Editing Moors

{{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>

==Name==
===Etymology===
{{further|Mauri people|Mauretania}}
The etymology of the word "Moor" is uncertain, although it can be traced back to the [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] term ''Mahurin'', meaning "Westerners".<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://apc.aast.edu/ojs/index.php/ILCC/article/view/ilcc.2023.03.1.026/pdf_18 |journal=Insights into Language, Culture and Communication| volume=3| issue=1 |date=2023 |title=Maghrebians (or Mauri) speak Magharibi, not Arabic |last=Elimam |first=Abdou |pages=26–29 |doi=10.21622/ILCC.2023.03.1.026|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Va6oSxzojzoC&pg=PA560 |title=First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936, Volume V |publisher=E. J. Brill |last1=Houtsma |first1=M. |display-authors=etal |date=1993 |isbn=9004097910 |pages=560}}</ref> From ''Mahurin'', the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] derive ''Mauro'', from which [[Latin]] derives ''[[Mauri]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Skutsch |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yXYKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |title=Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities |date=2013-11-07 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-19388-1 |pages=31 |language=en}}</ref> The word "Moor" is presumably of Phoenician origin.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Va6oSxzojzoC&pg=PA560 |title=First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936 |date=1993 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09796-4 |pages=560 |language=en}}</ref> Some sources attribute a [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] origin to the word.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ditson |first=George Leighton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvLvJG3k7S0C&pg=PA122 |title=Adventures and Observations on the North Coast of Africa, Or, The Crescent and French Crusaders |date=1860 |publisher=Derby & Jackson |pages=122 |language=en}}</ref>

During the classical period, the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] interacted with, and later conquered, parts of [[Mauretania]], a state that covered modern northern [[Morocco]], western [[Algeria]], and the Spanish cities [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Diderot|first1=Denis|title=Ceuta|journal=Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert – Collaborative Translation Project|date=1752|page=871|hdl=2027/spo.did2222.0000.555}}</ref> The [[Berbers|Berber]] tribes of the region were noted in the [[Classics]] as ''[[Mauri people|Mauri]]'', which was subsequently rendered as "Moors" in English and in related variations in other European languages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Moor&allowed_in_frame=0 |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=2014-05-12}}</ref> ''Mauri'' ([[Ancient Greek]]: Μαῦροι) is recorded as the native name by [[Strabo]] in the early 1st century. This appellation was also adopted into Latin, whereas the Greek name for the tribe was ''Maurusii'' ({{langx|grc|Μαυρούσιοι}}).<ref>{{lang|grc|οἰκοῦσι δ᾽ ἐνταῦθα Μαυρούσιοι μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων λεγόμενοι, Μαῦροι δ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων}} "Here dwell a people called by the Greeks Maurusii, and by the Romans and the natives Mauri" Strabo, ''Geographica'' 17.3.2. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3DMauri Lewis and Short, ''Latin Dictionary'', 1879 ''s.v.'' "Mauri"]</ref> The Moors were also mentioned by [[Tacitus]] as having revolted against the [[Roman Empire]] in 24 [[Anno Domini|AD]].<ref>Cornelius Tacitus, Arthur Murphy, The Historical Annals of Cornelius Tacitus: With Supplements, Volume 1 (D. Neall, 1829 ) [https://books.google.com/books?id=MEoWAAAAYAAJ&dq=Cinithians&pg=PA113 p114].</ref>

During the Latin Middle Ages, ''Mauri'' was used to refer to Berbers and Arabs in the coastal regions of Northwest Africa.<ref name="OxfordIslamic">{{cite web|url=http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/218|title='Moors' from Oxford Islamic Studies Online|last1=Assouline|first1=David|website=Muslim Journeys|publisher=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World in the Oxford Islamic Studies Online.|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-date=20 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520183655/http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/218|url-status=dead}}</ref> The 16th century scholar [[Leo Africanus]] (c. 1494–1554) identified the Moors (''Mauri'') as the native Berber inhabitants of the former [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa Province]] ([[Roman Africans]]).<ref name="Leo">{{cite book |last1=Africanus |first1=Leo |url=https://archive.org/stream/historyanddescr03porygoog#page/n150/ |title=The History and Description of Africa |date=1526 |publisher=Hakluyt Society |pages=108 |quote=the Mauri – or Moors – were the Berbers |access-date=30 August 2017}}</ref>

===='White Moors' and 'Black Moors'====

The existence of both 'white Moors' and 'black Moors' is attested in historical literature from the late Middle Ages onwards.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1t8q92s.7 |title=Keywords of Identity, Race, and Human Mobility in Early Modern England |chapter=Blackamoor/Moor |date=2021 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press| editor-last1=Das |editor-first1=Nandini |display-authors=etal| pages=40–50|jstor=j.ctv1t8q92s.7 |last1=Das |first1=Nandini |last2=Melo |first2=João Vicente |last3=Smith |first3=Haig Z. |last4=Working |first4=Lauren |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1t8q92s.7 |isbn=978-94-6372-074-8 }}</ref> These terms are still used in modern-day [[Mauritania]], where the Moorish population is divided into the socially dominant 'white Moors' of Berber and Arab origin (also known ''[[Beidane|Beidanes]]''), and 'black Moors' (also known as ''[[Haratin|Haratines]]'') who are former slaves''.''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr38/003/2002/en/ |title=Mauritania: A future free from slavery |website=Amnesty International |date=2002 |pages=9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/islamsblackslave00sega/page/204/mode/2up?q=white+moors |title=Islam's Black Slaves |date=2001 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |pages=204 |last=Segal |first=Ronald}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://growup.ethz.ch/atlas/Mauritania |title=Ethnicity in Mauritania |website=ETH Zurich}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://mondediplo.com/2019/08/04mauritania |title=Mauritania remains stuck in the past |website=Le Monde Diplomatique |date=2019}}</ref> 

{{quote |The Haratines are almost exclusively of black origin, but are closely associated with the Moorish population in terms of language and culture. In the words of Samuel Cotton: “[they] have lost virtually every aspect of their African origins except their skin color.” Their Moorish culture and their language are the result of generations of enslavement by the Moors. They are also referred to as “black Moors” to differentiate them from the “white Moors” who enslaved them, and from black Mauritanians who have not been enslaved by the Moors.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr38/003/2002/en/ |title=Mauritania: A future free from slavery |website=Amnesty International |date=2002 |pages=9}}</ref>}}

