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Granada is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada ‎Province

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Grenada. For other uses, see Granada (disambiguation).

Granada (/ɡrəˈnɑːdə/ grə-NAH-də;[3] Spanish: [%C9%A1%C9%BEa%CB%88na%C3%B0a] ⓘ, locally [%C9%A1%C9%BEa%CB%88na][4]) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Darro, the Genil, the Monachil, and the Beiro. Ascribed to the Vega de Granada comarca, the city sits at an average elevation of 738 m (2,421 ft) above sea level, yet is only one hour by car from the Mediterranean coast, the Costa Tropical. Nearby is the Sierra Nevada Ski Station, where the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 were held.

The area was settled in ancient times by Iberians, Romans, and Visigoths. The current settlement became a major city of Al-Andalus in the 11th century during the Zirid Taifa of Granada.[5] In the 13th century it became the capital of the Emirate of Granada under Nasrid rule, the last Muslim-ruled state in the Iberian Peninsula. Granada was conquered in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs and progressively transformed into a Christian city over the 16th century.[6]

The Alhambra, a medieval Nasrid citadel and palace, is located in Granada. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture[7] and one of the most visited tourist sites in Spain.[8][9] Islamic-period influence and Moorish architecture are also preserved in the Albaicín neighborhood and other medieval monuments in the city.[10] The 16th century also saw a flourishing of Mudéjar architecture and Renaissance architecture,[11] followed later by Baroque and Churrigueresque styles.[12][13] The University of Granada has an estimated 47,000 undergraduate students spread over five different campuses in the city. The pomegranate (in Spanish, Granada) is the heraldic device of Granada.

Etymology[edit]
Granada's historical name in the Arabic language was غرناطة (Ġarnāṭa).[14][15][16][17] Both the name's meaning and origin are uncertain and have been debated.[18][19] The toponym existed before the Zirid period in the 11th century.[19] It probably first appeared in the 9th century[18] and it is found in Arabic sources from the 10th century.[20]

The word Gárnata (or Karnata) possibly meant "hill of strangers".[21]: 41 [22] Another meaning might be "hill of pilgrims".[18] It could even have been of Berber origin.[20] Another theory is that it derived from Latin granum (or its plural grana), meaning "seed", "beads", or a "scarlet color", which would have been adapted into Arabic as Ġarnāṭa or Iġranāṭa.[20] The Arab chronicler Al-Maqqari believed that it came from the Latin word for pomegranate, granata.[18] In either case, the Latin word may have been used not in its primary sense, but in the more derived sense of "red", referring to the color of the area's soil and its buildings. This would also mirror the etymology of the name of the Alhambra.[19][20]

History[edit]
See also: Granada chronology
Pre-Umayyad history[edit]
See also: Hispania

A mosaic from a Roman villa, dating from 1 AD, was discovered in the district of Los Mondragones in Granada (now kept at the Archaeological Museum)[18]
The region surrounding what today is Granada has been populated since at least 5500 BC.[14] Archeological artifacts found in the city indicate that the site of the city, including the area around the present-day avenue of Gran Vía de Colón, was inhabited since the Bronze Age. The most ancient ruins found in the area belong to an oppidum called Ilturir, founded by the Iberian Bastetani tribe around 650 BC.[18] The name Elibyrge is also attested to this area.[14] This settlement became later known as Iliberri or Iliberis.[14][23][18] In 44 BC Iliberis became a Roman colony and in 27 BC it became a Roman municipium named Florentia Iliberritana ('Flourishing Iliberri').[18][23]

The identification of present-day Granada with the Roman-era Iliberis and the historical continuity between the two settlements has long been debated by scholars.[24][25][23] Modern archeological digs on the Albaicín hill have uncovered finds demonstrating the presence of a significant Roman town on that site.[23] Little is known, however, about the history of the city in the period between the end of the Roman era and the 11th century.[23] An important Christian synod circa 300 AD, the Synod of Elvira, took place near this area (the name Elvira being derived from the name Iliberri), but there is no concrete archeological or documentary evidence establishing the exact location of the meeting. It may have taken place in the former Roman town or it may have taken place somewhere in the surrounding region, which was known as Elvira.[23]

Founding and early history[edit]
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, starting in 711 AD, brought large parts of the Iberian Peninsula under Moorish control and established al-Andalus. The earliest Arabic historical sources mention that a town named Qashtīliya, later known as Madīnat Ilbīra (Elvira) was located on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Elvira mountains (near present-day Atarfe) and became the most important settlement in the area.[25][23] A smaller settlement and fortress (ḥiṣn) named Ġarnāṭa (also transliterated as Gharnāṭa) existed on the south side of the Darro River or the site of the current Albaicín neighborhood. The latter had a mainly Jewish population and thus was also known as Gharnāṭat al-Yahūd ("Gharnāṭa of the Jews").[5][23] The district around the city was known as Kūrat Ilbīra (roughly "Province of Elvira"). After 743 the town of Ilbīra was settled by soldiers from the region of Syria who played a role in supporting Abd al-Rahman I, the founder of the Emirate of Córdoba and a new Umayyad dynasty.[5] In the late 9th century, during the reign of Abdallah (r. 844–912), the city and its surrounding district were the site of conflict between muwallads (Muslim converts) who were loyal to the central government and Arabs, led by Sawwār ibn Ḥamdūn, who resented them.[5][26]

