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 * Historical Data



The Moors were people who lived in Morocco. That's the reason they called it that. The word Moor meant Black. It meant Black people. In ancient times all Africans were called Ethiopians or Kushites. And in Middle Ages the Africans were called Moors. The word Moor literally means Black, so the Moorish people were the Black people. In medieval times the name Moor was not restricted to the inhabitants of Morocco, but it was customary to refer to all Africans as Moors. ** THE MOORS IN EUROPE ** At the beginning of the eighth century Moorish soldiers crossed over from Africa into Spain, Portugal, and France, where their swift victories became the substance of legends. To the Christians of early Europe there was no question regarding the ethnicity of the Moors, and numerous sources support the view that the Moors were a black-skinned people. Morien, for example, is the adventure of a heroic Moorish knight supposed to have lived during the days of King Arthur. Morien is described as "all black: his head, his body, and his hands were all black." In the French epic known as the Song of Roland the Moors are described as "blacker than ink." William Shakespeare used the word Moor as a synonym for African. Christopher Marlowe used African and Moor interchangeably. Arab writers further buttress the Black identity of the Moors. The powerful Moorish emperor Yusuf ben-Tachfin is described by an Arab chronicler as "a brown man with wooly hair." Black soldiers, specifically identified as Moors, were actively recruited by Rome, and served in Britain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. St. Maurice, patron saint of medieval Europe, was only one of many Black soldiers and officers under the employ of the Roman Empire. __ SOURCES: __ **// Golden Age Of The Moor //**//, Edited by Ivan Van Sertima This book examines the debt owed by Europe to the Moors for its Renaissance, and the significant role played by the Africans in the Muslim invasions of the Iberian peninsula. Quote: “evidence points to industry, commerce, and technical proficiency amongst ancient Berbers. Among the products introduced by them into Spain were olives,wheat,figs,ambergris and saffron. Dyes and Garments from North Africa were also highly prized. These North Africans engaged in the mining of silver and iron and traded in gold and coral with Sudan” http://books.google.tt/books?id=1F9HPuDkySsC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=Golden+Age+Of+The+Moor,+Edited+by+Ivan+Van+Sertima&source=web&ots=kKgu0YSh6E&sig=S9x-EwnmTdEE2WfcwBIiYoq4lDU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA140,M1 [|Gibraltar] has always been of special significance to the numerous peoples and civilizations that have visited or occupied it over the ages, from the [|Neanderthal] period, through the Classical and on to the [|Moorish], [|Spanish] and the present [|British] occupations. The [|Moorish] occupation is, by far, the longest in Gibraltar's recorded history, having lasted from 711 to 1309 and then again from 1350 to 1462, a total of 710 years. [|[1]] The importance of [|Gibraltar] to both [|Muslims] and [|Christians] lies in the fact that the [|Moorish invasion] and occupation of [|Europe] started from [|Gibraltar] in 711 and, through to its final re-capture by Spain in 1462, Moorish rule was gradually undermined until, with the fall of [|Granada] in 1492, the [|Moorish occupation] of Europe came to an end after an uninterrupted 781 years. The invasion took place in April 711, when an army of 9-10,000 Berbers crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to conquer a land which was, at the time, by no means united under the rule of the Visigoths. The army was led by **Tariq ibn-Ziyad**, the governor of Tangiers: their landing point was soon renamed ‘**Jabal Tariq**,’ ‘Tariq’s mountain – Gibraltar. The Moorish conquest of [|Spain] was led by [|Tarik ibn Ziyad] and [|Musa ibn Nasayr]. Gibraltar thus became the stepping-stone to the conquest of Spain and part of France. This spectacular feat of arms took a mere twenty-two years, no mean task considering the distances involved, the state of the terrain at the time and the fact that mechanical power had not yet been invented. [|[2]] The construction of the Moorish Castle at [|Gibraltar] was commenced in the 8th century AD (possibly AD 711), but there is no record of when it was completed. Its walls enclosed a considerable area reaching down from the upper part of the [|Rock of Gibraltar] down to the sea. The most conspicuous parts of the Castle now remaining are the upper