History of Cabrera (Al-Andaluz under the Moors)

This page gives an account of the history of the Cabrera area from about the 8th to 13th centuries. Click here for a briefer account of how history impacts on the village today.

The Moors

For many people, Spanish history begins in 711 when the Moors invaded the peninsula from North Africa . The Arabs brought a storehouse of knowledge on a wide range of subjects from architecture to astronomy and although Spain, and Europe, clearly stood to benefit from the Muslim culture, the Spanish remained devout Christians. They were at first unable to resist the Moorish advance, which swept through the Spanish peninsula at great speed and on into the heart of France, only coming to a halt at Poitiers .

Until 722, Christianity seemed doomed, but in that year in Covadonga among the Picos de Europa, a tribal leader called Don Pelayo beat a force of Muslim soldiers and slowly the tide began to turn. The Reconquest was a marathon effort taking 781 years, ending with the recapture of Granada in 1492. In the area of Sierra Cabrera, the Moorish domination started in 713 and lasted until 1488.

The Moslem colonists of Spain are often spoken of as Moors, because on the first occasion, and on other occasions also, they came from Morocco. But their leaders were usually Arabs; and the Arabs were no Pilgrim Fathers fleeing from religious persecution to found an ideal republic in a new world. They were more like conquistadors, urged on (as the Spaniards were later in America) by a triumphal proselytizing faith: a chosen people to whom had been entrusted the furtherance of good and the suppression of evil.

The Arabs had entered on their career of expansion soon after the Hégira, the Flight of the Prophet from Medina to Mecca, which took place in the year 633. The leaders of the Moslem expansion in Spain were Arabs, but the colonists themselves often belonged to Berber tribes in Morocco. Tariq, who led the first expedition and defeated Roderick, the last Visigoth king of Spain, was a Berber. The men he brought with him are said, according to the most moderate estimate, to have consisted of 300 Arabs and Syrians and 7,000 Berbers, while further reinforcements sent across the Straits before the decisive battle amounted to some 12,000 Berbers. The Commander in Chief (who took charge after Tariq had won the battle and proved that colonisation might be attempted) was Musa Ibn-Nusair, an Arab from the Yemen in Southern Arabia.

So who were these Moors who would re-write Spanish history so profoundly? The word derives from the Latin 'mauri', a name for Berber tribes living in Roman 'Mauretania' (roughly modern Algeria and Morocco ). Although the name "Moors" has no real ethnographic meaning, it is used to refer to all Moslems, Berbers or Arabs, who conquered the Iberian peninsula.

To imagine Moorish Spain as ruled and inhabited by Arabs is, therefore, far from the truth. Although many Arabs, mostly Syrians, occupied high positions, the bulk of the Moslems were Berbers. Later, converted Christians called 'muwallads' together with the offspring of the first waves of invaders, formed the nucleus of Moorish Spain. (The invaders brought no women, hence the second generation of Moors was already half-Spanish).

Another misconception about Moorish Spain is that the Moslems vigorously tried to convert Christians and other infidels, at sword point if need be. Many converted by choice and slowly adopted Arabic as their language. Moreover, Moslems allowed both Christians and Jews, as “people of the Book", to practise their own religions if they submitted to Moorish rule. Forced conversions, pogroms and deportations are in fact largely the legacy of Christian Spain, not Moorish.

There may, however, be some reason to question the Moors' heralded accomplishments in such fields as agriculture. For example, rather than introducing irrigation they actually adopted and improved earlier Roman works which had made Hispania the breadbasket of the empire. Nevertheless, under the caliphate new crops were introduced: the orange, lemon, peach, apricot, fig and pomegranate, as well saffron, sugar cane, cotton, silk and rice... in short, many of Spain 's staple products today. The Moors also brought Arabian horses, which developed into the famed Andalusian breed.

The Moslems in Spain eventually became just as Spanish as the Christians were. There were Spanish Moslems and Spanish Christians; but they were all Spaniards, and what they did and thought belonged equally to the Spanish world. Spain does not mean only Christian Spain. There were, in fact, four languages in use in Moslem Spain; (1) Classical Arabic, the language of religion and of men of letters; (2) Colloquial Arabic, the language of administration and government; (3) Ecclesiastical Latin, a purely ritual language, used only by Mozarabic Christians; and (4) a Romance dialect, mainly derived from Low Latin, and one day to become one of the great literary a administrative languages of the world; Castellano or Spanish.

Spain has always been a land of small towns with vigorous local feeling and in our area the characteristic became most pronounced in the 9th-14th centuries during which there was an upsurge of new population centres. The remains can now be found underneath later constructions in places such Vera, Mojacar, Teresa, Cabrera, Bedar and Serena. These replaced the old Roman centres of "Old Mojacar", Cadima, Roceipón (Vera), Baria (Villaricos), etc.

