Of Gibraltar, that is
I am not talking about rock and roll. I am talking about The Rock of Gibraltar, a part of African history. The Rock is the logo of the Prudential Insurance Company, one of the most-recognized corporate symbols in the world, as are their slogans “Own a Piece of the Rock” and “Strength of Gibraltar.” But few people know that the Rock was named for and conquered by a black man, Tariq ibn-Ziyad, a Moor.
In 711, Tariq ibn-Ziyad and a small army crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from northern Africa and invaded the Iberian Peninsula. They landed there and captured the mountain, so the Rock was named “Jabal Tariq” or “Tariq’s mountain,” interpreted to mean Gibraltar. The Moors built the castle there, which still looks over the strait to Africa. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the castle was taken and held by the Christians for a few years until it was recaptured by the Moors, who rebuilt it.
Who were these Moors? Yvonne Clark teaches us that when the Romans entered West Africa in 46 B.C., they saw Africans and called them Maures, from the Greek adjective Mauros, meaning dark or black. It is from Mauros and the Latin term Marues that the word Moor is derived. Since the inhabitants of North Africa were black, the Romans and later the Europeans called them Moors. It is no coincidence that the land inhabited by the Moors was called Mauritania and Morocco, meaning “Land of the Blacks.”
They populated Spain for nearly 700 years, and it was their civilization that enlightened Europe and brought it out of the dark ages to usher in the Renaissance. Many of their cultural and intellectual influences still live with us today. Not only did they possess a vast body of knowledge based on their own learning, they had also become the custodians of much of the earlier knowledge from the Greek philosophers, including those of Alexandria such as Ptolemy.
Why is this not common knowledge, or taught openly in text books? History is often edited and told by people who want to report history through their own biases. It has been said that he who controls the past controls the future, and our view of history shapes the way we view the present.
Historians tend to tell stories which reflect the values of the society in which they live. Most historians do not intentionally distort history to serve their purposes, but they often interpret evidence through the eyes of their own world view.
Many history books, even at the college level, are generally distorted or omit facts of ethnic, racial and religious groups, therefore it is necessary to stress the contributions made by minorities and women, because these have been ignored in the past.
So, the next time you see a picture or symbol of the Rock of Gibraltar, smile and say, “Hello, cuz.”
Happy Black History Month!