Emirate of Granada

The Emirate of Granada was established in 1228 , after the Almohad dynasty was defeated by the Christians at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa . The Almohad prince Idris had left Iberia to take the Almohad leadership, then ambitious Ibn al-Ahmar established the longest lasting Muslim dynasty on the Iberian peninsula - the Nasrids. With the Reconquista in full swing after the conquest of Cordoba in 1236, the Nasrids aligned themselves with Ferdinand III of Castile , officially becoming a tributary state in 1238. The state officially became the Kingdom of Granada in 1238. The Nasrid emirs and kings were responsible for building most of the palaces in the Alhambra . The taifa became a vassal state of the Christian kingdom of Castile for the next 250 years. The Nasrid emirs and kings paid tribute to the Christian kings and collaborated with them in their battle against rebellious Muslims under Christian rule. Initially the kingdom of Granada linked the commercial routes from Europe with those of the Maghreb . The kingdom constantly shrank due to repeated Castilian invasions however, and by 1492, Granada controlled only a small territory on the Mediterranean coast. Arabic was the official language, and was the mother tongue of the majority of the population. Granada was held as a vassal to Castile over many decades, and provided trade links to the Muslim world, particularly the gold trade with the southern sub-saharan areas of Africa . The Nasrids provided troops for Castile and was a source of mercenary fighters from North Africa . However, Portugal discovered direct African trade routes by sailing around the coast of West Africa. Thus Granada became less and less important for Castile, and with the union of Castile and Aragon in 1479, those kingdoms set their sights on annexing Granada and Navarre. The Granada War began in 1482 . On January 2, 1492, the last Muslim leader, Muhammad XII , known as Boabdil to the Spanish, surrendered complete control of Granada, to Ferdinand and Isabella , Los Reyes Católicos ("The Catholic Monarchs"), after the city was besieged.

Today part of Spain Gibraltar The Emirate of Granada ( , trans. Imarat Gharnāṭah ), also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada ( ), was an emirate established in 1238 following the defeat of Muhammad an-Nasir of the Almohad dynasty by an alliance of Christian kingdoms at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. After Prince Idris left Iberia to take the Almohad leadership, the ambitious Mohammed I ibn Nasr established the last Muslim dynasty on the Iberian peninsula—the Nasrids . The Nasrid emirs were responsible for building the Alhambra palace complex as we know it today. Andalusian Arabic was the official language, and mother tongue of the majority of the population.

State in the Iberian Peninsula, 1230–1492 "Kingdom of Grenada" redirects here. Today part of Spain Gibraltar Morocco The Emirate of Granada ( ), also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada ( ), was an Islamic realm in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages . It was ruled by the Nasrids , a dynasty of Arab origin. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western Europe . Muslims had been present in the Iberian Peninsula, which they called Al-Andalus , since the early eighth century. At its greatest geographical extent, Muslim-controlled territory occupied most of the peninsula and part of present-day southern France . From the ninth to the tenth century, under the Caliphate of Córdoba , the region was one of the most prosperous and advanced in Europe. Conflict with the northern Christian kingdoms was recurrent, while mounting civil strife led to a fragmenting of Muslim states in the early 11th century. This marked a precipitous decline in the power of Iberian Muslim polities and facilitated the centuries-long Christian Reconquista and the recurrent conquest of southern Spain by North African dynasties, commencing with the Almoravids in the late 11th century. By 1230, the Almohad Caliphate in Morocco ruled the remaining Muslim territories in southern Iberia. Exploiting the Almohad's dynastic strife, the ambitious Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar rose to power and established the Nasrid dynasty in control of a sizeable portion of this territory, roughly corresponding to the modern Spanish provinces of Granada , Almería , and Málaga . By 1250, the emirate was the last Muslim polity in the peninsula. Although effectively a vassal of the rising Crown of Castile , for over two centuries Granada enjoyed considerable cultural and economic prosperity. Much of the famed Alhambra palace complex was built during this period, and the Nasrids were the longest-lived Muslim dynasty in Iberia. Nascent Christian power in Iberia meant that Granada's existence was always precarious. In 1491, after a decade of intermittent warfare known as the Granada War , the emirate was forced to capitulate to the Catholic Monarchs . The following year, Muhammad XII , the last Nasrid ruler of Granada, formally relinquished his sovereignty and surrendered his territories to Castile, eventually moving to North Africa in exile. This marked the end of independent Muslim rule in Iberia. A History of Medieval Spain . At the Council of Vienne in 1314, Aragonese envoys informed the pope that there were 200,000 people in the Kingdom of Granada, though it is not known on what that figure was based. "The Christian Frontier against al-Andalus (Muslim Spain): concept and politics during the reigns of King Fernando I of Castile and Leon and his successors until 1230". In Natalie Fryde; Dirk Reitz (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three .

State in the Iberian Peninsula, 1232–1492 "Kingdom of Grenada" redirects here. Today part of Spain Gibraltar Morocco The Emirate of Granada , also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada , was an Islamic polity in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages , ruled by the Nasrid dynasty . It was the last independent Muslim state in Western Europe . Muslims had been present in the Iberian Peninsula, which they called Al-Andalus , since 711. By the late 12th century, following the expansion of Christian kingdoms in the north, the area of Muslim control had been reduced to the southern parts of the peninsula governed by the Almohad Caliphate . After Almohad control retreated in 1228, the ambitious Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar rose to power and established the Nasrid dynasty in control of a sizeable portion of this territory, roughly corresponding to the modern Spanish provinces of Granada , Almería , and Málaga . By 1250, the Nasrid emirate was the last independent Muslim polity in the peninsula. The emirate generally existed as a tributary state of the rising Crown of Castile , though it frequently warred with the latter and with other neighboring states over control of its frontier regions. Despite its precarious position, Granada enjoyed considerable cultural and economic prosperity for over two centuries and the Nasrids became one of the longest-lived Muslim dynasties in the Iberian Peninsula. The famed Alhambra palace complex was built during this period. The population of the emirate, swollen by refugees from the north, was more homogenously Muslim and Arabic -speaking than in earlier Muslim states on the peninsula, with a Jewish minority also present. The political and cultural apogee of Nasrid Granada was in the 14th century, particularly in the second reign of Muhammad V . After 1479, Granada faced a united Castile and Aragon under the Catholic Monarchs intent on conquering it. In 1491, after the decade-long Granada War , the emirate was forced to capitulate . Muhammad XII , the last Nasrid ruler, formally surrendered Granada in January 1492, marking the end of independent Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three . Historical Dictionary of Islam . Muslim kingdom in southern Spain, which was the longest lasting Muslim dynasty in the Iberian peninsula, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty from 1232 to 1492. A History of Medieval Spain . As the first of the Nasrid dynasty that ruled longer than the Umayyads, Almoravids, or Almohads, [...] García Sanjuán, Alejandro (2017). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three . The victory in 138/756 of ʿAbd al Raḥmān I, the first of the dynasty's eight amīrs, marked the beginning of Umayyad sovereignty in al-Andalus, which would last until 422/1031, when the caliphate of Córdoba came to an end. This chronology makes the Umayyads' dynasty the longest uninterrupted governing dynasty on the Iberian Peninsula, ahead of the Naṣrids of Granada (260 years) and the House of Bourbon, currently ruling in Spain (261 years up to 2017, in four different periods). There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).