Notes on the Moors

In 711, the Moorish general Tariq-Al-Din invaded Spain, and conquered it

in 720, Tariq-Al-Din passed; this was an oppurtunity for the Spanish to revolt

The Moors translated Archimedes and Euclid in to latin and Arabic.

The Moors were good farmers; and brought several crops to Spain. The Balearic islands were used as an agricultural outpost.

For more on the Moors, check out blog entry: Top ten Moorish and Andalusian scholars

Some Moors were notable scholars.

Al-Marrakushi- Morroccon historian, scholar, historian, judge and biographer who wrote a collection of biographies of notable people from Morrocco and Andalusia.


Ibn Hayyan- A notable Andalusian historian. I'm not sure how many of his works have been lost.

Ibn Abd Rabbih- Wrote an anthology titled "The Unique Necklace".

Ibn Maḍāʾ- Andalusian Linguist





Ibn Idhari- was a 14th century historian from Morrocco who wrote about the Maghreb and Iberia.


Ibn al-Khatib- Was a historian from Grenada and Morrocco (though perhaps of Arab extraction).


Said al-Andalusi- historian who wrote a book called "history of science".


Al-Humaydi- Left Andalusia for Baghdad, and wrote Jadh'watu-i-muktabis (The Sparkle of Fire).


Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji- Some astrnomer and Qadi (judge or magister) from Morrocco and Andalusia.



In modern day Morrocco, there is
Mahdi Elmandjra in economics, futurism and sociology.

Why Charles Martel won the battle of Tours

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Charles Martel won the battle of Tours for the following reasons:

A: Leadership advantage (he may even have had the help of Odo/Eudes) Indeed, he did have the help of Odo according to Wikipedia.

B: Defensive advantage

C: He was barely even fighting Arabs or Bedouins (rather, he was fighting Moorish raiders). Perhaps one could even go as far to state the Moors were not Arabs (or at least, not the Arabs of the Rashidun Caliphate).

D: Strategically, from 720-760 the Arabs were in a "limbo" (a limbo caused by being overextended, as by 720 the Arabs were the world's largest empire the world had seen at the time. The "limbo" was also caused by the passing of the Moorish general Tariq-Al-din in 720. )

The limbo was also caused by berber revolts, civil wars, devolution (the Cordoba Caliphate devoluted in 756-759 and was no longer part of the Arab empire.) and a change of dynasties (from the Ummayads to the Abbasids).

Thus, Charles Martel won the battle of Tours in October 10 732.

Notes on the Reconquista

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722- Battle of Covadonga, the Asturias rebellion in Northern Spain beats Moorish raiders.

Pelayo of Asturias thus goes on to found the Kingdom of Asturias


759-Formation of the Cordoba Caliphate as a devoluted and independent entity from the Arabian empire.


798- The Asturias kingdom sacks Lisbon

1000- Almanzor (most notable leader of the Cordoba Caliphate) defeats Castille at the Battle of Cervera.

1031- Fall of the Cordoba Caliphate; basically falls as a result of infighting.

Devolutes in to smaller kingdoms known as "Taifas"

1057-1099- Career of El Cid



1248- Castille sattelizes the Moorish kingdom of Grenada.

1249-1255- Portugal captures the Algarve from the Moors, and then moves it's capital to Lisbon, thus the Portuguese reconquista is complete.

1340- Battle of Río Salado- Morrocco tries to help outGrenada. Morrocco loses.




1386- Portugal allies with England as per the treaty of Windsor

1415- Portuguese conquest of Cueta (Morrocco)

1492- Spanish annexation of Grenada.

Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501)-



Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1568–71)- Moriscoe (Christian Moor) revolt against Castille.

Ibn Al-Thahabi- Arab scholar who may have written the first known alphabetical encyclopedia of medicine.

Masawaiyh- Assyrian Nestorian Christian physician who translated some Greek works in to Syriac, and wrote the first systematic treatise on opthamology.

Salmawaih ibn Bunan- Like Hunayn Ibn Shaq, he was an Assyrian Christian translator of Galen.

Ibn al-Tilmīdh- Noted Christian Syrian pharmacologist; perhaps the most notable besides Al-Baitar or Ibn Sina. Mastered Persian, Greek, Syriac, and Arabic.

Ali ibn Isa al-Kahhal- noted tenth or 11th century opthamologist. In his work, we find the first time in literature that an anaesthetic is prescribed. First to discover the symptoms of VKH syndrome.

According to Wikipedia: (Ali) Ibn Isa is also thought to be the first to describe temporal arteritis, although Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (1828–1913) is erroneously credited with this.[5]


Gerard of Cremona- Translator of Arabic works in to Latin. He worked in Toledo, and was thus one of the more notable "Toledo translators".


Constantine the African- 11th century scholar. Also translated some Arabic books in to latin.

I think many Persian scholars (such as Rhazes) had been written or translated in to Arabic; thus I think he was able to translate Rhazes too.

Isaac Israeli ben Solomon- Arab Jew physician and philosopher in the 9th or tenth century.

Sa'ad al-Dawla- 13th century Persian Jew physician and vizier.


Samuel ibn Naghrillah- was a talmudic grammarian, philologist, soldier, politician, patron of the arts, and Hebrew who lived in Iberia at the time of Moorish rule according to wikipedia.

