MORE ABOUT SPAIN...


After my description yesterday of Spain and Denmark I have received a few questions, which I am happy to reply to:
1.      Where does the word Iberico / Iberian come from?   The Iberians were people, who in pre-historic times lived in the area, which is now Spain and Portugal. They were around 1.000 BC replaced by the Phoenicians.  We do not know much about these people. Or at least, I don’t.



2.      Who were the Moors?  Originally, there were the Berbers living in what is now Morocco and partly Algeria  ( the Atlas Mountains ). From the 8th century AD they conquered most of the Iberian peninsula, Sicily and Malta.  They had their headquarters – the Caliphat – in Granada.  They were driven out centuries later, but they left a lot of traces in art, architecture, names, songs and culture in general.   The last of the moors left Spain in 1492.



3.      Is it true that the Spanish soldiers in Kolding in Denmark burnt down the local castle, when they left in August-September 1808?  Yes and No.  It wasn’t the soldiers, who burnt it down.  The 3.000 soldiers and their 540 horses did not live in the castle, but in tents and houses near it.  It happened when their French supreme commander, Marshal Bernadotte, came to see them. He stayed in the castle, but he was freezing terribly, the poor thing.  So, he ordered the heating from the stoves put at their maximum.  And this was the cause of the fire, which made the castle into a ruin.



4.      How about Portugal?   I will later write about this country with its fado and blue mosaic tiles.  And I also have a small and very special story to tell about relations between Portugal ( Madeira ) and Denmark !




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