File:Unexplored Spain (1910) (20572620210).jpg

Title: Unexplored Spain
Identifier: cu31924016410387 (find matches)
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Chapman, Abel, 1851-1929; Buck, Walter John. joint author
Subjects: Hunting; Natural history
Publisher: London, E. Arnold
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Introductory 7 than money. Where all are Cahalleros, neither titles nor wealth impress or subdue. The wanderer is free to join his new-made friends in the chase, taking equal chance with keen sportsmen and on terms of equality. He will find his nationality a passport to then- liking, and soon discover that Arab hospitality has left an abiding impress in these wild regions; as, indeed, Moorish domination has done on every Spanish thing. That last sentence sums up an ever-present and essential factor. In any description of this country, however superficial, this Oriental heritage must always be borne in mind as an influence of first importance. Previous to the Arab inrush, Spain had enjoyed practically no organic national existence. The Peninsula was occupied by a cluster of separate kingdoms, not united nor even homogeneous, and usually one or another at war with its neigh- bour. Neither Eoman nor Goth had fused the Spanish races into a concrete whole dur- ino- their eio'ht cen- turies of overlordship. In A.D. 711 occurred a decisive day. Then, on Guadalete's plain, below the walls of Jerez, that impetuous Arab chieftain Tarik overthrew the Gothic King Roderick and with him the power of Spain. Like an overwhelming flood, the Arabs swept across the land. AVithin two years (by 713) the insignia of the Crescent floated above every castle and tower, and Moslem rule was absolute throughout the country—excepting only in the wild northern mountains of Asturias, whence the tenacity of the mountaineers, guided liy the genius of Pelayo, flung back the tide of war. Spanish history for the next seven centuries (711-1492) records " Moorish domination." Now history, as such, lies outside our scope ; but we become concerned where Arab systems, and their methods of colonisation, have altered the face of the earth and left enduring marks on wilder Spain. And we may,
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