North York Moors
Protected Area
North York Moors National Park sign near Great Ayton
Country	United Kingdom
Part	England
County	North Yorkshire
Highest point	Urra Moor
- elevation	454 m (1,490 ft)
Area	1,436 km2 (554 sq mi)
National Park of England	1952
Management	North York Moors National Park Authority
IUCN category	V - Protected Landscape/Seascape
The North York Moors from space
Website: http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/

The North York Moors is a national park in North Yorkshire, England. The moors are one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom. It covers an area of 1,436 km² (554 sq mi), and it has a population of about 25,000.^[1] The North York Moors became a National Park in 1952, through the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949.

Location and transport[link]

Map of the North Yorkshire Moors

To the east the area is clearly defined by the impressive cliffs of the North Sea coast. The northern and western boundaries are defined by the steep scarp slopes of the Cleveland Hills edging the Tees lowlands and the Hambleton Hills above the Vale of Mowbray. To the south lies the broken line of the Tabular Hills and the Vale of Pickering.

Four roads cross the moors from north to south. In the east the A171 joins Whitby and Scarborough. Further inland, the A169 runs between Pickering and Whitby. More centrally, a minor road departs from the A170 at Keldholme and passes through Castleton before joining the A171 which connects Whitby and Guisborough. The most westerly route is the B1257 connecting Helmsley to Stokesley. The A170 from Thirsk to Scarborough marks the southern boundary of the moors area.

There is an east-west branch line rail link from Whitby to Middlesbrough in the north and the North Yorkshire Moors steam railway runs from Pickering to Grosmont with a link to Whitby.^[2]

The Moorsbus Network offers an alternative way around the North York Moors, instead of using private cars.

Physical geography[link]

Climate[link]

As part of the United Kingdom, the North York Moors area generally has warm summers and relatively mild winters. Weather conditions vary from day to day as well as from season to season. The latitude of the area means that it is influenced by predominantly westerly winds with depressions and their associated fronts, bringing with them unsettled and windy weather, particularly in winter. Between depressions there are often small mobile anticyclones that bring periods of fine weather. In winter anticyclones bring cold dry weather. In summer the anticyclones tend to bring dry settled conditions which can lead to drought. For its latitude this area is milder in winter and cooler in summer due to the influence of the Gulf Stream in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Air temperature varies on a daily and seasonal basis. The temperature is usually lower at night and January is the coldest time of the year. The two dominant influences on the climate of the North York Moors are the shelter against the worst of the moist westerly winds provided by the Pennines and the proximity of the North Sea. Late, chilly springs and warm summers are a feature of the area but there are often spells of fine autumn weather. Onshore winds in spring and early summer bring mists or low stratus clouds (known locally as sea frets) to the coasts and moors. Within the area variations in climate are brought about by local differences in altitude, aspect and shelter.^[3]

Snowfall is variable from year to year, but the area gets much more snow on average than other parts of the country. Heavy falls are associated with north-easterly winds off the North Sea. Roads over the high moors are notoriously prone to drifting snow due to the exposed nature of the terrain.^[4]

Average recordings are:

• 100 wet days
• 215 dry days
• 50 snow fall days ^[5]
• rainfall of 1000 mm to 1520 mm (39 in to 60 in) near the coast
• rainfall of 635 mm to 760 mm (25 in to 30 in) inland
• summer temperatures of 20 °C to 32 °C (68 °F to 90 °F)
• winter temperatures of -1 °C to 10 °C (30 °F to 50 °F)^[6]

Geology[link]

The geology of the North York Moors is dominated by rocks of the Jurassic period. They were mostly laid down in tropical seas 205 to 142 million years ago. Fluctuations in sea level produced different rock types varying from shales to sandstones and limestones derived from coral. These marine and delta deposited rocks are superbly exposed on the Yorkshire coast from Staithes to Filey.

