CHAPTER XXV
MOROCCO AND TUNIS
Early in the Eighth Century the great victorious horde of Saracens, or "Easterns," carried their conquests through almost the whole of North Africa to the Strait dividing the continent from Spain. The fierce Berber hosts were subdued by the less ferocious, but equally brave, invaders. Islam triumphed, and Moorish sultans reigned in splendour.
Spain was wrested from the Visigoths, and the old Roman cities of Andalusia were transformed and made glorious by Morisco art.
The modern descendants of these warriors, sages, philosophers, and marvellous artists and craftsmen are still known as Moors. Strictly speaking, as Sir Richard Burton points out, the modern inhabitants of Morocco, or Marocco, are of three distinct races, the Arabs, the true Moors, and the Berbers.[1] The Moors of to-day are half Arab and half Spanish, preserving the traditions of both nations. There are many thousands of Jews in Morocco. The army is chiefly composed of negroes.
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