Moorish Influence on the Architecture of the Spanish Caribbean

Introduction

    The Spanish Colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico were some of the youngest colonies of the Spanish Empire and therefore were influential to later Spanish colonies throughout Latin America and the world.  These colonies, specifically the colonial cities of Cienfuegos, Havana, Camaguey, San Juan, and Ponce in Puerto Rico and Cuba are cities with a long colonial history and architectural features such as large inner courtyards, horseshoe arches, polylobed arches, and lambrequin arches. These colonies exhibited an architectural style that was not solely European in origin. These architectural features are traits of a common style of architecture in Spain, the Moorish architectural style. The Moorish Architectural Style is a style of architecture that draws heavily upon Islamic and Arab architecture as many traits of this style are seen throughout North Africa and Arab countries. 

    The Moorish tradition is a form of cultural syncretism that originated in the Southern Andalusian region of Spain during the time it was under the control of several Islamic Caliphates from the 8th century up to the 15th century. During the time of Al-Andalus, the name for Muslim controlled Spain, North African and Arab cultures greatly influenced Spanish architecture, language, and art. Spanish architecture in the Southern region of Spain, which was under Muslim control for the longest amount of time, draws parts of its architectural design from the Umayyad Islamic Caliphate that originated in the Arabian Peninsula.

    In Jan Carew's journal article "The end of Moorish enlightenment and the beginning of the Columbian era" in Race & Class, Carew writes about the end of Al-Andalus and the slow fall of the final caliph. Carew's analysis of the end of the Muslim Caliphates provided a depiction of the influence of the Moorish culture in Spain as not only architecture remained as a reminder of a lost era, but tenets of Moorish geography, urban design, medicine, and mathematics were highly regarded by European scholars for centuries, even after the fall of Al-Andalus (11). These ideas were very influential on not only Spanish, but also European culture as well. When the Reconquista occurred in the late 15th and early 16th century, the Muslim and Moorish tradition in the region was quickly snuffed out by religious and ethnic persecution under the Spanish Inquisition (Carew 5). While overtly Arab and outright Islamic designs such as mosques, minarets, and Arabic calligraphy were destroyed and replaced with Catholic and Neoclassical designs. Therefore, only subtle forms of Moorish influence were implemented into the Spanish architectural style that was exported to the New World.

Description of Project

    The purpose of this research project is to analyze the extent of Moorish influence on the colonial architecture of the Spanish Empire specifically in colonial cities of Cuba and Puerto Rico. In my initial research, I started by attempting to define the Moorish architectural style. Through this initial research I was able to find some prominent features of the Moorish architectural style, large inner courtyards, horseshoe arches, polylobed arches, lambrequin arches, and geometric designs featuring certain symbols and patterns associated with the religion of Islam. These examples of Moorish architecture are detailed in the book Moorish Architecture in Andalusia by Marianne Barrucand, Achim Bednorz, and Michael Scuffil. Barrucand explores the history of Iberia and Muslim Andalusia through a consecutive summary of Islamic rule in Iberia and the architectural contributions of each caliphate. In this book, Barrucan et al. gives detailed descriptions of the defining structures created in each century of Muslim rule, for example, Barrucan et al. describes the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the horseshoe arches and polylobed arches that make up part of the massively influential mosque (83).

Polylobed Arch in the Great Mosque of Cordoba (79).

Stephen's Gate in the Great Mosque of Cordoba (83).

    By identifying horseshoe arches, polylobed arches, lambrequin arches, large inner courtyards with greenery, and Islamic inspired geometric patterns within colonial cities of Cuba Puerto Rico, I will be able to track those features from their origins in the Islamic Caliphates of Al-Andalus to their presence in Catholic Spain, and finally to Latin America and the Caribbean. The data necessary to map out these Moorish architectural features will be drawn from Google Maps Street View where I will identify these features in the colonial cities of San Juan and Ponce in Puerto Rico then Cienfuegos, Havana, Camaguey in Cuba, then provide details and context to explain how these features display the Moorish influence in the Spanish Caribbean. I will be reporting the results of my data gathering in the Google Map displayed on this blog which will contain data points with corresponding images and contextual information.

