Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
|
See also:MOORS (See also:Lat. Mauri; Gr. Mavpot, dark men)
, the name which, as at See also:present used, is loosely applied to any native of See also:Morocco, but in its stricter sense only to the townsmen of mixed descent
.
In this sense it is also used of the See also:Mahommedan townsmen in the other See also:Barbary states: It has been by some connected with the See also:Hebrew and Phoenician mahur, western
.
Wetzstein derives it from mahir, a corruption of Amasir with its plurals Imazir and Masir, archaic forms of the See also:Berber native name Amazigh, the See also:free
.
From Mauri, the classic name for the See also:north-western See also:African tribes, the north-western districts of that See also:continent came to be called by the See also:Romans See also:Mauretania
.
The See also:term " See also:Moors " has no real ethnological value
.
The tribes known to the Romans by that name were undoubtedly of Berber stock (see See also:BERBERS)
.
They first appear in See also:history at the See also:time of the Jugurthine See also:War (xxo-io6 B.C.), when Mauretania See also:west of the Mulucha was under the See also:government of a See also: See also:Soc., 1848, p . 7 ; Trans. iii . 336, 0.1-V1 . 9 Proc . 1850, pp . 209-214, pl. xxi . ; Trans. iv . 69-74, pl. See also:xxv . 7 Thus the See also:leg-bones and what appeared to him the sternum were described and figured (Trans. iv. pp . 12, 17, pls. ii.. iv.), and the See also:pelvis and another femur (vii. pp . 369, 373, pls. xlii., xliii.) ; but the supposed sternum afterwards proved not to be that of Notornis, and See also:Owen (Proc . 1882, p . 689) rectified the See also:error, to which his See also:attention had been See also:drawn, and which he had already suspected (Trans. viii . 120) . ',Notwithstanding the See also:evidence, which presented some incongruities, offered by Mr See also:Mackay (See also:Ibis, . 1867, p . 144) . 9"Trans . N . Zeal . Inst. xiv . 238-258 . the See also:coast towns and the plains of Morocco, occupied largely by Arabs . The name See also:Moor is however still applied to the populations speaking Arabic who inhabit the country extending from Morocco to the See also:Senegal, and to the See also:Niger as far See also:east as See also:Timbuktu, i.e. the western See also:Sahara .
In this vast region and in all the towns of Barbary many of the Andalusians settled
.
The Moors are ethnically a very hybrid race with more Arab than Berber blood
.
A See also:common See also:mistake is to regard them as a See also:black race, as indicated by the old See also:English phrase " Black-a-Moor," i.e. black as a Moor
.
They are a See also: The position of women is little better than a pampered See also:slavery . They are uneducated, indolent and vicious . Such See also:education as the children receive is of a superficial See also:kind . Slavery flourishes, and slave See also:auctions, conducted like those of cows and mules, take See also:place on the afternoons of stated days, affording a lounge for the See also:rich Moors, who discuss the " goods " offered and seek for bargains . This public See also:sale of slaves was prohibited in the coast towns, c . 185o, under pressure from See also:European See also:powers, but means are found to evade the See also:prohibition . Of See also:games the young Moors See also:play a See also:great number; the See also:principal one is a kind of See also:football, more like that of See also:Siam and See also:Burma than that of See also:England; See also:wrestling and See also:fencing are popular, but the See also:chief amusement of the adult Moors is the " See also:powder-play " (la'ab el bdrud), which consists of a type of military See also:tournament, the horsemen going through See also:lance and See also:musket exercises or charging in See also:review See also:fashion, firing volleys as they gallop . Other recreations much in favour throughout Morocco are See also:music, singing, jugglery, snake-charming and acrobatic performances . As professional See also:story-tellers many Moors are remarkable, but the national music is monotonous and not very harmonious . See Dr See also:Arthur Leared, Morocco and the Moors (1891); Budgett Meakin, The Moorish See also:Empire (1899); and The Moors (1902); Frances Macnab, A Ride in Morocco (1902); and see under MOROCCO; MAURETANIA; BERBERS, &C . |
|
|
[back] MOORHEAD |
[next] MZABITES KABYLES MOORS |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.