Everybody knows that the Crusades were Christian attempts to stop the spread of Islam at the behest of the Roman Catholic Church.

A series of religious and military campaigns authorised by the papacy between 1095 and 1291, firstly to defend the Greek Empirical capital of Constantinople from falling to the Ottoman Turks.

Names such as Richard the Lion Heart & Pope Urban II are synonymous with the brutal conflicts whose scars are still felt today.

However, the Ottomans & the Moors of North Africa did indeed leave their mark as they spread west & north respectively. When they eventually retreated they left behind amazing architecture but also serious some divisions personified by the cataclysmic Yugoslav War.

I have visited a few down the years.

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Along with Kosovo, the small part of the then Yugoslavia is a symbol of the early ‘90s war that tore a country apart into seven independent nations.

Sarajevo, Mostar & Srebrenica especially conjure images of genocide, rape & mass graves. Truly abhorrent.

Sarajevo was once more the focus of conflict (renowned for being the place that kicked off WWI when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was murdered there in 1914) as it suffered a 1,425 day siege by Serbian forces from April 5 1992 to February 29 1996 – the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare.

Known as the Jerusalem of Europe on account of the churches, synagogues & mosques that rub shoulders in the old town, it has some remarkable architecture and Islamic culture.

Mostar also stands as a symbol of the conflict. Infamously its beautiful Ottoman bridge was blown up by Serb forces not for military reasons but to divide the town and damage civic pride.

The fact that it was rebuilt using much of the original stone restored that pride and acts as a testimony to resilience & hope.

Kosovo

Another nation with conflict indelibly marked in its DNA, it is still a disputed territory with only the West recognising it as independent.

Serbia still claims sovereignty and a majority Serb population in the north around Mitrovica sees tensions remain very much in evidence.

The majority of the population is Albanian however and its two main cities of Pristina & Prizren are notably Islamic.

Albania

The Ottomans apparently convinced Albanians to convert to Islam by offering tax breaks to Muslims.

It remains majority Islamic, very evident in capital Tirana and smaller cities like Berati.

Ukraine (Crimea)

I visited Crimea in 2011 when it was still under Ukrainian control.

Not far from Sevastopol stands one of the very few Tartar sites in the region just outside the town of Bakhchiseray.

The Tartars where persecuted largely out of existence by the Russian tsars & Communist regimes, however a very fine khanate has survived all. the destruction, standing tall as a reminder of an Islamic past.

Spain

The Moors of North Africa conquered much of Southern Spain and held reign for around 800 years.

The “Moors” refers to the medieval Muslim inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal). Originating primarily as a diverse mix of North African Arabs and Berbers, they ruled over a region known as Al-Andalus from their initial invasion in 711 AD until their final expulsion in 1492.

Islamic architecture is particularly prominent in Granada, Seville & Cordoba.

Turkiye

Stretching it a little maybe but the European side of Istanbul is stuffed with mosques & sultan’s palaces, most notably the Blue Mosque, Ayasofya (formery St Sophia’s Cathedral) & Topkapi Palace.

Coming next – Castles