al-Andalus

AL-ANDALUS 100 - 800 AD

Muslim Spain

GEOGRAPHY

Located on the Iberian peninsula in Western Europe, and also known as Moorish Iberia, al-Andalus spanned modern day Spain, Portugal, and France. The region was named al-Andalus in Arabic, and it refers to the Umayyad Caliphate (711-750), Emirate of Córdoba (c.750-929), and Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031). The region borders the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Pyrenees Mountains. The area is temperate, with large, flat plateau and rugged hills. Connected to Europe only by the Pyrenees, the region was isolated from Europe and North Africa, and this remoteness provided a special place for it in Islamic and Christian histories while simultaneously secluding it from both communities.

RELIGION

Al-Andalus is a unique meeting point of European Catholicism and Islam. Although the two religions had clashed for centuries, and continue to clash today, the situation was different here. After Arabs and Berbers crossed the Strait of Gibralter, they quickly gained control over the region, establishing Muslim rule. Here, there was a unprecedented harmony between the Muslims rulers and their Christian and Jewish subjects. Unfortunately, this tolerance was shattered in the tenth and eleventh centuries as a more rigid and puritanical form of Islam emerged from North Africa. Suddenly, Christians began to be persecuted for their beliefs and churches were plundered.
When Christians reconquered Spain in the early 13th century, however, many Muslims were forced out and could no longer freely pray, pilgrimage, or practice their faith in Spain. Likewise, many Jewish (about 200,000 people) were displaced by the new Christian ruled.
The Jews of Andalusia were there long before the Arabs. The Visigoths who ruled the Iberian Peninsula before the Muslims oppressed the Jews terribly, and so al-Andalusia was a time of great closeness between the Muslims and Jews. In 1492, most of the Jews were scattered about, and Jews who originate there are known today as Sephardic.

ARTS

Detail - Panel from the Mexuar, the Alhambra. Source.

In this religious empire, the most profound artifacts of the era exist in the form of mosques. The Alhambra in the southern Spanish city of Granada, for example, is an impressive complex of many groups of monuments. In Arabic, the alhambra means "the red", and it was a palace and fortress for monarchs in the region. You can take a virtual walking tour here (courtesy of Saudi Aramco World)!
One of the most famous mosques is the Great Mosque of Córdoba. The beautiful red-and-white striped structure is a great example of how al-Andalus became more Iranian than Roman culturally. The architecture of the region follows the same design sense and resembles that of Persia. Córdoba's mosque was the result of the second and third caliphs of al-Andalus - Abd al-Rahman al Nasir (912-961) and al-Hakam al-Mustansir (961-976). Al-Andalus is notable because its branch of Islam is holds a heavy Oriental, eastern influence.
This is also evident in icons carved into ivory pendants and artwork. Muslim craftsmen, called mudejares, lived in colonies within cities and carried on Andalusian tradition, even after Christians reconquested the Iberian Peninsula. 

Detail of the Alhambra. Source.

The Great Mosque of Córdoba. Source.

The Alhambra.

Manuscript of Mi'a layla wa-layla ("One Hundred and One Nights") and the Kitab al-jughrafiya ("Book of Geography". Source.

The manuscript seen here contains the oldest existing copy of Book of Geography by al-Zuhri, providing a description of the world of the time and trade routes and commodities of the Islamic and Saharan worlds. The manuscript also contains with what is probably the earliest version of the famous A Thousand and One Nights by Harun al-Rashid. Rhyme schemes in poetry were thought to be first introduced by Andalusian poets. Classical Muwashshaha and and more colloquial Zajal poetic forms thrived in al-Andalus. Rhyming became very popular and spread throughout Africa, the Mediterranean, and to the present day. This was also a golden age of Hebrew poetry for Jews in the region. 

An incredible legacy of music was left behind by the Andalusians. Different instruments, like the rebab, violin, lute, guitar, and oud, and musical styles like Flamenco, Troubadors, and the Cantigas of Santa Maria, were traded back and forth from the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe to North Africa to Damascus and Baghdad. You can find out SO MUCH about the music of Al-Andalus and its influence on the rest of the world here (but be warned, the website seems to be having technical problems)! Also check out Muslim World Music Day to listen to traditional Berber music and more.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

As you can probably tell, Andalusia was an incredible civilization that prospered culturally because it fostered tolerance between its people. The elite formed relationships with people of different faiths easily and often, and many Christians converted to Islam. Some even became Mozarabs - "would-be Arabs" - and completely assimilated Arabic culture. They adopted the language, music, and poetry, veiled their women, stopped eating pork, and sometimes married Muslims.
Sadly, this tolerance dissipated as war began with other Christian states in northern Spain in the tenth and eleventh centuries. As mentioned in the Religion section, Christians were discriminated against. Muslims avoided coming in contact with Christians and required Christian homes to be built lower than theirs. It was forbidden for priests to carry or wear a cross or Bible. The Mozarabs were assigned to specific neighborhoods. 