Those of us who live in Cabrera only have to look out of our windows to see ample testimony of cultivation in Sierra Cabrera during the last 200 years, namely the innumerable terraces all over the mountain. There are ruins as old as 400 years, as in the abandoned villages of Teresa and Cabrera. One can find walls and foundations that have been quiet for a thousand years, like those near the river bed at "EI Gitano" (by the little bridge on the way to Turre). This site had a relatively short life as a settlement from about the 9th to the 13th century; experiencing its heyday in the 11th century during the Moslem period.

Mojácar was at that time the main centre in these parts and Turre (which is most likely derived from the word Torre, meaning 'tower'), was probably only becoming a community in the fourteenth century, although settlements had existed in the area for some time around Cadima and El Gitano. A primitive 'Torre' was apparently constructed where Turre now stands as part of the defences to warn the people working in the fields against Christian raids from Lorca and Murcia.

From its primitive origins, Turre has grown into an urban district and is now a municipal area that is quite large, although about 70% of the area is uncultivated mountain. To-day, Turre has a density of population of only 19 inhabitants per square kilometre, but in previous times this figure has been much higher (in 1497 = 18, in 1857 = 32, in 1910 = 41, in 1960 = 27).

The land on which present day Cortijo Cabrera stands may have been inhabited in pre-historic times but was most certainly in use by the Moors from the 8th century onwards up to the 17th century.

The Moors in Cabrera

Cabrera began to take on a significant role as a permanent settlement in the 820's after a vicious civil war known as the "Guerra Civil de La Hoja de Parra" (the war of the Vine leaf) broke out in 823 between "Mudaries & Yemenies", two Muslim factions. The war lasted seven years and in the Mojacar area alone, 3000 people were killed. The war led to the separation of a sizeable group of people, the Mudaries (Moslem Arabs) that could not accept the new situation and were persecuted for political and religious motives. These people withdrew from the valley up onto the mountains, where they were able to protect themselves better by building fortified settlements near water springs such as occurred at Teresa and Cabrera and in some other parts of the mountains.

This migration is also explained by the continuing raids into Andalucía from North Africa at this time. Also during the ninth and the tenth century the Normans and the Vikings were frequently turning up and creating a nightmare for the people around these coasts. They would sack the villages and take their captives as slaves.

Cabrera was, in Moslem times, divided into two areas. One situated on top of the mountain we now know as La Pilica and this part was completely surrounded by a wall and called La Fortaleza. The second area was at the foot and called La Alcaná where we can still see the remains of a Minaret (the tower next to Los Pastores restaurant) and the Mezquita (now part of the restaurant).

During the 8th and 9th centuries a series of droughts virtually decimated the agriculture of the area. As a consequence of this and the "War of the Vine Leaf", Cadima was abandoned, as well as “Old Mojacar" and El Gitano. Cabrera and Teresa were also affected in this period of hardship, but because there was better access to water from the mountain springs, a certain amount of further immigration from the low-lying areas took place. The new and better fortified Mojacar was established in the first half of the 12th century.

Many of the aqueducts, dams, irrigation channels and various hydraulic installations were constructed in this part of Spain during the 12th and 13th centuries. There are some curious hydraulic works still to be seen in the region of the "waterfall" at Teresa, now dry for most of the year. It is believed to have been built by the Moors to secure a constant availability of water for the inhabitants of Teresa, as the climate had become so variable.

For Sierra Cabrera, this was an active period with thriving communities of self-sufficient families. There are no records of how daily life was passed at this time in Cabrera. We can only surmise from what is known about the people of southern Spain generally. Their dwellings were mostly simple stone and mortar structures, but contained a few embellishment arches, ceramics, colour, carved utilitarian furniture, maybe a few items of silk and glass, practical but artistically shaped utensils and ornaments.

Their clothes were flowing and voluminous, not unlike "traditional" clothing seen in Arab countries today, containing colour, some embroidery or other adornment.

Their food was simple but healthy, pretty much the same staple diet of Spanish country people until very recently: bread, olives, figs, oranges and lemons, goat, fish, wild fowl, almonds, root vegetables, rice, peaches, apricot, pomegranate, grapes. All no doubt enhanced with the fresh herbs we still find in Sierra Cabrera.

Idyllic? Well, perhaps; but life was about to change!

Terminology used in the text:
Moors	Common expression for Moslem Arabs, Syrians and Morocco Berbers living in Spain from the 8th to 15th century.
Moorish	Way of life, architecture and design elements brought by the invading Moors that evolved into a uniquely Spanish style during the 8th to 15th century.
Moriscos	Moors converted to Christianity whilst in Spain (after the re-conquest).
Mozarabic	Architectural style (mostly applied to churches) designed by Christians who had lived in Arab-controlled Spain, but later fled north to Christian re-conquered territory during the 9th and 10th centuries.
Mozarabic Christians	Christians in belief, but Muslim in culture and language.
Mudejar	Moorish brick, ceramic and stucco work created by Moslems living under Christian rule and adapted to Christian themes and building styles from the 11th to 15th century.

In the next instalment we continue to recall some of the major events in and around Sierra Cabrera from the 13th to the 16th century, the period of the re-conquest and the demise of Sierra Cabrera as a Moorish stronghold.

This page is based on an article written in 1996 by runo Ravander for the Cabrera Courier.