Emirate of Granada

Emirate of Granada
Emirate of Granada
1232–1492
	Royal banner Coat of arms
	Motto: Wala ghaliba illa Allah (Arabic: ولا غالب إلا الله, lit. 'There is no victor but God')
	Territory of the Nasrid Kingdom from the 13th to 15th centuries
Status	Tributary state of the Crown of Castile (intermittent)
Capital	Granada
Common languages	Official language:; Classical Arabic; Vernacular languages:; Andalusi Arabic; Berber;
Religion	Majority religion:; Sunni Islam; Minority religions:; Roman Catholicism • Judaism;
Government	Hereditary monarchy
Sultan
• 1232–1273	Muhammad I
• 1487–1492	Muhammad XII
Historical era	Late Middle Ages
• Established	1232
• Castilian conquest	1492
Population
• 1314	200,000
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Almohad Caliphate
Kingdom of Granada (Crown of Castile)
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, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western Europe.^[2]

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.^[3] 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 neighbouring 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 Iberia.^[a] 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 this period, internal dynastic conflicts escalated. After 1479, Granada faced a united Castile and Aragon under the Catholic Monarchs intent on conquering it. In 1491, after a decade of warfare known as the 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 Iberia.

^ O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1983). A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press. p. 460. ISBN 978-0-8014-9264-8. Archived from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2020. 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.
^ Miranda 1970, p. 429.
^ García-Arenal, Mercedes (2014). "Granada". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. Brill. ISSN 1873-9830.
^
Among other examples:
- Adamec, Ludwig W. (2009). "Granada". Historical Dictionary of Islam. Scarecrow Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-8108-6303-3. 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.
- O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (2013). A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press. p. 374. ISBN 978-0-8014-6872-8. As the first of the Nasrid dynasty that ruled longer than the Umayyads, Almoravids, or Almohads, [...]
^ García Sanjuán, Alejandro (2017). "al-Andalus, political history". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. Brill. ISBN 9789004161658. 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).
^ Boloix-Gallardo 2021a, p. 7: "To be more precise, the Nasrid dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Granada (or al-Andalus) for 261 years, which means a duration only 14 years less than that of the Umayyad dynasty of Cordova, estimated at 275 years".

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[1] O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1983). A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press. p. 460. ISBN 978-0-8014-9264-8. Archived from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2020. 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.

[FOOTNOTEMiranda1970429-2] Miranda 1970, p. 429.

[García-Arenal-3] García-Arenal, Mercedes (2014). "Granada". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. Brill. ISSN 1873-9830.

[4] Among other examples:
Adamec, Ludwig W. (2009). "Granada". Historical Dictionary of Islam. Scarecrow Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-8108-6303-3. 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.

O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (2013). A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press. p. 374. ISBN 978-0-8014-6872-8. As the first of the Nasrid dynasty that ruled longer than the Umayyads, Almoravids, or Almohads, [...]

[5] Adamec, Ludwig W. (2009). "Granada". Historical Dictionary of Islam. Scarecrow Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-8108-6303-3. 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.

[6] O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (2013). A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press. p. 374. ISBN 978-0-8014-6872-8. As the first of the Nasrid dynasty that ruled longer than the Umayyads, Almoravids, or Almohads, [...]

[:0522-5] García Sanjuán, Alejandro (2017). "al-Andalus, political history". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. Brill. ISBN 9789004161658. 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).

[FOOTNOTEBoloix-Gallardo2021ap._7:_"To_be_more_precise,_the_Nasrid_dynasty_ruled_the_Kingdom_of_Granada_(or_al-Andalus)_for_261_years,_which_means_a_duration_only_14_years_less_than_that_of_the_Umayyad_dynasty_of_Cordova,_estimated_at_275_years"-6] Boloix-Gallardo 2021a, p. 7: "To be more precise, the Nasrid dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Granada (or al-Andalus) for 261 years, which means a duration only 14 years less than that of the Umayyad dynasty of Cordova, estimated at 275 years".

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