西班牙冷知識：是穆斯林把西班牙建成了古代強國
雖然是著名的天主教大本營，但西班牙最初的強盛則是多虧了穆斯林，確切的說是北非摩洛哥來的摩爾人 The Moors
當時的穆斯林的科學水平是世界領先的，是他們把現代科學帶來了歐洲。
摩爾人統治西班牙長達8個世紀，曾在這裏建立起歐洲最先進的城市，還在瓦倫西亞設立了西班牙的第一所大學。
瓦倫西亞至今仍是西班牙重要的經濟中心，也是西班牙第三大城市。（第一和第二分別是馬德里和巴塞羅那）
The Moors, who were Muslims and ruled Spain for 800 years, introduced new scientific techniques to Europe, such as an astrolabe, a device for measuring the position of the stars and planets. Muslims founded the first Spanish university at Valencia in 1209. At its height, Córdoba, the heart of Moorish territory in Spain, was the most modern city in Europe, with streetlights and running water. The Moors were also advanced in medicine, science, and astronomy, and Arabic words such as algebra, alcohol, chemistry, nadir, alkaline, and cipher entered the language. The Moors occupied Spain for 800 years; consequently, over 4,000 Arabic words and Arabic-derived phrases have been absorbed into the Spanish language. Words beginning with “al,” for example, are derived from Arabic. The name “Madrid” is from the Arabic magerit, which means “place of many streams.”
身爲穆斯林的摩爾人曾經統治西班牙800多年，是他們把現代科學技術帶到了歐洲；這些技術中就包括星盤，這是一種測量恆星與行星位置的儀器。西班牙的第一所大學也是穆斯林於1209年在瓦倫西亞建立的。在其鼎盛時期，西班牙摩爾人領土的中心“科爾多瓦”是全歐洲最現代化的城市，有路燈和自來水。摩爾人在醫學、自然科學、天文學方面也很先進，像代數、酒精、化學、天底、鹼、密碼這些阿拉伯語詞彙就直接進入了西班牙語。由於摩爾人統治西班牙長達800多年，西班牙語吸收了4000多個阿拉伯語單詞和從阿拉伯語派生的短語，“馬德里”這個名字就是從阿拉伯語詞彙magerit變來的，意思是“有很多溪流的地方”。
