Google Maps pranksters rename Spanish towns after Islamic kingdoms

Andalucia, Spain. Image by Julián Rejas De Castro / CC BY-SA 2.0

Spanish towns with Moorish heritage in Andalucia and Teruel province were hijacked on Google Maps last week, with their names changed to what they would have been more than 1000 years ago under Islamic rule. Algeciras and Niebla in Andalucia and Albarrac in Teruel were all briefly given the prefix Taifa – as in, Taifa de Algeciras – on the online map service, recalling their ancient heritage as one-time small Islamic kingdoms when the Moors ruled parts of Spain. Google gives the public access to its mapping data to encourage crowd moderation of its map labels; the changes were made by an unknown user but quickly corrected when identified. Read more: telegraph.co.uk