Spanish Colonial Empire

    During the redesign of the Spanish identity, Christopher Colombus made his second voyage to the Americas. During his second voyage in 1493, Colombus landed in Puerto Rico, declaring it the territory of San Juan Bautista. Similarly, in 1492, Colombus began to colonize Cuba, which he named Juana. Both of these islands were placed under the oversight of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Hispaniola, modern day Dominican Republic and Haiti. In the article "Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe" written by Dianna Darke from the Middle East Institute, Darke details the journey of Moorish architectural design from Spain to North America and the Caribbean. Darke's analysis of the architecture of Spain displays the Moorish influence in cathedrals, of these cathedrals, many utilize some Moorish features such as horseshoe arches and rib-vaulted ceilings which were prominent in many mosques in Al-Andalus. The practice of using Moorish architectural styles in Catholic Cathedrals did not end in Spain and traveled to colonies in the Spanish Empire (Darke). With this transfer of Moorish influence on the religious architecture of the colonies, this easily spread to other forms of architecture in Spanish colonies. Those responsible for the construction of the colonies had incorporated Moorish features such as, arabesque arches, Islamic geometric designs, extensive use of domes, and courtyards with water features in them (Darke). Moorish influence in colonial architecture can be seen in many different aspects, from government buildings, residential, and as Darke had written, religious buildings as well, which were very prominent parts of colonial cities.

North African Influence

    The architectural influence in Puerto Rico and Cuba, specifically in the cities of Cienfuegos, Havana, Camaguey, San Juan, and Ponce. The reason as to why these cities feature the architectural style of Moorish Andalusia in the form of large inner courtyards, horseshoe arches, polylobed arches, and lambrequin arches, is that these cities are much older and have a long colonial history. Part of this colonial history is the importation of enslaved peoples, particularly from North Africa. Many of these enslaved people were imported from West Africa, which had been under Muslim rule since approximately the 11th century. The book The History of Islam in Africa written by Nehamia Levtzion details the spread of Islam and Islamic influence in the continent of Africa. This novel goes on to describe that Islam and reached West Africa in the 11th century as the people of Ghana were introduced to Islam and converted in the year 1076 (Levtzion). The book also details that the Almoravid Caliphate, the final Islamic caliphate that spanned into Iberia, was a large influence on North and West Africa (Levtzion). Due to the growing Islamic influence in the region, many Muslim traders traveled to the area from the Middle East, expanding the reaches of Arab architectural styles beyond North Africa into West Africa as well.

    Looking towards the colonial era, specifically the 17th century to the 19th century, European powers were heavily influential int he region, trading not only commodities and luxuries, but also engaging in the sale of human beings. These enslaved people were then imported into many of the Spanish colonies. In the article "A New Look at the African Slave Trade in Puerto Rico Through the Use of Parish Registers: 1660-1815" in the journal Slavery & Abolition, the author David Stark utilizes parish data from various Puerto Rican communities including, San Juan. In this data from Stark, it displays that between the years of 1672-1839, 485 adult enslaved people were baptized in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Of these 485 enslaved adults, 2% of these adults were from the Mandinka people, an ethnic group that were native to West Africa, were the countries of Ghana, Mali, and Niger are located (Stark). With the historical context of West Africa being heavily influenced by Islam, it would therefore mean that some of the enslaved people brought into San Juan and other Puerto Rican communities were Muslim and that not only did the Spainards bring Moorish architecture to the Caribbean, but so did the enslaved people of North and West Africa.

    Using this knowledge, it is clear that the spread of Islam through North Africa, West Africa, and then the Iberia Peninsula, created a unique form of architecture in the Moorish tradition. This was then spread throughout the Islamicate world, primarily North Africa, West Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula. After the Reconquista, this architectural style was kept while the remainder of the Islamic tradition in Iberia was purged. Moorish architectural style was spread throughout the Caribbean by not only the Spanish Colonial Empire, but also the enslaved people that the Spanish imported from West Africa. Then the Moorish architectural style was able to live on in Cuba and Puerto Rico as large central courtyards of buildings, horseshoe arches, polylobed arches, lambrequin arches, and Islamic geometric patterns feature themselves in many buildings throughout the colonial cities of Cienfuegos, Havana, Camaguey, San Juan, and Ponce in Puerto Rico and Cuba. 

Map

    In the map shown below are placemarks that display images of Moorish influenced architecture in the colonial cities of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Many of these features are small, very subtle design elements such as arch designs, metalwork and tilework form, and courtyards designed after the Sahn, which is an Islamic style courtyard centered in the building with a water feature or lush garden. All of these features were implemented in early colonial cities in Cuba and Puerto Rico and the placemarks shown are from colonial cities that display these features.

Works Cited

Barrucand, Marianne, et al. Moorish Architecture in Andalusia. Taschen, 2007.

Carew, Jan. “The End of Moorish Enlightenment and the Beginning of the Columbian Era.” Race &         Class, vol. 33, no. 3, 1992, pp. 3–16., 

Levtzion, Nehemia, and Randall Lee Pouwels. The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press,         2010.

Morfín, Orestes, et al. “Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe.” Middle         East Institute, 20 Oct. 2022, 

Stark, David M. “A New Look at the African Slave Trade in Puerto Rico through the Use of Parish             Registers: 1660–1815.” Slavery & Abolition, vol. 30, no. 4, 2009, pp. 491–520.