It is from an artical on eating by a famous Chinese female writer who married an American that I heard of the name of Moors at the first time. She wrote that Spain was once conquered by Moors, and Maxico was conquered by Spain later, so the food in Spain and Maxico is usually spicy /hot. I don't know if it is true.
(All my dear Steemit readers, if you happen to know about the diet custom in Spain and Maxico, please leave a comment! Thank you.)
At this moment, I especially miss my dear American husband/teacher. The favorite topic for us is about history and culture from different countries. We are both curious and interested in different cultures and exotic experiences. Pitifully it has been nearly 4 years since he passed away suddenly in China, he couldn't help me any more... Otherwise I would ask him about such kind of thing. God knows he was such a lovely and knowledgeable scholar! According to the author, since the ancestors of Moors lived in Africa, the hot climate led them to preserve food with a variety of spices and chili, so penchant for spicy food should be "an educated taste"!
I dream of him last night, when I woke up, my eyes welled up with tears... Oh, I miss him crazily, endless love ...An enormous loss and regret! I will cherish the memory of him in the rest of my life...
Being an American, he lived and worked in China for only 15 months. Who knows China is just the place where his life came to an end all of sudden? However, it is deeply grieved and outraged that his death in China was just like a bubble in the air, without any trace. Because those bloody wealthy/powerful but mercenary/sinister people tried to ignore/erase his outstanding contributions to Chinese students learning English and our sacred international marriage like the history about Moors was expunged by Spanish rulers on purpose...
All in all, welcome to read this great blog about Moors: History: How African Muslims "Civilized Spain"...
Below is my Chinese translation of it.
历史：非洲穆斯林如何开化西班牙
今天标志着非洲穆斯林对西班牙、葡萄牙和法国南部近700年统治终结的周年纪念日。
408年前的今天，西班牙国王菲利普三世签署了一项法令，可谓人类最早期种族清洗的范例之一。在西班牙审讯热情高涨之下，菲利普三世下令驱逐30万穆斯林摩尔人，开启了西班牙历史上最野蛮和惨烈的时期之一。
与传统智慧(思维)相反的是，把文明带到西班牙和欧洲大多数地方的是古代非洲人，而不是其他人。
欧洲的第一个文明于公元前1700年建立在希腊的克里特岛上，而古希腊文明主要受教于尼罗河的黑非洲人。希腊人又把这个既得的文明传给了罗马人，而罗马人又最终丢失了它。由此，开启了延续5个世纪之久的黑暗时期。当另一群黑非洲人－－摩尔人终结了黑暗时期后，文明才被再次重新介绍到了欧洲。
在西方历史课上，这段中世纪称为“黑暗时期”，这段时期被描述成，大体上文明包括艺术和科学处于停顿时期。对于欧洲人来说，的确如此。但对于非洲人来说，却并非如此。
知名历史学家Cheikh Diop解释了在中世纪时，世界上伟大的帝国是黑人(建立的)帝国，世界的文化和教育中心大部分在非洲。此外，在那段时期，欧洲人被认为是无法纪的野蛮人。
罗马帝国坍塌之后，大量来自高加索的白人交战部落被入侵的匈奴人赶到了西欧。摩尔人于公元711年入侵西班牙海岸，非洲穆斯林教化了来自高加索的野蛮白人部落。摩尔人最终统治西班牙、葡萄牙、北非和法国南部达700余年之久。
尽管数代西班牙统治者竭力删掉历史记录上的这段时期，最近的考古发现和学术研究，对于摩尔人如何在数学、天文、艺术和哲学领域帮助促进欧洲走出黑暗中世纪从而进入文艺复兴时期有了新的阐释。
一位著名的英国历史学家Basil Davidson指出，在8世纪时，没有一个“比占据(构成)西班牙的富庶非洲文明地更让它的邻居们艳羡，居住更舒适的”土地了。
毫无争议，摩尔人是黑人。16世纪的英国戏剧家威廉·莎士比亚用摩尔人作为非洲人的代名词。
在穆斯林西班牙时期，教育是普遍的，而(反观当时的)基督教欧洲时期，99%的人口是文盲，甚至国王都既不能读也不能写。摩尔人拥有前现代社会所没有的高识字率。在同一时期，欧洲仅仅有两所大学，而摩尔人有17所。在参观了西班牙的大学后，牛津大学创办人才被激发创立该大学。根据联合国教育机构(统计)，世界上运行至今最古老的大学是摩洛哥的Al-Karaouine大学，成立于公元859年摩尔帝国最兴盛时期，校长是一名叫Fatima al-Fihri的黑人女性。
在数学领域，数字零、阿拉伯数字和十进制均由穆斯林介绍到欧洲，协助他们更快速准确地解决问题，为科技革命奠定了基础。
(未完待续Continued)
