How did Granada fall to Isabel and Fernando in 1492?

The fall of Granada

La toma de Granada

2 January 1492. After a ten-year war, Boabdil, the last Nasrid king, handed Granada over to Isabel and Fernando on 2 January 1492, ending almost eight centuries of Muslim rule…

Where: Spain, Granada

What happened

After a ten-year war, Boabdil, the last Nasrid king, handed Granada over to Isabel and Fernando on 2 January 1492, ending almost eight centuries of Muslim rule in the peninsula. The surrender terms, signed in November 1491, promised the Muslims that they could keep their religion and customs. The promise did not last: from 1499 they were pressed to convert, and in 1502 Castile ordered all its Muslims to be baptised or leave. Legend says Boabdil looked back at the Alhambra and sighed, and the mountain pass where he did so is still called the Moor's Sigh, el Suspiro del Moro.

Say it

La Alhambra fue el palacio de los últimos reyes musulmanes de Granada.

The Alhambra was the palace of the last Muslim kings of Granada.

Why it matters

1492 closes the Middle Ages in Spain: the same year brought Columbus, the expulsion of the Jews and the first Spanish grammar, and Granada's Moriscos would be expelled a century later.

There today

See

The Alhambra, the red hill the last Nasrid king is said to have looked back at, is open to visitors in Granada; the mountain pass of the Moor's Sigh still carries its name.

Eat

In many bars in Granada a free tapa comes with each drink; see tapas.

Read about it

• La Alhambra — The Alhambra
• Los Reyes Católicos — The Catholic Monarchs

Culture

• Flamenco

Connected

• Arabic words in Spanish (711–1500)
• Convivencia: living together, and apart (711–1492)
• The 'Reconquista': a contested idea (c. 718–1492)
• The Nasrids build the Alhambra (1333–1391)
• The Nasrids build the Alhambra (1333–1391)
• The anti-Jewish riots of 1391 (6 June 1391–1392)
• Isabel and Fernando marry (19 October 1469)
• Isabel and Fernando marry (19 October 1469)
• Judeo-Spanish: the Spanish of the exiles (1492–)
• Nebrija's Castilian grammar (1492)

• Before: Nebrija's Castilian grammar
• After: The expulsion of the Jews

Sources

1. Rolled privilege of the capitulations for the surrender of the city of Granada (1491) — History Lab (Universidad de Almería / Archivos Estatales)
2. Isabella I of Castile — World History Encyclopedia
3. Muslim Spain (711-1492) — BBC Religions
4. History — Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife