Moors
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/* Etymology */ disambiguating link to be Moro (ethnic group)
[[Image:Muslims of Spain.jpg|thumb|220px|right|A self-depiction by the Muslims in Spain. Taken from the "Tale of Bayad and Riyad".]]
During the [[Middle Ages]], Moor was a common term to refer to the [[Muslims]] of the Islamic [[Iberian Peninsula]] and [[North Africa]], who were of [[Arab]] and [[Berber]] descent.
They inhabited the Iberian Peninsula after the Arab conquests of the [[Rashidun]] and [[Umayyad]] Caliphates. The conquests influenced southern migration of the indigenous Moors to modern-day [[Mauritania]], Western [[Sahara]] and other [[West African]] countries as far south as the [[Senegal River]].
Today, the word remains associated with the [[Morrocan]] immigrants in [[Spain]], and is considered a [[pejorative]] word.
It is sometimes used in a wider context to describe any denizen of [[North Africa]]. Similarly, in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], the cognate ''moro'' is considered a racist and derogative term. But the Spanish still use it and even think of it as a neutral word in local sayings such as "''no hay moros en la costa''" (lit. "there are no moors on the coast," meaning "[[the coast is clear]]").
==Etymology==
''Moor'' is believed to come from the [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] word ''mauros'' (Greek orthography ''μαύρος,'' plural ''μαύροι''), meaning "black" or "very dark". In [[Latin language|Latin]] it became ''maurus'' (plural ''mauri''). In the Medieval [[Romance language]]s (such as [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[French language|French]], and [[Italian language|Italian]]), the [[root (linguistics)|root]] appeared with such forms as "mouro", ''moro,'', ''moir,'' and ''mor''. Derivatives are found in today's versions of the languages. Through [[nominalization]], the root has always referred to various things conveniently identified by their dark color, for example, blackberries. ''[[Moreno]]'', from the Latin root, can mean "tanned" in Spain and "black person" in [[Cuba]] and other Spanish-speaking territories. Also in Spanish, ''morapio'' is a humorous name for "wine", specially that has not been "baptized" with water, i.e., pure unadulterated wine.
In Spanish usage, ''moro'' ("Moor") came to have an even broader usage, to [[Moro (ethnic group)|moro]]s of [[Mindanao]] in the [[Philippines]], and the [[morisco]]s of [[Granada]]. ''Moro'' is also used to describe all things dark, as in "Moor", "moreno", etc.; and it has led to many European surnames such as ''Moore,'' ''Mauro,'' ''Moura,'' and so on. The [[Milan]]ese Duke [[Ludovico Sforza|Ludovico Il Moro]] was so-called because of his dark complexion.
==History==
=== Overview ===
[[Image:East-Hem 476ad.jpg|thumb|Eastern Hemisphere in 476AD, showing the Moorish kingdoms after the fall of Rome.]]
Although the ''Moors'' came to be associated with Muslims, the name ''Moor'' pre-dates Islam. It derives from the small [[Numidia]]n Kingdom of ''Maure'' of the third century BC in what is now northern central and western part of [[Algeria]] and a part of northern Morocco.<ref>Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, ''The Berbers'' at 25 & 77; Gabriel Camps, ''Les Berberes'' (Edisud 1996) at 20-21, 25</ref> The name came to be applied to people of the entire region. "They were called Maurisi by the Greeks," wrote [[Strabo]], "and Mauri by the Romans."<ref>Strabo, ''Geographica'' (c.17 A.D.) at XVIII,3,ii (cited by Rene Basset in ''Moorish Literature'' (N.Y., Collier 1901) at iii.</ref> During that age, the Maure or Moors were trading partners of [[Carthage]], the independent city state founded by [[Phoenicia]]ns. During the second [[Punic wars|Punic war]] between Carthage and [[Rome]], two Moorish [[Numidia]]n kings took different sides, [[Syphax]] with Carthage, [[Masinissa]] with the Romans, decisively so at [[Battle of Zama|Zama]]. Thereafter, the Moors entered into treaties with Rome. Under King [[Jugurtha]] collateral violence against merchants brought war. [[Juba II|Juba]], a later king, was a friend of Rome. Eventually, the region was incorporated into the [[Roman Empire]] as the provinces of [[Mauretania Caesariensis]] and [[Mauretania Tingitana]]; the area around Carthage already being the province of [[History of Tunisia|Africa]]. Roman rule was beneficial and effective enough so that these provinces became fully integrated into the empire. During the Christian era, two prominent African churchmen were [[Tertullian]] and [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]]. After the fall of Rome, the Germanic kingdom of the [[Vandals]] ruled much of the area; a century later they were displaced by [[Byzantium|Byzantine]] incursions. Neither Vandal nor Byzantine exercised an effective rule, the interior being under Moorish Berber control.<ref>Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, ''A History of the Maghrib'' (Cambridge Univ., 1971) at 27, 38 & 43; Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, ''The Berbers'' (Blackwell 1996) at 14, 24, 41-54; Henri Terrasse, ''History of Morocco'' (Casablanca: Atlantides 1952) at 39-49, esp. 43-44; Serge Lancel, ''Carthage'' (Librairie Artheme Fayard 1992, Blackwell 1995) at 396-401; Glenn Markoe, ''The Phoenicians'' (Univ.of California 2000) at 54-56.</ref> The Berbers resisted for over 50 years [[Arab]] armies from the east. Especially memorable was that led by [[Kahina]] the Berber prophetess of the Awras, during 690-701. Yet by the 92nd [[Islamic Calendar|lunar year]] after the [[Hijra]], the Arab [[Islam|Muslims]] had prevailed across North Africa.<ref>"The conquest of North Africa and Berber resistance" in ''General History of Africa''
