'Moorish revival' in southern Spain

[Loki]

If there's one place in Iberia where they really were for hundreds of years, that was the South.

Well ... so have the Goths and the Vandals (and the former left a far greater and lasting impact on Spain than the Muslims). And yet the BBC and leftist govt's won't start hailing Spain's Germanic past ...

[Ibericus]

Any examples of the impact?

Castles, palaces... I know that. Some vocabulary. But is there much else, really? Does it show in traditions or superstitions or what?

Exactly. There is nothing that we can call 'impact'. Some buildings (that are not in use, only for tourism visits), some vocabulary (8% of Castillian, even tough only a small part are of everyday use), so what's left ??

[antonio]

Other relevant thing Spanish multicultural Left uses to hide is the fact that a significative percentage of Iberian Muslims (at certain areas being majority) were natives converted to the new official religion.

Ps. With their typical phrase: "pero si somos medio moros" / "but if we are half Moors" !

[Loki]

Other relevant thing Spanish multicultural Left uses to hide is the fact that a significative percentage of Iberian Muslims (at certain areas being majority) were natives converted to the new official religion.

You mean, ethnic Spanish people converting to Islam?

[Ibericus]

Well ... so have the Goths and the Vandals (and the former left a far greater and lasting impact on Spain than the Muslims). And yet the BBC and leftist govt's won't start hailing Spain's Germanic past ...

Nor our Celtic past, a vital component of our past and ancestry. Of course it is not interesting and "boring" for the multicultural left

[Ibericus]

You mean, ethnic Spanish people converting to Islam?

Yep. The ethnic moors were a very tiny minority. The muslims were mostly "white spaniards" converted to Islam.

[Guapo]

You mean, ethnic Spanish people converting to Islam?

Thousands upon thousands of Spanish muslims were kicked out just like in the Balkans, which is probably why many Moroccans can pass as European and Turks too for that matter.

[Comte Arnau]

Any examples of the impact?

Castles, palaces... I know that. Some vocabulary. But is there much else, really? Does it show in traditions or superstitions or what?

Exactly. There is nothing that we can call 'impact'. Some buildings (that are not in use, only for tourism visits), some vocabulary (8% of Castillian, even tough only a small part are of everyday use), so what's left ??

A completely new society which invades a land and settles for centuries has a clear impact on the previous society, whether one likes to accept that or not. The impact was certain at the moment. Having an impact doesn't necessarily mean much should be left, because things have been transformed. How can you notice any influence in gastronomy or agriculture, if things have been modified? Obviously, after more than five centuries, the visual impact left will only be appreciated in things like architecture.

Well ... so have the Goths and the Vandals (and the former left a far greater and lasting impact on Spain than the Muslims). And yet the BBC and leftist govt's won't start hailing Spain's Germanic past ...

Sure. I also defend the Goth impact and influence. You only have to see current Spanish names. Such common names like Enrique Rodríguez would be unthinkable otherwise.

[antonio]

You mean, ethnic Spanish people converting to Islam?

Of course, even upper classes: Gotic nobility were fractioned so, any of them, take refugee on North mountains to inmediately start the fight, but there were others, the ones previously allied with Arabs which brought them into Peninsule to fight the others, even shocked with the Arabs assaulting on power, probably had no much problems in converting to the new faith.

A good sample from wikipedia talking about the origins of the rules of the Zaragoza taifa:

The family is said to descend from the Hispano-Roman or Visigothic nobleman named Cassius. According to the 10th century Muwallad historian Ibn al-Qutiyya, Count Cassius converted to Islam in 714 as the mawali (client) of the Umayyads, shortly after the Umayyad conquest of Hispania,[1] as a means to preserve his lands and political power.[citation needed] After his conversion, he is said to have traveled to Damascus to personally swear allegiance to the Umayyad Caliph, Al-Walid I.
Under the Banu Qasi, the region of Upper Ebro (modern districts of Logroño and Southern Navarra) formed a semi-autonomous principality. The tiny Basque emirate was faced by enemies in several directions.

[Osweo]

A completely new society which invades a land and settles for centuries has a clear impact on the previous society, whether one likes to accept that or not. The impact was certain at the moment. Having an impact doesn't necessarily mean much should be left, because things have been transformed. How can you notice any influence in gastronomy or agriculture, if things have been modified? Obviously, after more than five centuries, the visual impact left will only be appreciated in things like architecture.

THis is just generalities, exactly like the BBC article. Of course there was an impact at the time, but I was interested in what remains.

Potentially not much at all, perhaps?
Fanjul is of course worth linking to here, for those who haven't read him...
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10577