tower, or Tower of Homage, together with various terraces and battlements below it, and the massive Gate House, with its cupola roof. [|[3]] The **Umayyad conquest of Hispania** ([|711]–[|718]) began as an army of the [|Umayyad] [|Caliphate] consisting largely of [|Berbers], inhabitants of [|Northwest Africa] recently converted to [|Islam], invaded the [|Christian] [|Visigothic Kingdom] located on the [|Iberian peninsula] ([|Hispania]). Under the authority of the Umayyad [|Caliph] [|Al-Walid I] of [|Damascus], and commanded by [|Tariq ibn Ziyad], they disembarked in early 711, perhaps at [|Gibraltar], and campaigned their way northward. Tariq's forces were reinforced the next year by those of his superior, the [|Emir] [|Musa ibn Nusair]. During the eight-year campaign, most of the [|Iberian Peninsula] was brought under [|Muslim] occupation, save for remote areas in the northwest ([|Galicia] and [|Asturias]) and largely [|Basque] regions in the [|Pyrenees]. The conquered territory, under the [|Arabic] name [|al-Andalus], became part of the expanding Umayyad empire. The invaders subsequently moved northeast across the Pyrenees, but were defeated by the [|Frank] [|Charles Martel] at the [|Battle of Tours] ([|Poitiers]) in 732. Muslim control of [|French] territory was intermittent and ended in 975. Though Muslim armies dominated the peninsula for centuries afterward, [|Pelayo of Asturias]'s victory at the [|Battle of Covadonga] in [|722] preserved at least one Christian principality in the north. This battle later assumed major symbolic importance for Spanish Christians as the beginning of the [|Reconquista]. The **Reconquista** (a [|Spanish] and [|Portuguese] word for "Reconquest"; [|Arabic]: الإسترداد //al-////ʼ////Istirdād//, "Withdrawal") was a period of 800 years in the [|Middle Ages] during which the several [|Christian] kingdoms of the [|Iberian Peninsula] expanded themselves at the expense of the [|Muslim] states of [|al-Andalus] ([|Arabic] الأندلس). The [|Islamic conquest] of the Christian [|Visigothic kingdom] in the eighth century (begun 710–12) extended over almost the entire peninsula (except major parts of [|Galicia], the [|Asturias], and the [|Basque Country]). By the thirteenth century all that remained was the [|Nasrid] [|Kingdom of Granada], to be conquered in 1492, bringing the entire peninsula under Christian leadership. The Reconquista began in the immediate aftermath of the Islamic conquest and passed through major phases before its completion. The formation of the [|Kingdom of Asturias] under [|Pelagius] and the [|Battle of Covadonga] in 722 being major formative events. [|Charlemagne] (768–814) reconquered the western [|Pyrenees] and [|Septimania] and formed a [|Marca Hispanica] to defend the border between [|Francia] and the Muslims. After the advent of the [|Crusades], much of the [|ideology] of Reconquista was subsumed within the wider context of Crusading. Even before the Crusades, however, soldiers from elsewhere in Europe had been travelling to the Spains to participate in the Reconquista as an act of Christian [|penitence]. Throughout this period the situation in Iberia was more nuanced and complicated than any ideology would allow. Christian and Muslim rulers commonly fought amongst themselves and interfaith alliances were not unusual. The fighting along the Christian-Muslim frontier was punctuated by periods of prolonged peace and truces. The Muslims did not cease to start offensives aimed at reconquering their lost territories. Blurring the sides even further were mercenaries who simply fought for whoever paid more. The Reconquista came to an end on the [|2 January] [|1492] with the [|conquest of Granada]. The last Muslim ruler of Granada, [|Muhammad XII], better known as Boabdil, surrendered his kingdom to [|Ferdinand II of Aragon] and [|Isabella I of Castile], the [|Catholic Monarchs] (//los Reyes Católicos//). This event marked the end of Muslim rule in Iberia.
 * The Moors and Reconquista **
 * By ****RUNOKO RASHIDI**
 * I ** t would not be inaccurate to say that the Moors helped reintroduce Europe to civilization. But just who were the Moors of antiquity anyway? As early as the Middle Ages, and as early as the seventeenth century, "The Moors were," according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "commonly supposed to be mostly black or very swarthy, and hence the word is often used for negro." Dr. Chancellor Williams stated that "The original Moors, like the original Egyptians, were Black Africans."
 * Natures Knows No Color-Line**, by J.A. Rogers //
 * Golden Age of the Moor, Edited by ** // Ivan Van Sertima //
 * History **