Moorish, Spain, Negro, Berber, Muslim

The invasion of Spain in the eighth century and the survival of the Muslim dynasties in the eleventh owe a great deal to African military prowess and leadership.

Sancho I, 925 A.D.

 Chinyelu celebrates the military exploits of Tarik (who conquered Spain in 711 A.D.) of Yusuf Ibn Tashifin, leader of the Almoravides, who routed Alphonso VI's army in 1086 (15,000 Africans facing 70,000 Europeans) assuming leadership of Muslim Spain in 1091, and of Yakub al-Mansur who conquered Spain and Portugal on two separate occasions to become the most powerful ruler in the world.

The Moor, whom the classical Greek and the Roman authors called Berber were black, and affiliated with the then contemporary peoples of the East Africa area. The word Berber was used in fact to refer to peoples of the Red Sea area in Africa as well as North Africans.

It was an ancient belief that the nomads dwelling in Arabia were the same peoples whose ancestors had in earlier times roamed the deserts of East West and Central Africa.

The original Black Berber, who were called moors, were the north African ancestors of the present day dark brown and brown Black peoples of the Sahara and the Sahel, mainly had always called Fulani, Tuareg, Zenagha of Southern Morocco, Kunta and Tebbu of the Sahel countries as well as other Black Arabs now living in Mauritania and throughout the Sahel.

They also include Trarza of Mauritania and Senegal, the Mogharba as well as dozens of other Sudanese tribes, the Chaamba of Chad and Algeria, and the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria.

According to Wayne Chandler, the Garamantes of the Sahara can be considered ancestors of the true Moors. The Sahara, he contends, came to the occupied by two distinct groups the original Garamantes and the Berber who he later relates to as “Tawny or white Moors”.

Original Coat of Arms of Sardinia

However, this view is very problematic. The Arabs, themselves, rarely used the term Moor. They often used the term Berber for the non-Arabian people of Northwest Africa with whom they came in contact and who joined with them in the invasion of Europe. The early Christians also used the term "Saracen" indiscriminately to cover both "Moors" as well as other Muslim populations in general.

The Moors, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, are people who are commonly supposed to be black or very dark and it is synonymous with the word for "Negro" in many contexts. Rashidi and Brunson provides numerous examples of the synonymy of Moor with Black during the Euro­pean Renaissance and earlier. The word runs like a ripple across a vast pool of languages.

During the European Renaissance, explorers, writers and scholars began to apply the term Moor to Blacks in general. A prominent example of this tendency can be found in the work of Richard Hakluyt, a fifteenth-century traveler. Hakluyt recorded that, in old times the people of Africa were called Aethiopsand Nigritae, which we now call Moores, Moorens, or Negroes.In the Romance languages (Spanish, French and Italian) of Medieval Europe, Moor was translated as Moro, Moir, and Mor. Derivatives of the word Moor may be found even today in these same languages.

Coat of Arms of Xavier family

In Spanish, for example, the word for blackberry is mora a noun which originally meant Moorish woman. Also in Spanish, the adjective for dark-complexioned, which now means brunette, is moreno. We find a similar legacy in the French language. In French moricaud means dark-skinned or blackamoor, while morillon means black grape. Again, as in the Spanish, the Italian word mora means Negro or Moorish female. Also in Italian, mora means blackberry, while moraiola means black olive. In Arabic literature the word Moor was fairly non-existent and the term Berber was applied to practically all the inhabitants of the Maghrib (Islamic North Africa west of Egypt).

The Arab use of the word Berber presents further difficulty since the term embraces many clans, not all of whom are Black. It is because of this that Rashidi and Brunson, as well as the anthropologist Dana Reynolds, have goneto the trouble in certain contexts to identify those Berber clans of Africoid or ' predominantly Africoid origin.The most important identifier, of course, is to be found in medieval painting and sculpture.

Coat of Arms of Moor

It is claimed that certain Islamic traditions inhibited the representation of the human image in the work of Muslim artists and even in cases (some medieval Persian art, for example) where this inhibition does not seem to have obliterated portrait art, the human image is often frozen, non-individualistic and unreal.

