When considering the cultural forces that shape the modern world, few students immediately think of a society that thrived a thousand years ago on the Iberian Peninsula. Yet the history of Al-Andalus, or Arab Spain, remains one of the most influential periods in global intellectual development.
“Arab Spain was this remarkable cultural and intellectual flowering that is part of, rather than separate from, who we are as Americans,” said Edward Curtis, director of the Arabic and Islamic studies minor at IU Indianapolis.
For students at IU Indianapolis — particularly those enrolled in courses like Arab Spain and Latin America and those exploring the Arabic and Islamic studies minor — the legacy of Al-Andalus is not a distant relic. They form a foundation for understanding cultural exchange, identity formation and the global circulation of knowledge, themes that lie at the heart of academic programs in the School of Liberal Arts.
From the eighth through the 15th century, Al-Andalus became one of the most advanced intellectual centers of its time. Scholars there preserved Greek philosophical texts, expanded mathematical knowledge, developed astronomical instruments, transformed medical practice through works like al-Zahrawi’s surgical encyclopedia and introduced agricultural techniques that reshaped food production across continents…