In 711 AD, the now Islamic Moors conquered [[Visigoths|Visigothics]], mainly [[Christian]] [[Hispania]]. Under their leader, an African Berber [[general]] named [[Tariq ibn-Ziyad]], they brought most of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. They moved northeast across the [[Pyrenees]] Mountains but were defeated by the [[Franks|Frank]], [[Charles Martel]], at the [[Battle of Tours|Battle of Poitier]] in 732 AD. The Moorish state fell into [[civil war|civil conflict]] in the 750s. The Moors ruled in the [[Iberian peninsula]], except for areas in the northwest (such as [[Asturias]], where they were defeated at the battle of [[Covadonga]]) and the largely [[Basque Country (historical territory)|Basque regions]] in the Pyrenees, and in North Africa for several decades. Though the number of "Moors" remained small, many native inhabitants converted to Islam. According to Ronald Segal, author of ''Islam's Black Slaves''<ref>Ronald Segal, ''Islam's Black Slaves'' (2003), Atlantic Books, ISBN 1-90380981-9</ref>, some 5.6 million of Iberia's 7 million inhabitants were Muslim by 1200 AD, virtually all of them native inhabitants. The persecution and forced conversion to Catholicism of the Muslim population during the time of the Catholic [[reconquista]] in the second part of the 15th century, causing a mass exodus, are considered the main reasons why their number shrank to one-third by 1600.
As a sign of decline, the country had broken up into a number of mostly Islamic [[fiefdoms]], which were partly consolidated under the [[Caliph of Cordoba|Caliphate of Cordoba]].
[[Image:PLATE1BX.jpg|thumb|Dress of Moorish Princes.]]
A Christian enclave from the Muslim conquest in [[Kingdom of Asturias|Asturias]], a small Visigothic northwestern Spanish kingdom, initiated conflicts in earnest between Christian and Muslim in the 10th century AD. Christian states based in the north and west slowly extended their power over the rest of Iberia. The [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]], [[Kingdom of Galicia|Galicia]], [[Kingdom of León|León]], [[Portugal]], [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragón]], [[Catalonia]] or ''[[Marca Hispanica]]'', and [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] in fits and starts 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. However, the Moorish Kingdom of [[Granada]] continued for three more centuries in the southern Iberian peninsula. This kingdom is known in modern times for magnificent architectural works such as the [[Alhambra]] palace. On [[January 2]], [[1492]], the leader of the last Muslim stronghold in Granada surrendered to armies of a recently united Christian [[Spain]] (after the marriage of [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] and [[Isabella of Castile|Isabella I of Castile]]). The remaining Muslims and Jews were forced to leave Spain, forced to convert to Roman Catholic Christianity or be murdered for not doing so. In 1480, Isabella and Ferdinand instituted the [[Spanish Inquisition|Inquisition in Spain]], as one of many changes to the role of the church instituted by the monarchs. The Inquisition was aimed mostly at Jews and Muslims who had overtly converted to Christianity but were thought to be practicing their faiths secretly -- known respectively as [[marrano]]s and [[morisco]]s -- as well as at heretics who rejected Roman Catholic orthodoxy, including [[alumbras]] who practiced a kind of mysticism or spiritualism. They were an important portion of the peasants in some territories, like [[Aragon]], [[Valencia (autonomous community)|Valencia]] or [[Andalusia]], until their systematic expulsion in the years from 1609 to 1614. Henri Lapeyre has estimated that this affected 300,000 out of a total of 8 million inhabitants of the peninsula at the time.<ref>See History of [[Al-Andalus]]</ref>
In the meantime, the tide of Islam had rolled not just westward to Iberia, but also eastward, through [[India]], the [[Malayan peninsula]], and [[Indonesia]] up to [[Mindanao]]-—one of the major islands of an [[archipelago]] which the Spaniards had reached during their voyages westward from the [[New World]]. By 1521, the ships of [[Ferdinand Magellan|Magellan]] and other Spanish expeditioners had themselves reached that island archipelago, which they named [[Philippines|Las Islas de Filipinas]], after [[Philip II of Spain]]. In Mindanao, the Spaniards also named these [[kris]]-bearing people as [[Moro people|Moros]] or 'Moors'. Today in the Philippines, this ethnic group of people in Mindanao who are generally [[Filipino Muslim|Muslims]] are called 'Moros'. This identification of Islamic people as Moros persists in the modern [[Spanish language]] spoken in Spain; and as Mouros in the modern [[Portuguese language]]. See [[Reconquista]], and [[Maure]].
