There is ample evidence of the presence of Jews and Christians in Muslim lands, from Tunisia to the Portuguese Algarve, although this cohabitation was more common in the towns than it was in the countryside on account of the commercial opportunities to be found there. In some instances, Christian communities even held some degree of power or sufficient economic strength to commission fine works of art. The Jewish communities found in the Muslim West before the arrival of Islam lived in their own districts alongside Muslims throughout the different dynasties, working as administrators or craftsmen and participating in social and economic life.