Fernando Pessanha, a young historian from Vila Real de Santo António, published in the last days of October the book “A Cidade Islâmica de Faro".
According to the author, it is a work that aims to mark the 1300 years of one of the most important events for the history and heritage identity of the Algarve: the beginning of Islamic rule in Faro.
The present work, developed from a work produced for the course unit Medievo-Islamic Algarve, of the Master in History of the Algarve, is presented as a synthesis of the Muslim presence in Faro, “combining written documents and elements from the most up-to-date archaeological research”.
For the historian, “The Islamic City of Faro” comes to clarify some myths about the Muslim presence in al-Andalus, mainly with regard to the romantic idea of the bloody Muslim conquest of Hispano-Gothic cities like Ukxûnuba, since the capitulation treaties will have prevailed over the conquest by arms.
According to Fernando Pessanha, “also in the case of Faro we must keep the same reasoning, since the most likely is that both the city and the region of Ossónoba were annexed by capitulation after, in July/August 712, the most important urban nucleus was conquered: Seville”.
The work, published by Edições Mandil, was also supported by the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve, by the Municipality of Faro and by the Association Faro 1540, and also has a brief presentation note by António Rosa Mendes, coordinator of the Center for the Study of Heritage and History of the Algarve.
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