At the beginning of the 11th century, the area became dominated by the Zirids, a Sanhaja Berber group and offshoot of the Zirids who ruled parts of North Africa. This group became an important contingent in the army of ʿAbd al-Malik al-Muẓaffar, the prime minister of Caliph Hisham II (r. 976–1009) and successor to Ibn Abi ʿAmir al-Mansur (Almanzor) as de facto ruler of the Caliphate of Córdoba. For their service, the Zirids were granted control of the province of Elvira.[5] When the Caliphate collapsed after 1009 and the Fitna (civil war) began, the Zirid leader Zawi ben Ziri established an independent kingdom for himself, the Taifa of Granada. Arab sources such as al-Idrisi consider him to be the founder of the city of Granada.[5] His surviving memoirs – the only ones for the Spanish "Middle Ages" – provide considerable detail for this brief period.[27] Because Madīnat Ilbīra was situated on a low plain and, as a result, difficult to protect from attacks, the ruler decided to transfer his residence to the higher situated area of Ġarnāṭa. According to Arabic sources, Ilbīra was razed during the Fitna, afterwards it was not restored at its previous place and instead Ġarnāṭa, the former Jewish town, replaced it as the main city. In a short time this town was transformed into one of the most important cities of al-Andalus.[14][16] Until the 11th century it had a mixed population of Christians, Muslims, and Jews.[10]

Puerta Monaita, one of the 11th-century Zirid gates in the Albaicin
The Zirids built their citadel and palace, known as the al-Qaṣaba al-Qadīma ("Old Citadel"), on the hill now occupied by the Albaicín neighborhood.[5][10] It was connected to two smaller fortresses on the Sabika hill (site of the future Alhambra) and Mauror hill to the south.[10] The city around it grew during the 11th century to include the Albaicín, the Sabika, the Mauror, and a part of the surrounding plains. The city was fortified with walls encompassing an area of approximately 75 hectares.[5] The northern part of these walls, near the Albaicin citadel, have survived to the present day, along with two of its gates: Bāb al-Unaydar (now called Puerta Monaita in Spanish) and Bāb al-Ziyāda (now known as Arco de las Pesas or Puerta Nueva).[10][5] The city and its residences were supplied with water through an extensive network of underground cisterns and pipes.[5][28] On the Darro River, along the wall connecting the Zirid citadel with the Sabika hill, was a sluice gate called Bāb al-Difāf ("Gate of the Tambourines"), which could be closed or opened to control the flow of the river and retain water if necessary.[b][29][30] The nearby Bañuelo, a former hammam (bathhouse), also likely dates from this time, as does the former minaret of a mosque in the Albaicín, now part of the Church of San José.[10]

Under the Zirid kings Habbus ibn Maksan and Badis, the most powerful figure was the Jewish administrator known as Samuel ha-Nagid (in Hebrew) or Isma'il ibn Nagrilla (in Arabic). Samuel was a highly educated member of the former elites of Cordoba, who fled that city after the outbreak of the Fitna. He eventually found his way to Granada, where Habbus ibn Maksan appointed him his secretary in 1020 and entrusted him with many important responsibilities, including tax collection. Under Badis, he even took charge of the army.[31] During this period, the Muslim king was looked upon as a mainly symbolic figurehead. Granada was the center of Jewish Sephardi culture and scholarship. According to Daniel Eisenberg:

Granada was in the eleventh century the center of Sephardic civilization at its peak, and from 1027 until 1066 Granada was a powerful Jewish state. Jews did not hold the foreigner (dhimmi) status typical of Islamic rule. Samuel ibn Nagrilla, recognized by Sephardic Jews everywhere as the quasi-political ha-Nagid ('The Prince'), was king in all but name. As vizier, he made policy and—much more unusual—led the army. [...] It is said that Samuel's strengthening and fortification of Granada was what permitted it, later, to survive as the last Islamic state in the Iberian peninsula. All of the greatest figures of eleventh-century Hispano-Jewish culture are associated with Granada. Moses Ibn Ezra was from Granada; on his invitation, Judah ha-Levi spent several years there as his guest. Ibn Gabirol’s patrons and hosts were the Jewish viziers of Granada, Samuel ha-Nagid and his son Joseph.[32]

After Samuel's death, his son Joseph took over his position but proved to lack his father's diplomacy, bringing on the 1066 Granada massacre,[31] which ended the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.[citation needed]

From the late 11th century to the early 13th century, Al-Andalus was dominated by two successive North African Berber empires. The Almoravids ruled Granada from 1090 and the Almohads from 1166.[33] Evidence from the artistic and archeological remains of this period suggests that the city thrived under the Almoravids but declined under the Almohads.[10] Remnants of the Almohad period in the city include the Alcázar Genil, built-in 1218–1219 (but later redecorated under the Nasrids),[34] and possibly the former minaret attached to the present-day Church of San Juan de los Reyes in the Albaicin.[35][c]

Nasrid Emirate of Granada[edit]
Main articles: Nasrid dynasty and Emirate of Granada

