How Arab-Islamic migration, language and culture shaped modern Latin America 

Special How Arab-Islamic migration, language and culture shaped modern Latin America 
Royal Chapel of Cholula. (Gobierno de Mexico)
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Updated 28 March 2023

How Arab-Islamic migration, language and culture shaped modern Latin America 

How Arab-Islamic migration, language and culture shaped modern Latin America 
  • Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula left many influences, later taken to the continent by colonists
  • Some researchers believe 700-1,000 Portuguese words and about 4,000 in Spanish come from Arabic 

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL: In recent years, a new generation of researchers has been examining the ancient Islamic roots of Latin American societies.

In the age of social media, such content is being disseminated among larger audiences, and many people in Latin America seem to be avidly interested.

“I began to read about the Moors when I was studying Arabic in Egypt,” said Mansour Peixoto, a Muslim convert from the Brazilian city of Recife who in 2014 founded the website Historia Islamica (Islamic History).

“I’d already learnt at that time about the Islamic influence on Portugal, but then I became interested in its direct and indirect impacts on Brazilian culture,” he told Arab News.

Between 711 and 1492, Arab-Berber rulers dominated parts of present-day Portugal, Spain and France, naming the region Al-Andalus.

An almost-800-year presence in the Iberian Peninsula left many influences that were brought to colonial Latin America.

After the Christian re-conquest, Islam was forbidden in Spain and Portugal. From then on, especially at the beginning of the 17th century, many Muslims — including people of European ancestry — were forced to move to North Africa, but many accepted to convert to Catholicism, some of whom remained secretly Muslim.

“Those people, especially the poor, were numerous among the Portuguese who came to colonize Brazil since the 16th century,” said Peixoto.

FASTFACTS

  • Between 711-1492, Arab-Berber rulers dominated parts of Portugal, Spain and France, naming the region Al-Andalus.
  • After the Christian re-conquest of Al-Andalus, Islam was forbidden in Spain and Portugal.
  • Some researchers believe that 700-1,000 Portuguese words come from Arabic.

Although his website deals with several Islamic themes, the history of Muslim Portuguese settlers — known as Mouriscos, or Moors — and their influence on Brazil is a frequent topic. “Many people don’t realize that we have customs in Brazil that come from the Islamic world,” said Peixoto.

Historia Islamica’s publications about the influence of Arabic on the Portuguese language are among the most shared by the website’s followers.

Some researchers believe that 700-1,000 Portuguese words come from Arabic, but recent studies suggest that the number of Arabisms could be much higher.

Several everyday words in Brazil have Arabic origins, such as alface (lettuce), almofada (cushion), acougue (butcher shop) and garrafa (bottle).

“Not to mention architectural terms that we still use today, like alicerce (foundation) and andaime (scaffolding),” said Peixoto.

“Iberian building methods were mostly Arab in the 16th century, and they were brought to the Americas.”




La Pila fountain in Chiapa del Corzo. (Government of Mexico)

Islamic architectural influence in Latin America is one of the most noticeable cultural traits of Al-Andalus in the region, according to Hernan Taboada, an expert on the subject and a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

“That can be seen in the architectural style in New Spain, the viceroyalty that extended from the south of the present-day US to Central America,” he told Arab News.

Along with the Viceroyalty of Peru, in South America, that region probably concentrated most of the Moorish settlers in colonial Latin America, Taboada said.

Colonial-era churches in Mexico, from Veracruz on the Atlantic coast to Oaxaca in the south, exhibit evident Moorish artistic traits.




Tlaxcala's cathedral Mudejar wood ceiling. (Gobierno de Mexico)

“They’re especially visible in the elements of decoration in those churches,” Taboada said. “Many temples in Mexico undoubtedly have Moorish style, which doesn’t mean they were necessarily built by Moors. In general, such elements were assimilated in Spain and transposed to Latin America.”

The presence of Muslims in New Spain and elsewhere in the region is not easy to verify, given that it was a clandestine presence.

This may be why the subject was ignored in academia for so long, although classical works of Latin American history mentioned it in the 19th and 20th centuries.

“The study of the Moorish presence was mostly resumed by Muslims and people of Arab origin. Those works showed that they weren’t as few in Latin America as was once supposed,” Taboada said.

Although Islam was forbidden, the Moors — like the Jews — largely enjoyed tolerance in the New World, though the Inquisition did act against them at times, he added.

Historian Ricardo Elia, cultural director of the Islamic Center of the Republic of Argentina, has since the 1980s been one of the pioneers in the study of the Moorish presence in the region of La Plata River.

“I discovered that the gauchos (the term used in Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil for legendary horsemen) are nothing less than Moors,” he told Arab News.