According to historian [[Richard A. Fletcher]]<ref>Richard Fletcher. ''Moorish Spain'' p10. University of California Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0520084964</ref>, 'the number of Arabs who settled in Spain was very small. "Moorish" Spain does at least have the merit of reminding us that the bulk of the invaders and settlers were Moors, i.e Berbers from Morocco.' [[:fr:Aline Angoustures|Aline Angoustures]]<ref>specialist of Spain history, Aline Angoustures. ''L'Espagne'' page 17. Le cavalier bleu, 2004. ISBN 2-84670-078-8</ref> says that the Berbers were about 900,000 and the Arabs about 90,000 in Spain.
=== Modern age===
Beside its usage in historical context '''Moor''' and '''Moorish''' ([[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''moro'', [[French language|French]]: ''maure'', [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: ''mouro'' / ''moiro'', [[Romanian language|Romanian]]: ''maur'') is used to designate an ethnic group speaking the [[Hassaniya]] Arabic dialect, inhabiting [[Mauritania]] and parts of [[Algeria]], [[Western Sahara]], [[Morocco]], [[Niger]] and [[Mali]].
In modern, colloquial [[Spanish language|Spanish]] the sometimes pejorative term "Moro" refers to any Arab. Similarly, in modern, colloquial [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] the term "Mouro" is used as a derogatory term by citizens of Northern [[Portugal]] to refer to the inhabitants of the [[Algarve|southern areas of the country]], although "Mouro" is also an [[enchanted]] people and "Moura" also means ''stone'' in Northern Portugal.
This usage has also been maintained in the [[Philippines]], a former Spanish colony, where the local Muslim population in the Southern islands are called (and call themselves) "Moros" (see [[Muslim Filipino]]), a term introduced by the Spanish colonizers. Within the same context of colonization, [[Sri Lanka]]n Muslims of Arab origin are also called "Moors"(see [[Sri Lankan Moors]]).
=== Notable Moors ===
* [[Macrinus]], 164-218, a Berber officer, prefect of the Praetorian Guard under [[Caracalla]]. He became the first Roman emperor who was not a senator in 217-18.
* [[Estevanico]], also referred to as "Stephen the Moor", explorer of what is now the southwest of the United States in the service of Spain.
* [[Gildo]] was a Berber chieftain who instigated a [[Gildonic revolt|rebellion]] against the [[Roman Empire]] in 398.
* [[Lusius Quietus]] was a Roman general, governor of [[Iudaea (Roman province)|Iudaea]] in 117. Originally a Berber prince, his military ability won him the favor of [[Trajan]], who even designated him as his successor. During the emperor's [[Parthian]] campaign, the numerous Jewish inhabitants of [[Babylonia]] revolted and were relentlessly suppressed by Quietus, who was rewarded by being appointed governor of Judea. Restlessness in Palestine caused Trajan to send his favorite, as a legate of consular rank, to Judea, where he continued his sanguinary course.
* [[Alessandro de' Medici]] (July 22, 1510 – January 6, 1537) called "il Moro" ("the Moor") by his contemporaries was the Duke of [[Penne]] and also Duke of [[Florence]] (from 1532) and ruler of Florence from 1530 until 1537). Though illegitimate, he was the last of the "senior" branch of the [[Medici]] to rule Florence and the first to be hereditary duke. Historians (such as Christopher Hibbert) believe he had been born to a black serving-woman in the Medici household, identified in documents as Simonetta da Collavechio. The nickname is said to derive from his features (Hibbert 1999: 236). Contemporary [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Allessandro-the-moor.jpg portraits] depict his full lips and coppery skin - he still has descendants (via his own illegitimate children) among many European royal and noble families.