Sigil of the Nasrid dynasty located in the Palacio de Comares
In 1228 Idris al-Ma'mun, the last effective Almohad ruler in al-Andalus, left the Iberian Peninsula. As Almohad rule collapsed local leaders and factions emerged across the region. With the Reconquista in full swing, the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon – under kings Ferdinand III and James I, respectively – made major conquests across al-Andalus. Castile captured Cordoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248. Meanwhile, the ambitious Ibn al-Ahmar (Muhammad I) established what became the last and longest-reigning Muslim dynasty in the Iberian peninsula, the Nasrids, who ruled the Emirate of Granada. On multiple occasions Ibn al-Ahmar aligned himself with Ferdinand III, eventually agreeing to become his vassal in 1246.[37] Granada thereafter became a tributary state to the Kingdom of Castile, although this was often interrupted by wars between the two states.[38][5] The political history of the emirate was turbulent and intertwined with that of its neighbors. The Nasrids sometimes provided refuge or military aid to Castilian kings and noblemen, even against other Muslim states, while in turn, the Castilians provided refuge and aid to some Nasrid emirs against other Nasrid rivals. On other occasions, the Nasrids attempted to leverage the aid of the North African Marinids to ward off Castile, although Marinid interventions in the Peninsula ended after the Battle of Rio Salado (1340).[38][39][5]

The population of the emirate was also swelled by Muslim refugees from the territories newly conquered by Castile and Aragon, resulting in a small yet densely-populated territory that was more uniformly Muslim and Arabic-speaking than before.[40][41] The city itself expanded and new neighborhoods grew around the Albaicín (named after refugees from Baeza) and in Antequeruela (named after refugees from Antequera after 1410).[40] A new set of walls was constructed further north during the 13th–14th centuries, with Bab Ilbirah (present-day Puerta de Elvira) as its western entrance.[5][10] A major Muslim cemetery existed outside this gate.[42] The city's heart was its Great Mosque (on the site of the present-day Granada Cathedral) and the commercial district known as the qaysariyya (the Alcaicería).[5][10] Next to this was the only major madrasa built in al-Andalus, the Madrasa al-Yusufiyya (known today as the Palacio de la Madraza), founded in 1349.[43][44] Other monuments from this era include the al-Funduq al-Jadida ("New Inn" or caravanserai, now known as the Corral del Carbón), built in the early 14th century,[45] the Maristan (hospital), built-in 1365–1367 and demolished in 1843,[46] and the main mosque of the Albaicín, dating from the 13th century.[d]

When Ibn Al-Ahmar established himself in the city he moved the royal palace from the old Zirid citadel on the Albaicín hill to the Sabika hill, beginning construction on what became the present Alhambra.[5][7] The Alhambra acted as a self-contained palace city, with its mosque, hammams, fortress, and residential quarters for workers and servants. The most celebrated palaces that survive today, such as the Comares Palace and the Palace of the Lions, generally date from the reigns of Yusuf I (r. 1333–1354) and his son Muhammad V (r. 1354–1391, with interruptions).[43] Some smaller examples of Nasrid palace architecture in the city have survived in the Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo (late 13th century) and the Dar al-Horra (15th century).[48]

Map showing the Emirate of Granada by Ottoman cartographer Piri Reis
Partly due to the heavy tributary payments to Castile, Granada's economy specialized in the trade of high-value goods.[5] Integrated within the European mercantile network, the ports of the kingdom fostered intense trading relations with the Genoese, but also with the Catalans, and to a lesser extent, with the Venetians, the Florentines, and the Portuguese.[49] It provided connections with Muslim and Arab trade centers, particularly for gold from sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, and exported silk and dried fruits produced in the area.[40]

Despite its frontier position, Granada was also an important Islamic intellectual and cultural center, especially in the time of Muhammad V, with figures such as Ibn Khaldun and Ibn al-Khatib serving in the Nasrid court.[36][50] Ibn Battuta, a famous traveller, and historian, visited the Emirate of Granada in 1350. He described it as a powerful and self-sufficient kingdom in its own right, although frequently embroiled in skirmishes with the Kingdom of Castile. In his journal, Ibn Battuta called Granada the "metropolis of Andalusia and the bride of its cities."[51]

End of Muslim rule and 16th-century changes[edit]

The Surrender of Granada by F. Padilla: Muhammad XII before Ferdinand II and Isabella I (circa 1882)
On 2 January 1492, the last Muslim ruler in Iberia, Emir Muhammad XII, known as "Boabdil" to the Spanish, surrendered complete control of the Emirate of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile), after the last episode of the Granada War.

The 1492 capitulation of the Kingdom of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs is one of the most significant events in Granada's history. It brought the demise of the last Muslim-controlled polity in the Iberian Peninsula. The terms of the surrender, outlined in the Treaty of Granada at the end of 1491, explicitly allowed the Muslim inhabitants, known as mudéjares, to continue unmolested in the practice of their faith and customs. This had been a traditional practice during Castilian (and Aragonese) conquests of Muslim cities since the takeover of Toledo in the 11th century.[52] The terms of the surrender pressured Jewish inhabitants to convert or leave within three years,[53] but this provision was quickly superseded by the Alhambra Decree, issued only a few months later on March 31, which instead forced all Jews in Spain to convert or be expelled within four months.[54][55] Those who converted became known as conversos (converts). This move, along with the progressive erosion of other guarantees provided by the surrender treaty, raised tensions and fears within the remaining Muslim community during the 1490s.[56] Many of the city's affluent Muslims and its traditional ruling classes emigrated to North Africa in the early years after the conquest, but these early emigrants numbered only a few thousand, with the rest of the population unable to afford to leave.[54][e]

By 1499, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros grew frustrated with the slow pace of the efforts of the first archbishop of Granada, Hernando de Talavera, to convert non-Christians and undertook a program of forced baptisms, creating the converso class for Muslims and Jews. Cisneros's new strategy, which was a direct violation of the terms of the treaty, provoked the Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) centered in the rural Alpujarras region southeast of the city. The rebellion lasted until 1500 in Granada and continued until 1501 in the Alpujarras.[57] Responding to the rebellion of 1501, the Crown of Castile rescinded the Treaty of Granada,[58] and mandated that Granada's Muslims convert or emigrate. Many of the remaining Muslim elites subsequently emigrated to North Africa. The majority of the Granada's mudéjares converted (becoming the so-called moriscos or Moorish) so that they could stay. Both populations of converts were subject to persecution, execution, or exile, and each had cells that practiced their original religion in secrecy (the so-called Marranos in the case of the conversos accused of the charge of crypto-Judaism).

