When The Moors Ruled Spain

Iberia, the peninsula where Spain and Portugal are located, does not have an early history of being a very important place. St. Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, expressed a wish to spread the Gospel in Spain, but apparently never got around to it. It was ruled by the Visigoths, one of the Gothic tribes that originated in Germany, after the end of the Roman Empire.

In the year 711, Moors from north Africa crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula. Moors was a general term for the Moslems of north Africa. After the Umayyads, the first major caliphate of Islam, was conquered and replaced by the Abbasids, who built Baghdad as a capital to replace the Umayyad Damascus, Spain and Portugal remained under the control of the Umayyads.

The Moors founded the city of Cordoba, which eventually became the largest city in Europe and was a great rival to Baghdad. The Moslems were prevented from continuing their conquest northward, into France, but would rule in Spain for over 700 years.

(Note-It was this saving of France from Moslem conquest, from the Moslems that were ruling in Spain, by Charles Martel, that I was referring to in the posting "America And The Modern World Explained By Way Of Paris". There we saw his tomb in Basilica St. Denis, and that he began what is known as the Carolingian Dynasty, which included the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in Charlemagne, and whose name lives on in America's states of North and South Carolina).

Berbers, who are Moslems but not ethnically Arab, known as the Almoravids, took control afterward. They were followed by another Berber dynasty, known as the Almohads. The Iberian Peninsula was referred to by the Moslems as Al Andalus, and is the reason that the southernmost part of Spain is today known as Andalusia.

The Renaissance, meaning "rebirth", began with the manuscripts containing forgotten knowledge that were brought to northern Italy by scholars leaving Constantinople at the time of the Ottoman conquest of that city. Other vital knowledge, which later awoke Europe from it's "Dark Ages", was preserved in the "House of Wisdom" in Baghdad. But I consider this long Islamic occupation of Spain and Portugal as a "third channel" by which the knowledge to bring about the modern era in Europe was brought in.

The city of Cordoba not only became the largest city in Europe, but also had one of the greatest universities in the world, which attracted students from all over Europe. Al Andalus became a center of Jews in Europe, in the same way that Alexandria in Egypt had been centuries before. Moslems, Christians and, Jews lived together mostly in harmony. Averroes was maybe the best-known intellectual in Al Andalus at this time.

We can see what a great and lasting influence this Moslem occupation had on Spain and Portugal in a couple of examples of Spanish literature. In "The Romance of Abenamar", the Moors and their struggle to remain in control of the country are portrayed in a favorable way. In the great novel "Don Quixote", the author describes the story as being translated from Arabic by a Moorish author, thus giving the story an air of authority.

Over hundreds of years, Catholics gradually regained control of the peninsula from the Moslems. First Toledo, south of Madrid, was taken, then Cordoba, and finally Granada. This is referred to as the Reconquista.

Portugal, the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula, was completely liberated about 250 years before Spain was. The regions of Spain were formerly independent kingdoms. They became united because the first king and queen of independent Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, were from different former kingdoms. Ferdinand was from Aragon and Isabella from Castile. (The Spanish language is sometimes referred to as Castillian Spanish).

One of the daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella was Catherine of Aragon. She became the bride of Henry VIII (The Eighth) of England. It was the pope's refusal to let him marry Anne Boleyn instead that led to Henry's break with the Catholic Church, to join the side of the Reformation. The unity of the former kingdoms that make up what is now Spain has never been quite complete and Catalonia, the region around Barcelona, has a lot of people with an interest in going back to being a separate country.

The reason I think of the rule of Iberia by the Moors is so important to world history is that it gave Spain and Portugal a great boost as nations. The two newly independent countries reflected the colonization and introduction of the Islamic religion by the Moors to their own passion for colonizing other lands and spreading Catholicism.

The first stage of what is known as the Age of Discovery was centered on Spain and Portugal. Colonization by imperial powers from northern Europe, Britain, France and, the Netherlands, would come considerably later. The Age of Discovery began with the voyages of Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain, and the first voyage was in 1492, the same year that Spain had become completely liberated from Moslem rule.

The century before Columbus lived perhaps the best-known traveler ever. Ibn Battuta was a Berber who visited much of the known world, not by ship but mostly by land. It was his people who were still ruling Granada, in southern Spain, at this time. The Berbers had a history of being semi-nomadic, and maybe this history is what prompted Ibn Battuta to wander so much of the world.

I have concluded that the world-changing voyages of Columbus were actually inspired by writings about the extensive travels of Ibn Battuta. Columbus mirrored Ibn Battuta's travels eastward by land, by travelling westward by sea. Columbus himself would have been more influenced by Marco Polo, but the acceptance by Ferdinand and Isabella of Columbus' proposal to reach the Indies by sailing westward was very much due to the influence of writings about the travels of Ibn Battuta, known as the "Prince of Travelers", the century before.

