Remembering Granada:

The last Muslim Kingdom

of Spain

Granada, Arabic Gharnāṭa, kingdom founded early in the 13th century out of the remnants of
Almoravid power in Spain by Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf ibn Naṣr al-Aḥmar, who became king
as Muḥammad I (ruled 1232–73) and founded the Naṣrid dynasty. The kingdom comprised, principally,
the area of the modern provinces of Granada, Málaga, and Almería. In 1246 Muḥammad I secured the
recognition of Ferdinand III of Castile (his neighbour on all landed frontiers) in return for a vassalage
which, though often ignored, remained in force until the kingdom’s disappearance in 1492.

Granada’s history is one of internal crises because of the existence of a powerful landowning nobility
with which, from the first, the monarchy had to come to terms, and because of wars with Castile.
Successive kings of Granada sought political support and military aid from Morocco. Moroccan recruits
caused the kingdom to undergo an intense process of arabization, to cut itself off from all Castilian
influences, and to develop an absolute form of government based on military support. The central
government’s economic resources depended mainly on the silk industry and on external trade; the
latter flourished because of the fortunate position of the chief port, Málaga, on the route from the
Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Granada paid close attention to the Strait of Gibraltar; for a whole
century its rulers made efforts to secure control of the straits, allying to this end at different times with
both Morocco and Castile. In 1306 Muḥammad III (ruled 1302–09), then in possession of Ceuta and
Gibraltar, seemed to have succeeded, but a powerful coalition soon reduced him to the modest position
of vassal of the king of Castile. After 1340, when the battle of Río Salado settled the question of the
straits in Castile’s favour, Granada adopted a policy of isolation, taking advantage of
any propitious circumstance to strengthen its land frontiers. It was in this period that Yūsuf I (ruled
1333–54) and Muḥammad V (ruled 1354–59 and 1362–91) finished building the Alhambra.