16th-century view of the city, as depicted in Georg Braun's Civitates orbis terrarum
Over the 16th century, Granada took on an ever more Catholic and Castilian character, as immigrants arrived from other regions of Castile, lured by the promise of economic opportunities in the newly conquered city.[59] At the time of the city's surrender in 1492 it had a population of 50,000 which included only a handful of Christians (mostly captives), but by 1561 (the year of the first royal census of the city) the population was composed of over 30,000 Christian immigrants and approximately 15,000 moriscos.[59] After 1492 the city's first churches had been installed in some converted mosques.[f] The vast majority of the city's remaining mosques were subsequently converted into churches during and after the mass conversions of 1500.[60] In 1531, Charles V founded the University of Granada on the site of the former madrasa built by Yusuf I.[18]

Granada's Town Council was not fully established until almost nine years after the Castilian conquest,[61] upon the concession of the so-called 'Constitutive Charter' of the Ayuntamiento of Granada on 23 September 1500.[62] From then on, the municipal institution became a crucible for the "Old Christian" and the converted morisco elites, resulting in strong factionalism, particularly after 1508.[63] The new period also saw the creation of several other new institutions such as the Cathedral Cabildo, the Captaincy–General [es], the Royal Chapel, and the Royal Chancellery.[64] For the rest of the 16th century, the Granadan ruling oligarchy featured roughly 40% of (Jewish) conversos and about 31% of hidalgos.[65] From the 1520s onward, the mosque structures themselves began to be replaced with new church buildings, a process which continued for most of the century.[66] In December 1568, during a period of renewed persecution against Moriscos, the Second Morisco Rebellion broke out in the Alpujarras.[67] Although the city's morisco population played little role in the rebellion, King Philip II ordered the expulsion of the vast majority of the morisco population from the Kingdom of Granada, except those artisans and professionals judged essential to the economy. The expelled population was redistributed to other cities throughout the Crown of Castile. The final expulsion of all moriscos from Castile and Aragon was carried out between 1609 and 1614.[68]

Later history and present day[edit]
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Early 17th-century map of Granada
During the 17th century, despite the importance of immigration,[69] the population of the city stagnated at about 55,000, contrary to the trend of population increase experienced in the rural areas of the Kingdom of Granada,[70] where the hammer of depopulation caused by the expulsion of the moriscos had taken a far greater toll in the previous century. The 17th-century demographic stagnation in the city and overall steady population increase in the wider kingdom went in line with the demographic disaster experienced throughout the century in the rest of the Crown of Castile.[71] The city was overshadowed in importance by other cities including Seville and the capital, Madrid.[72]

Between 1810 and 1812 Granada was occupied by Napoleon's army during the Peninsular War.[72] The French troops occupied the Alhambra as a fortified position and caused significant damage to the monument. Upon evacuating the city, they attempted to dynamite the whole complex, successfully blowing up eight towers before the remaining fuses were disabled by Spanish soldier José Garcia, thus saving what remains today.[73] In 1830 Washington Irving lived in Granada and wrote his Tales of the Alhambra, which revived some international interest in southern Spain and in its Islamic-era monuments.[74]

In the 1930s the tensions that eventually divided Spain were evident in Granada, with frequent riots and friction between landowners and peasants. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Granada was one of the cities that joined the Nationalist uprising.[75][76] There was local resistance against the Nationalists, particularly from the working classes in the Albaicín, which was violently repressed.[74] During the 1950s and 1960s, under the Franco regime, the province of Granada was one of the poorest areas in Spain.[74] In recent decades tourism has become a major industry in the city.[74]

Please add all profiles of people who lived, were born, or died in Granada, Spain. Thank you,

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Para el país, véase Granada (país).
Para otros usos de este término, véase Granada (desambiguación).
Granada
Municipio y ciudad de España

Bandera
Escudo

De izquierda a derecha y de arriba abajo: la Alhambra, torre de la catedral, la iglesia de San Gil y Santa Ana, el Palacio de Carlos V, la fuente de las Granadas, la carrera del Darro, la Real Chancillería, la Gran Vía y el monasterio de San Jerónimo.
Granada ubicada en EspañaGranadaGranada
Ubicación de Granada en España.
Granada ubicada en Provincia de GranadaGranadaGranada
Ubicación de Granada en la provincia de Granada.
MapaWikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Mapa interactivo — Granada
Lema: Muy noble, muy leal, nombrada, grande, celebérrima y heroica ciudad de Granada
País España
• Com. autónoma Andalucía
• Provincia Granada
• Comarca Vega de Granada
• Partido judicial Granada
Ubicación 37°10′41″N 3°36′03″O
• Altitud 6841​ m
(mín: 5832​, máx: 11832​)
Superficie 88,02 km²
Población 230 595 hab. (2023)
• Densidad 2644,51 hab./km²
Gentilicio granadino, -na
granadí
iliberitano, -na
Código postal 18001-18016 (Granada)
18182 (El Fargue)
18190 (Lancha del Genil)
Alcaldesa (2023) Marifrán Carazo Villalonga (PP)
Presupuesto 307 100 186 €3​ (2023)
Fiesta mayor Corpus Christi, Día de la Toma y Día de la Cruz
Patrón San Cecilio4​
San Juan de Dios5​
Patrona Virgen de las Angustias6​
Sitio web www.granada.org
[editar datos en Wikidata]

