resolve conflicts, as in Valencia, or San Antonio, TX.
Because of the acequias, Spain's growing seasons were year round as long as the farmers rotated the crops. The turning of Moorish Spain into a food-producing Mecca was another reason Moorish cities could support hundreds of thousands of people when other European cities could only support tens of thousands. Even today, twelve hundred years later, a farmer can grow various crops like potatoes, strawberries and green beans using this water management technology. When asked if the former irrigation systems could support his current farm, a farmer said, "the Romans grew vines."
1. Fall of Andalus, Moorish Spain
As every empire has a life cycle, the Moorish empire which ushered in a golden age to Andalus ultimately fell and Spain eventually returned to its unwashed dark ages. On January 2, 1492, Boabdil surrendered Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella and as they took the keys of the Alhambra, Moorish influence officially ended.
Boabdil was exiled to the Alpujarra region until he fled to Morocco before the great exterminations occurred. While Boabdil made his way to safety, the Castiles began Spain's mad rush back to the dark ages with the dismantling of the pillars of a once prosperous culture. The libraries were closed; books destroyed. The garment industries were abandoned; jobs scuttled. The public bathhouses were closed; cleanliness was no longer next to godliness. The Moors brought many advancements and enlightenment to the region, including sophisticated irrigation systems that were critical to the success of the region. However, when the Moors were replaced by new rulers, these irrigation systems were allowed to fall into disrepair due to a lack of understanding and maintenance. This ultimately had a detrimental impact on the region and contributed to its decline.
The final blow to the once-great empire came when the Castilian rulers ordered all remaining Moors to convert to Christianity or face death. And with their newfound mandate, the new Spaniards proceeded to, take their newly discovered power on the road, to rape and pillage their way into the new world & South America under the guise of converting those encountered to their faith.