Ricardo Elia at the Islamic Center. (Supplied)

There is an ancient controversy regarding the etymological origin of that term in Argentina. Some scholars say it comes from a Quechuan word, but Elia and other researchers say it comes from chauch, a term with Arabic origins that means something like indomitable.

“In Valencia, Spain, the word chaucho was used to designate horsemen and pastors,” Elia said, adding that most of the crews of the Spanish ships that explored the Americas since the 15th century were composed of Moors, and that the first person to catch sight of the Americas was Rodrigo de Triana, a Moor.

“They needed to leave Spain so they came to the Americas. And they were good sailors.”

Over the centuries, Moors intermarried with other ethnic groups such as the Guarani indigenous people, but their cultural impact in the region is felt to this day.

Elia said empanadas, Argentina’s most typical pastry, have Andalusian origins, as does dulce de leche (caramelized milk).

The linguistic influence on the Spanish language is unquestionable. Elia estimates that there are about 4,000 Arabisms, most of them adopted in Spain.




Argentinian empanadas. (Salta city government)

“But in Argentina and Uruguay, the Moors also impacted our way of pronouncing the words,” he said.

Over the years, Elia has taught classes in universities in Argentina and Chile about the Moorish presence in South America.

“Unfortunately, the community of Lebanese and Syrian descent in Argentina has never shown much interest in such themes. Non-Arab Argentinians have always been the most curious about that,” said Elia, who comes from a Lebanese family.

He added that more and more people now want to learn about the first Muslim settlers in Latin America.

“In Morocco, an academic conference dealing especially with that topic was organized in 2021,” he said.




Mudejar Tower in Cali. (Cali city government)

Peixoto said many people are “willing to discover more about their ancestry and the many questions not answered about it,” which is why a new generation of scholars has been researching the Moors of Latin America.

He plans to conduct an academic study about the Moors in Brazil, publish books on that topic and offer online classes.

“Our elite (in Brazil) likes to see itself as European, but we’re a combination of indigenous peoples, Africans, Europeans, and also Moors,” he said.

Peixoto thinks Muslims and Arabs made a decisive contribution to the formation of the Brazilian people, not only with the settlers from Al-Andalus, but also with the Africans brought as slaves, and the huge wave of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants who came to Brazil since the end of the 19th century.

“They transformed our way of being on many levels,” he said.

Taboada agreed, saying: “Eurocentric views are dominant among the Latin American elite. We have to emphasize that we have a multicultural origin.”

 


Ukraine’s Zelensky: NATO membership ‘impossible’ until Russia war ends

Ukraine’s Zelensky: NATO membership ‘impossible’ until Russia war ends
Updated 58 min 7 sec ago

Ukraine’s Zelensky: NATO membership ‘impossible’ until Russia war ends

Ukraine’s Zelensky: NATO membership ‘impossible’ until Russia war ends
  • Western governments are wary of any move that might take the alliance closer to war with Russia

KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he knew it would be “impossible” for Ukraine to join NATO while Russia was waging war on his country.
Zelensky has pressed for Ukrainian membership of the military alliance but allies are divided over how fast that should happen. Western governments are wary of any move that might take the alliance closer to war with Russia.
In a joint briefing in the Ukrainian capital with Estonian President Alar Karis, he said joining the alliance was still the best security guarantee for Kyiv.
“But we are adequate people and understand that we will not pull any NATO country into a war,” Zelensky said. “And that’s why we understand that we won’t be a member of NATO while this war is ongoing. Not because we don’t want to, because it’s impossible.”


Russian shelling kills two in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region — governor

Russian shelling kills two in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region — governor
Updated 02 June 2023

Russian shelling kills two in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region — governor

Russian shelling kills two in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region — governor
  • Yuriy Malashko said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces had hit a multi-storey residential building in the small village

KYIV: Two people were killed and four others were wounded on Friday in Russian shelling of the village of Komyshevaha in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, the regional governor said.
Yuriy Malashko said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces had hit a multi-story residential building in the small village close to the front line in southeastern Ukraine.