We are grateful, therefore, that, in spite of their prejudices, the Christians left vivid images of the Black Muslims.

While the Black figure at times takes on a demonic quality or emerges as an exaggerated caricature of the African, these paintings and sculptures are an indisputable witness to his presence and importance in this period. Such illustrations are to be found in the Cantigas of Santa Maria, allegedly written by Alphonso X (1254-1286). They are filled with images of the Moor and are mostly Black types.

Ancient Spain, Al-Makkary, Batrikus

It is generally assumed that the movement of Africans into Europe, in significantly large numbers and into positions of real power, did not occur until the Muslim invasion of Spain in 711 AD.

Cartouche of Shoseng

According to Al-Makkary in history of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, however, we learn of the great drought that afflicted Spain about 3000 years ago, a catastrophic event that was soon followed by an invasion from Africa.

This has nothing to do with the medieval Moors. To the left, actual cartouche as engraved on an alabaster trader vase found in tomb 16, Almunecar (courtesy Instituto Arqueologico Aleman de Madrid). Right, same cartouche as rendered in the British Museum style.

The drought that devastated Spain, however, is described by a number of Spanish historians. Pedro De Medina in libro de Las Grandezas de Espana, published in Seville in 1549 A.D., dates the drought at 1070 B. C. E. Al-Makkary also informs us of how Africans banished from North Africa by an African King against whom they revolted, enter Spain and took control of that country. The leader of the Africans was called Batrikus. We do not know his original name. However, his Romanic Latin name Batrikus survived. The Romans defeated the Africans 157 years later.

Turbaned Moor

The first African migration landed on the western shore of Spain called Cadiz. They spread about, extended their settlements, built cities, towns and increased their numbers by marriage.

They settled between the west of the country and country of the Franks in the east. They appointed kings to rule over them and administer their affairs. They called their capital city Talikah, (Italica) a city now in ruins, which once belonged to the district of Isbilah, which is the modern Seville.

Eleven African Kings reigned over Andalus within 57 years, however, they were annihilated by the Romans, who invaded and conquered the country.

The second major intrusion of an African army into Spain before the Moors occurred around 700 BCE, about the same time as the 25th dynasty in Egypt. The Egyptian pharaoh that was around that time was Taharka, his uncle was called Shabataka.

Taharka was the Egyptian pharaoh that invaded Spain, referred to in the early Spanish Chronicles as Tarraco. There are indisputable reference to the manuscript by Florian de Ocampo Cronica General published in Medina Del Campo in 1553. However, that most persuasive of all is the fact that cartouches of the Egyptian Kings of the period were found in Spain. Evidence of such cartouches may be found in the journal of the Epigraphic society (Vol 7, No. 171 - April 1979). The cartouche of shishonq was found in tomb 16, Almunecar, Spain.

Left Coat of Arms of Aragon

The fact that Africans from the north had been intruding into Southern Europe from early times shall not come as a great surprise. The strait that separates the two continents can be crossed by the simplest boats in a matter of hours.

Many historians, however, make clear cut distinctions between early North Africans and Africans of the Sahara. They contend that the early North Africans should not be confused with the sub Saharan Africa type.

Since many North Africans in modern times seem to fit into this theoretical construct it hard worked very well to confuse and confound the definition of their ethnicity.

However, the inhabitants of present day North Africa are considered ethnically and culturally distinct from people dwelling south of the Sahara. This is only so today because of the considerable influx of European types during the white slave trade era and their later movement into positions of dominance after the defeat of the Moors.

Coat of Arms of Corsica

The seven hundred years during which the moors dominated the Iberian Peninsula was an era in which many Europeans came into North Africa in the states of servitude.

The Muslims brought millions of European slaves over to the North African port of sales, Tangier, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, Fez and Marrakesh, including Northern Egyptian towns.

One very famous Sultan, Mulai Ismael of Meknes, in Morocco, had as many as twenty five thousand European slaves who participated in the building of colossal stables. Left Coat of Arms of Sardinia.

