Thread on Al Andalus (moorish andalusia, 711-1492) (finally)

It all started in 711. Tariq Ibn Ziyad invaded spain as a commander for Ummayad Calif Walid I.

He gave Gibraltar it's name : Jabal Tariq (Tariq's moutain) became Gibralatar

Most of the Iberian Peninsula became part of the Ummayad califate, they even crossed the Pyrénées and conquered the south of France.

They kept advancing until they got defeated by Charles Martel in Poitiers in 732.

Great achivements in surgery, philosophy, pharmacology, astronomy and mathematics have come from Al Andalus.

The most well known intellectual of that civilization is Ibn Rush or Averroes. He is also know as the commentator because a big part of his work consisted in analyzing Aristotle's work. Europeans rediscovered the ancient greeks partly trough his work.

Ibn Rush was a polymath who wrote about psychology, philosophy, medecine, astronomy etc...

Avenzoar or Ibn Zohr was considered the best doctor in the world. He championned a more empirical methodology in medecine. He was the first to perform a trachectomy (on a goat).

Al Zahrawi is considered the best surgeon of the middle ages and is considered the father of surgery. A lot of the surgical instruments we use today were designed by him.

Ibn Tufayl was an andalusian philosopher whose novel Hayy ibn Yaqzan delves into deep epistemological questions. This novel was one of the most important books in the scientific revolution, centuries later. It inspired Hobbes, Locke, Newton and Kant.

The bulk of the population of andalusia were amazigh, not arabs. And they often rebelled heavily against the arab Califate.

Jews and Christians were allowed to live on muslim land buy they had to pay a tax.

Some Christian noblemen were even allowed to keep theie land as long as they payed taxes to the qualifate.

This civilization also gave birth to architectural marvels such as the alhambra of Granada.

Or the famous great mosque of Cordoba

Or the Alcazar of Sevilla

Most surprisingly, Al-Andalus drew heavily from hellenistic culture and... homosexuality was tolerated. Except for the Almoravid and Almihad periods, Al andalus was actually one of the most sexually liberated societies of the time.

Andalusian music use instruments such as the lute, goblet drums and tambourine which are still used today in Moroccan traditional music.

Of course, I have barely scratched the surface of the comolexity of that society. Nonetheless perhaps I have opened your intellectual apetite to learn more about it !

As promised @kiliantep, your thread !