In the 1453 chronicle ''The Discovery and Conquest of Guinea'' the Portuguese chronicler [[Gomes Eanes de Zurara|Gomes Eannes de Azurara]] writes: "Dinis Diaz, leaving Portugal with his company, never lowered sail till he had passed the land of the Moors and arrived in the land of the blacks, that is called [[Guinea (region)|Guinea]]."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35738/35738-h/35738-h.htm |title=The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, by Gomes Eannes de Azurara |date=1453 |website=Project Gutenberg}}</ref> The 'land of the blacks' here refers to the regions south of the Sahara known as [[Sudan (region)|''bilād as-sūdān'']] in Medieval Arabic texts. De Azurara also notes the existence of 'blacks' among the Moors, stating that "these blacks were Moors like the others, though their slaves, in accordance with ancient custom".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35738/35738-h/35738-h.htm |title=The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, by Gomes Eannes de Azurara |date=1453 |website=Project Gutenberg}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bwb_P8-DFH-699/page/122/mode/2up |title=Black Morocco: A history of slavery, race, and Islam |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |last=El Hamel |first=Chouki |isbn=9781107025776 |pages=77}}</ref> In ''The First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge'' (1542) the English author [[Andrew Boorde|Andrew Borde]] writes that "[[Barbary Coast|Barbary]] is a great country, and plentiful of fruit, wine and corn. The inhabitants be called the Moors; there be white Moors and black Moors; they be infidels and unchristened." Borde includes a poem about "a black Moor born in Barbary" who will be "a good diligent slave".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aOueAAAAIAAJ |title=The First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge |last=Borde |first=Andrew |date=1542 |chapter=xxxvi, ‘Chapter treateth of the Moors which do dwell in Barbary’ |pages=212|publisher=Early English Text Society }}</ref> In his ''Description of Africa'' (1550) The [[Al-Andalus|Andalusi]] author [[Leo Africanus]] - described as a Moor by the English translator [[John Pory]] (1600) - refers to the Berber populations of [[Barbary Coast|Barbary]] and [[Numidia]] as "white Africans", translated by Pory as "white or tawny Moors".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyanddescr03porygoog/page/n334/mode/2up? |title=The history and description of Africa, Volume I |date=1550 |first=Leo |last=Africanus |publisher=Hakluyt society |pages=205}}</ref>  

===Modern meanings===
In medieval [[Romance languages]], variations of the [[Latin]] word for the Moors (for instance, [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''moro'', [[French language|French]]: ''maure'', [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: ''mouro'', [[Romanian language|Romanian]]: ''maur'') developed different applications and connotations. The term initially denoted a specific Berber people in western [[ancient Libya|Libya]], but the name acquired more general meaning during the medieval period, associated with "[[Muslim]]", similar to associations with "[[Saracen]]s". During the context of the [[Crusades]] and the [[Reconquista]], the term Moors included the derogatory suggestion of "infidels".

Apart from these historic associations and context, ''Moor'' and ''Moorish'' designate a specific ethnic group speaking [[Hassaniya Arabic]]. They inhabit [[Mauritania]] and parts of [[Algeria]], [[Western Sahara]], [[Tunisia]], [[Morocco]], [[Niger]], and [[Mali]]. In Niger and Mali, these peoples are also known as the [[Azawagh Arabs]], after the [[Azawagh]] region of the Sahara.<ref>For an introduction to the culture of the Azawagh Arabs, see Rebecca Popenoe, ''Feeding Desire — Fatness, Beauty and Sexuality among a Saharan People''. Routledge, London (2003) {{ISBN|0-415-28096-6}}</ref>

The [[Diccionario de la lengua española|authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language]] does not list any derogatory meaning for the word ''moro'', a term generally referring to people of [[Maghreb]]ian origin in particular or Muslims in general.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dle.rae.es/|title="Diccionario de la lengua española" – Edición del Tricentenario|first=RAE-|last=ASALE|website=«Diccionario de la lengua española» – Edición del Tricentenario}}</ref> Some authors have pointed out that in modern colloquial Spanish use of the term ''moro'' is derogatory for [[Moroccans]] in particular<ref>{{cite book|last=Simms|first=Karl|title=Translating Sensitive Texts: Linguistic Aspects|year=1997|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=978-90-420-0260-9|page=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t4y7EHgCn8kC&pg=PA1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Warwick Armstrong|first=James Anderson|title=Geopolitics of European Union enlargement: the fortress empire|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-33939-1|page=83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pmkrY29qkIC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Wessendorf|first=Susanne|title=The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices|year=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-55649-1|page=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUaHVimJkT0C}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Tariq|last1=Modood|author1-link=Tariq Modood|first2=Anna|last2=Triandafyllidou|first3=Ricard|last3=Zapata-Barrero|author3-link=Ricard Zapata-Barrero|title=Multiculturalism, Muslims and citizenship: a European approach|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-35515-5|page=143|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7OAAV5eEmy4C}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bekers|first=Elisabeth|title=Transcultural Modernities: Narrating Africa in Europe|year=2009|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=978-90-420-2538-7|page=14|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4_on188WJwC}}</ref> and [[Muslim]]s in general.

In the [[Philippines]], a [[Spanish East Indies|former Spanish colony]], many modern [[Filipinos]] call the large, [[Islam in the Philippines|local Muslim minority]] concentrated in [[Mindanao]] and other southern islands ''[[Moro people|Moros]]''. The word is a catch-all term, as ''Moro'' may come from several distinct [[ethnic groups in the Philippines|ethno-linguistic groups]] such as the [[Maranao people]]. The term was introduced by Spanish colonisers, and has since been appropriated by Filipino Muslims as an [[endonym]], with many self-identifying as members of the ''Bangsamoro'' "Moro Nation".

''[[wikt:moreno|Moreno]]'' can mean "dark-skinned" in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, and the Philippines. Also in Spanish, ''morapio'' is a humorous name for "wine", especially that which has not been "baptized" or mixed with water, i.e., pure unadulterated wine. Among Spanish speakers, ''moro'' came to have a broader meaning, applied to both Filipino Moros from Mindanao, and the [[morisco]]s of [[Granada]]. ''Moro'' refers to all things dark, as in "Moor", ''moreno'', etc. It was also used as a nickname; for instance, the [[Milan]]ese Duke [[Ludovico Sforza]] was called ''Il Moro'' because of his dark complexion.<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/biography/lodovico-sforza/ Lodovico Sforza], in:  Thomas Gale,  Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2005–2006</ref>
[[File:Filà Marraqueix.jpg|thumb|''[[Moros y Cristianos]]'' festival in [[Oliva]].]]

