The Moors in Spain

Today in Spanish, my teacher showed us a documentary on the history of Islam in Spain.  The narrator explained that when the Catholic Monarchs first came to rule, they tried to destroy all evidence of Muslims in Spain; these Muslims were called the Moors.  I know we talked a little bit about this in class, but the Moors were descendents from northern Africa who conquered and ruled the Iberian Peninsula, which they called Al Andalus, for nearly 800 years.  Al Andalus was made up of what are now Spain and Portugal.  The documentary went on to say that propaganda sparked by the Crusades depicted the Moors as dark-skinned, savage, blood-thirsty enemies, which was not true.  The rest of the video was about the cities and Islamic castle that the Moors built.  I really like it when my classes overlap, and I thought it was interesting learning more about Othello’s background.