• Lower Jurassic At the beginning of the Jurassic period shales, clays and thin limestones and sandstones were deposited in a shallow sea. These deposits are many metres thick and include layers of ironstone of various thicknesses and the rocks from which alum is extracted.
• Middle Jurassic A period of gradual uplift happened when mudstone and sandstone were deposited on a low lying coastal plain crossed by large rivers. Occasionally this land area was inundated by the sea and at these times calcarious rocks containing marine fossils were deposited. These are the Ravenscar Group of rocks. The Oxford Clay was deposited at the end of this era.
• Upper Jurassic Towards the end of the Jurassic period the land again sank beneath the sea. At first the sea was shallow and calcareous sandstones and limestones were deposited. These are the Corallian rocks of the Tabular Hills towards the south of the area. Overlying the Corallian rocks is the Kimmeridge Clay which underlies the Vale of Pickering but this is not exposed on the surface.

Subsequently, about 30 million years ago, the land was uplifted and tilted towards the south by earth movements. The upper layers of rock were eroded away and the older rocks were exposed in places. Because of the tilt the oldest rocks became exposed in the north. These are the bands of shales and ironstones on the northern scarp of the moors and Cleveland Hills. The middle layers form the sandstones of the high moors and the youngest layers of limestone form the tabular hills. In the dales where the rivers have cut through the younger rocks there are also exposures of older shales, ironstone and sandstone. Rosedale is an example of this.^[8]

During the Quaternary period, the last 2 million years, the area has experienced a sequence of glaciations. The most recent glaciation, the Devensian, ended about 20,000 years ago. The higher parts of the North York Moors were not covered by the ice sheets but glaciers flowed southwards on either side of the higher land mass.

As the climate became warmer at the end of the ice age the snowfields on the moors began to melt. The meltwater was unable to escape northwards, westwards or eastwards because it was blocked by ice. Huge torrents of water were forced southwards. Water from the Esk valley area flowed southwards gouging out the deep Newtondale valley as it went. Water from the moors formed a vast lake in the area of the Vale of Pickering. Eventually this lake filled its basin and then overflowed at the lowest point which was at Kirkham. Here it cut the steep sided Kirkham gorge. When the ice finally retreated it left deep deposits of boulder clay (or till) behind. The boulder clay blocked the eastern end of the Vale of Pickering causing a permanent deviation in the course of the River Derwent. Alluvium from the glacial meltwater covers many areas to the north of the moors and in the Esk valley.^[8]

Drainage[link]

The North York Moors are drained by two main river systems.The northern part of the area is drained by the River Esk and its tributaries. The Esk flows from west to east and empties into the North Sea at Whitby.

To the south the moors are drained by the River Derwent and its tributary the River Rye. The Derwent crosses the Vale of Pickering flowing westwards, turns southwards at Malton and flows through the eastern part of the Vale of York before emptying into the River Ouse at Barmby on the Marsh.^[9]

The hills[link]

Natural history[link]

A view of the North York Moors

The North York Moors National Park encompasses two main types of landscape, whose differences are clearly visible, and the coastal belt. There are predominantly green areas of pasture land and the purple and brown heather moorland. The two kinds of scenery are the result of differences in the underlying geology and each supports different wildlife communities.

The North York Moors[link]

Sandstones erode slowly and form poor acid soils which are deficient in nutrients. They are less permeable to water, impeding drainage and encouraging the formation of bogs. Sphagnum moss bogs are common where there is abundant rain and poor drainage. Cotton grass is a distinctive plant which grows in the boggy areas. In the cold acid waters of peat bogs there is little decomposition of organic material with the result that the dead sphagnum moss gradually accumulates to form peat. This raises the levels of the bogs and they dry out. Heather then invades the area. Large areas of the moors are now covered in heather, bilberries and grasses growing on thick layers of peat.

The acid soils and peat bogs are unsuitable for earthworms so species which usually feed on earthworms such as moles and the common shrew are absent on the moors. The pygmy shrew survives by eating the insects and spiders that live in the heather. Lapwing, curlew and redshank breed on the moors and there are sandpipers along the streams. Wheatear and golden plovers inhabit grassier patches on the moors and ring ouzels live in stony areas. Red grouse, which feed on young heather shoots, are abundant. The heather is burned in strips by gamekeepers and farmers to encourage new heather growth to feed the grouse. Grouse shooting is part of the moorland economy. About 20 per cent of the national park is covered in bracken. Few things can grow under its dense cover and it does not support many insects and is unpalatable to most animals. The bracken is extremely invasive.

