13 November 2008
Tunis — A major conference on "Tunisia and its Moors: expulsion, arrival, influence and heritage" is currently taking place at the Beit El Hikma Academy for the Arts and Letters, in Carthage.
The three day event, which will run from November 13 to15, 2008, is jointly organised by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Preservation, the University of Manouba and the Spanish Embassy in Tunis.
Opening the conference, the Minister of Culture and Heritage Preservation, Mr Abderraouf El Basti said that such gatherings around a common heritage provide a golden opportunity "to respect differences and transform them into a source of common enrichment".
The conference will gather specialists from Tunisia, Morocco, Spain and France and is expected to thrash out an important period of Tunisia's history when thousands (estimates mention 300,000) of Spain's Moors, Muslims and Jews alike, were expelled by King Philip III, in 1610 to North Africa, in spite of the fact they were alien to North African culture.
In Tunisia, the "Moriscos", as they are known by their Spanish name, settled in towns such as Testour (see photo) and Soliman where they left an important cultural imprint as witnessed by the influence their architecture, cuisine and music (known as Malouf) had on Tunisian culture.
Several Tunisian families descending from Andalusia's Moors, still retain their original family names such as Cristo, Blancho, and Mancho, to mention but a few.
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