Photo of a Moor

In the Arab literature there is little mention of the word Moor. Rather the term Berber is used to describe these non Arab peoples who occupied the Maghrib (Islamic North Africa west of Egypt). The term Berber may have been derived from the Latin "barbari," a forerunner to the English "barbarian." Webster's New World Dictionary states that the term Berber refers to, "any of a Moslem people living in North Africa." Though this definition is extremely vague, the stereotypical idea of a Berber often depicted in literature and the media are of Caucasoid Semitic types. Anthropologist Dana Reynolds contends that the Berbers emerged as the result of admixture between non-African populations who moved into the Maghrib during the second millenium BC and the more ancient African indigenous inhabitants. This would account for the variance noted among the Berbers even in ancient times. According to Roman documents, among the Berbers were the "black Gaetuli and black-skinned Asphodelodes." Procopius in the 6th Century, in comparing another North African racial group to the Moors, states that they were "not black-skinned like the Moors."Harold A. MacMicheal pointed out that African Blacks such as the Tibbu and Tuwarek, resembling the ancient Nigiritians of the Sahara, are Lamta Berbers by origin. The Haratin of Morocco and Mauritania have also been called "Black Berbers." The Berber clans that were most instrumental in the Moorish conquest of Spain were the Nafza, Masmuda, Luwata, Hawwara, Zanata, Sanhadja and Zugwaha. Writing of the women of the Berber clan the Sanhadja confederation a Muslim scholar states, "Their color is black, though some pale ones can be found among them." It would seem that no monolithic racial type fits the Berbers. In the European Romance of El Cid some of the Berber women are described. A "black Moorish woman" named Nugaymath Turquia is said to lead a contingent of 300 Black Moorish "Amazons." They are described as "negresses" with their heads shaven, leaving a topknot. They are members of the Almoravid Dynasties which occupy Spain in 1086AD. Though not homogenous, the Almoravids held a heavy Black population which is not surprising as they originate in southern Morocco and Northern Senegal in western Africa. In all probability most Moors were probably North African Berbers of various phenotypic make-up. Yet the deemed "black-a-moors" among their number, even if a minority, left a lasting impact in the medieval European psyche. Pictured above is a veiled Berber Moibt Themin warrior; typical of the Almoravid types which dominated Spain in the 11th Century. (Photo and Information courtesy of Golden Age of the Moored. by Ivan Van Sertima- articles by Dana Reynolds, Runoko Rashidi and Wayne Chandler)