Sheep are a ubiquitous part of the moorland landscape. Their grazing helps to maintain the open wild landscape that is needed for many other plants and animals to thrive.^[10]

The limestone belt[link]

Limestone weathers down quickly to produce nutrient rich alkaline soils on well drained rocks. Gouging by glacial meltwaters has left spectacular valleys along whose floors run attractive streams. The limestone streams with their nutrient rich waters support an abundance of aquatic invertebrates such as insect larvae and crustaceans. These in turn support such fish as trout and grayling. Insects which emerge from the water in summer are also a rich source of food for birds. Grey wagtails, swallows and spotted flycatchers are commonly seen. Dippers and kingfishers are also typical. The otter, after a period of decline, is starting to recolonise the rivers and streams.

Farndale is famous for its wild daffodils in spring. Sheltered woodlands dominated by sessile oaks can be found to the south of the high ground. These woodland areas are the home of pied flycatchers, sparrow hawks and wood warblers. Roe and fallow deer can also be found here. The woodlands and south facing grasslands on the limestone belt provide a good habitat for many butterflies.

The fertile alkaline soils support an abundance of wild flowers. Bluebells and primroses grow in the hedgerows in spring and rarer plants such as the wood vetch and orchids are also to be found. Adders are widespread throughout the national park. On the moors they eat common lizards and around the hedgerows and woodland edges they feed on mice and voles.^[10]

The Limestone grasslands support a wide variety of wild flowers, and many rarer butterflies can be seen. Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Duke of Burgundy Fritillary, Marbled White, Dingy Skipper and Grayling are just some of species that inhabit the national park.

The coast[link]

The cliffs and sandy bays of the coast offer an assortment of seashore habitats. The spectacular scenery where the Cleveland Hills meet the sea has been designated as a Heritage Coast. The cliff at Boulby, at 690 feet (210 m), is the highest point on the east coast of England. Here the Jurassic strata of shales, clays and ironstones are displayed with superb clarity. There are also fine exposures of Jurassic rocks with their characteristic fossils around Robin Hoods Bay and Ravenscar.

Rocky shores offer an abundance of seaweeds in zones of different types which are more and less tolerant of exposure to the air and salt or clear water. Rock pools contain sea anemones, blennies, crabs and molluscs.

Sandy shores harbour a variety of plants and animals which are buried in the sand. Birds such as curlews and oyster catchers are to be seen prodding the sand to find these creatures for food. A few cormorants and fulmars breed along the coast where stonechats and rock pipits can also be spotted. Herring gulls are the commonest breeding birds and are an interesting sight nesting in the chimneys of coastal towns.^[10]

History[link]

There are records of 12,000 archaeological sites and features in the North York Moors National Park of which 700 are scheduled ancient monuments. Radio carbon dating of pollen grains preserved in the moorland peat provides a record of the actual species of plants that existed at various periods in the past.

About 10,000 years ago the cold climate of the ice age ameliorated and temperatures rose above growing point of 5.5 °C. Plant life was gradually re-established and animals and humans also returned.

Mesolithic[link]

Around 8,000BC Britain was still part of the European land mass and communities of Middle Stone Age people migrated to England and began to inhabit the North York Moors. Relics of this early hunting, gathering and fishing community have been found as a widespread scattering of flint tools and the barbed flint flakes used in arrows and spears.

Neolithic[link]

By 5000 BC global sea levels had risen, the North Sea existed and Britain was cut off from mainland Europe. During the New Stone Age, which lasted from around 4500 to 2000 BC, the population increased and agriculture was adopted. These early farmers were the first to destroy the forest cover of the moors. Their settlements were concentrated in the fertile parts of the limestone belt and these areas have been continuously farmed ever since. The Neolithic farmers grew crops, kept animals, made pottery and were highly skilled at making stone implements. They buried their dead in long low burial mounds.