POLITICS

In 711 CE, a force of Moorish (including Arabs, Egyptians, Syrians, and Berbers) Muslims invaded modern day Spain and Portugal, led by the general Tariq ibn Ziyad. The Muslim armies came mostly from a north western region of Africa called Maghreb, and they moved north rapidly as they met little opposition. Although there were a few attempts at defiance in urban areas, eventually a peaceful agreement was made between the Muslim conquerers and the conquered Visigoths. By 714, Muslims controlled almost all of Hispania and into southern Gaul (France). 

There were three stages of Muslim Spain:

• CÓRDOBA (about 756-1031) - The capital of al-Andalus. The city grew to have great importance and an enormous population, estimated from 90,000 to 1 million people, making it the largest city in Europe at the time. The Great Mosque was built along with 700 others. The era ended with the political fragmentation of al-Andalus into many minor states known as taifa. 
• SEVILLE - Called Ishbiliya by the Muslims, Seville was established as the most powerful state of al-Andalus in 1031. Seville controlled a vast portion of the Iberian Peninsula. When al-Andalus was conquered and reunited by the Almoravids, a Moroccan fundamentalist sect of Berbers, they made Seville their center city. Later, another Moroccan fundamentalist group, the Almohads, replaced the Almoravids but again chose Seville as their capital, alongside Marrakesh.  
• GRANADA - After Córdoba's political power disintegrated in 1031CE, Granada became the capital of a small state, also named Granada. After the Christian re-conquest of Spain in the 13th century, the kingdom of Granada was the only remaining Muslim territory on the Iberian Peninsula. For more than 200 years, Granada remained an independent refuge for those driven away by the Christians. 

Al-Andalus in 1035. The main taifa states are shown shortly after break-up of Caliphate of Córdoba. Source.

ECONOMICS

The ninth and tenth centuries were prosperous for Spain's agricultural economy. The capital, Córdoba, was large and splendid, overflowing with a wonderful mixture of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish contributions to all fields, from astronomy and medicine to the architecture and literature. Córdoba was one of the most prominent economic and cultural centers in the Mediterranean and the world at large.

DEMOGRAPHICS

al-Andalus is estimated to have had a population of about 500,000 people at its height, though this number varies. Most people – about eight percent – were Muslims, divided into Arab and Berber groups. Five percent of Andalusians were Jewish. 

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS

al-Andalus was a place of learning. Libraries, universities, and scholars were common, especially in the Córdoba, which had as many as 70 libraries and was an international center for medicine and philosophy. The libraries hosted researchers, illuminators, and bookbinders along with hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. During the 10th and 11th centuries, however, the strict and religious rule of  al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir frowned upon astronomy, logic, and astrology, even burning many books on the subjects. After he died, the empire revived its philosophical talents, like the prominent Abu Uthman Ibn Fathun, the writer of the philosophical work Tree of Wisdom. al-Andalus was also an incredibly important center of Jewish intellectual work. Greek and Roman knowledge was carried on in al-Andalus, with Arab scholars producing work in medicine, astronomy, chemistry, zoology, psychology, biology, botany, astrology, physics, mathematics, algebra, trigonometry and more – much of which was acquired and translated by later Christian scholars. al-Andalus nurtured many other scholars and artists in its hay day, and the proof is in work like the triangular ceiling panel below, a beautiful marriage of geometry and art. 

Three triangular ceiling panels with interlacing geometric designs, Spain, al-Andalus, Nasrid, 14th –15th century, Wood, carved and painted, each panel 151 cm. Source.

TECHNOLOGY

Muslim Spain produced a huge variety of technology: Córdoba had Europe's first street lights. Andalusians produced cotton, paper, silk, satin, salt, pepper, stamps, clocks, soap, rulers, maps, globes, furs, and velvets. They created elaborate astrolabes to make astronomical measurements and represent the celestial system, like this one shown below. On the ring at the top there is anArabic inscription reading "Its owner is the poor Masud confident in Him who should be adored", and on the back is compass that points to Mecca.

