Scholar Philosopher Writer Nasrid Granada1238–1492

Ibn Khaldun

Lived 1332–1406 (about 74 years)

Also known as: Ibn Khaldūn, Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun

Ibn Khaldun was born in Tunis in 1332 and died on 17 March 1406. His family had left Seville for North Africa before Castile took the city, and the Black Death took both his parents in Tunis in 1349.

He reached Granada at the age of 32, sure of a welcome: at Fez he had helped the Nasrid sultan Muhammad V regain power from a temporary exile. The sultan's prime minister, the writer Ibn al-Khatib, was a good friend. Muhammad V sent him to Seville to conclude a peace treaty with Pedro I of Castile, and the sultan gave him a village, which he gladly accepted.

The Alhambra was the residence of the Nasrid sultans and senior officials, the court he served. Later he wrote the Muqaddimah during more than three years of seclusion under a Berber tribe's protection, and he spent his last five years in Cairo completing his autobiography and history.

For his Granada years set beside another famous traveller's, read Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Battuta at the Nasrid court.

Places to see

Alhambra

In their time

Nasrid Granada

1238–1492
Muhammad I founded the emirate in 1232, became Fernando III's vassal and began the Alcazaba on the Alhambra hill. Yusuf I added the Comares Tower and the Hall of Ambassadors, and Muhammad V finished the Court of the Lions around 1380. In all, 23 sultans ruled for 260 years before the city surrendered in 1492.
1. Muhammad I
  
  c. 1195–1273 Historical figure
  
  Muhammad I of Granada founded the Nasrid dynasty and began the Alhambra in 1238. His life, from Arjona to the Sabika hill, and where to see his trace today.
2. Ibn al-Khatib
  
  1313–1374 Historical figure
  
  Ibn al-Khatib, born in Loja in 1313, was vizier to Nasrid kings Yusuf I and Muhammad V, and a poet and physician whose verse decorates the Alhambra walls.
3. Yusuf I
  
  1318–1354 Historical figure
  
  Yusuf I of Granada ruled the Nasrid sultanate from 1333 to 1354 and left the Alhambra's Puerta de la Justicia and the Madraza. His life and where to find him.
4. Ibn Zamrak
  
  c. 1333–1393 Historical figure
  
  Ibn Zamrak was a Nasrid vizier and poet from Granada. See where his verses survive in the Alhambra, from the Court of the Lions to the Lindaraja fountain.
5. Muhammad V
  
  1339–1391 Historical figure
  
  Muhammad V of Granada ruled the Nasrid sultanate twice, in 1354–1359 and 1362–1391, and inspired the Palace of the Lions. Where his work survives today.
Undated
1. Alcaicería
  
  Monument
  
  Granada's historic silk market, rebuilt after 1843 in Neo-Moorish style. Small shops sell ceramics, taracea woodwork, spices, and leather goods. Free to enter.
2. Alhambra
  
  Monument
  
  The Alhambra is Granada's UNESCO fortress-palace: Nasrid Palaces, Alcazaba and Generalife gardens. Tickets sell out weeks ahead; book via the Patronato site.
3. Corral del Carbón
  
  Monument
  
  Granada's oldest Arab monument, the Corral del Carbón was built before 1336 as a Nasrid merchant inn, entered through an ornate horseshoe-arch portal.
4. Palacio de Dar-al-Horra
  
  Monument
  
  15th-century Nasrid palace in the upper Albaicín, home of Aixa, mother of Granada's last sultan Boabdil. Less visited than the Alhambra, almost as beautiful.
5. Nasrid Palaces
  
  Monument
  
  Three royal Nasrid palaces inside the Alhambra, including the Patio de los Leones and Hall of the Ambassadors. Entry is timed: arrive within your booked slot.
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- Nasrid Granada