In Portugal, ''mouro'' (feminine,'' moura'') may refer to supernatural beings known as [[Enchanted Moura|enchanted ''moura'']], where "Moor" implies "alien" and "non-Christian". These beings were siren-like fairies with golden or reddish hair and a fair face. They were believed to have magical properties.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QA4vXSPmO3EC&dq=moura+encantada+rubios&pg=PA16 Xosé Manuel González Reboredo, ''Leyendas Gallegas de Tradición Oral'' (Galician Legends of the Oral Tradition)], Galicia: Editorial Galaxia, 2004, p. 18, Googlebooks, accessed 12 Jul 2010 {{in lang|es}}</ref> From this root, the name moor is applied to unbaptized children, meaning not Christian.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uQ88AAAAIAAJ&q=PORTUGAL:+A+BOOK+OF+FOLK-WAYS Rodney Gallop, ''Portugal: A Book of Folkways''], Cambridge University Press (CUP), 1936; reprint CUP Archives, 1961, Googlebooks, accessed 12 Jul 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/ndat/rg/RG100_11.pdf Francisco Martins Sarmento, "A Mourama"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314022725/http://www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/ndat/rg/RG100_11.pdf |date=2012-03-14}}, in ''Revista de Guimaraes'', No. 100, 1990, Centro de Estudos de Património, Universidade do Minho, accessed 12 Jul 2010 {{in lang|pt}}</ref> In [[Basque language|Basque]], ''[[mairu]]'' means moor and also refers to a mythical people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www1.euskadi.net/morris/resultado.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104134318/http://www1.euskadi.net/morris/resultado.asp|url-status=dead|title=Morris Student Plus|archive-date=November 4, 2014|website=www1.euskadi.net}}</ref>

Muslims located in [[South Asia]] were distinguished by the Portuguese historians into two groups: Mouros da Terra ("Moors of the Land") and the Mouros da Arabia/Mouros de Meca ("Moors from Arabia/Mecca" or "Paradesi Muslims").<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-DZciX6WxgUC&q=sanjay+subrahmanyam+%22mappila%22|title=The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500–1700: A Political and Economic History|last=Subrahmanyam|first=Sanjay|date=2012-04-30|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9780470672914|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Subrahmanyam2">Subrahmanyam, Sanjay."The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500-1650" Cambridge University Press, (2002)</ref> The Mouros da Terra were either descendants of any native convert (mostly from any of the former lower or untouchable castes) to Islam or descendants of a marriage alliance between a Middle Eastern individual and an Indian woman.

Within the context of [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese colonization]], in [[Sri Lanka]] ([[Portuguese Ceylon]]), Muslims of Arab origin are called ''Ceylon Moors'', not to be confused with "Indian Moors" of Sri Lanka (see [[Sri Lankan Moors]]). Sri Lankan Moors (a combination of "Ceylon Moors" and "Indian Moors") make up 12% of the population. The Ceylon Moors (unlike the Indian Moors) are descendants of Arab traders who settled there in the mid-6th century. When the Portuguese arrived in the early 16th century, they labelled all the Muslims in the island as Moors as they saw some of them resembling the Moors in North Africa. The Sri Lankan government continues to identify the Muslims in Sri Lanka as "Sri Lankan Moors", sub-categorised into "Ceylon Moors" and "Indian Moors".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lankalibrary.com/cul/muslims/moors.htm|title=WWW Virtual Library:&nbsp; From where did the Moors come?|website=www.lankalibrary.com}}</ref>

The [[Goan Muslims]]—a minority community who follow [[Islam]] in the western [[India]]n coastal state of [[Goa]]—are commonly referred as ''Moir'' ({{langx|knn|मैर}}) by [[Goan Catholics]] and [[Hindu]]s.{{Ref label|a|a|none}} ''Moir'' is derived from the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] word ''mouro'' ("Moor").

== Moors of the Maghreb ==
[[File:Great Mosque of Kairouan Panorama - Grande Mosquée de Kairouan Panorama.jpg|thumb|The [[Mosque of Uqba|Great Mosque of Kairouan]] in [[Tunisia]] was founded by the Arab general [[Uqba ibn Nafi]] in 670 during the Islamic conquest, to provide a place of worship for recently converted or immigrating Muslims.]]
In the late 7th and early 8th centuries CE, the Islamic [[Umayyad Caliphate]], established after the death of Muhammad, underwent a period of rapid growth. In 647 CE, 40,000 Arabs forced the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] governor of northern Africa to submit and pay tribute, but failed to permanently occupy the region.<ref>Rodd, Francis. "Kahena, Queen of the Berbers: "A Sketch of the Arab Invasion of Ifriqiya in the First Century of the Hijra" Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol. 3, No. 4, (1925), 731–2</ref> After an interlude, during which the Muslims fought a [[First Fitna|civil war]], the invasions resumed in 665, seizing [[Byzantine North Africa]] up to [[Béjaïa|Bugia]] over the course of a series of campaigns, lasting until 689. A Byzantine counterattack largely expelled the Arabs but left the region vulnerable. Intermittent war over the inland provinces of North Africa continued for the next two decades. Further civil war delayed the continuation of further conquest, but an Arab assault took [[Carthage]] and held it against a Byzantine counterattack.

Although a [[Christianity|Christian]] and [[Traditional Berber religion|pagan Berber]] rebellion pushed out the Arabs temporarily, the Romanized urban population preferred the Arabs to the Berbers and welcomed a renewed and final conquest that left northern Africa in Muslim hands by 698. Over the next decades, the Berber and urban populations of northern Africa gradually converted to Islam, although for separate reasons.<ref name="Lapidus 4">Lapidus, 200–201</ref> The Arabic language was also adopted. Initially, the Arabs required only vassalage from the local inhabitants rather than assimilation, a process which took a considerable time.<ref name="Lapidus 4"/>  The groups that inhabited the Maghreb following this process became known collectively as Moors. Although a Kharijite rebellion would [[Berber Revolt|later push out Umayyad rule]] from the western Maghreb and form temporarily independent Arab, Berber and Persian dynasties, that effort failed to dislodge the usage of the collective term.

==Moors of Iberia==
{{Further|Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Al-Andalus}}
[[File:Moorish ceiling at the Sala de los Reyes, Alhambra.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|This is a large mural located on the ceiling of the Hall of Kings of the [[Alhambra]] which depicts the first ten sultans of the Nasrid dynasty. It is a late-14th-century Gothic painting by a Christian Toledan artist.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.alhambradegranada.org/es/info/palaciosnazaries/saladelosreyes.asp|title=Sala de los Reyes|website=alhambradegranada.org}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.alhambra-patronato.es/index.php/Sala-de-los-Reyes/162/0/|title=SALA DE LOS REYES|author=Board of the Alhambra}}</ref>]]
[[File:MoorsinIberia.jpg|thumb|Depiction of the Moors in Iberia, from [[Cantigas de Santa Maria|The Cantigas de Santa Maria]]]]
In 711 the Islamic Arabs and Moors of Berber descent in [[North Africa|northern Africa]] crossed the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] onto the [[Iberian Peninsula]], and in a series of raids they conquered [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] Christian [[Hispania]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Fletcher|first=Richard A.|author-link=Richard A. Fletcher|title=Moorish Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrMG-LfuU7oC|year=2006|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24840-3|page= 1}}</ref> Their general, [[Tariq ibn Ziyad]], brought most of Iberia under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. They continued northeast across the [[Pyrenees]] Mountains but were defeated by the [[Franks]] under [[Charles Martel]] at the [[Battle of Tours]] in 732.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Blakemore|first=Erin|title=Who were the Moors?|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/reference/people/who-were-moors/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200618001119/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/reference/people/who-were-moors/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 18, 2020|access-date=2020-10-30|website=National Geographic|date=12 December 2019}}</ref>

