Culture Contact Between the Islamic East and European West

Administrative Divisions

    The geography of Iberia provides natural features to serve as administrative boundaries. The mountain ranges and the river valleys crossing it from east to west divide it into natural zones that can be transformed into very distinct administrative and military units. Muslims retained the administrative divisions used by the Romans and the Goths but called them cities in lieu of 'civitas' and states instead of 'provincias', and added features such as mosques, palaces, and souks (markets) relevant to the nature of their Islamic state. They also built new cities such as Algeciras, Tarifa, Tudela, Murcia and Madrid.

    It is notable that provinces and cities in Andalusia were administratively independent of the capital city of Cordoba which shows that Andalusians were not concerned with administrative centralization. Rulers of provinces and cities enjoyed considerable freedom of action. We can safely assert that this decentralization was a characteristic of Spain, both Islamic and Christian, up to today.