When Cultures Collide

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This past April, I arrived home to sunny San Francisco from a fascinating 10-day trip to Spain.

After taking Spanish lessons for nearly the past year, I had to test my chops.

I thought, what better way to do it than over tapas, sangria, and history lessons through Spain’s most revered cities: Barcelona, Seville, and Madrid. I’d been practicing verb tenses and the subjunctive for months, it shouldn’t be that hard…right?

Whether it was ordering a glass of vino, asking for simple directions, or chatting with bouncers at the best bars in town, I did my best to accurately speak the national tongue every place I went.

Reflecting on the trip and my linguistic performance, I can confidently say I am way worse than I thought.

Speaking a foreign language outside the confines of Zoom lessons is TOUGH.

While I may not have learned the intricacies of Spanish dialogue, I did come to one very interesting conclusion about culture.

On a treacherous bus ride up to the mountainous Santa Maria de Montserrat, our Catalonian tour guide remarked on how the Spanish are remarkably talented at quite a few things - football, siestas, art, salsa, you name it.

However, there is one thing that they are really bad at: fighting. 

You see, for most of Spain’s history, the conquistadores were often the conquered.

Whether it be against the Romans in the 1st century, the Moors for almost 800 years from the 8th century until 1492 (yes, the same year Columbus sailed the ocean blue), or the Habsburgs at Spain’s zenith in the 17th century, the country has long been associated with brutal conflict.

While this unfortunately led to a lot of wars, political turnover, and economic inefficiency over the last 2000 years, its turbulent past has not predestined the country to defeat. Today, Spain is a well-developed and attractive place to live because of this conflict. 

Take the Moors.

Originally from Northern Africa, groups of Berbers and Islamic Arabs crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into southern Spain in 711 AD.

Over the next few centuries, the Mediterranean invaders created one of the most powerful empires on the planet, titled “Al-Andalus” (which sounds a lot cooler than what it means). The great kingdom centered around the southern city of Córdoba, which reached almost a million people at its peak in the 10th century and was the largest urban center in Europe.

While Al-Andalus didn’t stretch nearly as far as Caesar’s Imperium Romanum or Ghenghis Khan & the Mongols’ vast reign in Asia, it made up for it in opulence.

The best way we can see this is through what they built.

The old capital cities of Córdoba, Granada, and Seville are graced with massive fortresses, exquisitely designed mosques, and Alcázars that transport you into the shoes of Moorish royalty.

These relics remain some of the most detailed and impressive examples of architecture around the world today.

Back at the start of the second millennium, the Moorish empire was also home to one of the most educated populations in the world, known for their key advancements in mathematics, science, and medicine.

While most of medieval Europe didn’t know how to read or write, the Moors were developing the foundations of modern-day algebra.

The Muslim group left the country (and Europe) with foundational learnings from geometry to philosophy, a plethora of new crops, and the core of many Spanish dialects.

Architectural styles celebrated to this day were invented and developed in Spain after the height of the Moors including the Mudéjar, which fused Islamic design and detail with gothic elements from the Spanish Christians.

When the Moors entered Spain, the country was a struggling, uneducated land overrun by Germanic tribes.

With the Moors’ influence, ideologies, and innovation, it became one of the most successful places on the planet and was Europe’s crown jewel for centuries.

The Moors may have lost power in the Iberian Peninsula more than 500 years ago, but their lasting impact on Spain is undeniable.

Whether it be music, education, regal landscapes, or the infamous (and delicious) Valencian Paella, many of Spain’s greatest assets today stem from intertwining its culture with others.

Before I went on this trip to Spain, I assumed countries with great ‘perceived’ culture were purely a product of culminating ideas, traditions, and innovations of that land’s native population.

What I realized afterward is culture is far more complex in its creation.

It is a mix of ideas and customs from people, often of very different origins, bringing forth the respective social complexities to create something new.

While cultures shouldn't be forced to transform through imperialism or war, when they do mix, it can transform individual and collective livelihoods for the better.

Culture is built by diverse people and by diverse thought.

When all parties can freely express themselves to one another, they are bound to ideate, create, and grow.

Our world today is built upon the interconnectivity of people around the globe and the dispersion of great ideas.

Globalization is what has allowed the human race to collectively improve standards of living, alleviate poverty despite war and famine, and enable people to live more richly than in any other era in history.

I believe the biggest danger posed to our planet and its continued success is if we isolate ourselves from one another. 

In times of great economic fear, health crises, or political strife, it can become tempting for countries to turn inward, closing their borders and communication streams off to the rest of the world (as we saw occur around the globe during COVID-19 in 2020).

When we adopt an isolationist mentality, we are not only breaking bridges for new cultural or technological advancements but setting ourselves up for economic and social failure.

Trade slows, supply chains become disrupted, economies weaken, and standards of living drop for those already at the bottom. 

When countries instead choose to work together, we can solve problems and progress much more quickly.

We must be willing to question preexisting culture in favor of productive change.

Only then can we solve the problems of today and tomorrow. 

-John Henry

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