Fall of Granada and the End of the Reconquista
Also called: Reconquista, Conquest of Granada
On 2 January 1492 the Catholic Monarchs of Spain conquered Granada, the last Muslim kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula, ending the Reconquista that had lasted some 800 years.
Francisco Pradilla y Ortiz · Public domain · Source
After Muslim forces took the Iberian Peninsula in 711, the Christian kingdoms that survived in the north pursued the Reconquista to win back the land. They retook Toledo in 1085, and after victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 captured Córdoba (1236) and Seville (1248), leaving only the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in the far south. Paying tribute to Castile, Granada held out for more than two centuries and brought Islamic culture to flower in palaces such as the Alhambra.
After a ten-year war the last king, Muhammad XII (Boabdil), surrendered, and on 2 January 1492 Isabella and Ferdinand entered Granada. That March the monarchs decreed the expulsion of Jews who would not convert, and later Muslims too were forced to convert. In April, at Santa Fe near Granada, they signed their agreement with Columbus, and the spirit of conquest and conversion forged in the Reconquista carried over into the conquest of the Americas. At this time Joseon was in the last years of King Seongjong.