Testimonies of Friar Ravenna
Testimonies of the geographer Rafina prove the strong presence of the urban phenomenon in pre-Islamic Morocco
︎ The Geographer of Ravenna or the Monk of Ravenna is an Italian cleric of the seventh century AD. He was obsessed with geographical writing and composed a very accurate cosmographic text that included all geographical and topographical information about the known world at that time, from India to Ireland. The monk of Ravenna lived in the late 7th century AD. He lived during the period that knew the so-called “Umayyad invasion” of Morocco. His work is contained in 5 Latin manuscripts and is considered one of the greatest works written in geography.︎ What concerns us in this precious document is the unprecedented care that this geographer took to mention important information about the Mauritanian Kingdom of Old Morocco in this period.. No one preceded him in the abundance of information provided. The Ravenna geographer testifies that the Mauritanian Kingdom during his reign extended from Tangiers in the north to the Sahara. South...and divides it into 4 major regions: • The Tangier region in the northeast.
• Gadatania region in the far north.
• Ikel region to the west.
• Perousis Desert Territory.
︎ In addition, this author counted 59 cities that form an urban network throughout the four regions, and provided a list of their names and locations. This is a significant number and exceeds what the previous authors reported. It is also worth noting that the author He uses the word Civitas to refer to the residential points he is talking about, meaning that they are a civil residential complex whose residents were culturally and socially connected and governed by law and customs.︎ These historical testimonies prove three important points: the first is that the extension of the urban phenomenon in pre-Islamic Morocco reached the interior and southern regions, and the second is that the extension of the influence of the Mauritanian Kingdom reached the depths of the desert.︎ The third is that this historical document deepens the embarrassment into which the Arab novels fell. Rather, what is worse is that it exposes their nakedness, while the geographer of Ravenna, who was contemporary with the alleged events of the invasion, was able to provide this huge and accurate amount of information, and he was the one who did not visit the region, but rather based on Through the documents and maps that were in his hands, the Arab narrative that Ibn Abd al-Hakam put together 100 years after the events could not, at best, mention a few cities such as Tangiers, Aghmat, and Sijilmasa. How can this be correct with the Umayyad They spent many months in military action in the same region, invaders?especially since the novel insists that they reached the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara.
︎ As for the biggest scandal: How was Superman Uqba bin Nafi able to occupy all these cities (59) in a short time? Merely traveling with an army across North Africa (without fighting) poses enormous logistical and technical challenges, so what if this army had to fight battles? And even being defeated several times before regaining victory?︎ The real dilemma is that there is no excuse for these narratives and no logic that would extract at least some acceptance for them. They cannot be dealt with with historical and logical explanations, but rather they must be interpreted with the logic of children’s stories. This fact has become clear, especially since an overwhelming majority today calls for the return of Consider it, but the remaining minority has given up defending it. Who has enough recklessness to defend novels in which Uqba speaks to the wild beasts of the forest? And the people of the legendary Yunus?Source
Moorish History - Moroccan Moorish history