Silver-inlaid brass planispheric astrolabe Spain, probably Toledo, 14th century. Engraved copper alloy inlaid with silver. Source.

WORKS CITED

Moche Civilization

MOCHE CIVILIZATION 100 - 800 AD

GEOGRAPHY

The ancient Moche culture, also known as the early Chimu, thrived for 700 years in present-day northern Peru. The culture centered around the valleys of the Andes Mountains along the coast. This area of Peru is a very hard, dry desert, surrounded by two rivers - the Moche and the Chicama - which are dry for most of the year. During the rainy season, however, these rivers would flood, depositing rich silt that proved excellent for agriculture. As the map illustrates, the Moche civilization was small, and even for its longevity, it did not spread far. At its height, extending from the northern Piura River to the southern Huarmey River, it spanned only about 20,000 square miles. For contrast, the Roman Empire covered 6.5 million square miles, the Tang Dynasty in China amassed 11 million square miles, and the contemporary British Empire controlled a vast 33.7 million square miles at its height.

Photo: National Geographic

RELIGION

The Moche people had a very unique religion with multiple spirits and deities that they worshipped and sacrificed for. Their religion was very organized because of the amount of free time they had, and there is evidence in there pottery that shows how complicated their practices and ceremonies were. Their priests were often wealthy and elaborately adorned, and they were greatly respected and obeyed by the people. Two flat-topped pyramids near the Moche capital of Chan Chan are two very important religious sites. Called the Huaca del Sol and the Huaca de la Luna (pyramid of sun, pyramid of the moon), they were used for religious rites and ceremonies. Their walls are covered with horrific, fantastical, and grotesque creatures thought by archeologists to be representations of their deities. Shown here, the Decapitator spirit called Ayapec, was an especially gruesome spirit often shown dismembering humans. Many archeologists theorize that this is not merely artwork - human sacrifice and dismemberment were real life models for the work left behind. In fact, at the base of a prominent rock, seventy dismembered skeletons were found buried, and it is assumed that these people were sacrificed, most likely for the good will of a spirit such as the Decapitator. But, a central idea of Moche religion is the conflicting forces, and Moche shamans meditated and worshipped to channel the power of the dual forces into benefit for their community. Myths supported, defined, and perpetuated the political and social structure in the civilization, and maintaining harmony was incredibly important to all Moche people, from the shaman kings to commoners. In order to maintain this balance, sacrifice and dismemberment seemed the only ritualistic solution.

ARTS

Moche pottery continues to tell the story of the civilization. Noted for their realism and size, 80,000 to 100,000 Moche vessels can be found in museums and collections around the world. Many of these vessels were intended for funeral rituals, and they are keys to the way the Moche lived, loved, and worshipped. It has been theorized that most, if not all Moche art is religious in nature, but they also demonstrate a lot of realism - the animals, plants, people, and everyday activities included in their pottery also depict "anthropomorphized" demons or gods, meaning they gave their spirits human-like qualities. The Moche people also left behind metalwork like ornament and jewelry made of gold, silver, and copper. The beautiful nariguera (ornament) shown here depicts the infamous Ayapec/Decapitator, and it would've been worn with the small center clasps hooked to the nostrils. These would have been commonly worn by the elite, priests, and warriors. 

Gold nariguera inlaid with chrysocolla and turquoise. Photo: Manuel González Olaechea y Franco

More artifacts are shown below, exhibiting the technique and variety of Moche artwork, all from 1 - 800 C.E., ranging from extremely sophisticated metallurgy to fine weaving to bold sculptures. The Moche also used their skill for pottery to make musical instruments, such as the botella silbadora, a type of ceramic whistle.

Pair of mosaic earplugs with iguana designs. Photo: Museo Larco

Earplugs of a warrior priest. Photo: Museo Larco

         

 Maternity - nursing sculpture.  Photo: Museo Larco  - - - Textile with profile figure. Photo: Museo Larco

Botella silbadora. Photo credit: Museo Larco

SOCIETY

The Moche were an agricultural society. Most people lived in adobe (mudbrick) homes, but those who were poorer used stone set in mud or quincha (cane and mud) to build their dwellings. Their houses may have been arranged to form districts based on class, families, jobs, or wealth, and they were interspersed around public and private ceremonial buildings. There were noticeable divisions in society, with luxurious homes for the governing elite - mostly priests - and more humble houses for artisans and the working class. 