Bronze Age[link]

Around 2000 BC the early Bronze Age Beaker People were inhabiting the area. During a 1,400 year period these people inhabited all areas of the moors and finally destroyed much of the original forest. The climate was relatively warmer and drier at this time so it was possible to live on the high moors throughout the year. When a piece of land was exhausted of nutrients, these people moved on, leaving behind land that was incapable of supporting anything but a heathland vegetation. There are about 3,000 Bronze Age burial mounds on the moors.

Iron Age[link]

The Iron Age dates from about 600 BC. There are remains of two promontory hill forts at Boltby Scar and Rudston Scar and a collection of circular stone hut foundations on Percy Rigg. Other evidence of Iron Age occupation is scarce, having been obliterated by subsequent agricultural activity.

Roman[link]

By AD 71 the Roman army had reached Yorkshire where they established a fort at Malton. From here a number of roads radiated. One of these roads was Wade's Causeway, which led north-eastwards over the Vale of Pickering and across Wheeldale Moor towards the North Sea coast. There are Roman camps at Cawthorn and Lease Rigg near Grosmont and there are signal stations along the coast at Filey, Scarborough, Ravenscar, Goldsborough and Hunt Cliff. The Romans left Britain in AD 410.

Anglo-Saxon and Viking[link]

After the departure of the Romans, Germanic tribes arrived and settled in the area. These Angles, Saxons and Jutes gave many of the place names to villages on the moors They worshipped a number of gods, notably Woden. However, Christianity came to Yorkshire when King Edwin of Northumbria was baptised in AD 627 at York. Christian monasteries were established at Lastingham in 654 and Whitby in 657. A nunnery was built at Hackness in 680.

In the ninth century Viking raiders began to attack the Yorkshire coast and in 867 these Danes destroyed the religious houses at Whitby, Lastingham and Hackness and after battle set up a new Danish kingdom based at York. The Danes settled in the area and later themselves became Christian. They introduced their language, elements of which still remain in the local dialect, and renamed a number of settlements.

The Middle Ages[link]

King William I of England and his Norman barons took control of the nation in 1066. Central to the imposition of Norman rule was the building of castles. There are well-preserved castle ruins at Helmsley, Pickering and Scarborough and others existed at Ayton, Danby, Mulgrave and Whorlton. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries monasteries were established on the moors at Whitby Abbey, Rievaulx Abbey, Byland Abbey and Mount Grace Priory. Gifts of land and money were bestowed on these establishments and the monastic orders became notable landowners, eventually owning about a third of the land in the area. The abbeys managed their land as sheep farms and became very rich on the profits. They continued to take in land from the waste and what remained of the forest and in the process gave the moors the distinctive landscape that still remains. Being envious of the wealth of the monasteries, Henry VIII of England closed them down, and confiscated and sold off their property. This was bought by individual people, some rich but some who had been tenants of the monasteries, and became privately owned land.

Post-medieval[link]

In many areas of the moors and their associated dales the settlements took the form of isolated farms and hamlets rather than villages. Very few had an open field system of agriculture so Enclosure Acts were rarer than in other parts of England. The seventeenth century saw a major acceleration in the reclaiming of marginal waste land and in the eighteenth century forward looking landlords attempted to improve their lands using drainage schemes and fertilisation measures.^[11]

The 19th century[link]

In the 19th century railways were built from Pickering to Whitby (1836), Middlesbrough to Whitby (1868) and Scarborough to Whitby (1884).

Locally sourced iron ore has been processed on the North York Moors from medieval times. In the 19th century it became a boom industry. Dozens of ironstone mines and several short-lived blast furnaces were constructed. Between 1856 and 1926 high-grade magnetic ironstone was mined in Rosedale. A railway was built around the top of the dale to serve the mines, and kilns were built to process the ore. In two decades the population of the valley rose from 558 to nearly 3000. Poor-quality coal was mined in many places on the moors from the 18th century to the early 20th century.

