Moors were black? Says who?

Question

Spain was invaded by Moors...and so was Sicily, people on here have told me before that the Moors were black. Some said mainly arab. I have looked up people from Spain and Italy and seen the obvious middle eastern influence in their faces. But I never saw a black-looking Spainard on Myspace. Yes im too poor to go to Europe and I have to look on myspace. But we are generalizing here. Many people use myspace.

Ummm Richard S says "You cannot look at anyone and tell or assess their gene pool. It is impossible, so do not try" haha what do you think Anthropology is all about?

Answer 1

I'm sorry : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors my mistake,

Answer 2

There are many lies about the Moors. They are traditionally called the Spanish Moors. You must understand that Moors did not come from Spain. They came from Africa. You must also realize that the Arabs who fought against the Africans in Northern Africa, and took control, were not descendant of Moors.

Prior to anyone coming to Africa, all Africans were tribal. In current day Morocco, there existed two main African tribes, the Moors and the Mandingos. These Africans changed religion by force and were called Muslims. If you are white, brown, black, or yellow and of the Islamic faith, you are simply a Muslim. Look at Northern and Southern Sudan.

The Moors went into Spain and controlled it for over 800 years. They were driven out in 1492 by the Castillians. Even after 1400 hundred years of mixing, you can still find thousands of Moroccoans who are totally African or black.

History is what it is, and you cannot change it. You cannot look at anyone and tell or assess their gene pool. It is impossible, so do not try.

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure that, like in egypt, the native population, just like everywhere else in africa, was originally Black. But the Muslims, middle-easterners became the dominant class and eventually a large part, if not a majority, of the race pool. I'm not 100% sure though.
Also, keep in mind that through-out the Classic Period, most of north africa was ruled and inhabitted by carthaginians, and romans. After the fall of rome, I believe the Vandals (Originally from North eastern Europe/asia) conquered the area. So I would imagine that the Moors, by the time they came to rule Northern Africa, were probably looking at an already diverse population.

Answer 4

the 1st Moors have been Berbers and Arabs, some from as some distance away as Yemen. most of the later ones got here from Turkic inventory. via the eleventh century, the Turks (initially from crucial Asia) had taken over the whole Arab Empire. some Moors might have had admixtures of Black African in spite of the shown fact that it would be annoying to definitively tutor because of the fact the historic records from the middle a protracted time concerning Muslim Spain and North Africa are actually not that chatty. sometimes, they're absent altogether.

Answer 5

Yes, the Moors came from North Africa. However,they could've been most any skin tone. Many barbarian tribes from Europe had invaded North Africa around the fall of the Roman Empire. I suspect that to a Northern European of that time anyone with a tan would be called black, but then I doubt if they had to deal with political correctness. The people you see now are the result of many more centuries of mixing up the gene pool. But, today-who cares?

Answer 6

The Moors were a product of the Islamic Empire, this was large and so they were diverse.

If you want a contemporary account (sort of) try Othello by William Shakespear.

Answer 7

The Moors are the Muslim African and Arab inhabitants. Although the Moors came to be by definition Muslim, the name Moor pre-dates Islam back to the 3rd century BC. I guess some were black. Some looked more Arab. Hollywood tends to portray "moors" as black, but who believes Hollywood away.

Answer 8

Moors were Muslims, originally from the Arab regions, some of which had settled in Africa, in the same manner they had invaded southern France (remember Charlemagne and Roland?) and western Italy.

Answer 9

The majority of moors where native spaniards who had converted to islam, followed in numbers by berbers who were brown and then sub-saharan africans. Only a very few had actually arabic heritage.
When the spanish defeated the moors they wanted to unify the country so they disassociated all non christain people with being spanish and ultimately drove them out. The Moors mostly settled in north africa and were absorbed but not entirely into the local population. Particularly they retained distinctive architecture and music styles.
Look at the The Cantigas de Santa Maria which is a contemporary depiction from the late 1200s.
http://warfare.likamva.in/Cantiga/Cantigas_de_Santa_Maria.htm
The Cantigas de Santa Maria shows how the people appeared at that time and that spain was cosmopolitanism. The majority of moors appear Identical in colour to the spainish while berbers are depicted slightly darker, with very few black people.

Another good source is the ceiling of Alhambra made by moorish artists:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/arc/ind/2_meisaku/08_alhambra/xpai_eng.htm
http://www.spainthenandnow.com/userimages/alhambra-patio-leones-119.JPG

They was one period when moorish spain was briefly ruled by a foreign black dynasty from senegal but they weren't the moors themselves.

Answer 10

Most Moors tended to be at least of some black descent.

Answer 11

Moors have always been extremely diverse - some are black, some are arab looking, some are even fair.