Recently, archeologists found the imposing tomb of a what appeared to be a higher class woman. Unsurprisingly for a woman of the time, she was surrounded by weaving materials and needles, but she also shared her tomb with strikingly unlady-like objects: 2 ceremonial war clubs and 28 spear thrower sticks. According to the article in the New York Times, these were "items never found before in the burial" of a Moche woman. The woman has been noted as elite, and one of "the richest female Moche burials ever found", and possessing an usual combination of objects that were normally exclusive to gender. The combination suggests that the woman was perhaps a female warrior, or perhaps held great power. 

POLITICS

Most likely beginning as a complex chiefdom, the Moche sought political unity through an elaborate ritual system. A prestigious elite class of priests later found power through a centralized structure supported by administrators and warriors. This organization was similar to that of a theocratic state. The elite priest class lost power in the later years of the civilization, and a more secular political structure emerged, setting up the framework for the Chimú culture later on. 

ECONOMICS 

The foundation of the Moche economy was built upon access to food, and the two pillars forming this foundation were farming expertise and the Pacific ocean. The immense farming knowledge the Moche possessed allowed them to grow plentiful food. The bountiful Pacific provided enough fish and birds to support a non-agricultural population, in addition to rivers, marshes, and fresh-water lagoons. 

DEMOGRAPHICS

There is little record of the population of the Moche empire at any given time, mostly because writing did not develop in the central Andes for some time, and the very existence of Moche was not known until the late 19th century. Through excavation, however, an early archaeologist named Rafael Larco Hoyle divided Moche history (and South American societies of the north coast in general) into a comprehensive chronological sequence. He used the ceramic vessels and created the first two phases, 1st century BCE to 1st century CE, in which the culture was forming. The third and fourth phases were 2nd-5th centuries CE, and include the militaristic expansion of the Moche, where they migrated from the valleys in the south to the valleys of the north, stretching across a the civilization's largest territory from Piura to Huarmey. The fifth phase, 6th-7th centuries CE, is the era in which the culture was fading and assimilating influences from other highland and coastal societies. The Moche/Mochicha civilization was named after the language spoken in the north coast, which was a form of Muchik.

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS

The greatest intellectual development of the Moche empire was certainly their intuitively prosperous use of the natural resources that they were surrounded with. Peru's geographic diversity presented a challenge of how best to utilize it, and the Moche's intelligent use heightened their civilization socially, politically, and economically. 

TECHNOLOGY

First and foremost, the Moche irrigation system was their most impressive technology. Life was made possible in the valleys using canals that would control the amount of water going to crops like maize, squash, and beans. Beyond basic needs, the Moche excelled in ceramics, metallurgy, and weaving. Moche architecture included gabled and shed roofs with pillars, pilasters, or columns for support. They used adobe sun-dried mudbrick commonly to build their dwellings. 

Works Cited

Introduction

HYPATIA of ALEXANDRIA

My name is Hypatia. There is no exact record of my birth, but I lived from around 370 CE to 415 CE, in the Roman-Egyptian city of Alexandria. My father was Theon Alexandricus, a mathematician considered to be one Alexandria's most educated men. He raised me to be a great thinker, in "an environment of thought". Under his instruction, I flourished in the study of mathematics and philosophy. Though I quickly surpassed his knowledge, I am still very grateful for the skills he passed on to me, like the ability to teach and orate. I also studied astronomy and astrology and lectured on all I learned, especially the philosophies of Neoplatonism, and I grew to have a large following. I was the first woman to make a substantial, respected contribution to mathematics. Truly, I was "the last great Alexandrian mathematician and philosopher", man or woman. And although I was a pagan, I thrived for quite some time. But I lived in the ancient philosophy era, a time when Christianity was rapidly dominating other religions in Alexandria, spurring riots between the different religions. For my controversial opinions, virulent rumors were spread about me. I died tragically, attacked, quartered, and burned by a mob as I made my way home in 415 CE. There are still many questions about my horrific death, but my work lives on through all those who have learned from my accomplishments. Though I am often left out of the history, philosophy, and math books that I deserve to be in, I still shine as a pioneer for mathematics, philosophy, and women.

I lived in Alexandria, but I may have studied in Athens and Italy.