“What is a Moor? The Moors were the mixed Arab and Berber conquerors of Spain in the eighth century. In literature, the most famous member of this ethnic group is Othello, the Moor of Venice (c. 1604).”
Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.