AFRICAN FACES OF THE WORLD
The Moors By Lorraine Jones
Descending from the indigenous Berbers of North Africa and the Arabs who migrated there from the East, the Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus, the Maghreb and western Africa. After the North African territory was conquered by the Muslim Arabs in the early 8th century, the inhabitants of that region became known as the Moors. In 711 CE, a group of these North African Muslims invaded the Iberian Peninsula, now the territory known as Spain and Portugal. The Moor general, Tariq ibn Ziyad, led an army of perhaps 7,000 soldiers with reinforcements of 5,000 to invade that land, which became known as al-Andalus (Andalusia) and was soon established as a center for economic and education advancements as well as a hub for cultural expansion. According to Flash Point History, most of these soldiers were probably converted Muslim Berbers, the indigenous people of North Africa, which the Romans called Mauretania (not to be confused with modern-day Mauritania). These Arab, Berber and African soldiers were darker skinned than the Visigoths that then populated the Iberian Peninsula, and over time, the terms “Moors” and “Moorish” were increasingly used as descriptors to indicate both the reign of Muslims in Spain and also Europeans of Arab, Berber and African descent for centuries to follow. The word
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Tariq ibn Ziyad, for whom Gibraltar is named. “Moor” derives from the Greek word “mauros,” which means “black” or “very dark.” In the 16th and 17th centuries, William Shakespeare used Moor and African interchangeably in his plays. The word “Moor” was predominately used in Europe in reference to anyone of Arab or African descent. In Shakespeare’s notorious play The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, he depicts a hypersexual and untrustworthy Moor who serves as a general in the Venetian army, perpetuating age-old stereotypes of black people. Eventually during medieval times, the term evolved into “Blackamoor” as it became synonymous with “negro” and was often used to describe someone who was black African or a very dark-skinned person in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The terms “Moors” and “Moorish” encompass more than a single race and include the people’s conquests, advancements, art and culture. Their advancements in mathematics, education, medicine, art, architecture and agriculture went on to percolate throughout Europe, helping propel Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the culture explosion that was the Renaissance.
BAVUAL:
Portrait of a Moorish Woman, 1550
The Moorish Chief, by Eduard Charlemont , 1878
The African Heritage Magazine
| Spring 2022
