The Berberization of al-Andalus. The case of the Málaga territory

Abstract

The settlement of certain territories of al-Andalus by specific human groups of North African origin has been defended by some authors to the point of developing a vision of the social construction of Al-Andalus with a markedly ethnic character. This historiographical trend has particularly impacted on the territory of what is at present the province of Malaga (Spain), whose mountains has traditionally been interpreted as a form of population organization today disavowed by archaeology. Recently, it has been published a work that reaches the paroxysm and summarizes this berberizing viewpoint of the Andalusian settlement in this province, provided with arguments from different sources brought together for that purpose. In this work, similar arguments shall be used to refute this historiographical position.

Keywords

Al-Andalus, settlement, Berbers, Province of Málaga