Articles · History
Stories from Granada's Nasrid and Zirid Past
This collection traces Granada's political history through the people and episodes behind it: the Zirid taifa, the Nasrid kingdom that built the Alhambra, and the palace intrigue that led to the 1492 surrender. It covers the Morisco expulsions and Napoleon's brief occupation.
23 articles
History: the big picture
Written by
James Walker Seven years resident in Granada. Specialist in Nasrid architecture, Al-Andalus history, and Andalusian walking routes.
This collection follows Granada's political history across two thousand years, from the Roman town of Iliberis, host to the Council of Elvira around 306 AD, through the Berber Zirid dynasty that founded the modern city in 1013 and built its first walls and cisterns, as told in the Zirid dynasty's medieval history.
Most of the articles here trace the Nasrid dynasty, the last Muslim kingdom in Iberia, which ruled Granada from 1232 until its surrender on 2 January 1492. That surrender is covered in full in the Reconquista and the fall of Granada, alongside the 67-article Treaty of Granada that promised religious freedom and was broken within a decade. The consequences ran deep: the Alhambra Decree expelled Spain's Jews that same year, and Granada's Moriscos were forced to convert in 1502 and expelled between 1609 and 1614.
Earlier chapters recover episodes many visitors never hear about: the 1066 massacre that ended Granada's Jewish Golden Age, the Nasrid court's decades of tribute payments and diplomacy with Castile and the Marinids, and the palace intrigue of the 1480s that split the kingdom three ways before Ferdinand and Isabella ever laid siege.
Start with the Nasrid dynasty overview, then follow the Reconquista and the Zirid founding story outward into the individual episodes.
Planning a visit?
For dates, dynasties and a planning-ready timeline, see the dedicated guide: The Full History Guide
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Nasrid Tribute Payments: How Granada Survived Castile
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1066 Granada Massacre: When the Jewish Golden Age Ended in a Day
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ReadFrequently asked questions
When did the Nasrid dynasty rule Granada?
The Nasrid dynasty ruled Granada from 1232, when Muhammad I founded the emirate, until 2 January 1492, when the last sultan Boabdil surrendered the city to Ferdinand and Isabella. Over 260 years the dynasty saw 23 sultans, several deposed or murdered, and built the Alhambra complex that survives today.
What happened to Granada's Jews after 1492?
On 31 March 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella signed the Alhambra Decree, ordering every Jew in Spain to convert or leave within four months. This followed the 1066 massacre, which had already destroyed Granada’s Jewish community as a political force four centuries earlier, ending the city’s Jewish Golden Age in a single day.
Did the Treaty of Granada protect the city's Muslims?
The 1491 treaty's 67 articles promised Granada's Muslims their mosques, their law, and free passage abroad. Cardinal Cisneros began breaking those guarantees within seven years, forcing mass conversions from 1499, and a 1502 decree required all Muslims in Castile to convert or leave, creating the Morisco community.
Who founded the city of Granada as its capital?
The Berber Zirid ruler Zawi ibn Ziri moved the regional capital from Medina Elvira to the Albaicín hill in 1013, after the Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed. The Zirids built the city's first walls, cisterns, and street plan, laying the urban foundation the Nasrids later expanded around the Alhambra.
What did Napoleon's troops do to the Alhambra?
As French forces withdrew from Granada in September 1812, they mined the Alhambra’s towers to stop it being reused as a fortress, destroying eight towers before a disabled Spanish soldier, José García, disabled the remaining fuses and saved the rest of the complex.
What was the Convivencia in Granada?
Convivencia describes the coexistence of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities in Zirid and Nasrid Granada under a legal system of structured inequality. Jewish physicians, astronomers, and translators worked alongside Muslim officials for centuries, though the arrangement periodically erupted into violence, including the 1066 massacre under the Zirids.