My students had an option to complete a creative or more traditional final research project. Twelve of my students opted for the creative final project which they then decided to do together as a group. This project consisted of researching the journey through Portugal and Spain that has been explained in previous posts.
One student, Tamara Barbee, decided very early on in the semester that she wanted to research "Al-Andalus". This is an Arabic name that refers to territories of the Iberian Peninsula that were under Muslim occupation from 711 - 1492. Specifically, she was interested in learning more about the specifics of how three major religions (Islam, Judaism and Christianity) coexisted for seven centuries in relative harmony. I've included a map from her presentation to show how Al-Andalus diminished in size as a result of the Christian Reconquest.
LIVING CONDITIONS:
Ups
* Like the rulers before them they did not give them the ultimatum of converting to Islam or death
* Even though Christians and Jews were treated like second rate citizens they were still able to prosper in Spain
* Same opportunities as Muslims including: education, crafts, government jobs and many more
* Christians and Jews were also able to maintain their own jurisdiction in all disputes as long as it did not involve a Muslim
Downs
* Tax called jizya that all non-Muslims had to pay instead of performing military services, which Muslims had to do
* Jews would be distinguished by the yellow colour of their clothes, and Christians by black
* During Al-Andalus churches and synagogues were not built
* They could not try to convert Muslim or a dhimmi to Judaism or Christianity and a dhimmi man could not marry a Muslim woman but a Muslim man could marry a dhimmi
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