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Granada - The City
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The Nasrid city of Granada, head of the last Islamic reign of the Iberian Peninsula, sits elevated at the foot of the great Sierra Nevada mountain range and before the vast fertile valley extending, vigorously green, from the north and from the west.
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The city originates from an Iberian population called the Ilbyr, which occupied the present day neighborhood of the Albaycín over 5000 years ago.
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The arrival of the Muslims with their advanced civilization produced a rupture so total that there hardly remains a memory of the nomadic Ilbyrs. Islamic reign governed over the peninsula for eight centuries. |
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In 1489, the totality of the Islamic reign, with the exception of the capital of Granada, had fallen under the power of the Catholic Kings, Fernando and Isabel. The capital fell, after a prolonged assault, January 2, 1492, the day in which the Muslim ruler Boabdil turned over the keys to the new Christian monarchs. The surrender accord agreed that the Christians would respect the Arab culture, religion and language; though shortly after, religious persecution soon led to Muslim expulsion.
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At the start of the 19 th century, Granada found itself in the same approximate conditions as when it was first encountered by the Catholic monarchs. Between 1810 and 1812, the French occupied this territory, producing inconveniences and destructions. |
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From the 70’s on, tourism and an increase in industry modernized the city, nevertheless Granada has maintained a good number of its distinctive “barrios” and the streets and architecture still retain the flavor and picturesque of olden days gone by.
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