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The Empire Strikes Back:the Morisco Revolt in southern Spain(1568-1571)
by Francisco J. González 
By the mid-16
th
century the Spanish Empire was, without a doubt, the largest, richest andmost powerful political entity in the World. The Empire extended from the Netherlandsto Sicily in Europe, to the rich Native American realms of the Aztecs and Incas, andincluded trading posts and colonies spread across Asia, the South Pacific and Africa.Annual galleon fleets transported the fabulous wealth of the New World back to Spain.The Spanish Empire was ruled by the ascetic King Phillip II, whose main concerns weremaintaining the integrity of his far-flung dominions against both envious European rivalsand the expanding forces of the Ottoman Turks; while simultaneously fighting theinternal “dangers” of Protestantism and other “evil” religious practices, such as Judaismand Islam!Within the heartland of the Empire, in Spain itself, the remnants of the once-gloriousIslamic civilization of Al-Andalus struggled to survive. The Arabic-speaking descendantsof the North African and Middle Eastern conquerors of medieval Spain, known asMoriscos, had been forcibly converted to Catholicism earlier in the 16
th
century, but thisconversion was more apparent than real. They lived mostly in the southern part of thecountry, which included the city of Granada, former capital of the last independentIslamic state in Spain, conquered by the Christians in 1492.They excelled as craftsmen, producing high-quality cordovan leather goods, and metalsmiths. Other Moriscos earned a living as farm laborers, small-scale farmers, and astraders. However, the backbone of their economy was the silk industry, which producedtextiles and garments that rivaled those of China or Baghdad in quality. In response to thedemands of special interest groups wanting to cut into the Morisco’s dominance of thesilk trade, the export of woven silk was banned and in 1561 a large tax assessment wasimposed on silk from Granada. This severely hit the Moriscos. Added to the economicdownturn, the Catholic Church tasked the Inquisition with ferreting out those whocontinued to practice Islam in secret. The straw that broke the camel’s back came in January 1567, when a series of “reforms”of Morisco habits were imposed by the Spanish authorities:the use of written or spoken Arabic was to be absolutely prohibited within 3 years; sowere traditional Moorish garments; house doors were to be kept open on Fridayafternoons (the traditional Islamic Sabbath); feast-days and marriage celebrations,
 zambras
and
leilas
, were forbidden on Fridays and feast-days; the use of 
henna
was to beabandoned; Moorish names were not to be used; all
hamans
or baths, both public and private, were to be destroyed.
 
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