moors

Moors is a historical term used in Europe during the Middle Ages to refer to Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula. The name derives from Latin Mauri, possibly related to Mauritania, and was applied broadly to Muslims of North Africa and Iberia who played a major role in the history of Al-Andalus from the 8th to the 15th centuries.

In the early 8th century, forces from the Maghreb under the Umayyad dynasty crossed into Iberia, beginning a long period of Muslim rule. The population included both Berbers and Arabs, with Berber groups often forming the core; over time, local converts also joined.

In Iberia, Moors established several polities such as the Emirate and later Caliphate of Córdoba, and later Taifas after fragmentation. They contributed to science, philosophy, medicine, and agriculture, introducing irrigation techniques and crops, and they influenced architecture with notable monuments in Córdoba, Granada, and elsewhere.

Christian kingdoms progressively reconquered the peninsula; the last Muslim-ruled state, the Emirate of Granada, fell in 1492, ending Moorish political dominance in Iberia.

The term Moor has varied meanings and is often considered an exonym. In modern scholarship, it is used to describe a historical population rather than a single ethnicity. Today, there is no distinct Moorish nationality; many descendants are Berber, Arab, or mixed, and "Moor" is generally used only in historical contexts.