Haiti, Toussaint Louverture, Immortal, Light

Nonetheless, he sent it to France for approval by Napoleon Bonaparte. In response, Napoleon deployed twenty-two thousand troops and eighty-six warships in order to subdue Toussaint Louverture and restore slavery in the colony and in all the other French dependencies of America. The troops also had a mission to expand the French colonial empire in America, going from Saint-Domingue up to the former French possessions along the Mississippi.

"Their first move toward overthrowing the White slave owners was a highly effective campaign of Poisoning. It began in the mid-18th Century. So well organised was the” Poisoned Network," that barrels of Ale straight off ships from Europe were already rendered deadly.

As the tide turned in favour of the rebels, the Revolution proper was launched in 1791 with a Voodoo ritual involving the sacrifice of a "black Pig."

According To Multimedia Grolier Encyclopaedia:
"Inspired By The French Revolution (1789) The Slaves In The Colony, Under The Leadership Of Francois Toussant L'ouverture, Rebelled (1791) And Gained Control Of The Colony But Did Not Declare Independence.

In 1802, Napoleon I Sent A French Army Under General Charles Leclerc To Subdue The Haitians. Leclerc Captured Toussaint, But The Haitian Force Under Jean Jacques Dessalines And Henri Christopher Defeated The French. The Whole Island Was Declared Independent On Jan. l, 1804 And Given The Name Of Haiti."

Francois Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743-1803 AD)
Toussaint L'Ouverture is heralded for his shrewd abilities to mobilise and command thousands in an unseen army.

He demanded discipline, loyalty, and allegiance to the cause of liberty. John Hope Franklin states in From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans, "Haiti was the first of the New World countries to sweep slavery aside."

Without the military genius of L'Ouverture, Haiti would never have defeated the French for her freedom. Toussaint L'Ouverture spent most of his life as a model captive working as a carriage driver on the Breda plantation in Haiti. Left the true Image of Francois Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture

He was married to Suzanne and they had two sons. L'Ouverture was a devout Roman Catholic, self-educated and literate in French. He had extensive knowledge of the usage of medicinal herbs and used this skill in 1791, when the revolution began, as a physician for the rebel troops. He quickly rose through the ranks and became responsible for training the men.

He turned them into a well- disciplined military force with the ability to use maneuvers conducive for guerilla warfare or regular land-force fighting. For ten years he outmanoeuvred the Spanish, the English, the French, and a small rebellious force of mulattoes.

Toussaint L'Ouverture

He used his influence and charisma to restore the country to peaceful growth. Bridges were built, schools were encouraged with awards for the best scholars. L'Ouverture also encouraged the minority White population to contribute their talent toward the development of Haiti. L'Ouverture was too successful and Napoleon knew that he needed the island to forward his plans for the Louisiana Territory.

Napoleon sent his brother-in-law, Le Clere, with an additional 25,000 soldiers to recapture the tiny island. Betrayed by one of his aides, L'Ouverture was captured and taken to France. He was accused of conspiracy, imprisoned, and died the next year in a cold prison cell, far from his native island. After his capture by the French, a major revolt occurred. The French forces were defeated by the heat, malaria, yellow fever, and tenacious cunning of the officers and captives trained by L'Ouverture.

Lerone Bennet, Jr. states in Before the Mayflower, "The French lost some 60,000 men and a rich colony and Napoleon soured on the Western Hemisphere and sold the Louisiana Territory to America for four cents an acre - the biggest real estate bargain in history," in 1803. Francois Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture is revered and praised today as one of the courageous founders of Haiti.

Napoleon Bonaparte

The philosophy and culture of the Haitian people strongly mirrored many other cultures pertaining to the historicity of People of Colours. If Francois Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture was of Caucasian origin, there would have been a few series of Hollywood movies dedicated  to him already. Instead we are left with 'Roots', from those Negroes, who does not know their own history or chose to ignore it. Haitians were severely punished for their heroism by USA, France, Spain and England, via vicious trade sanctions that went on for centuries.

The Lord is enshrined in the hearts of all. The Lord is the supreme reality. Rejoice in him through renunciation. Covet nothing. All belongs to the Lord. Thus working may you live a hundred years. Thus alone can you work in full freedom. Those who deny the Self are born again Blind to the Self, enveloped in darkness, Utterly devoid of love for the Lord.