The Maghreb fell into a [[civil war]] in 739 that lasted until 743 known as the [[Berber Revolt]]. The Berbers revolted against the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]], putting an end to Eastern dominion over the Maghreb. Despite racial tensions, Arabs and Berbers intermarried frequently. A few years later, the Eastern branch of the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad dynasty]] was dethroned by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasids]] and the Umayyad Caliphate overthrown in the [[Abbasid Revolution|Abbasid revolution (746–750)]]. [[Abd al-Rahman I]], who was of [[Arab-Berber]] lineage, managed to evade the Abbasids and flee to the Maghreb and then Iberia, where he founded the [[Emirate of Córdoba]] and the [[Andalusians|Andalusian]] branch of the Umayyad dynasty. The Moors ruled northern Africa and Al-Andalus for several centuries thereafter.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard A. Fletcher|title=Moorish Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrMG-LfuU7oC|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|page=20|author-link=Richard A. Fletcher|isbn=9780520248403|date=2006-05-05}}</ref> [[Ibn Hazm]], the polymath, mentions that many of the Caliphs in the Umayyad Caliphate and the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] were blond and had light eyes.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Legacy of Muslim Spain|author=Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Manuela Marín|pages=125, 365, and 463|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|date=April 14, 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbfORLWv1HkC|isbn=978-9004095991}}</ref> Ibn Hazm mentions that he preferred blondes, and notes that there was much interest in blondes in al-Andalus amongst the rulers and regular Muslims:
{{blockquote|All the Caliphs of the Banu Marwan (God have mercy on their souls!), and especially the sons of [[Abd-ar-Rahman III|al-Nasir]], were without variation or exception disposed by nature to prefer blondes. I have myself seen them, and known others who had seen their forebears, from the days of al-Nasir's reign down to the present day; every one of them has been fair-haired, taking after their mothers, so that this has become a hereditary trait with them; all but Sulaiman al-Zafir (God have mercy on him!), whom I remember to have had black ringlets and a black beard. As for [[Abd-ar-Rahman III|al-Nasir]] and [[Al-Hakam II|al-Hakam al-Mustansir]] (may God be pleased with them!), I have been informed by my late father, the vizier, as well as by others, that both of them were blond and blue-eyed. The same is true of [[Hisham II|Hisham al-Mu'aiyad]], Muhammad al-Mahdi, and `Abd al-Rahman al-Murtada (may God be merciful to them all!); I saw them myself many times, and had the honour of being received by them, and I remarked that they all had fair hair and blue eyes.<ref>Ibn Hazm, طوق الحمامة</ref>}}

[[File:Cantigas battle.jpg|thumb|Moorish army (right) of [[Almanzor]] during the Reconquista [[Battle of San Esteban de Gormaz (917)|Battle of San Esteban de Gormaz]], from ''Cantigas de Alfonso X el Sabio'']]
The languages spoken in the parts of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule were [[Andalusian Arabic]] and [[Andalusi Romance|Mozarabic]]; they became extinct after the [[expulsion of the Moriscos]], but [[Arabic language influence on the Spanish language]] can still be found today. The Muslims were resisted in parts of the Iberian Peninsula in areas of the northwest (such as [[Asturias]], where they were defeated at the battle of [[Covadonga]]) and the largely [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]] in the [[Pyrenees]]. Though the number of Moorish colonists was small, many [[muwallad|native Iberian inhabitants converted to Islam]]. By 1000, according to [[Ronald Segal]], some 5,000,000 of Iberia's 7,000,000 inhabitants, most of them descended from indigenous Iberian converts, were Muslim. There were also [[black people|Sub-Saharan Africans]] who had been absorbed into al-Andalus to be used as soldiers and [[Muslim slave trade|slaves]]. The Berber and Sub-Saharan African soldiers were known as "tangerines" because they were imported through [[Tangier]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard A. Fletcher|title=Moorish Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrMG-LfuU7oC|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|page=61|author-link=Richard A. Fletcher|isbn=9780520248403|date=2006-05-05}}</ref><ref>Ronald Segal, ''Islam's Black Slaves'' (2003), Atlantic Books, {{ISBN|1-903809-81-9}}</ref>

The Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed in 1031 and the Islamic territory in Iberia fell under the rule of the [[Almohad Caliphate]] in 1153. This second stage was guided by a version of Islam that left behind the more tolerant practices of the past.<ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=412&letter=G&search=Granada Granada] by Richard Gottheil, Meyer Kayserling, ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''. 1906 ed.</ref>  Al-Andalus broke up into a number of [[taifa]]s (fiefs), which were partly consolidated under the Caliphate of Córdoba.

[[File:Jaume I, Cantigas de Santa Maria, s.XIII.jpg|thumb|left|The Moors request permission from [[James I of Aragón]]]]
[[File:MoorandChristianBattle.png|thumb|left|Moorish and Christian Reconquista battle, taken from ''The Cantigas de Santa María'']]
The [[Kingdom of Asturias]], a small northwestern Christian Iberian kingdom, initiated the ''[[Reconquista]]'' ("Reconquest") soon after the Islamic conquest in the 8th century. Christian states based in the north and west slowly extended their power over the rest of Iberia. The [[Kingdom of Navarre]], the [[Kingdom of Galicia]], the [[Kingdom of León]], the [[Kingdom of Portugal]], the [[Kingdom of Aragon]], the ''[[Marca Hispánica]]'', and the [[Crown of Castile]] 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. The Portuguese side of the Reconquista ended in 1249 with the conquest of the [[Algarve]] ({{langx|ar|الغرب}} – [[Gharb Al-Andalus|''al-Gharb'']]) under [[Afonso III of Portugal|Afonso III]]. He was the first Portuguese monarch to claim the title "[[List of Portuguese monarchs|King of Portugal and the Algarve]]".

