Shades of the Caliphate : the cultural moment in southern Spain

Spain has been enticing tourists for many years, particularly those hailing from the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavia and France. Its emergence as a popular destination is best understood as a consequence of the Desarrollo (planned development) policies of Francisco Franco – developed in the 1950s and 1960s- which created what is often referred to as the Spanish ‘tourist miracle’ (Pack 2008; Crumbaugh 2010). During this time frame, the Spanish seaside holiday thrived, with estimates of 85 per cent of all international tourists arriving specifically to bask in the Spanish sun and on its beaches. But the sprawling hotels and resort villages of the Spanish Mediterranean coast masked another kind of culture, one that contrasted starkly with the modernity implied by the ‘sea and sun’ of the Spanish tourism industry. Indeed, Andalusia, the Al-Andalus of the Moors, was once the heart of a Muslim caliphate centred on the city of Cordoba. The continued existence of the Emirate of Granada after much of the Reconquista (Christian Reconquest) was complete ensured that a settled Moorish presence lasted in Spain until, remarkably, the year of the first voyage of Columbus in 1492