Once upon a time – a brief Granada history lesson.
We arrived by train from Cordoba and hopped into a taxi… The ride through the narrow, white-washed streets of the Albaicin neighborhood was dizzying, to say the least. We stepped out of the cab into a place like no other we’d seen… The view from the ancient hillside neighborhood was amazing, and it’s historical beauty had our imaginations running wild… We needed to find out more about this magical place! As we dug, the story of Granada history revealed itself as one of powerful rulers, invaders, and crusaders..
Granada history is certainly one for the story books
In the 700’s, Muslim armies from Morocco began their conquest of the Iberian peninsula. Within just seven years, they conquered what is present-day Spain and Portugal. The empire was called Al-Andalus, and over the next two centuries, the region developed into one of the most advanced societies in Europe. As artists and scholars came from across the land, a golden age began in Al-Andalus. Muslims, Christians, and Jews would live together harmoniously for hundreds of years…
However, greed and power would slowly begin to corrupt the great kingdom of al-Andalus. In the late 1100’s, civil war separated the empire into small rival emirates called taifas… The small taifas competed militarily but also garnered for the most accomplished intellectuals… During this time, the advancement of culture and education continued…
Gradually, the most powerful taifas expanded their fortresses and palaces, showing off their military might and wealth… During this period, The Emirate of Granada renovated the ruins of a small fortress at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The small fort was transformed into an enormous impenetrable walled palace called Calat Alhambra. Alhambra was built as “paradise on earth.” With column arcades, fountains with running water and reflecting pools, it represented the pinnacle of Islamic architecture and art.
Enter the First Crusade
Regardless, the disunited taifas were susceptible to invasion by the Christian kingdoms of the north. They fell one-by-one over the next two-hundred years, a period called the Reconquista. By 1236, with the fall of Cordoba, there was only one Muslim kingdom left in Iberia: Granada. The Alhambra’s strategic position in the mountains had kept them safe as of yet, but Granada’s leaders would negotiate an agreement with the powerful Christian Kingdom of Castile. In exchange for a yearly sum of gold, the Emirate of Granada would become an autonomous, tributary state of Castile.
For nearly 250 years Granada remained an independent Muslim state within a Christian land. However, in the year 1462 things would change dramatically. King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella Castile were to be married. With the two most powerful Christian kingdoms of Iberia united, the New Kingdom of Spain was formed. Subsequently, in 1482 the Kingdom of Spain declared war on the Emirate of Granada. Initially, Granada held strong against Spanish forces. But in 1483, the sultan’s son rebelled against his father, igniting a civil war just as the Alhambra’s walls were attacked…
King Ferdinand fueled the civil war by providing arms and soldiers, helping overthrow the sultan’s rule. Of course, he immediately ordered an unconditional surrender. Weakened by years of Spanish attack and civil war, Granada put up little resistance, and in 1492 signed over control to Christian Spain. In 1502 Islam was officially outlawed in Granada, and by the early 1600s every remaining Muslim had been forcefully converted to Christianity or had immigrated to North Africa..