The insistence of Columbus that he could reach the east, by sailing west, and that it would be profitable, had earlier been declined by Portugal and England. Portugal had already been completely liberated from Moorish control by the time Ibn Battuta was on his travels.

After the Iberian Peninsula was free of Moslem control, and completely in the hands of Catholics, Jews had to either convert to Catholicism or leave. The Moorish rule of Spain had tremendous and long-lasting effects on the world because the Jews and Moslems, who had earlier lived mostly in harmony with the Catholics, were the beginning of the Inquisition. It was Ferdinand and Isabella, the first monarchs of completely independent Spain, who initiated the Inquisition.

The Inquisition was based on suspicions that the forced conversions to Catholicism of Jews and Moslems who remained in Spain were less-than-genuine. This was one of the things that upset northern Europeans about the direction that the church was going and, not long after the Inquisition began, the Reformation also began.

The Catholic Church responded to the Reformation, the breaking away of the Protestants from the church, with it's own Counter-Reformation. Although the Catholic Church was led from the Vatican, the Counter-Reformation was more centered on Spain. It was a Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola, who became the best-known figure from the Catholic side of the Reformation. He founded the Jesuits which were a teaching, rather than a monastic, order, from which the present Pope Francis comes.

It was largely the Counter-Reformation, rather than the original Catholic Church, that shaped the church that we see today. Spain became the strongest country in the world, and Portugal gained a vast empire for such a small country.

I do not believe that it would have happened at all like this but for the long occupation by, and great influence of, the Moors. They deserve great credit for making what had been a remote corner of Europe, controlled by a foreign power for over 700 years, into a world leader as soon as that occupying power had been removed.

Southern Spain, of course, has the most Moorish influence because it is closest to north Africa and was ruled for the longest. This is the region known as Andalusia, named for Al Andalus.

The first major stronghold to be recaptured by Catholics was Toledo, to the south of Madrid. The following scenes begin inside the cathedral that the Catholics built on the site of the mosque that the Moors had built in the city. Do you remember how, in our visit to Mexico City, the Spanish replaced the main Aztec temple with what is now the main cathedral in the central square of the city (Zocalo) in exactly the same way?

We can see the lasting influence of the Moors by how a fortress is referred to as "alcazar", which is an Arabic word.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8570892,-4.0244437,3a,75y,295.43h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-FReTzKijrVM%2FWAE0ouE45BI%2FAAAAAAABJxs%2Fq0XFYThTtXsgRZCQJulNcevuERKrsNAvACLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-FReTzKijrVM%2FWAE0ouE45BI%2FAAAAAAABJxs%2Fq0XFYThTtXsgRZCQJulNcevuERKrsNAvACLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya222.7715-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i9728!8i4076

The next major stronghold of the Moors to be reconquered by the Catholics was Cordoba. This had a great Islamic university, which attracted students from all over Europe, and became the largest city in Europe. The best-known example of Moorish architecture in the world is the Cathedral-Mosque, or Mezquita, in Cordoba. This was first a church, which was replaced by a great mosque in 742 when the Moors ruled, which was converted into a cathedral upon reconquest by the Catholics. The following scenes begin inside there. The striped double arches are usually the first thing we associate with this landmark.

One thing that you may notice is that, in some places such as the first of the following scenes, if you put the mouse pointer on the floor up ahead, you will see an arrow there. If you click on the arrow, your perspective will then move to that point. You can literally "walk" all around the building, taking in a 360 degree view from each point, before moving to the next point of perspective.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8789081,-4.7793576,3a,75y,60.69h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1simGyaQxkJ43rkWBVA1Y4HA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DimGyaQxkJ43rkWBVA1Y4HA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D54.578194%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

After the reconquest of Cordoba, the remaining stronghold in Spain was Granada, far in the south. It was eventually allowed to remain by paying tribute, but was finally reconquered in 1492. The following scenes begin in the Alhambra, the Fourteenth-Century Moorish palace in Granada. This was built by the Nasirids, who were the last dynasty. The last leader of Granada was known as Boabdil.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.1767866,-3.5888175,3a,75y,35.36h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1soe6qYYsnUlxMwxhCutEiDA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Doe6qYYsnUlxMwxhCutEiDA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D29.48365%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

One city that really shows the character of Andalusia is Seville. We saw in the posting, "The House Of Holy Wisdom, Where The Modern World Began" that the Hagia Sophia was the largest building in the world for a thousand years. The building that finally supplanted it is the largest cathedral in the world, that of Seville, which was completed shortly after the country was completely liberated from Moslem rule. The following scenes of Seville begin inside it's cathedral, where the tomb of Christopher Columbus is located.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3858175,-5.9931812,3a,75y,333.33h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQ1KaBVMHIs_OKFFYtPW0Jg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DQ1KaBVMHIs_OKFFYtPW0Jg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D338.2418%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656