The Islamic Heritage of Al-Andalus, Andalusia

Andalusia, Spanish: Andalucía is the southernmost territory in the Spanish Peninsula. It is the most populous and the second largest autonomous community in the country. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognized as a "historical nationality". The territory is divided into eight provinces: Almeria, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Seville. Its capital city is Seville. Andalusia is the only European region with both Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines. The small British overseas territory of Gibraltar shares land border with the Andalusian portion of the province of Cádiz at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar.The name "Andalusia" is derived from the Arabic word Al-Andalus (الأندلس). The etymology of the name "al-Andalus" is traditionally thought to derive from the name of the Vandals. The region's history and culture have been influenced by quite many conquering civilizations including the Iberians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, Byzantines, Berbers of North Africa, Arab Umayyads, and Moors. During the Islamic Golden Age, Córdoba surpassed Constantinople to be Europe's biggest city, and became the capital of Al-Andalus and a prominent center of education and learning in the world, producing numerous philosophers and scientists.The region has a rich culture and a strong ethnic identity. Many cultural phenomena that are seen internationally as distinctively Spanish are largely or entirely Andalusian in origin. These include flamenco and, to a lesser extent, bullfighting and Hispano-Moorish architectural styles, both of which are also prevalent in some other regions of Spain.The Islamic Era in Andalusia (711-1492 AD) has left its indelibly inerasable traces in the Hispanic culture and has impregnated most thoroughly not only the landscape of the Iberian Peninsula, but also and above all, its culture, the style and way of life of its people and their spiritual world, throughout Andalusia and Spain, all of that is still visible until today.

The Islamic Heritage in Al-Andalus, Andalusia

Since a certain famous general named Tariq Ibn Ziad set with his army their feet onto the Iberian Peninsula soil at a peak point that later took his name, “Gibraltar”, Andalusia and through it the whole Spain witnessed 800 years of illumination, prosperity, peace and progress allover life´s levels and aspects.The name of “Gibraltar” is in fact misleading. The right name is “Jabal Tariq”, (Arabic: جبل طارق), “Jabal”, (Arabic جبل) means mountain while “Tariq” (Arabic: طارق) is the first name of the North-African Umayyad expedition´s general that conquered the Iberian Peninsula in 711 AD from the Visigoths. The full name is “Tariq Ibn Ziad” (Arabic: طارق ابن زياد‎). Though there are few aberrations that circulated about Tariq Ibn-Ziad, however the fact is that his name is and will be always connected to the spectacular conquest of the Iberian peninsula by the Umayyad dynasty.Whether it is question of architecture, astronomy, theology, jurisprudence, mathematics and science or philosophy, poetry, music and Flamenco dance, the Moorish and Arabo-Islamic footprints, imprints and marks are still today everywhere visible allover Andalusia, Spain and Portugal. Such name as Averroes (Real Arabic full name: أبو الوليد محمد ابن احمد ابن رشد‎ Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn ʾAḥmad Ibn Rušd (1126 –1198), son of Córdoba, was at his time one of the most prominent erudite, scientist and scholar, that attracted students, learners and searchers from allover the world. His prominence and fame still nowadays shine not only on his hometown Córdoba, but also on Spain and the whole Europe.When all of Europe was bathed in the ignorance and obscurity of the Middle Ages, Córdoba and Andalusia were at the height of civilization, knowledge and education. Thanks to a wise, open and enlightened governance, to an unprecedented tolerance which reigned everywhere between the different religious communities, Andulusia could enjoy a long stable and fruitful political, economic and social conditions that the Iberian Peninsula had never seen in its past.