Al Andalus

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP DAD USED TO SAY TO ME, YOU’RE SPANISH, BUT YOU ARE PART MOOR. IT’S EVEN IN YOUR NAME’, REFERRING TO THE MOOR’ SOUND IN CAMORRA. RETURNING AGAIN TO CÓRDOBA, THE CITY WHERE I GREW UP AND WHERE MUCH OF MY FAMILY STILL LIVE, I CAN SEE THAT THE MOORS NEVER REALLY LEFT SPAIN. DURING THE TIME OF THE MOORS’ INVASION FROM NORTHERN AFRICA IN THE 8TH CENTURY TO THE FALL OF THEIR IBERIAN COLONY IN THE 15TH CENTURY, THERE WERE GREAT PERIODS OF COEXISTENCE WHEN CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND JEWS LIVED AND TRADED TOGETHER SIDE BY SIDE. DESPITE THE EPIC BATTLES, BLOODSHED AND PERSECUTION, THE MOORISH RETREAT FROM SPAIN WAS SLOW. WHO COULD BLAME THEM WANTING TO STAY IN THE COUNTRY IN WHICH THEY WERE BORN — ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND BOUNTIFUL PLACES ON EARTH.