The Moorish [[Kingdom of Granada]] continued for three more centuries in southern Iberia. On 2 January 1492, the leader of the last Muslim stronghold in [[Granada]] surrendered to the armies of a recently united Christian Spain (after the marriage of [[Ferdinand II of Aragón]] and [[Isabella I of Castile]], the "[[Catholic Monarchs]]"). The Moorish inhabitants received no military aid or rescue from other Muslim nations.<ref name="Maalouf">{{cite book|last1=Maalouf|first1=Amin|title=Leo Africanus|date=1992|publisher=New Amsterdam Books|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=1-56131-022-0|page=45|edition=first}}</ref> The remaining Jews were also forced to leave Spain, convert to Roman Catholic Christianity, or be killed for refusing to do so. In 1480, to exert social and religious control, Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to allow the [[Spanish Inquisition|Inquisition in Spain]]. The Muslim population of Granada [[Morisco rebellions in Granada|rebelled in 1499]]. The revolt lasted until early 1501, giving the Castilian authorities an excuse to void the terms of the [[Treaty of Granada (1491)]]. In 1501, Castilian authorities delivered an ultimatum to the Muslims of Granada: they could either convert to Christianity or be expelled.

[[File:Alhambra Dec 2004 5.jpg|thumb|Court of the lions in the [[Alhambra]], a Moorish palace built in the 14th century in Granada, Spain]]
The Inquisition was aimed mostly at Jews and Muslims who had overtly converted to Christianity but were thought to be practicing their faiths secretly. They were respectively called ''[[marrano]]s'' and ''moriscos''. However, in 1567 King [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] directed Moriscos to give up their Arabic names and traditional dress, and prohibited the use of [[Arabic]]. In reaction, there was a [[Morisco rebellions in Granada|Morisco uprising]] in the [[Alpujarras]] from 1568 to 1571. In the years from 1609 to 1614, the government expelled Moriscos. The historian Henri Lapeyre estimated that this affected 300,000 out of an estimated total of 8&nbsp;million inhabitants.<ref>See ''History of [[Al-Andalus]]''.</ref>

Some Muslims converted to Christianity and remained permanently in Iberia. This is indicated by a "high mean proportion of ancestry from North African (10.6%)" that "attests to a high level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced), driven by historical episodes of social and religious intolerance, that ultimately led to the integration of descendants."<ref>[http://www.cell.com/AJHG/abstract/S0002-9297%2808%2900592-2 Adams et al., "The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula"], ''Cell'', 2008. Quote: "Admixture analysis based on binary and Y-STR haplotypes indicates a high mean proportion of ancestry from North African (10.6%) ranging from zero in Gascony to 21.7% in Northwest Castile."</ref><ref>[http://www.upf.edu/enoticies/home_upf_en/1206.html Elena Bosch, "The religious conversions of Jews and Muslims have had a profound impact on the population of the Iberian Peninsula"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521105207/http://www.upf.edu/enoticies/home_upf_en/1206.html |date=2009-05-21 }}, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2008, Quote: "The study shows that religious conversions and the subsequent marriages between people of different lineage had a relevant impact on modern populations both in Spain, especially in the Balearic Islands, and in Portugal."</ref> According to historian [[Richard A. Fletcher]],<ref>Richard Fletcher. ''Moorish Spain'' p. 10. University of California Press, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0-520-08496-4}}</ref> "the number of Arabs who settled in Iberia was very small. 'Moorish' Iberia does at least have the merit of reminding us that the bulk of the invaders and settlers were Moors, i.e., Berbers from Algeria and Morocco."

In the meantime, Spanish and Portuguese [[Age of Discovery|expeditions]] westward from the [[New World]] spread Christianity to India, the [[Malay Peninsula]], [[Indonesia]], and the [[Philippines]]. By 1521, the ships of [[Ferdinand Magellan|Magellan]] had reached that island archipelago, which they named ''Las Islas Filipinas'', after [[Philip II of Spain]]. In [[Mindanao]], the Spaniards named the [[kris]]-bearing people as [[Moro people|Moros]] or 'Moors'. Today this ethnic group in Mindanao, who are generally Filipino Muslim, are called "Moros".

<gallery>
File:Book of chess and dice, page 0044R. Arab Muslims in Spain.jpg|1283 A.D. Miniature from [[Alfonso X of Castile|Alfonso X]]'s Book of chess, dice and boards. Moors playing chess.
File:Book of chess, dice and boards, 0022R, Berbers playing chess.jpg|1283 A.D. Miniature from [[Alfonso X of Castile|Alfonso X]]'s Book of chess, dice and boards. African Muslims playing chess, with musician and serving women. Europeans loosely called the invading Muslims ''Moors'', over time blending the name for people of Arab and Berber ancestry as well as European Muslims.<ref>{{cite book|title=Race|author=John Randall Baker|page=[https://archive.org/details/race00bake/page/226 226]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|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.|year=1974|isbn=978-0-19-212954-3|author-link=John Baker (biologist)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Blackmore|first=Josiah|title=Moorings: Portuguese Expansion and the Writing of Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iRNFebS_mUIC|year=2009|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-4832-0|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iRNFebS_mUIC&pg=PR16 xvi], [https://books.google.com/books?id=iRNFebS_mUIC&pg=PA18 18]}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |title= LITERARY CARTOGRAPHIES OF SPAIN: MAPPING IDENTITY IN AFRICAN AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING |last= Ramos |first= Maria Christina |date= 2011 | publisher= Graduate School of the University of Maryland |place= College Park, Maryland |page= 42 |url= http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/12049/1/Ramos_umd_0117E_12042.pdf |quote= Early in the history of al-Andalus, Moor signified "Berber" as a geographic and ethnic identity.  Later writing, however, from twelfth-and thirteenth-century Christian kingdoms, demonstrates the "transformation of Moor from a term signifying Berber into a general term referring primarily to Muslims (regardless of ethnicity) living in recently conquered Christian lands and secondarily to those residing in what was still left of al-Andalus."}}</ref>
</gallery>

==Moors of Sicily==
{{See also|History of Islam in southern Italy|Norman–Arab–Byzantine culture}}
[[File:MuslimMusiciansAtTheCourtOfRoger.JPG|thumb|Muslim musicians at the court of the Norman King [[Roger II of Sicily]]]]

The first Muslim conquest of Sicily began in 827, though it was not until 902 that almost the entire island was in the control of the [[Aghlabids]], from their capital [[Kairouan]] ([[Tunisia]]),  with the exception of some minor strongholds in the rugged interior. During that period some parts of southern Italy fell under Muslim control, most notably the port city of [[Bari]], which formed the [[Emirate of Bari]] from 847 to 871. Four years later, the Fatimid governor was ousted from Palermo when the island declared its independence under Emir Ahmed ibn-Kohrob. The language spoken in Sicily under Muslim rule was [[Siculo-Arabic]].