Granada, Espana

La Alhambra y Sierra Nevada, imagen por antonomasia de Granada

Parque de las Ciencias al atardecer
Granada es una ciudad y municipio español, capital de la provincia homónima, en la comunidad autónoma de Andalucía. Está situada en la parte central de la comarca de la Vega de Granada, a una altitud de 680 m s. n. m., en una amplia depresión intrabética formada por el río Genil y por el piedemonte del macizo más alto de la península ibérica, Sierra Nevada, que condiciona su clima.

El municipio granadino es una de las treinta y cuatro entidades que componen el Área Metropolitana de Granada, y comprende los núcleos de población de Granada, Lancha del Genil, El Fargue y Bobadilla.

La ciudad es sede del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Andalucía, Ceuta y Melilla, máximo órgano judicial autonómico, así como de la Universidad de Granada (UGR), de la Archidiócesis de Granada, de la Jefatura Superior de Policía de Andalucía Oriental y del Mando de Adiestramiento y Doctrina del Ejército de Tierra de las Fuerzas Armadas Españolas.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Grenada. For other uses, see Granada (disambiguation).

Granada (/ɡrəˈnɑːdə/ grə-NAH-də;[3] Spanish: [%C9%A1%C9%BEa%CB%88na%C3%B0a] ⓘ, locally [%C9%A1%C9%BEa%CB%88na][4]) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Darro, the Genil, the Monachil, and the Beiro. Ascribed to the Vega de Granada comarca, the city sits at an average elevation of 738 m (2,421 ft) above sea level, yet is only one hour by car from the Mediterranean coast, the Costa Tropical. Nearby is the Sierra Nevada Ski Station, where the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 were held.

The area was settled in ancient times by Iberians, Romans, and Visigoths. The current settlement became a major city of Al-Andalus in the 11th century during the Zirid Taifa of Granada.[5] In the 13th century it became the capital of the Emirate of Granada under Nasrid rule, the last Muslim-ruled state in the Iberian Peninsula. Granada was conquered in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs and progressively transformed into a Christian city over the 16th century.[6]

The Alhambra, a medieval Nasrid citadel and palace, is located in Granada. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture[7] and one of the most visited tourist sites in Spain.[8][9] Islamic-period influence and Moorish architecture are also preserved in the Albaicín neighborhood and other medieval monuments in the city.[10] The 16th century also saw a flourishing of Mudéjar architecture and Renaissance architecture,[11] followed later by Baroque and Churrigueresque styles.[12][13] The University of Granada has an estimated 47,000 undergraduate students spread over five different campuses in the city. The pomegranate (in Spanish, Granada) is the heraldic device of Granada.

Etymology[edit]
Granada's historical name in the Arabic language was غرناطة (Ġarnāṭa).[14][15][16][17] Both the name's meaning and origin are uncertain and have been debated.[18][19] The toponym existed before the Zirid period in the 11th century.[19] It probably first appeared in the 9th century[18] and it is found in Arabic sources from the 10th century.[20]

The word Gárnata (or Karnata) possibly meant "hill of strangers".[21]: 41 [22] Another meaning might be "hill of pilgrims".[18] It could even have been of Berber origin.[20] Another theory is that it derived from Latin granum (or its plural grana), meaning "seed", "beads", or a "scarlet color", which would have been adapted into Arabic as Ġarnāṭa or Iġranāṭa.[20] The Arab chronicler Al-Maqqari believed that it came from the Latin word for pomegranate, granata.[18] In either case, the Latin word may have been used not in its primary sense, but in the more derived sense of "red", referring to the color of the area's soil and its buildings. This would also mirror the etymology of the name of the Alhambra.[19][20]

History[edit]
See also: Granada chronology
Pre-Umayyad history[edit]
See also: Hispania

A mosaic from a Roman villa, dating from 1 AD, was discovered in the district of Los Mondragones in Granada (now kept at the Archaeological Museum)[18]
The region surrounding what today is Granada has been populated since at least 5500 BC.[14] Archeological artifacts found in the city indicate that the site of the city, including the area around the present-day avenue of Gran Vía de Colón, was inhabited since the Bronze Age. The most ancient ruins found in the area belong to an oppidum called Ilturir, founded by the Iberian Bastetani tribe around 650 BC.[18] The name Elibyrge is also attested to this area.[14] This settlement became later known as Iliberri or Iliberis.[14][23][18] In 44 BC Iliberis became a Roman colony and in 27 BC it became a Roman municipium named Florentia Iliberritana ('Flourishing Iliberri').[18][23]

The identification of present-day Granada with the Roman-era Iliberis and the historical continuity between the two settlements has long been debated by scholars.[24][25][23] Modern archeological digs on the Albaicín hill have uncovered finds demonstrating the presence of a significant Roman town on that site.[23] Little is known, however, about the history of the city in the period between the end of the Roman era and the 11th century.[23] An important Christian synod circa 300 AD, the Synod of Elvira, took place near this area (the name Elvira being derived from the name Iliberri), but there is no concrete archeological or documentary evidence establishing the exact location of the meeting. It may have taken place in the former Roman town or it may have taken place somewhere in the surrounding region, which was known as Elvira.[23]