Qusta ibn Luqa- A Syrian melkite who helped translate some Greek works in to Arabic.


Ali ibn Ridwan- Arab physician and astronomer who described Supernova now known as SN 1006.

Also a commentator on Galen's Ars Parva.


Ibrahim ibn Sinan- tenth century mathemetician and grandson of Thabit Ibn Qurraa.

MORE ARAB SCHOLARS:
Ibn Hawqal- Arab writer, geographer, and chronicler in the 10th century.




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Paul Erdős- Hungarian mathematician ( March 1913 – 20 September 1996)

Sameera Moussa (1917-1952) - Egyptian nuclear physicist.

TOP TEN MOORISH AND ANDALUSIAN SCHOLARS!!

1. Ibn Battuta- travel, geography, exploration

Visited over 40 countries, including China, India (such as Calcutta), Middle East, grenada and Africa. Visited about 200 major cities (or at least places.....).

(from Morrocco I think)

2. Abulcasis- (surgery)

3. Al-Baitar- Improved pharmacology

4. Al-Muradi- clockmaking

5. Ibn Rushd (Averroes)- noted philosopher and commentator on Aristotle

6. Ibn Hazm- second most prolific scholar after Al-Tabari (in the IGA)

Wrote on history, ethics, Islamic jurisprudence and comparative religion

7. Ibn Tufail- was an Andalusian Muslim polymath a writer, novelist, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theologian, physician, astronomer, vizier, and court official.

Wrote a philosophical novel. Thus, arguably, a precedent for Voltaire's "Candide".

8.
Ibn al-'Awwam-often said to be Arab; yet associated with Seville.

Agriculture and livestock. According to wikipedia:


"He wrote a lengthy handbook on agriculture entitled in Arabic Kitāb al-Filāḥa (English: Book on Agriculture), which is the most comprehensive treatment of the subject in medieval Arabic, and one of the most important medieval works on the subject in any language."


9.
Ibn Bassal (1085 C.E.) -Botany. According to wikipedia he

"was a Moor botanist in Toledo and Seville, Spain who wrote about cultivation. Basal wrote the treatise The Classification of Soils which divided soil fertility into ten classifications. He worked in the court of Al-Mutamid for whom he created a royal garden.[1][2][3]"

10.Al-Jayyani- Trigonometry.

According to Wikipedia:

Al-Jayyānī wrote important commentaries on Euclid's Elements and he wrote the first known treatise on spherical trigonometry as a discipline independent from astronomy.


HONORARY MENTIONS:

Muhammad_al-Idrisi- geography and cartography. Made a map known as "The Book of Roger" for the Rogers of Norman Sicily.

I read somewhere that he may have made like 1150+ maps

Ziryab- Another andalucian polymath in the fields of astronomy, geography, meterology, botanics, cosmetic, culinary art and fashion. Also a musician.

Made a new type of deodorant for body odor. Said to have made an early toothpaste, and to have emphasized hygiene.

Heavily associated with Andalusia; but got started in Mesopotamia and Africa. Unclear extraction. 

Ibn al-Khatib- Arab from the Emirate of Grenada (and/or Morocco); poet, philosopher, politician, writer, historian and physician. Often said to have conceived of the idea of a contagion centuries before Pasteur. 

Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi- Andalusian poet, geographer, and historian

Ibn Zuhr- Physician. He performed a tracheotomy on a goat.

Avempace- Another Moor botanist, astronomer and physicist.

 Ibn Firnas- polymath and glassworker who detailed a method to produce colorless glass. Was known to produce corrective lenses.

Al-Zarqali- Astronomy, instrument maker (by instruments I mean telescopes, clocks, that sorta thing. I think he was also referenced by Copernicus in his heliocentric thesis along with Al-Batani)

Jabir ibn Aflah- An astronomer and mathemitician from Seville. Critiqued and corrected Ptolemaic astronomy. Also invented an early analog computer known as the

Torquetum.


Maimonedes- medieval Jewish astronomer and philosopher.

Maslama al-Majriti- Economics and astronomy

Ibn Jubayr- Geographer, traveler, and poet during the crusades; and wrote about them.

At-Turtushi- 12th century Andalusian political theorist. 


Ibn Juzayy- history, poetry, and law. Helped Ibn Battuta write about his travels.


Leo Africanus- Became an authority on North African geography around the 16th century.

Travel.  Ok this will be about travel...

First, familiarize yourself with the great travelers; Hemingway,, Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, Richard Burton.

We will start by counting how many cities Ibn Battuta (a 14th century Morrocco explorer) had visited.

MAGHREB:  19 cities

ARAB PENINSULA-17

ARAB MASHRIQ-  44

PERSIA AND IRAQ:    20

NILE VALLEY:  1 (Suakin, Sudan)

HORN OF AFRICA:   2

SWAHILI COAST:  2

ANATOLIA:    40

SPAIN AND ANDALUSIA-5

CENTRAL ASIA:  23

SOUTH ASIA: 23 (he visited the maldives for example:

SE ASIA:   1

CHINA-2

MALI EMPIRE AND WEST AFRICA:  6

TOTAL:  Over 40 modern day countries, and 199 major cities.  Not bad for the 14th century.

The IGA and it's influences

OK, I have decided to change the theme of this blog on to philosophy and history.  Namely, the IGA and it's influences.