The North York Moors is the only source for British jet. It has been mined in the area from prehistoric times but the industry grew in the middle of the 19th century in response to a fashion for the jewellery produced from it. In the 1880s cheap imports produced a decline in the industry which was focused on Whitby. The remains of alum quarries are to be found to the north of the area and along the coast. Alum was important to the textile industry because it was used as a mordant or fixative for dyes that were used to colour cloth. The industry thrived in the region from the early 17th century until 1871. Its decline came when chemical dyes were discovered. The scars of industrial activity on the moors make it an interesting area in which to pursue industrial archaeology.^[12]

Economy[link]

The area's economy is mainly founded on tourism and agriculture.

View of North York Moors

Agriculture[link]

For over a thousand years the basis of the economy in the North York Moors was agriculture. The rural scene, which attracts millions of visitors to the park each year, has been formed and maintained by generations of farmers. The 1996 Agricultural Census recorded a total workforce of 2,913 employed on 1,342 working farms. Sheep and cattle provide the prime source of farm income. The dale farms have rights to graze sheep on the open moor. The rights to moorland grazing are often essential to the economic viability of a farm. In recent years agriculture in Britain has suffered economic setbacks and the viability of hill farming has become questionable. A number of environmental schemes to improve farm incomes have been devised but the industry continues to decline.

Agricultural use of the moors is shared with grouse shooting as a means of gaining financial return from the vast expanse of heather. There is richer farmland across the southern limestone belt, where there are arable and mixed farms as well as the livestock farms. The main arable crops are barley, wheat, oilseed rape, potatoes, and sugar beets. There is also some intensive production of pigs and poultry.^[8]

Tourism[link]

Aerial photo of the North York Moors

Many visitors to the moors are engaged in outdoor pursuits, particularly walking; the parks have a network of rights-of-way almost 2,300 km (1,400 miles) in length, and most of the areas of open moorland will be open access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Popular named walks include the Cleveland Way, which circles the moors, and has a section along the coast; and the Lyke Wake Walk, which leads directly across the heart of the moors. The route of The White Rose Way, a long distance walk from Leeds to Scarborough, North Yorkshire also passes through. The area also offers opportunities for cycling, mountain biking, and horse-riding, including a circular long distance bridle route created around the North York Moors which can be accessed at a number of locations.^[13] The steep escarpments that define the edges of the park on three sides are used by several gliding clubs.

Entertainment[link]

The moors have not changed much in the past 50 years, and are often used as a backdrop to British television programmes and films. The series Heartbeat and the scenes of The Hogsmeade Station in the Harry Potter movies were filmed in Goathland. Dalby Forest is also host to many forms of entertainment throughout the year including outdoor concerts.

Towns[link]

There are few major settlements within, or around, the National Park: Helmsley, Pickering, Kirkbymoorside, Guisborough, Stokesley, Northallerton and Whitby. The moors are within a reasonable distance of Redcar and form part of East Cleveland. The moors are also within 20 minutes driving time from central Middlesbrough and Scarborough.

• Kilburn
• Castleton
• Goathland
• Grosmont
• Helmsley
• Hutton-le-Hole
• Kirkbymoorside
• Osmotherley
• Pickering
• Robin Hood's Bay
• Whitby
• Swainby

Attractions[link]

• North Yorkshire Moors Railway
• Byland Abbey
• Cleveland Way National trail (long distance footpath)
• Lyke Wake Walk (long distance footpath)
• Forge Valley NNR National Nature Reserve^[14]
• Farndale LNR Local Nature Reserve
• Helmsley Castle
• Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Reserves: Ashberry Pastures, Bridestones, Ellerburn Bank, Fen Bog, Garbutt Wood, Hagg wood Marsh, Hayburn Wyke, Littlebeck.
• Rievaulx Abbey
• River Seven, River Dove, River Rye, River Seph, River Esk
• Rosedale Abbey
• Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo
• Eden Camp Museum

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: North Yorkshire Moors

Coordinates: type:landmark source:dewiki 54°23′N 0°45′W / 54.383°N 0.75°W / 54.383; -0.75

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A self-depiction by the Muslims in Iberia. Taken from the Tale of Bayad and Riyad

Santiago Matamoros ("Saint James the Moor-slayer"). St. James is on horseback and a beheaded Moor lies on the ground, by the 15th-century Flemish-Spanish painter Juan de Flandes.

