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The Moors were Muslim inhabitants of the
Maghreb, the
Iberian Peninsula,
Sicily, and
Malta during the
Middle Ages. The Moors were initially of
Berber and
Arab descent, though the term was later applied to Africans, Iberian
Christian converts to
Islam, and people of mixed ancestry.[
1][2]
In 711 the
Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula from
North Africa and called the territory Al-Andalus, which at its peak included most of modern-day
Spain,
Portugal, and
Septimania. The Moors occupied
Mazara on Sicily in 827, developing it as a port,[3] and they eventually consolidated the rest of the island and some of southern
Italy.
Differences in religion and culture led to a centuries-long conflict with the
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 settlement of
Lucera, which was destroyed by
European Christians in 1300. The fall of
Granada in
1492 marked the end of Muslim rule in
Iberia, although a
Muslim minority persisted until their expulsion in 1609.
The term "Moors" has also been used in Europe in a broader, somewhat derogatory sense to refer to Muslims in general,[4] especially those of Arab or Berber descent, whether living in Spain or North Africa.[5] During the colonial era, the
Portuguese introduced the names "
Ceylon Moors" and "
Indian Moors" in
Sri Lanka, and the
Bengali Muslims were also called Moors.[6]
Moors are not a distinct or self-defined people.[7]
Medieval and early modern
Europeans variously applied the name to
Sub-Saharan Africans,
Arabs,
Berbers and Muslim Europeans.[8] In the modern Iberian Peninsula, "
Moor" is sometimes colloquially used for any person from North Africa, though some people consider this use of the term pejorative.[4] In
Spanish the term is "moro", and in Portuguese it is "mouro".
Moors of Iberia
Further information:
Umayyad conquest of Hispania and Al-Andalus
Depiction of the Moors in Iberia, from The
Cantigas de Santa Maria
In 711 the Islamic Moors of Arab and Berber descent in North Africa crossed the
Strait of Gibraltar onto the Iberian Peninsula, and in a series of raids they conquered
Visigothic Christian
Hispania.[26] 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
Frank Charles Martel at the
Battle of Poitiers in 732.
The
Moorish state fell into a civil conflict in 739 that lasted until 743, known as the
Berber Revolt. The Berbers revolted against the Arab aristocracy due to oppression by the Arab ruling class. The Moors ruled in North Africa and in most of the
Iberian peninsula for several centuries, and the
Umayyad Arab aristocracy ruled all the way from
Damascus to Spain.[27]
Ibn Hazm, the Moor polymath, mentions that many of the Moor Caliphs in the Umayyad and
Córdoba caliphates had fair hair and light eyes.[28] 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:
All the Caliphs of the
Banu Marwan (God have mercy on their souls!), and especially the sons of 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 al-Nasir and 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 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.[29]