Founding and early history[edit]
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, starting in 711 AD, brought large parts of the Iberian Peninsula under Moorish control and established al-Andalus. The earliest Arabic historical sources mention that a town named Qashtīliya, later known as Madīnat Ilbīra (Elvira) was located on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Elvira mountains (near present-day Atarfe) and became the most important settlement in the area.[25][23] A smaller settlement and fortress (ḥiṣn) named Ġarnāṭa (also transliterated as Gharnāṭa) existed on the south side of the Darro River or the site of the current Albaicín neighborhood. The latter had a mainly Jewish population and thus was also known as Gharnāṭat al-Yahūd ("Gharnāṭa of the Jews").[5][23] The district around the city was known as Kūrat Ilbīra (roughly "Province of Elvira"). After 743 the town of Ilbīra was settled by soldiers from the region of Syria who played a role in supporting Abd al-Rahman I, the founder of the Emirate of Córdoba and a new Umayyad dynasty.[5] In the late 9th century, during the reign of Abdallah (r. 844–912), the city and its surrounding district were the site of conflict between muwallads (Muslim converts) who were loyal to the central government and Arabs, led by Sawwār ibn Ḥamdūn, who resented them.[5][26]

At the beginning of the 11th century, the area became dominated by the Zirids, a Sanhaja Berber group and offshoot of the Zirids who ruled parts of North Africa. This group became an important contingent in the army of ʿAbd al-Malik al-Muẓaffar, the prime minister of Caliph Hisham II (r. 976–1009) and successor to Ibn Abi ʿAmir al-Mansur (Almanzor) as de facto ruler of the Caliphate of Córdoba. For their service, the Zirids were granted control of the province of Elvira.[5] When the Caliphate collapsed after 1009 and the Fitna (civil war) began, the Zirid leader Zawi ben Ziri established an independent kingdom for himself, the Taifa of Granada. Arab sources such as al-Idrisi consider him to be the founder of the city of Granada.[5] His surviving memoirs – the only ones for the Spanish "Middle Ages" – provide considerable detail for this brief period.[27] Because Madīnat Ilbīra was situated on a low plain and, as a result, difficult to protect from attacks, the ruler decided to transfer his residence to the higher situated area of Ġarnāṭa. According to Arabic sources, Ilbīra was razed during the Fitna, afterwards it was not restored at its previous place and instead Ġarnāṭa, the former Jewish town, replaced it as the main city. In a short time this town was transformed into one of the most important cities of al-Andalus.[14][16] Until the 11th century it had a mixed population of Christians, Muslims, and Jews.[10]

Puerta Monaita, one of the 11th-century Zirid gates in the Albaicin
The Zirids built their citadel and palace, known as the al-Qaṣaba al-Qadīma ("Old Citadel"), on the hill now occupied by the Albaicín neighborhood.[5][10] It was connected to two smaller fortresses on the Sabika hill (site of the future Alhambra) and Mauror hill to the south.[10] The city around it grew during the 11th century to include the Albaicín, the Sabika, the Mauror, and a part of the surrounding plains. The city was fortified with walls encompassing an area of approximately 75 hectares.[5] The northern part of these walls, near the Albaicin citadel, have survived to the present day, along with two of its gates: Bāb al-Unaydar (now called Puerta Monaita in Spanish) and Bāb al-Ziyāda (now known as Arco de las Pesas or Puerta Nueva).[10][5] The city and its residences were supplied with water through an extensive network of underground cisterns and pipes.[5][28] On the Darro River, along the wall connecting the Zirid citadel with the Sabika hill, was a sluice gate called Bāb al-Difāf ("Gate of the Tambourines"), which could be closed or opened to control the flow of the river and retain water if necessary.[b][29][30] The nearby Bañuelo, a former hammam (bathhouse), also likely dates from this time, as does the former minaret of a mosque in the Albaicín, now part of the Church of San José.[10]

Under the Zirid kings Habbus ibn Maksan and Badis, the most powerful figure was the Jewish administrator known as Samuel ha-Nagid (in Hebrew) or Isma'il ibn Nagrilla (in Arabic). Samuel was a highly educated member of the former elites of Cordoba, who fled that city after the outbreak of the Fitna. He eventually found his way to Granada, where Habbus ibn Maksan appointed him his secretary in 1020 and entrusted him with many important responsibilities, including tax collection. Under Badis, he even took charge of the army.[31] During this period, the Muslim king was looked upon as a mainly symbolic figurehead. Granada was the center of Jewish Sephardi culture and scholarship. According to Daniel Eisenberg:

Granada was in the eleventh century the center of Sephardic civilization at its peak, and from 1027 until 1066 Granada was a powerful Jewish state. Jews did not hold the foreigner (dhimmi) status typical of Islamic rule. Samuel ibn Nagrilla, recognized by Sephardic Jews everywhere as the quasi-political ha-Nagid ('The Prince'), was king in all but name. As vizier, he made policy and—much more unusual—led the army. [...] It is said that Samuel's strengthening and fortification of Granada was what permitted it, later, to survive as the last Islamic state in the Iberian peninsula. All of the greatest figures of eleventh-century Hispano-Jewish culture are associated with Granada. Moses Ibn Ezra was from Granada; on his invitation, Judah ha-Levi spent several years there as his guest. Ibn Gabirol’s patrons and hosts were the Jewish viziers of Granada, Samuel ha-Nagid and his son Joseph.[32]