The Almoravides dynasty, c. 1100 CE. At the dynasty's greatest expanse of control, a succession of Moroccan-based states existed from modern Senegal to the Iberian Peninsula.

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from Northern Africa, who came to conquer, occupy and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years.^{[citation needed]} At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed other religions. They called the territory Al Andalus, comprising most of what is now Spain and Portugal.

" Moors" are not a distinct or self-defined people. Medieval and early modern Europeans applied the name primarily to Berbers, but also at various times to Arabs, Muslim Iberians^[1] and West Africans from Mali and Niger who had been absorbed into the Almoravid dynasty.^[2] Mainstream scholars observed in 1911 that "The term 'Moors' has no real ethnological value."^[3]

The Andalusian Moors of the late Medieval era inhabited the Iberian Peninsula after the Moorish conquests of the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates, and the final Umayyad conquest of Hispania.^{[citation needed]} The Moors' rule stretched at times as far as modern-day Mauritania, West African countries, and the Senegal River. Earlier, the Classical Romans interacted with (and later conquered) parts of Mauretania, a state that covered northern portions of modern Morocco and much of north western and central Algeria during the classical period. The people of the region were noted in Classical literature as the Mauri.

The term Mauri, or variations, was later used by European traders and explorers of the 16th to 18th centuries to designate ethnic Berber and Arab groups speaking the Hassaniya Arabic dialect.^{[citation needed]} Today such groups inhabit Mauritania and parts of Algeria, western Sahara, Morocco, Niger and Mali.^[4] Speakers of European languages have historically designated a number of associated ethnic groups as "Moors". In modern Iberia, the term is applied to people of Moroccan ethnicity living in Europe. "Moor" is sometimes colloquially applied to any person from North Africa. Some people to whom it is applied consider the term pejorative and racist.

Etymology[link]

In Latin, the word maurus (plural mauri) means coming from Mauretania, a Roman province on the northwestern fringe of Africa. In the Medieval Romance languages (such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian,Romanian), the root appeared in such forms as mouro, moro, moir, mor and maur. Derivatives are found in today's versions of the languages. Some derive the word from the ancient Greek mauros, meaning "dark".

Through nominalization, the root has taken on a variety of meanings. Moreno, from the Latin root, can mean "tanned" in Spain and Portugal, as well as in Brazil. In Cuba and other Spanish-speaking countries, it can mean "black person" or "mulatto".^{[citation needed]} 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 ("Moor") came to have a broader meaning, applied to both Moros of Mindanao in the Philippines, and the moriscos of Granada. Moro is used to describe all things dark, as in "Moor", moreno, etc. It was used as a nickname; for instance, the Milanese Duke Ludovico Sforza was called Il Moro because of his dark complexion. In Polish murzyn means a black person and can be perceived either as a neutral or pejorative term.

In Portugal and Spain, mouro (feminine, moura) may also refer to supernatural beings known as 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.^[5] From this root, the name moor is also applied to unbaptised children, meaning not Christian.^[6][7] In Basque, mairu means moor and also refers to a mythical people.^{[8][dead link]}

History[link]

Overview[link]

Eastern Hemisphere in 476 CE, showing the Moorish kingdoms after the fall of Rome.

Although the Moors came to be identified as Muslim, the name Moor pre-dates Islam. It derives from the small Numidian Kingdom of Maure of the 3rd century BCE in what is now northern central and western part of Algeria and a part of northern Morocco.^[9] The name was applied to people of the entire region. "They were called Maurisi by the Greeks", wrote Strabo, "and Mauri by the Romans."^[10] During that age, the Maure or Moors were trading partners of Carthage, the independent city state founded by Phoenicians. During the second Punic war between Carthage and Rome, two Moorish Numidian kings took different sides, Syphax with Carthage, Masinissa with the Romans, decisively so at Zama.

