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Las feixes de Ibiza


Durante casi ocho siglos, grandes espacios de la Península Ibérica estuvieron dominados por los musulmanes, y aun perduran numerosos recuerdos de su cultura material y espiritual en este lugar de encuentro de Oriente y de Occidente. Un rico vocabulario de arabisnos fue añadido a los idiomas español y portugués; por ejemplo, las palabras españolas relacionadas con el riego son casi todas de origen árabe: azud, acequia (canal de riego), aljibe (cisterna), alberca (estanque), alfarda (impuesto de riego), etc. Los moros fueron famosos en el cultivo intensivo de pequeñas parcelas, y de aquí la expresión popular «trabajar penosamente como un moro».5 Ciertas zonas de la Península consideradas como tierras áridas por los escritores cristianos son estimadas como de suelos fértiles por los autores árabes. Los moros idearon técnicas especiales para el cultivo
intensivo en zonas de escasas lluvias y fueron no menos ingeniosos para sanear tierras con excesiva humedad.
En el legado cultural dejado a España por los moros nada hay más ingenioso y aparentemente menos conocido que el sistema de agricultura practicado en las tierras saneadas (feixes) que bordean la bahía de Ibiza. Esta ciudad, con una población de 10.000 habitantes, es la capital y el puerto principal de la isla del mismo nombre (...)

Foster, G.M. (traduccción por A. López Gómez 1999). Territoris, num. 2 Artículo publicado inicialmente en Estudios Geográficos, n.° 48, Agosto 1952, pág. 559 y siguientes por cortesía de la American Geographical Society, de Nueva York; el artículo original, bajo el título «The feixes of Ibiza», ha sido publicado en su revista The Geographical Review, 1952, XLII; abril núm. 2; pág. 227 37.

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