* [[Othello]], the fictitious hero in the play by William Shakespeare of the same name, written in 1604. Othello is a mercenary that serves in the war between Venice and Cyprus. Othello being a Moor is important to the plot of the play because it drives Othello to believe that Desdemona, who is white, would never love him because he is a Moor. Othello marries a noblewoman, Desdemona, but succumbs to corruption by the villain Iago and becomes fiercely jealous. He ends up killing his wife, and then kills himself when he realizes he was played for a fool.
== Religious relations ==
The initial rule of the Moors in the Iberian peninsula under this Caliphate of Cordoba is generally regarded as tolerant in its acceptance of Christians, Muslims and [[Jew]]s living in the same territories. The [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] collapsed in 1031 and the Islamic territory in Iberia came to be ruled by Saharan Moors of the [[Almoravides|Almoravid Dynasty]]. This second stage started an era of Moorish rulers guided by a version of Islam that left behind the tolerant practices of the past.
== Architecture ==
{{main|Moorish architecture}}
[[Image:Interior Mezquita Cordoba Spain.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The arches of red-and-white stripes inside the "La [[Mezquita]]" in [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], Spain represent some of the pinnacles of the Moorish architectures.]]
Moorish Iberia excelled in city planning; the sophistication of their cities was astonishing. According to one historian, [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] "had 471 mosques and 300 public baths … the number of houses of the great and noble were 63,000 and 200,077 of the common people. There were … upwards of 80,000 shops. Water from the mountain was distributed through every corner and quarter of the city by means of leaden pipes into basins of different shapes, made of the purest gold, the finest silver, or plated brass as well into vast lakes, curious tanks, amazing reservoirs and fountains of Grecian marble." The houses of Córdoba were air conditioned in the summer by "ingeniously arranged draughts of fresh air drawn from the garden over beds of flowers, chosen for their perfume, warmed in winter by hot air conveyed through pipes bedded in the walls." This list of impressive works includes lamp posts that lit their streets at night to grand palaces, such as the one called Azzahra with its 15,000 doors.<ref name="golden">Ivan Van Sertima, ''The Golden Age of the Moor (Journal of African Civilizations, Vol 11, Fall 1991)'', Transaction Publishers, 1991, ISBN 1-56000-581-5</ref> During the height of the Caliphate of Córdoba, the city of Córdoba proper was one of the major capitals in Europe and one of the most cosmopolitan cities of its time.
==Population genetics==
Dr. [[Shomarka Keita]], an [[African American]] biological anthropologist from [[Howard University]], has suggested that populations in Carthage circa 200 BC and northern Algeria 1500 BC were very diverse. As a group, they plotted closest to the populations of Northern Egypt and intermediate to Northern Europeans and tropical Africans. Keita stated that "the data supported the comments from ancient authors observed by classicists: everything from fair-skinned blonds to peoples who were dark skinned 'Ethiopian' or part Ethiopian in appearance." Modern evidence showed a similar diversity among present North Africans. Moreover, this "diversity" of phenotypes and peoples was probably due to ''[[in situ]]'' differentiation, not foreign influxes. Of course foreign influxes certainly had an impact: Phoenician, Greek, Roman Vandal, Sub Saharan Africans, and Arab migration had some impact from 900 BC to 730 AD. But they did not replace the indigenous Berber population. Only about 4% of the North African DNA landscape is traceable to Europeans.