Thereafter, the Moors entered into treaties with Rome. King Jugurtha responded to violence against merchants with war. Juba, a later king, was a friend of Rome. Eventually, the Roman Empire incorporated the region as the provinces of Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana. The area around Carthage was already part of the province of Africa. Roman rule was effective enough so that these provinces became integrated into the empire.

During the Christian era, two prominent Berber churchmen were Tertullian and St. Augustine. After the fall of Rome, the Germanic kingdom of the Vandals ruled much of the area.

Neither Vandal nor Byzantine could extend effective rule; the interior remained under Moorish Berber control.^[11] For more than 50 years, the Berbers resisted Arab armies from the east. Among its memorable resistance were the forces led by Kahina, the Berber prophetess of the Awras, during 690–701. By 700 CE, or the 92nd lunar year after the Hijra, the Arab Muslims dominated North Africa.^[12]

Moors of Iberia[link]

Progress of the Reconquista (790–1300).

In 711 AD, the now Islamic Moors conquered Visigothic Christian Hispania. Their general, Tariq ibn-Ziyad, brought most of Iberia under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. They moved northeast across the Pyrenees Mountains, but were defeated by the Frank Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732 AD.

The Moorish state fell into civil conflict in the 750s. The Moors ruled in North Africa and in most of the Iberian peninsula for several decades. They were resisted in areas in the northwest (such as Asturias, where they were defeated at the battle of Covadonga) and the largely Basque regions in the Pyrenees. Though the number of Moor colonists was small, many native Iberian inhabitants converted to Islam. According to Ronald Segal, by 1200 AD, some 5.6 million of Iberia's 7 million inhabitants, nearly all native inhabitants, were Muslim.^[13] In the late 15th century, the persecution of Muslims and forced conversion to Catholicism caused a mass exodus.

In a process of decline, the Al Andalus had broken up into a number of Islamic-ruled fiefdoms, or taifas, which were partly consolidated under the Caliphate of Córdoba.^{[citation needed]}

Coat of arms of Alcanadre. La Rioja, Spain. Depicting slayed heads of the Moors

The Asturias, a small northwestern Christian Iberian kingdom, initiated the Reconquista (the "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. Navarre, Galicia, León, Portugal, Aragón, Catalonia or Marca Hispanica, and Castile began a process of expansion and internal consolidation during the next several centuries under the flag of Reconquista.

Reconstruction of costumes of Moorish nobility from a German book published in 1880

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 (Arabic الغرب — Al-Gharb) under Afonso III. He was the first Portuguese monarch to claim the title "King of Portugal and the Algarve".

The Moorish Kingdom of Granada continued for three more centuries in the southern Iberia. 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 I of Castile, the Catholic Monarchs). They forced the remaining Muslims and Jews to leave Spain, convert to Roman Catholic Christianity or be killed for not doing so. To exert social and religious control, in 1480, Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to allow the Inquisition in 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 marranos and moriscos. The Inquisition also attacked heretics who rejected Roman Catholic orthodoxy, including alumbras, who practiced a personal mysticism or spiritualism. The latter represented a significant portion of the peasants in some territories, such as Aragon, Valencia or Andalusia. In the years from 1609 to 1614, the government expelled such subjects. The historian Henri Lapeyre estimated that this affected 300,000 out of an estimated total of 8 million inhabitants.^[14]

Christian and Moor playing chess, from The Book of Games of Alfonso X, c. 1285

Many 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.".^[15][16]

In the meantime, the tide of Islam had rolled not just to Iberia, but also eastward, through India, the Malayan peninsula, and Indonesia up to the Philippines. This was 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 Magellan^{[citation needed]} and other Spanish explorers had reached that island archipelago, which they named Las Islas de Filipinas, after Philip II of Spain. In Mindanao, the Spaniards named the kris-bearing people as Moros or 'Moors'. Today in the Philippines, this ethnic group of people in Mindanao, who are generally 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,^[17] '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.'.

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  Reconquista

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  The Moors request permission from James I of Aragon

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  Christian and Moor playing lute, 13th century

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  Muhammad XII of Granada, last Moorish sultan in Spain

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  Leo Africanus, born in Granada