When the topic of the Moorish influence in Europe is being
discussed, one of the first questions that arises is, what race were they?
As early as the
Middle Ages, “Moors were commonly viewed as being mostly black or very swarthy,
and hence the word is often used for negro,” according to the Oxford English
Dictionary.
Author and historian
Chancellor Williams said “the original Moors, like the original Egyptians, were
black Africans.”
The 16th century
English playwright William Shakespeare used the word Moor as a synonym for
African. His contemporary Christopher Marlowe also used African and Moor
interchangeably.
Arab writers further
buttress the black identity of the Moors. The powerful Moorish Emperor
Yusuf ben-Tachfin is described by an Arab chronicler as “a brown man with wooly
hair.”
Black soldiers,
specifically identified as Moors, were actively recruited by Rome, and served
in Britain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
St. Maurice, patron saint of medieval Europe, was only one of many black
soldiers and officers under the employ of the Roman Empire.
Although generations
of Spanish rulers have tried to expunge this era from the historical record,
recent archeology and scholarship now shed fresh light on the Moors who
flourished in Al-Andalus for more than 700 years – from 711 AD until
1492. The Moorish advances in mathematics, astronomy, art, and agriculture
helped propel Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.
Universal Education
The Moors brought
enormous learning to Spain that over centuries would percolate through the rest
of Europe.
The intellectual
achievements of the Moors in Spain had a lasting effect; education was
universal in Moorish Spain, while in Christian Europe, 99 percent of the
population was illiterate, and even kings could neither read nor write. At
a time when Europe had only two universities, the Moors had seventeen, located
in Almeria, Cordova, Granada, Juen, Malaga, Seville, and Toledo.
In the 10th and 11th
centuries, public libraries in Europe were non-existent, while Moorish Spain
could boast of more than 70, including one in Cordova that housed hundreds of
thousands of manuscripts. Universities in Paris and Oxford were
established after visits by scholars to Moorish Spain.
It was this system
of education, taken to Europe by the Moors, that seeded the European
Renaissance and brought the continent out of the 1,000 years of intellectual
and physical gloom of the Middle Ages.
Fashion and Hygiene
Abu l-Hasan Ali Ibn
Nafi – who was also known as Ziryab (black singing bird in Arabic) and Pájaro
Negro (blackbird) in Spanish- was a polymath, with knowledge in astronomy,
geography, meteorology, botanics, cosmetics, culinary art and fashion. He is
known for starting a vogue by changing clothes according to the weather and
season. He also suggested different clothing for mornings, afternoons and
evenings.
He created a
deodorant to eliminate bad odors, promoted morning and evening baths, and
emphasized maintaining personal hygiene. Ziryab is believed to have
invented an early toothpaste, which he popularized throughout Islamic Iberia –
primarily in Spain.
He made fashionable
shaving among men and set new haircut trends. Royalty used to wash their hair
with rosewater, but Ziryab introduced salt and fragrant oils to improve the
hair’s condition.
Source:
Wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziryab
Ziryab was also an
arbiter of culinary fashion and taste, and revolutionized the local cuisine by
introducing new fruit and vegetables such as asparagus, and by initiating the
three-course meal served on leathern tablecloths. He insisted that meals should
be served in three separate courses consisting of soup, the main course, and
dessert.
He also introduced
the use of crystal as a container for drinks, which was more effective than
metal. Prior to his time, food was served plainly on platters on bare tables,
as was the case with the Romans.
In general, the
Moors introduced many new crops including the orange, lemon, peach, apricot,
fig, sugar cane, dates, ginger and pomegranate as well as saffron, cotton, silk
and rice, all of which remain prominent in Spain today.
Source:
Wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziryab
Urban Utilities: Street lights, Hospitals and Public Baths
In the 10th Century,
Cordoba was not just the capital of Al Andalus (Moorish Spain) but also one of
the most important cities in the world, rivaling Baghdad and
Constantinople. It boasted a population of 500,000 (200,000 more than
now) and had street lighting, fifty hospitals with running water, three hundred
public baths, five hundred mosques and seventy libraries – one of which held
over 500,000 books.
The Moorish
achievement in hydraulic engineering was outstanding. They constructed an
aqueduct, that conveyed water from the mountains to the city through lead
pipes.
All of this, at a
time when London had a largely illiterate population of around 20,000 and had
forgotten the technical advances of the Romans some 600 hundred years before.
Paved and lighted streets did not appear in London or Paris for hundreds of
years later.
Medicine
The “father of
modern surgery,” Abu al-Quasim (Al Zahrawi), was a Moor who was born in
Cordoba. During a practice that lasted fifty years, he developed a range of
innovative and precise surgical instruments, while writing a text book that was
to be a cornerstone of Western medical training for the next 500 years.
Source:
Culturespain.com
Human Flight
The Moors’
scientific curiosity extended to flight when polymath Ibn Firnas made the first
scientific attempt to fly in a controlled manner, in 875 A.D. His attempt
evidently worked, although the landing was less successful.
Source:
Culturespain.com
Advance Agriculture Techniques
Under the Moors,
Spain was introduced to new food crops such as rice, hard wheat, cotton,
oranges, lemons, sugar and cotton. More importantly, along with these
foodstuffs came an intimate knowledge of irrigation and cultivation of crops.
The Moors also taught the Europeans how to store grain for up to 100 years and
built underground grain silos.
Source:
Houseofnubian.com
Paper Making
Paper making was brought to Spain by the Moors, allowing the growth of libraries and, thereby, the accurate preservation and dispersal of knowledge – with Xativa, in Valencia, having the first paper factory in Europe.
Through the Moorish
conquest of southern Spain, paper making first reached the Moorish parts of
Spain in the 12th century. A paper mill is recorded at Fez in
Morocco in 1100, and the first paper mill on the Spanish mainland is recorded
at Xàtiva in 1151.
Tagged Atlanta Black Star
Post a Comment