After Samuel's death, his son Joseph took over his position but proved to lack his father's diplomacy, bringing on the 1066 Granada massacre,[31] which ended the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.[citation needed]

From the late 11th century to the early 13th century, Al-Andalus was dominated by two successive North African Berber empires. The Almoravids ruled Granada from 1090 and the Almohads from 1166.[33] Evidence from the artistic and archeological remains of this period suggests that the city thrived under the Almoravids but declined under the Almohads.[10] Remnants of the Almohad period in the city include the Alcázar Genil, built-in 1218–1219 (but later redecorated under the Nasrids),[34] and possibly the former minaret attached to the present-day Church of San Juan de los Reyes in the Albaicin.[35][c]

Nasrid Emirate of Granada[edit]
Main articles: Nasrid dynasty and Emirate of Granada

Sigil of the Nasrid dynasty located in the Palacio de Comares
In 1228 Idris al-Ma'mun, the last effective Almohad ruler in al-Andalus, left the Iberian Peninsula. As Almohad rule collapsed local leaders and factions emerged across the region. With the Reconquista in full swing, the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon – under kings Ferdinand III and James I, respectively – made major conquests across al-Andalus. Castile captured Cordoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248. Meanwhile, the ambitious Ibn al-Ahmar (Muhammad I) established what became the last and longest-reigning Muslim dynasty in the Iberian peninsula, the Nasrids, who ruled the Emirate of Granada. On multiple occasions Ibn al-Ahmar aligned himself with Ferdinand III, eventually agreeing to become his vassal in 1246.[37] Granada thereafter became a tributary state to the Kingdom of Castile, although this was often interrupted by wars between the two states.[38][5] The political history of the emirate was turbulent and intertwined with that of its neighbors. The Nasrids sometimes provided refuge or military aid to Castilian kings and noblemen, even against other Muslim states, while in turn, the Castilians provided refuge and aid to some Nasrid emirs against other Nasrid rivals. On other occasions, the Nasrids attempted to leverage the aid of the North African Marinids to ward off Castile, although Marinid interventions in the Peninsula ended after the Battle of Rio Salado (1340).[38][39][5]

The population of the emirate was also swelled by Muslim refugees from the territories newly conquered by Castile and Aragon, resulting in a small yet densely-populated territory that was more uniformly Muslim and Arabic-speaking than before.[40][41] The city itself expanded and new neighborhoods grew around the Albaicín (named after refugees from Baeza) and in Antequeruela (named after refugees from Antequera after 1410).[40] A new set of walls was constructed further north during the 13th–14th centuries, with Bab Ilbirah (present-day Puerta de Elvira) as its western entrance.[5][10] A major Muslim cemetery existed outside this gate.[42] The city's heart was its Great Mosque (on the site of the present-day Granada Cathedral) and the commercial district known as the qaysariyya (the Alcaicería).[5][10] Next to this was the only major madrasa built in al-Andalus, the Madrasa al-Yusufiyya (known today as the Palacio de la Madraza), founded in 1349.[43][44] Other monuments from this era include the al-Funduq al-Jadida ("New Inn" or caravanserai, now known as the Corral del Carbón), built in the early 14th century,[45] the Maristan (hospital), built-in 1365–1367 and demolished in 1843,[46] and the main mosque of the Albaicín, dating from the 13th century.[d]

When Ibn Al-Ahmar established himself in the city he moved the royal palace from the old Zirid citadel on the Albaicín hill to the Sabika hill, beginning construction on what became the present Alhambra.[5][7] The Alhambra acted as a self-contained palace city, with its mosque, hammams, fortress, and residential quarters for workers and servants. The most celebrated palaces that survive today, such as the Comares Palace and the Palace of the Lions, generally date from the reigns of Yusuf I (r. 1333–1354) and his son Muhammad V (r. 1354–1391, with interruptions).[43] Some smaller examples of Nasrid palace architecture in the city have survived in the Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo (late 13th century) and the Dar al-Horra (15th century).[48]

Map showing the Emirate of Granada by Ottoman cartographer Piri Reis
Partly due to the heavy tributary payments to Castile, Granada's economy specialized in the trade of high-value goods.[5] Integrated within the European mercantile network, the ports of the kingdom fostered intense trading relations with the Genoese, but also with the Catalans, and to a lesser extent, with the Venetians, the Florentines, and the Portuguese.[49] It provided connections with Muslim and Arab trade centers, particularly for gold from sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, and exported silk and dried fruits produced in the area.[40]

Despite its frontier position, Granada was also an important Islamic intellectual and cultural center, especially in the time of Muhammad V, with figures such as Ibn Khaldun and Ibn al-Khatib serving in the Nasrid court.[36][50] Ibn Battuta, a famous traveller, and historian, visited the Emirate of Granada in 1350. He described it as a powerful and self-sufficient kingdom in its own right, although frequently embroiled in skirmishes with the Kingdom of Castile. In his journal, Ibn Battuta called Granada the "metropolis of Andalusia and the bride of its cities."[51]

End of Muslim rule and 16th-century changes[edit]

The Surrender of Granada by F. Padilla: Muhammad XII before Ferdinand II and Isabella I (circa 1882)
On 2 January 1492, the last Muslim ruler in Iberia, Emir Muhammad XII, known as "Boabdil" to the Spanish, surrendered complete control of the Emirate of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile), after the last episode of the Granada War.