In 1038, a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] army under [[George Maniakes]] crossed the strait of Messina. This army included a corps of [[Normans]] that saved the situation in the first clash against the Muslims from Messina. After another decisive victory in the summer of 1040, Maniaces halted his march to lay siege to [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]]. Despite his success, Maniaces was removed from his position, and the subsequent Muslim counter-offensive reconquered all the cities captured by the Byzantines.

The Norman [[Robert Guiscard]], son of Tancred, invaded Sicily in 1060. The island was split between three Arab emirs, and the Christian population in many parts of the island rose up against the ruling Muslims. One year later, Messina fell, and in 1072 Palermo was taken by the Normans. The loss of the cities, each with a splendid harbor, dealt a severe blow to Muslim power on the island. Eventually all of Sicily was taken. In 1091, Noto in the southern tip of Sicily and the island of Malta, the last Arab strongholds, fell to the Christians. Islamic authors noted the tolerance of the Norman kings of Sicily. [[Ali ibn al-Athir]] wrote: "They [the Muslims] were treated kindly, and they were protected, even against the [[Franks]]. Because of that, they had great love for King Roger."<ref>{{cite book|last=Aubé|first=Pierre|title=Les empires normands d'Orient|year=2006|publisher= Editions Perrin|page=168|isbn=2-262-02297-6}}</ref>

The Muslim problem characterized Hohenstaufen rule in Sicily under Holy Roman Emperors [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]] and his son, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]]. Many repressive measures were introduced by Frederick II to appease the popes, who were intolerant of Islam in the heart of [[Christendom]]. This resulted in a rebellion by Sicilian Muslims, which in turn triggered organized resistance and systematic reprisals and marked the final chapter of Islam in Sicily. The complete eviction of Muslims and the annihilation of Islam in Sicily was completed by the late 1240s when the final deportations to [[Lucera]] took place.<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Abulafia|author-link=David Abulafia|title=Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor |location=London|publisher=Allen Lane|year=1988}}</ref>

The remaining population of Sicilian Muslims converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] due to the incentives put in place by Fredrich II.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zeldes|first=Nadia|date=2014|title=Offering economic and social benefits as incentives for conversion: The case of Sicily and southern Italy (12th-15th centuries)|url=https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/3023569|journal=Materia Giudaica: Rivista dell'associazione Italiana per Lo Studio del Giudaismo |issue=XIX|language=en|pages=55–62|doi=10.1400/229481}}</ref> Some Muslims from Lucera would also later convert due to oppression on the mainland and had their property returned to them and returned to Sicily.

During the reigns of Frederick II as well as his son, [[Manfred, King of Sicily|Manfred]], a large amount of Muslims were brought, as slaves, to farm lands and perform domestic labor. [[Slavery|Enslaved persons]] in Sicily were not afforded the same privileges as the Muslims in mainland Italy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Taylor|first=Julie Anne|date=2007-04-01|title=Freedom and Bondage among Muslims in Southern Italy during the Thirteenth Century|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13602000701308889|journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs|volume=27|issue=1|pages=71–77|doi=10.1080/13602000701308889|s2cid=216117913|issn=1360-2004|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The trend of importing a considerable amount of slaves from the Muslim world did not stop with the [[Hohenstaufen]] but was amplified under the [[Crown of Aragon|Aragonese]] and [[Monarchy of Spain|Spanish crowns]], and was in fact continued until as late as 1838<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bonazza|first=Giulia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8l-DwAAQBAJ&q=kingdom+of+two+sicilies+slaves&pg=PR8|title=Abolitionism and the Persistence of Slavery in Italian States, 1750–1850|date=2018-12-13|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-030-01349-3|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Sicily and the Two Seas: The Cross Currents of Race and Slavery in Early Modern Palermo|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7gq3t6zb|publisher=UCLA|date=2020|language=en|first=Lori|last=De Lucia |type=PhD dissertation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Goodman|first=Jack|date=June 2017|title=Slavery and Manumission in Fourteenth-Century Palermo|url=https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/3136|type=PhD dissertation |publisher=Western Michigan University}}</ref> The majority of which would also come receive the label 'Moors'<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Abulafia|first=David|date=1985-01-01|title=Catalan Merchants and the Western Mediterranean, 1236–1300: Studies in the Notarial Acts of Barcelona and Sicily|url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.VIATOR.2.301424|journal=Viator|volume=16|pages=209–242|doi=10.1484/J.VIATOR.2.301424|issn=0083-5897|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zeldes|first=Nadia|date=1999-12-01|title=The account books of the Spanish inquisition in Sicily (1500–1550) as a source for the study of material culture in a Mediterranean country|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09518969908569759|journal=Mediterranean Historical Review|volume=14|issue=2|pages=67–94|doi=10.1080/09518969908569759|issn=0951-8967|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== Architecture ==
{{Main|Moorish architecture}}
[[File:Spain Andalusia Cordoba BW 2015-10-27 13-54-14.jpg|thumb|Interior of the [[Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba]]]]
[[Moorish architecture]] is the [[articulation (architecture)|articulated]] [[Islamic architecture]] of northern Africa and parts of Spain and Portugal, where the Moors were dominant between 711 and 1492. The best surviving examples of this architectural tradition are the [[Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba]] and the Alhambra in Granada (mainly 1338–1390),<ref name="curl">Curl p. 502.</ref> as well as the [[Giralda]] in Seville (1184).<ref name="Pev">Pevsner, ''The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture''.</ref> Other notable examples include the ruined [[palace]] city of [[Medina Azahara]] (936–1010) and the [[Mosque of Cristo de la Luz]], now a church, in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], the [[Aljafería]] in [[Zaragoza]] and baths such as those at [[Ronda]] and [[Alhama de Granada]].

==In heraldry==
{{Main|Maure}}
[[File:Escudo d'Aragón.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|left|Coat of arms of [[Aragon]] with Moors' heads.]]
[[File:Canynges arms on the tomb of William II Canynges and Joan Burton, St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, UK - 20101015.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|right|Arms of the wealthy Bristol merchant and shipper [[William II Canynges]] (d.1474), as depicted on his canopied tomb in [[St Mary Redcliffe]] Church, showing the ''couped'' heads of three Moors wreathed at the temples]]

Moors—or more frequently their heads, often crowned—appear with some frequency in medieval European [[heraldry]], though less so since the Middle Ages. The term ascribed to them in [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] ''[[blazon]]'' (the language of [[English heraldry]]) is ''maure'', though they are also sometimes called ''moore'', ''blackmoor'', ''[[Blackamoor (decorative arts)|blackamoor]]'' or ''negro''.<ref name=JParker>{{cite web | title=Man | work= A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry | last=Parker | first=James | url=http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossm.htm#Man | access-date=2012-01-23}}</ref> [[Maure]]s appear in European heraldry from at least as early as the 13th century,<ref name=VAM>{{cite web | title=Africans in medieval & Renaissance art: the Moor's head | url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/africans-in-medieval-and-renaissance-art-moors-head/ | publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum | access-date=2012-01-23| date=2011-01-13 }}</ref> and some have been attested as early as the 11th century in [[Italy]],<ref name=VAM /> where they have persisted in the local [[heraldry]] and [[vexillology]] well into modern times in [[Corsica]] and [[Sardinia]].