Kremlin says Ukrainian NATO membership would cause problems for many years

Kremlin says Ukrainian NATO membership would cause problems for many years
Updated 02 June 2023

Kremlin says Ukrainian NATO membership would cause problems for many years

Kremlin says Ukrainian NATO membership would cause problems for many years
  • Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Ukraine's membership in NATO, of course, is one of the main irritants and would be a potential problem for many, many years"
  • "The Russian Federation... will ensure its interests and its security"

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that if Ukraine joined NATO then it would cause problems for many years to come, an issue he said many European Union countries understood though the United States ultimately called the tunes at the military alliance.
President Volodymyr Zelensky pressed his case on Thursday for Ukraine to be part of
the NATO military alliance and urged the alliance to provide security guarantees if membership were not possible for now.
Asked about Ukraine’s aspirations to join the alliance, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We regret to state that this indicates the unpreparedness, the unwillingness and the incapacity of the Kyiv regime to resolve existing problems at the negotiating table.”
“Ukraine’s membership in NATO, of course, is one of the main irritants and would be a potential problem for many, many years,” Peskov said.
“Many EU countries, oddly enough, are well aware of this. But, unfortunately, Washington orders and pays for the tunes in NATO. The EU is simply an obedient instrument in this orchestra.”
NATO leaders agreed at a summit in Bucharest in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members of NATO. So far, however, no concrete steps or timetable has been published that would actually bring Ukraine closer to NATO.
“The Russian Federation... will ensure its interests and its security,” Peskov said. “This excludes the expansion of NATO and its direct approach to our borders.”
The Kremlin has long seen NATO’s expansion into eastern Europe as evidence of Western hostility to Russia and has cited it as a key reason for its decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, unleashing the biggest conflict Europe has seen since the end of World War Two.
NATO, which now numbers 31 member states following Finland’s accession this year, says it is a purely defensive alliance that poses no threat to Russia.


South Africa avoids Vladimir Putin arrest dilemma at BRICS meeting

South Africa avoids Vladimir Putin arrest dilemma at BRICS meeting
Updated 02 June 2023

South Africa avoids Vladimir Putin arrest dilemma at BRICS meeting

South Africa avoids Vladimir Putin arrest dilemma at BRICS meeting
  • Top diplomats from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa meet for talks on the bloc’s ambition to provide an alternative to a western-led global order

CAPE TOWN: South Africa attempted to shift attention away from its stance on the Ukraine conflict on Friday, as it hosted a BRICS meeting overshadowed by questions about a possible visit to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Top diplomats from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met in Cape Town for a second day of talks on the bloc’s ambition to provide an alternative to a western-led global order.
However the question of whether Putin would attend a subsequent gathering of the bloc in August, having been invited before an ICC arrest warrant was issued, has dominated this week’s meeting.
Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court over accusations that Russia unlawfully deported Ukrainian children.
A member of the ICC with strong trade and economic relations with the United States and Europe, South Africa would be expected to arrest him if he sets foot in the country.
The issue has put Pretoria in a tight diplomatic spot, and ministers largely dodged a barrage of questions about Putin during the first day of discussions.
On Friday, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor sought to shift focus away from Putin and the war in Ukraine.
“As countries gathered in this room today... we all represent together a significant majority of the world’s territory, population and economy,” Pandor said.
Representatives of about a dozen other nations, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Kazakhstan, attended in person or virtually, for a “Friends of BRICS” session.
On Thursday, BRICS ministers welcomed what they said was the interest expressed by numerous countries to join the bloc.
“We in this room need to determine a plan of action for our countries and for the world,” Pandor said in opening remarks on Friday.
“We cannot allow a conflict in one part of the world to replace the ambition of eradicating global poverty as the world’s greatest global challenge,” she added, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of its neighbor has sent food and energy prices soaring in much of the world, exacerbating food insecurity in poor countries.
Pandor took a swing at western nations, saying the world has “faltered in cooperation” since rich countries’ “attention and resources” have been “diverted” by the war.
“The plight of the poor is forgotten and the great powers are engaged in world conflict,” she said. “We need to turn this around.”


US seeks ‘just and lasting peace’ for Ukraine, Blinken says

US seeks ‘just and lasting peace’ for Ukraine, Blinken says
Updated 02 June 2023

US seeks ‘just and lasting peace’ for Ukraine, Blinken says

US seeks ‘just and lasting peace’ for Ukraine, Blinken says
  • Washington would also encourage initiatives by other countries to bring about an end to the conflict
  • ‘Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure’

HELSINKI/WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday the United States was working with Ukraine and other allies to build consensus around the core elements of a “just and lasting peace” to end the war with Russia.
Washington would also encourage initiatives by other countries to bring about an end to the conflict, as long as they uphold the United Nations Charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
“We will support efforts – whether by Brazil, China, or any other nation – if they help find a way to a just and lasting peace,” Blinken said in a speech.
Still, Washington would continue to support Ukraine militarily as the prerequisite for meaningful diplomacy is that Kyiv is capable of deterring and defending against any future aggression.
“Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure,” Blinken said.
Speaking in Finland, the NATO alliance’s newest member, Blinken said the US would help build a “Ukrainian military of the future.”
That meant “a modern air force, integrated air and missile defense, advanced tanks and armored vehicles, the national capacity to produce ammunition, and the training and support to keep forces and equipment combat ready.”