The 1492 capitulation of the Kingdom of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs is one of the most significant events in Granada's history. It brought the demise of the last Muslim-controlled polity in the Iberian Peninsula. The terms of the surrender, outlined in the Treaty of Granada at the end of 1491, explicitly allowed the Muslim inhabitants, known as mudéjares, to continue unmolested in the practice of their faith and customs. This had been a traditional practice during Castilian (and Aragonese) conquests of Muslim cities since the takeover of Toledo in the 11th century.[52] The terms of the surrender pressured Jewish inhabitants to convert or leave within three years,[53] but this provision was quickly superseded by the Alhambra Decree, issued only a few months later on March 31, which instead forced all Jews in Spain to convert or be expelled within four months.[54][55] Those who converted became known as conversos (converts). This move, along with the progressive erosion of other guarantees provided by the surrender treaty, raised tensions and fears within the remaining Muslim community during the 1490s.[56] Many of the city's affluent Muslims and its traditional ruling classes emigrated to North Africa in the early years after the conquest, but these early emigrants numbered only a few thousand, with the rest of the population unable to afford to leave.[54][e]

By 1499, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros grew frustrated with the slow pace of the efforts of the first archbishop of Granada, Hernando de Talavera, to convert non-Christians and undertook a program of forced baptisms, creating the converso class for Muslims and Jews. Cisneros's new strategy, which was a direct violation of the terms of the treaty, provoked the Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) centered in the rural Alpujarras region southeast of the city. The rebellion lasted until 1500 in Granada and continued until 1501 in the Alpujarras.[57] Responding to the rebellion of 1501, the Crown of Castile rescinded the Treaty of Granada,[58] and mandated that Granada's Muslims convert or emigrate. Many of the remaining Muslim elites subsequently emigrated to North Africa. The majority of the Granada's mudéjares converted (becoming the so-called moriscos or Moorish) so that they could stay. Both populations of converts were subject to persecution, execution, or exile, and each had cells that practiced their original religion in secrecy (the so-called Marranos in the case of the conversos accused of the charge of crypto-Judaism).

16th-century view of the city, as depicted in Georg Braun's Civitates orbis terrarum
Over the 16th century, Granada took on an ever more Catholic and Castilian character, as immigrants arrived from other regions of Castile, lured by the promise of economic opportunities in the newly conquered city.[59] At the time of the city's surrender in 1492 it had a population of 50,000 which included only a handful of Christians (mostly captives), but by 1561 (the year of the first royal census of the city) the population was composed of over 30,000 Christian immigrants and approximately 15,000 moriscos.[59] After 1492 the city's first churches had been installed in some converted mosques.[f] The vast majority of the city's remaining mosques were subsequently converted into churches during and after the mass conversions of 1500.[60] In 1531, Charles V founded the University of Granada on the site of the former madrasa built by Yusuf I.[18]

Granada's Town Council was not fully established until almost nine years after the Castilian conquest,[61] upon the concession of the so-called 'Constitutive Charter' of the Ayuntamiento of Granada on 23 September 1500.[62] From then on, the municipal institution became a crucible for the "Old Christian" and the converted morisco elites, resulting in strong factionalism, particularly after 1508.[63] The new period also saw the creation of several other new institutions such as the Cathedral Cabildo, the Captaincy–General [es], the Royal Chapel, and the Royal Chancellery.[64] For the rest of the 16th century, the Granadan ruling oligarchy featured roughly 40% of (Jewish) conversos and about 31% of hidalgos.[65] From the 1520s onward, the mosque structures themselves began to be replaced with new church buildings, a process which continued for most of the century.[66] In December 1568, during a period of renewed persecution against Moriscos, the Second Morisco Rebellion broke out in the Alpujarras.[67] Although the city's morisco population played little role in the rebellion, King Philip II ordered the expulsion of the vast majority of the morisco population from the Kingdom of Granada, except those artisans and professionals judged essential to the economy. The expelled population was redistributed to other cities throughout the Crown of Castile. The final expulsion of all moriscos from Castile and Aragon was carried out between 1609 and 1614.[68]

Later history and present day[edit]
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Early 17th-century map of Granada
During the 17th century, despite the importance of immigration,[69] the population of the city stagnated at about 55,000, contrary to the trend of population increase experienced in the rural areas of the Kingdom of Granada,[70] where the hammer of depopulation caused by the expulsion of the moriscos had taken a far greater toll in the previous century. The 17th-century demographic stagnation in the city and overall steady population increase in the wider kingdom went in line with the demographic disaster experienced throughout the century in the rest of the Crown of Castile.[71] The city was overshadowed in importance by other cities including Seville and the capital, Madrid.[72]

Between 1810 and 1812 Granada was occupied by Napoleon's army during the Peninsular War.[72] The French troops occupied the Alhambra as a fortified position and caused significant damage to the monument. Upon evacuating the city, they attempted to dynamite the whole complex, successfully blowing up eight towers before the remaining fuses were disabled by Spanish soldier José Garcia, thus saving what remains today.[73] In 1830 Washington Irving lived in Granada and wrote his Tales of the Alhambra, which revived some international interest in southern Spain and in its Islamic-era monuments.[74]

In the 1930s the tensions that eventually divided Spain were evident in Granada, with frequent riots and friction between landowners and peasants. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Granada was one of the cities that joined the Nationalist uprising.[75][76] There was local resistance against the Nationalists, particularly from the working classes in the Albaicín, which was violently repressed.[74] During the 1950s and 1960s, under the Franco regime, the province of Granada was one of the poorest areas in Spain.[74] In recent decades tourism has become a major industry in the city.[74]