The [[Y chromosome]] p49a,f TaqI Haplotype V, which corresponds to Y haplogroup [[Haplogroup E1b1b (Y-DNA)|E1b1b1b]] (M81) -- formerly E3b1b, E3b2 and colloquially referred to as the "Berber marker" -- has been found among 68.9% of modern Berbers in [[North Africa]] and as high as 80% in one group. It is believed to be about 6,000 years old, and to have arrived with the [[Neolithic]] expansion from the [[Near East]]. M81 is not found in sub-Saharan Africa. This haplotype has also been observed as high as 40% of one small group of Andalusians tested, but generally at much lower frequencies among Iberian populations, and lower as distance from North Africa increases.<ref>Nathalie Gérard et al, [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-6086182_ITM North African Berber and Arab Influences in the Western Mediterranean Revealed by Y-Chromosome DNA Haplotypes], Human Biology, Volume 78, Number 3, June 2006, pp. 307–316.</ref>
Y DNA Haplogroup [[Haplogroup E1b1b (Y-DNA)|E1b1b]] (formerly E3b) predominates among North African populations; its E1b1b1b subgroup (M81) is identified especially with Berbers. The Vb subtype of p49a,f Haplotype V, apparently corresponding to E3b1b, has been found to occur in two thirds of the Haplotype V Southern Iberians, that is, about a quarter of all Andalusians tested. The frequency of Vb is at its highest among Berbers, and was found to decline rapidly from West to East among North Africans sampled, and to be uncommon in France and Italy.<ref>Nathalie Gérard et al, [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-6086182_ITM North African Berber and Arab Influences in the Western Mediterranean Revealed by Y-Chromosome DNA Haplotypes], Human Biology, Volume 78, Number 3, June 2006, pp. 307–316.</ref>
A 2006 Mitochondrial DNA study of 12th-13th century Islamic remains from Priego de Cordoba, Spain, indicate a higher proportion (4%) of sub-Saharan African lineages attributed at least partially to Moorish occupation, in addition to more ancient migrations to Europe.<ref>[http://www.bio.uio.no/forskning/db01-news/internet/html/nr100025.html Biologisk institutt<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
{{Cquote|Mitochondrial DNA sequences and restriction fragment polymorphisms were retrieved from three Islamic 12th-13th century samples of 71 bones and teeth (with >85% efficiency) from Madinat Baguh (today called Priego de Cordoba, Spain). Compared with 108 saliva samples from the present population of the same area, the medieval samples show a higher proportion of sub-Saharan African lineages that can only partially be attributed to the historic Muslim occupation. In fact, the unique sharing of transition 16175, in L1b lineages, with Europeans, instead of Africans, suggests a more ancient arrival to Europe from Africa. The present day Priego sample is more similar to the current south Iberian population than to the medieval sample from the same area. The increased gene flow in modern times could be the main cause of this difference.}}
== See also ==
*[[Al-Andalus]]
* [[Almohad dynasty|Almohad dynasty (1145–1269)]]
* [[Almoravids|Almoravid dynasty (1061–1147)]]
* [[Arab diaspora]]
* [[Barbary pirates]]
*[[Berber people#Origin|Berber people: Origin]]
*[[Berber people#Libyans & Numidians|Berber people: Libyans & Numidians]]
* [[Caliph of Córdoba|Caliph of Córdoba (929–1031)]]
* [[Char Bouba war]]
* [[Moorish Revival]]
* [[Nasrid dynasty|Nasrid dynasty (1232–1492)]]
* [[Morisco]]
* [[Sahrawi]]
* [[Slavery in modern Africa]]
* [[Moorish Science Temple of America]]
* [[Moorish architecture]]
* [[History of Portugal]]
* [[History of Spain]]
* [[Ricote (Don Quixote)]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==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 Carew, ''Rape of Paradise''
* David Brion Davis, "Slavery: Black, White, Muslim, Christian"
* Herodotus, ''The Histories''
* Shomark O.Y. Keita, "Genetic Haplotyes in North Africa"
* Shomark O.Y. Keita, "Craniometric Data from North Africa
* Shomark O.Y. Keita, "Further Craniometric Data from North Africa"
* Shomark O.Y. Keita, "Bernal vs. Snowden"
* Bernard Lewis, "The Middle East"
* Bernard Lewis, "The Muslim Discovery of Europe"
* Bernard Lewis, "Race and Slavery in Islam"
* Stanley Lane-Poole, ''Turkey'' (1888)
* Stanley Lane-Poole, ''The Barbary Corsairs'' (1890)
* Stanley Lane-Poole, ''The History of the Moors in Spain''
* [[Joel Augustus Rogers|J.A. Rogers]], ''Nature Knows no Color Line''
* Ronald Segal, "Islam's Black Slaves"
* Ivan Van Sertima, ''The Golden Age of the Moor''
* Frank Snowdon, "Before Color Prejudice"
* Frank Snowdon, "Blacks in Antiquity"
* David M. Goldenberg, "The Curse of Ham"
* Lucotte and Mercier, various genetic studies
==External links==
* [http://www.moorsgate.com Moorsgate.com]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/ssecretum1.html Pbs.org]
* [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1181964]
[[Category:Arab people]]
[[Category:Arab groups]]
[[Category:History of North Africa]]
[[Category:History of Spain]]
[[Category:Al-Andalus]]
[[Category:Muslim communities]]
[[Category:African nomads]]
[[Category:Multiracial affairs]]
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[[da:Maurer]]
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[[fr:Maures]]
[[id:Moor]]
[[it:Mori (storia)]]
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[[nl:Moren]]
[[ja:ムーア人]]
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[[no:Maurere]]
[[nn:Maurarar]]
[[pl:Maurowie]]
[[pt:Mouros]]
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