Tom Powell
GOOGLE has stopped labelling Algeciras as an 11th century Muslim Kingdom on its map service, following an Olive Press expose.
However, while the ‘Taifa of Algeciras’ has now been more correctly labelled ‘Algeciras’, two new instances of Google returning Spain to Muslim rule have come to light.
We have discovered that Huelva province has a ‘Taifa of Niebla’ and Teruel, in northern Spain, has a ‘Taifa of Albarracin’, according to Google Maps.
Neither place has been a ‘Taifa’ since it was part of the Muslim kingdom 1,000 years ago, the same kingdom which extremist group ISIS has declared it will reclaim.
Expat Bill Jones, who lives in Arcos de la Frontera, itself on the former border of Christian and Muslim Spain, told the Olive Press: “I reported that Albarracin was being labelled a Taifa to Google after seeing your story, but nothing has happened.
“I am now wondering which will be the next place to change, clearly there is a joker somewhere with a sense of the Islamic glory days of a millennium ago.”
Last night, a spokesman for Google insisted it was looking into the matter ‘as a priority’.
It had previously described the issue with Algeciras as a mere ‘editing error’ and denied it was the work of a hacker or extremist sympathiser.
If you search for Taifa it comes up with Cordoba!
There are many such errors in mapping labels. It is easily possible to label places incorrectly through false submissions, maliciously or genuinely. Google makes corrections all the time. Nothing sinister here.