Mediterranean Europe – The Moors

Essential Questions – Copy down please. How did the Moors impact Europe? Provide a minimum of 5 details. Rate their impact upon Europe….on a scale of 1 to 10. One being the least and 10 being the most……Explain using several details.

Copy these down. 1. Explain how Moors brought improvements to Mediterranean Europe. 2. Compare life in Medieval Moorish Cordoba with that of the rest of Medieval Europe. 3. Describe how the Alhambra depicts accomplishments of the Moors.

Muslim armies – called Moors – conquered most of the Iberian peninsula in the 700s.

Rule of the Moors Armed with superb weapons, the invaders overwhelmed local princes. Spanish and Portuguese armies regrouped and fought back. The Moors, however, continued to rule parts of Iberia for almost 800 years.

Moors Improve Medieval Life Moors improved Roman aqueducts with new ditch systems for irrigation and waterwheels for power. They also introduced African crops, including pomegranates, oranges, figs, dates, rice, sugarcane, and cotton.

Cordoba With more food and goods for trade, population increased. Towns grew into cities. Cordoba, the Moors capital in Iberia, became the largest and wealthiest city in Mediterranean Europe.

Multi-Cultural Mosque turned Cathedral in Cordoba. Although Moors were Muslims, they allowed freedom of worship for Jews and Christians alike. All three religions lived and worked in harmony in the Moorish kingdoms. In fact, Spain, by 1492, had been the only multiracial and multi-religious country in Europe.

Europeans discovered that they could learn many things from the Moors. Despite previous fighting, European and Moorish scholars met peacefully in Spain. Europeans received knowledge of science, medicine, math, architecture, and the Indian numeric system. Europeans found Muslim medical manuscripts. These included what the Greeks, Arabs, and Muslims has learned about the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Architecture One of the most beautiful accomplishments of Moorish Architecture was the creation of the Alhambra. The Alhambra was a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada, now in the community of Andalusia, Spain.

Moorish Tiles in Architecture

Discussion Questions 1. Explain how Moors brought improvements to Mediterranean Europe. 2. Compare life in Medieval Moorish Cordoba with that of the rest of Medieval Europe. 3. Describe how the Alhambra depicts accomplishments of the Moors.

Essential Question How did the Moors influence Mediterranean Europe?

A simile uses “like” or “as” to make a comparison. Example: The young man came into the room like a thundercloud about to let loose a storm of protest. A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares one thing to another. A metaphor states that one thing is another thing, instead of saying it’s like something else. It does not use “like” or “as” to make the comparison. Example: The young man was a thundercloud entering the room, about to let loose a storm of protest. A visual metaphor uses an image rather than words to make the comparison. Images used in posters often contain interesting visual metaphors that may be witty, funny, or quite subtle.

Activity A. Visual Metaphor/Simile Design a visual metaphor/simile on Moorish Spain. B. Commemorative Markers Students can design and create plaques or markers to commemorate and summarize the significance of important places and events. C. Caricatures Students could draw a caricature to represent the main characteristics of a group, or to convey how an individual or group is or was perceived by another group. D. Annotated Illustrations Students could make annotated illustrations to recount a story of travel or migration, to represent a moment in time, or to label architectural features. 1. Color 2. Neat 3. Effort 4. Must include examples of the following topics = education, technology, economy, religion, math, science, and one more.