The fraught tension between science and religion has loomed large in scholarship about the nineteenth century in Spain, especially given the prominence of the Catholic Church and the discoveries made by Wallace and Darwin. The struggle for epistemological superiority between these two discourses (science and religion) has served to overshadow certain corners of the cultural landscape that, though prominent sites of intellectual exploration in their day, have received comparatively less sch...

In 1766, the Moroccan ambassador A?mad ibn al-Mahdi al-Ghazzal embarked on an unprecedented visit to Spain during a time of eased tensions between the two countries. The sultan Sidi Mu?ammad ibn ‘Abdallah wanted the return of Muslim prisoners and sacred Islamic texts, while the Spanish king hoped to improve trade and security across the Strait of Gibraltar. With royal welcome and escort, al-Ghazzal traveled for several months in order to meet with Carlos III at his summer palace north of M...