Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Moors
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{short description|Medieval Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta}} {{About|a historical term for various groups of Muslims|other uses|Moor (disambiguation){{!}}Moor}} {{pp|small=yes}} [[File:ChristianAndMuslimPlayingChess.JPG|thumb|Christian and Moor playing chess, from ''The [[Book of Games]]'' of [[Alfonso X]], {{Circa|1285}}]] The term '''Moor''' is an [[Endonym and exonym|exonym]] first used by [[Christianity in Europe|Christian Europeans]] to designate the [[Muslims|Muslim]] populations of the [[Maghreb]], [[al-Andalus]] ([[Iberian Peninsula]]), [[Sicily]] and [[Malta]] during the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{citation|title=The Moors: Al-Andalus, Sepharad and Medieval Iberia |chapter=The Moors? |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789047441540/Bej.9789004179196.i-276_009.xml|via=Brill.com|date=January 2010 |pages=151–162 |isbn=9789047441540 |last1=Corfis |first1=Ivy |publisher=BRILL }}</ref> Moors are not a single, distinct or [[Ethnonym|self-defined]] people.<ref name=RossBrann>[http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/12049/1/Ramos_umd_0117E_12042.pdf Ross Brann, "The Moors?"], ''Andalusia'', New York University. Quote: "Andalusi Arabic sources, as opposed to later [[Mudéjar]] and [[Morisco]] sources in Aljamiado and medieval Spanish texts, neither refer to individuals as Moors nor recognize any such group, community or culture."</ref> The 1911 ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' observed that the term had "no real [[ethnological]] value."<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Moors |volume=18 |page=812}}</ref> Europeans of the [[Middle Ages]] and the [[early modern period]] variously applied the name to [[Arabs]], [[Berbers]], and [[Islam in Europe|Muslim Europeans]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Blackmore|first=Josiah|author-link=Josiah Blackmore|title=Moorings: Portuguese Expansion and the Writing of Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iRNFebS_mUIC&pg=PR16|year=2009|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-4832-0|page=xvi, 18}}</ref> The term has also been used in Europe in a broader sense to refer to Muslims in general,<ref name="Menocal, María Rosa 2002 page 241">Menocal, María Rosa (2002). ''Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain''. Little, Brown, & Co. {{ISBN|0-316-16871-8}}, p. 241</ref> especially those of Arab or Berber descent, whether living in al-Andalus or North Africa.<ref>{{cite book|title=Race|author=John Randall Baker|page=[https://archive.org/details/race00bake/page/226 226]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=March 12, 2014|url=https://archive.org/details/race00bake|url-access=registration|quote=In one sense the word 'Moor' means Mohammedan Berbers and Arabs of North-western Africa, with some Syrians, who conquered most of Spain in the 8th century and dominated the country for hundreds of years.|author-link=John Baker (biologist)|year=1974|isbn=9780192129543}}</ref> During the colonial era, the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] introduced the names "[[Sri Lankan Moors|Ceylon Moors]]" and "[[Indian Moors]]" in South Asia and [[Sri Lanka]], now official ethnic designations on the island nation, and the [[Bengali Muslims]] were also called Moors.<ref>Pieris, P.E. ''[https://archive.org/stream/ceylonhollanders00pieruoft#page/n5/mode/2up Ceylon and the Hollanders 1658–1796]''. American Ceylon Mission Press, Tellippalai Ceylon 1918</ref> In the Philippines, the longstanding Muslim community, which predates the arrival of the Spanish, now self-identifies as the "[[Moro people]]", an [[exonym]] introduced by Spanish colonizers due to their Muslim faith. In 711, troops mostly formed by Moors from northern Africa led the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]]. The Iberian Peninsula then came to be known in [[Classical Arabic]] as al-Andalus, which at its peak included most of [[Septimania]] and modern-day [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]. In 827, the [[Aghlabid dynasty|Aghlabid]] Moors occupied [[Mazara del Vallo|Mazara]] on [[Sicily]], developing it as a port.<ref>{{cite web |title=Assessment of the status, development and diversification of fisheries-dependent communities: Mazara del Vallo Case study report |url= http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/documentation/studies/regional_social_economic_impacts/mazara_del_vallo_en.pdf |year= 2010 |publisher= [[European Commission]] |page = 2 |quote = In the year 827, Mazara was occupied by the Arabs, who made the city an important commercial harbour. That period was probably the most prosperous in the history of Mazara. |access-date= 28 September 2012}}</ref> They eventually went on to [[History of Islam in southern Italy|consolidate the rest of the island]]. Differences in religion and culture led to a centuries-long conflict with the [[Christendom|Christian kingdoms of Europe]], which tried to reclaim control of Muslim areas; this conflict was referred to as the [[Reconquista]]. In 1224, the Muslims were expelled from Sicily to the [[Muslim settlement of Lucera|settlement of Lucera]], which was destroyed by European Christians in 1300. The [[fall of Granada]] in 1492 marked the end of Muslim rule in Spain, although [[Morisco|a Muslim minority]] persisted until [[Expulsion of the Moriscos|their expulsion]] in 1609.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hillgarth|first=J. N.|author-link=J. N. Hillgarth|title=The Mirror of Spain, 1500–1700: The Formation of a Myth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXTs8jJiuu8C&pg=67|year=2000|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0-472-11092-6|page=67}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)