Granada falls
Eight centuries of Muslim Spain end — ten months before Columbus sails
See it on the timeline →In depth
The Emirate of Granada had survived as a tributary for two centuries after the rest of al-Andalus fell. Its capitulation on 2 January 1492 ended the Reconquista and freed resources and legitimacy that Isabella and Ferdinand promptly spent on the Atlantic. The same year, Spain expelled its Jews. The three events — Granada, the expulsion and Columbus — belong together: each expresses a newly forged, religiously unified state in search of a new project.
For children
Granada was the last Muslim city in Spain. When it surrendered in January 1492, Christian kings had spent nearly 800 years taking over the peninsula. Those same monarchs paid for Columbus’s voyage a few months later.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org