The Self is one. Ever still, the Self is Swifter than thought, swifter than the senses. Though motionless, he outruns all pursuit. Without the Self, never could life exist. The Self seems to move, but is ever still. He seems far away, but is ever near. He is within all, and he transcends all. Those who see all races in themselves And themselves in all races know no fear. Those who see all races in themselves And themselves in all races know no grief. How can the multiplicity of life Delude the one who sees its unity? The Self is everywhere. Bright is the Self, Indivisible, untouched by sin, wise, Immanent and transcendent. He it is Who holds the cosmos together.

In dark night live those For whom the world without alone is real; In night darker still, for whom the world within Alone is real. The first leads to a life Of action, the second of meditation. But those who combine action with meditation Go across the sea of death through action And enter into immortality Through the practice of meditation. So have we heard from the wise. In dark night live those for whom the Lord Is transcendent only; in night darker still, For whom he is immanent only.

But those for whom he is transcendent And immanent cross the sea of death With the immanent and enter into Immortality with the transcendent. So have we heard from the wise. The face of truth is hidden by your orb Of gold, O sun. May you remove the orb So that I, who adore the true, may see The glory of truth. O nourishing sun, Solitary traveller, controller, Source of life for all creatures, spread your light, And subdue your dazzling splendour So that I may see your blessed Self. Even that very Self am I! May my life merge in the Immortal. When my body is reduced to ashes!

  

Nanny Maroon, Haiti, Toussaint Louverture

The two main Maroon groups in the 18th century were the Leeward and the Windward tribes, the former led by Cudjoe in Trelawny Town and the latter led by his sister Queen Nanny (and later by Quao)] Queen Nanny, also known as Granny Nanny (died 1733) is the only female listed among Jamaica's National Heroes, and has been immortalised in songs and legends.

She was known for her exceptional leadership skills, especially in guerrilla warfare, which were particularly important in the First Maroon War in the early 18th century. Her remains are reputedly buried at "Bump Grave" in Moore Town, the main town of the Windward Maroons who are concentrated in and around the Rio Grande valley in the north-eastern parish of Portland. The Maroons retreated to the mountains throughout the mid-seventeenth century, unaware of the impact they would make on British and Jamaican history.

With a vast knowledge of the uninhabited Jamaican mountain side, the Maroons were able to wage war against British planters and eventually contract a peace agreement with the British. Through the courage of fugitive slaves and the leadership of Cudjoe and his colleagues, the Maroons became a people whose history exemplified the driving force of freedom.

In 1789, Saint-Domingue was plagued by a number of contradictions. The great white planters demanded political autonomy. The Affranchis, most of whom were landowners, clamoured for civil and political equality with the whites.

The slaves looked for freedom. Brought from Africa, they toiled on plantations and in production workshops and were at the mercy of the overseer's whip. On the night of 21–22 August 1791, following a political movement in the North Province under the leadership of a certain Boukman, slaves set fire to the plantations and attacked their masters. The insurrection spread to the West and South Provinces.

The fight waged by the slaves became more structured with the emergence of Toussaint Louverture. As the commander of an army that he personally organised, he became a powerful figure in the colony. From 1794 to 1802, Toussaint Louverture led the combat. In order to keep Saint-Domingue within its colonial empire, the French authorities came to terms with Toussaint Louverture, promoting him to the rank of general in chief of the Saint-Domingue army and, later, governor.

In such a position of power, he made freedom of blacks the focus of his international policy and made the revival of production the focus of his domestic policy.

Toussaint Louverture forged an autonomous policy vis-à-vis France. In 1801, without the backing of French authorities, he entered the eastern side of the island, then under Spanish domination, and abolished slavery there. In the same year he promulgated a constitution for the entire island with immediate application. Right: Toussaint Louverture White-washed Version.

Nonetheless, he sent it to France for approval by Napoleon Bonaparte. In response, Napoleon deployed twenty-two thousand troops and eighty-six warships in order to subdue Toussaint Louverture and restore slavery in the colony and in all the other French dependencies of America. The troops also had a mission to expand the French colonial empire in America, going from Saint-Domingue up to the former French possessions along the Mississippi.