Spanish Religion

Rome gave Iberia a name Hispania, which is the root of modern Espana or Spain, a law and a faith, Christianity. This became the official religion of the Empire. The Muslims then brought few women to the country, so they took Christianity as wives, much as the Spaniards themselves would do with the natives in the New World. Many Christians willingly converted to the victorious religion; by the year allowed to continue practicing their faith as long as they agreed to pay taxes and did not cause trouble. The same held for the Jews since they too were people of the Bible. For several centuries, then, Iberia was a land of three religions living on the most intimate terms, in both peace and war in a land known as al-Andalus. Al-Andalus eventually was named Andalusia. The civilization of the Iberian Peninsula was the most glorious in the world at a time when the rest of Europe was living in benighted conditions.

The Moors then turned the arid meseta green through irrigation. They built wonderful mosques, places and then they opened the best universities in the world. Not soon after that they produced eminent philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, botanists, historians, poets and mystics for the universities. Religion was a huge part of education at this time. In one of the smallest courts of Andalusia in Almeria were some five thousand looms that weaved silk, cotton and wool. Also, one minister amassed a library of four hundred thousand manuscripts. This moment was when Iberia led the rest of the world in refinement and culture.

Christian victory took over the Moors after seven hundred and eighty one years had past. Some historians believe that the word Spain should not be employed until the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon contracted their dynasty in 1469. In 1942, Ferdinand and Isabel named the Catholic Monarchs by the pope, finally conquering Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in the Peninsula.

This year changed the future of Spain in so many ways. The Spanish Empire would soon extend all the way from Europe to Asia. In that same year, the Catholic kings gave the large Jewish population the choice between conversions to Christianity or expulsion from the country. However the sovereigns broke their word and the Muslims had only two choices, conversion or expulsion. To this day, the descendents of the expelled Jews and Moors still refer to their lost homeland with yearning, as their Sepharad or al-Andalus. The expulsion left bad tastes in everyone’s mouths. The country lost a huge class of skilled laborers, artisans, merchants and professionals who would not be replaced. Throughout this period, power and ascendancy followed. Unfortunately, declines, tyranny, ignorance and isolation followed after for another 300 years.

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