Armigers bearing moors or moors' heads may have adopted them for any of several reasons, to include symbolizing military victories in the [[Crusades]], as a pun on the bearer's name in the [[canting arms]] of Morese, Negri, Saraceni, etc., or in the case of [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]], possibly to demonstrate the reach of his empire.<ref name=VAM /> The [[Coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI|arms of Pope Benedict XVI]] feature a moor's head, crowned and collared red, in reference to the arms of [[Freising (district)|Freising, Germany]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/elezione/stemma-benedict-xvi_en.html |author=Mons. Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo |title=Coat of Arms of His Holiness Benedict XVI |publisher=The Holy See |access-date=2013-01-25}}</ref>  In the case of Corsica and Sardinia, the blindfolded moors' heads in the four quarters have long been said to represent the four Moorish emirs who were defeated by [[Peter I of Aragon and Pamplona]] in the 11th century, the four moors' heads around a cross having been adopted to the arms of Aragon around 1281–1387, and Corsica and Sardinia having come under the dominion of the king of Aragon in 1297.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fr-co.html |last=Sache |first=Ivan |date=2009-06-14 |title=Corsica (France, Traditional province) |publisher=Flags of the World |access-date=2013-01-25}}</ref> In Corsica, the blindfolds were lifted to the brow in the 18th century as a way of expressing the island's newfound independence.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vaguelyinteresting.co.uk/?tag=flag-of-sardinia |last=Curry |first=Ian |date=2012-03-18 |title=Blindfolded Moors – The Flags of Corsica and Sardinia |publisher=Vaguely Interesting |access-date=2013-01-25}}</ref>

The use of Moors (and particularly their heads) as a heraldic symbol has been deprecated in modern [[North America]].<ref>In his July 15, 2005 blog article [https://archive.today/20120708120756/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_13_132/ai_n27858944/ "Is that a Moor's head?"], Mathew N. Schmalz refers to a discussion on the American Heraldry Society's website where at least one participant described the moor's head as a "potentially explosive image".</ref>  For example, the College of Arms of the [[Society for Creative Anachronism]] urges applicants to use them delicately to avoid causing offence.<ref>{{cite web | title=Part IX: Offensive Armory | work=Rules for Submissions of the College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. | url=http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/rfs.html#9 | date=2008-04-02 | access-date=2012-01-23}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
* The title character in William Shakespeare's play ''[[Othello]]'', and the derived title character in Verdi's opera ''[[Otello]]'', is identified as a Moor. A lesser-known Moorish character, Aaron, appears in Shakespeare's earlier revenge play ''[[Titus Andronicus]]''.
* The [[Second Spanish Republic]] [[Spanish Civil War]] song "[[¡Ay Carmela! (song)|¡Ay Carmela!]]" refers to the Moors fighting alongside [[Francisco Franco]].
* [[Morgan Freeman]]'s character Azeem in the 1991 film ''[[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'', saved from prison by Robin Hood, is identified as a Moor.
<!-- If you are about to add an episode of Seinfeld here, please discuss it on the talk page. The intention is not to list every passing mention of Moors. -->
* In the 1992 episode of [[Seinfeld]] ('The Bubble Boy' S4 E7) George is playing [[Trivial Pursuit]] when a fight breaks out over a misprint of the word 'Moors' as 'Moops' on the game card to the question "Who invaded Spain in the 8th century"

== Notable Moors ==
{{See also|List of Berbers|List of Arab scientists and scholars}}
[[File:AverroesColor.jpg|thumb|[[Averroes]], a Moorish polymath, was the founder of the [[Averroism]] school of philosophy, and influential in the rise of [[Secularism|secular thought]] in [[Western Europe]]. Painted by [[Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze|Andrea Bonaiuto]] in 14th century]]
[[File:Sebastiano_del_Piombo_Portrait_of_a_Humanist.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Leo Africanus]], born in Granada]]

*[[Tariq ibn Ziyad]], Moorish general who defeated the [[Visigoths]] and [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|conquered Hispania]] in 711
*[[Abd ar-Rahman I]], founder of the [[Umayyad]] [[Emirate of Córdoba]] in 756; along with its succeeding [[Caliphate of Córdoba]], the dynasty ruled [[Al-Andalus|Islamic Iberia]] for three centuries.
*[[Ibn al-Qūṭiyya]], Andalusian historian and [[linguistics|grammarian]].
*[[Yahya al-Laithi]], Andalusian scholar who introduced the [[Maliki]] school of jurisprudence in Al-Andalus.
*[[Abbas ibn Firnas]], 810–887, [[Berbers|Berber]] [[List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world|inventor]], poet, and scientist in the [[Emirate of Córdoba]].
*[[Maslama al-Majriti]], died 1007, Andalusian writer
*[[Al-Zahrawi]] (Abulcasis), [[Medicine in medieval Islam|Andalusian physician]] and surgeon whose work ''[[Al-Tasrif]]'', published in 1000, remained influential for centuries.
*[[Said Al-Andalusi]], 1029–1070, Andalusian [[Qadi]], historian, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer.
*[[Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī]] (Arzachel), 1029–1087, [[Astronomy in medieval Islam|Andalusian astronomer]] and engineer who developed the [[equatorium]] and universal (latitude-independent) [[astrolabe]] and compiled a ''[[Zij]]'' later used as a basis for the ''[[Tables of Toledo]]''.
*[[Artephius]], a writer to whom a number of [[alchemy|alchemical]] texts are ascribed.
*[[Ibn Bajjah]] (Avempace), died 1138, [[Physics in medieval Islam|Andalusian physicist]] and [[polymath]] whose theory of motion, including the concept of a [[Reaction (physics)|reaction]] force, influenced the development of [[classical mechanics]].
*[[Ibn Zuhr]] (Avenzoar), 1091–1161, Andalusian physician and polymath
*[[Muhammad al-Idrisi]], circa 1100–1166, [[Geography in medieval Islam|Moorish geographer]] and polymath who drew the ''[[Tabula Rogeriana]]''
*[[Ibn Tufail]], circa 1105–1185, [[Arabic literature|Arabic writer]] and polymath who wrote ''[[Hayy ibn Yaqdhan]]'', a [[philosophical novel]].
*[[Averroes]] (Ibn Rushd), 1126–1198, [[Early Islamic philosophy|classical Islamic philosopher]] and polymath who wrote ''[[The Incoherence of the Incoherence]]'' and several [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] commentaries, and established the school of [[Averroism]].
*[[Ibn al-Baitar]], died 1248, [[Muslim Agricultural Revolution|Andalusian botanist]] and pharmacist who compiled the most extensive [[pharmacopoeia]] and botanical compilation in pre-modern times.
*[[Ibn Khaldun]], who wrote about [[sociology in medieval Islam|sociology, historiography]] and [[Islamic economics in the world|economics]] in the ''[[Muqaddimah]]'' in 1377. Although he is born and raised in [[Tunis]], he is originally from an [[Arabs|Arab]] family that immigrated from [[Seville]] after the fall of the city during the [[Reconquista]]. 
*[[Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī]], 1412–1486, [[Mathematics in medieval Islam|Moorish mathematician]] who helped popularize [[Mathematical notation|algebraic symbolism]].
*[[Leo Africanus]], 1494–1554, Andalusian geographer, author and diplomat, who was captured by Spanish [[privateer|pirates]] and sold as a slave, but later baptized and freed.
*[[Estevanico]], also referred to as "Stephen the Moor", was an explorer in the service of Spain of what is now the southwest of the United States.
*[[Ibn Battuta]], an Islamic scholar and Moorish explorer who is generally considered one of the greatest travelers of all time.
*[[Ibn Hazm]], a Moorish polymath who was considered one of the leading thinkers of the [[Muslim World]] and is widely acknowledged as the father of [[Comparative religion]] studies.
*[[Ibn Idhari]], a Moorish historian who was the author of ([[Al-Bayan al-Mughrib]]) an important medieval text on the history of the [[Maghreb]] and [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]].
*[[Ibn Arabi]], [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] Sufi mystic and philosopher.
*[[Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi]], a judge and [[scholar]] of [[Maliki]] law from [[al-Andalus]].

