Hundreds of thousands of Muslims who remained in Spain were forced to convertto Christianity, but many continued with their Muslim names and ways oflife, defying all attempts to create a Catholic state. (So they were sensibly expelled. –Ed)
It was the start of one of the earliest and most brutal episodes of ethniccleansing in Europe, so Spain is, understandably perhaps, a little reluctantto mark the occasion.
Four hundred years ago today King Philip III signed an order to expel 300,000Moriscos – or part-Muslims – who had converted from Islam to Christianity.
Over the next five years hundreds of the exiles died as they were forced fromtheir homes in Spain to North Africa at the height of the SpanishInquisition.
There are no plans to mark the date officially, although the occasion is beingremembered in a series of exhibitions, conferences and public debates.
The anniversary comes days after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the SpanishPrime Minister, met Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, inIstanbul to celebrate the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations, which isintended to foster friendship between the West and the Islamic world.
Some Muslim writers and Spanish and Moroccan campaigners believe that Madridshould apologise for the wrongs committed during the 17th century. JuanGoytisolo, a Spanish novelist, said:
“Official and academic Spain retires into the fortress of cautious silence,which reveals obvious discomfort. The expulsion was the first Europeanprecedent … of the European ethnic cleansings of the last century.”
The anniversary highlights once again the uneasy relationship which existsbetween modern-day Spain and its Moorish, or Muslim, past. Muslims conqueredmuch of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century after arriving from NorthAfrica but, centuries later, their armies were finally expelled in 1492after the victory of the Catholic monarchs King Ferdinand of Castile andQueen Isabella of Aragon.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims who remained in Spain were forced to convertto Christianity, but many continued with their Muslim names and ways oflife, defying all attempts to create a Catholic state.
After military losses to the Protestant Dutch, King Philip signed a decree onApril 9, 1609, to expel these reluctant converts, in a move he hoped wouldstrengthen his kingdom.
Historians record the brutal conditions in which many hundreds were killedduring the forced resettlement in North Africa over the next five years andSpanish society was, in fact, weakened economically and politically as aresult – particularly in areas such as Valencia and Aragon, where themajority of the Muslim converts had lived.
Historians and writers have urged the Government to use the anniversary of theevent to make overtures to the Islamic world. José Manuel Fajardo, a Spanishwriter, said: “Mr Zapatero has an opportunity to transform one of the mosttragic episodes in the history of Spain into an opportunity for are-encounter between the West and Islam.”
However, a spokesman for the Government said: “There are no plans to mark theanniversary.”
The defeat of the Moors in 1492 and the expulsion of the Moriscos from 17th-centurySpain has become a politically sensitive subject, with Osama bin Ladenreferring to it in repeated calls for the restoration of al-Andalus, theformer Muslim kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula.