Cite this as: Santos, J. 2022 Why did Cities Evolve in Gharb Al-Andalus? Network analysis as a potential method for charting city growth, Internet Archaeology 59. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.59.9
The Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula has been closely associated with urban centres since the 8th century. Using an approach based on Network Theory, the purpose of this article is to understand and debate the influence that various cities exerted on each other through communication routes during the Islamic presence in the Gharb Al-Andalus – now in modern-day Portugal - and how this influence affected the growth of those cities.
This study intends to use statistical analysis based on Network Theory and on its centrality measures in order to build a network of geographical relationships between the cities of the Gharb Al-Andalus. The study of these centrality measures indicates that mutation in the importance of such cities might result from their geographic location, but also by the influence that each city had over the nearest ones. The theory is by measuring the centrality value of a city at a certain moment, it would be possible to indicate the probability that the city would either grow or decline in the subsequent period. This influence on growth was surely due to political, military, religious or commercial contacts but, likewise, by the different ways cities were connected (terrestrial, fluvial and maritime).
Correspondence contact: Joel Santos
joelrosantos@gmail.com
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester
Figure 1: The Muslim cities that are included (red dots) and excluded (blue dots) from the study
Figure 2: The main roads of the south-western Iberian Peninsula just before the Muslim conquest in the 8th century (based on Levi-Provençal (1999 [1950])
Figure 3: The main roads of the south-western Iberian Peninsula used during the Muslim period in the Gharb (based on Picard (1997, 391)
Figure 4: Four steps methodology fluxogram
Figure 5: Betweenness centrality calculation for the beginning of the emirate period, c. 756 AD
Figure 6: Eigenvector centrality calculation for the beginning of the emirate period, c. 756 AD
Figure 7: Betweenness centrality calculation for the beginning of the caliphate period, c. 929 AD
Figure 8: Eigenvector centrality calculation for the beginning of the caliphate period, c. 929 AD
Figure 9: Betweenness centrality calculation for the caliphate period during the regency of Al-Mansur, c. 1000 AD
Figure 10: Eigenvector centrality calculation for the caliphate period during the regency of Al-Mansur, c. 1000 AD
Figure 11: Betweenness centrality calculation for the end of the taifa period, c. 1090 AD
Figure 12: Eigenvector centrality calculation for the end of the taifa period, c. 1090 AD
Figure 13: Betweenness centrality calculation for the Almohad period, c. 1200 AD
Figure 14: Eigenvector centrality calculation for the Almohad period, c. 1200 AD
Figure 15: Betweenness centrality values showing the evolution of Gharb cities during the five studied periods [ANIMATION]
Figure 16: Eigenvector centrality values showing the evolution of Gharb cities during the five studied periods [ANIMATION]
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