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=20em|content=
*[[Adarga]]
*[[Almoravid dynasty]]
*[[Blackamoor (decorative arts)]]
*[[Böszörmény]]
*[[Genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula]]
*[[Genetic studies on Moroccans]]
*[[History of North Africa]]
*[[History of Portugal]]
*[[History of Spain]]
*[[Islam in Portugal]]
*[[Islam in Spain]]
*[[Marinid dynasty]]
*[[Moorish Revival architecture]]
*[[Orientalism]]
*[[Ricote (Don Quixote)|Ricote (''Don Quixote'')]]
*[[Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula]]
*[[Sicily]]
*[[Emirate of Sicily]]
}}

==Notes==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{note label|a|a|none}}...''Hindu Kristao '''Moir''' sogle bhau''- Hindus, Christians and Muslims are all brothers...<ref name=moir>{{cite book|last=Furtado|first=A. D.|title=Goa, yesterday, to-day, tomorrow: an approach to various socio-economic and political issues in Goan life & re-interpretation of historical facts|year=1981|publisher=Furtado's Enterprises|pages=254 pages(page xviii)}}</ref>
{{Refend}}

==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.''
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Jan R. Carew. ''Rape of Paradise: Columbus and the birth of racism in America''. Brooklyn, NY: A&B Books, c. 1994.
* David Brion Davis, "Slavery: White, Black, Muslim, Christian." ''New York Review of Books'', vol. 48, #11 July 5, 2001. Do not have exact pages.
* Herodotus, ''The Histories''
* Shomark O. Y. Keita, "Genetic Haplotypes in North Africa"
* Shomarka O. Y. Keita, "Studies of ancient crania from northern Africa." ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology'' 83:35–48 1990.
* Shomarka O. Y. Keita, "Further studies of crania from ancient northern Africa: an analysis of crania from First Dynasty Egyptian tombs, using multiple discriminant functions." ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology'' 87: 345–54, 1992.
* Shomarka O. Y. Keita, "Black Athena: race, Bernal and Snowden." ''Arethusa'' 26: 295–314, 1993.
* Bernard Lewis, "The Middle East".
* Bernard Lewis. ''The Muslim Discovery of Europe''. NY: Norton, 1982. Also an article with the same title published in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London 20(1/3): 409–16, 1957.
* Bernard Lewis, "Race and Slavery in Islam".
* Stanley Lane-Poole, assisted by E. J. W. Gibb and Arthur Gilman. ''The Story of Turkey''. NY: Putnam, 1888.
* Stanley Lane-Poole. ''The Story of the Barbary Corsairs''. NY: Putnam,1890.
* Stanley Lane-Poole, ''The History of the Moors in Spain''.
* J. A. (Joel Augustus) Rogers. ''Nature Knows No Color Line: research into the Negro ancestry in the white race''. New York: 1952.
* Ronald Segal. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=nQbylEdqJKkC Islam's Black Slaves: the other Black diaspora]''.  NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2001.
* Frank Snowden. Before Color Prejudice: the ancient view of blacks.  Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Univ. Press, 1983.
* Frank Snowden. ''Blacks in antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman experience''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1970.
* David M. Goldenberg. ''The Curse of Ham: race and slavery in early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam''.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, c2003.
* Lucotte and Mercier, various genetic studies
* Eva Borreguero. "The Moors Are Coming, the Moors Are Coming! Encounters with Muslims in Contemporary Spain." p.&nbsp;417-32 in ''Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations'', 2006, vol. 17, no. 4, pp.&nbsp;417–32.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Moor|Moorish}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
* [https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=pomona_fac_pub The "Moors" of West Africa and the Beginnings of the Portuguese Slave Trade] Published from Pomona Faculty Publications and Research from Claremont Colleges
* [https://bridgingcultures-muslimjourneys.org/items/show/218 'Moors' from Oxford Islamic Studies Online] 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090324215737/http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/program/neareast/andalusia/pdf/10.pdf "The Moors" by Ross Brann, published on New York University website].
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/ssecretum1.html Secret Seal: On the image of the Blackamoor in European Heraldry], a [[PBS]] article.
* [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/391449/Moor Encyclopedia – Britannica Online Encyclopedia] (2006)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080313043250/http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/post/morocco/literature/amine2.html Khalid Amine, Moroccan Shakespeare: From Moors to Moroccans]. Paper presented at an International Conference Organized by The Postgraduate School of Critical Theory and Cultural Studies, University of Nottingham, and The British Council, Morocco, 12–14 April 2001.
* [http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/africans-in-medieval-and-renaissance-art-moors-head/ Africans in Medieval & Renaissance Art: The Moor's Head], [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] (n.d)
* Sean Cavazos-Kottke. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080419095235/http://www.folger.edu/eduLesPlanDtl.cfm?lpid=573 Othello's Predecessors: Moors in Renaissance Popular Literature]: (outline). [[Folger Shakespeare Library]], 1998.

{{Authority control}}

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