Forbidden Passages: Muslims and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America

by Karoline P. Cook

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Spanish authorities restricted emigration to the Americas to those who could prove they had been Catholic for at least three generations. In doing so, they hoped to instill religious orthodoxy in the colonies and believed Muslim converts, or Moriscos, would hamper efforts to convert indigenous people to Catholicism. Nevertheless, Moriscos secretly made the treacherous journey across the ocean, settling in the forbidden territories and influencing the nature of Spanish colonialism. Once landed, Morisco men and women struggled to define and practice their religion or pursue their trades, all while experiencing increasing anxiety about their place in the emerging Spanish empire. Many Moriscos were accused by authorities of descending from Muslims or practicing Islam in secret and turned to the courts to assert their legitimacy.



Forbidden Passages is the first book to document and evaluate the impact of Moriscos in the early modern Americas. Through close examination of sources that few historians have used--some one hundred cases of individuals brought before the secular, ecclesiastical, and inquisitorial courts--Karoline P. Cook shows how legislation and attitudes toward Moriscos in Spain assumed new forms and meanings in colonial Spanish America. Moriscos became not simply individuals struggling to join a community that was increasingly hostile to them but also symbols that sparked authorities' fears about maintaining religious purity in the face of territorial expansion. Cook reveals how Morisco emigrants shined a light on the complicated question of what it meant to be Spanish in the New World.

Genres: History, Religion, Islam

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following remarkable research on a topic that seems almost completely new, like Servants of Allah, by Sylviane Diouf's and La sombra del Islam en la Conquista de América, by Hernán Taboada, Forbidden passages deals with a strange combination: Muslims in Colonial Latin America.
The book covers the major aspects of Islamic migration, perception and identity, and uses new primary sources to show cases of individuals who were hiding, and were accused of being a "mudblood" in racist 16th century Spain. Islam, love magic, medicine, buñuelos and uncanny comparisons between moriscos and indigenous people. A great read, and a fundamental in Moriscology.

[Tony Schwocher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book showed me that Spainards in colonial America saw many Indians as "Worshippers of the great Turk" since they had Muslim traits in their culture. This book is a weird mix between quotes from court cases and Cook's own notes with it. If she chose to just translate the documents and put her notes in a later chapter, then this would be a much more enjoyable read than what it is now. Regardless, you can still get a good amount of information from this book.

[Andreas_P · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating account of a little known community, caught between their traditions and navigating social ties in the New World.



http://www.kenchitwood.com/blog/2021/...

[somehispanicindividual · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting history delving into the logic of exclusion applied in what we would come to know as Latin America and Spain. It is very relevant, given Europe's history of creating race as a means of justifying colonization. In addition, the book delves into how indigenous people and their architecture were compared to the mosque in the Iberian Peninsula. For context, Muslims or anything associated with "muslimness" was at the time being ostracized, and people were being made an out group as a means to take away political power and legitimacy.

[Mohamad Ballan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book dealing with a long-neglected subject: Muslims and Moriscos in the Spanish New World during the early modern era. It sheds new light on the cultural and religious history of the Spanish Atlantic world.