Granada - A Potted History

Established by the first Iberian tribes to settle the south of the peninsular, Granada's turbulent history has witnessed a host of invading armies from the Phoenicians to the Moors. It has withstood sieges, occupation and destruction to flourish into a vibrant, modern city with a rich blend of cultural influences that continue to attract the hordes; only now they arrive armed with digital cameras and guidebooks rather than swords and chariots.

This, the first of three articles, takes us from the city's foundation to the expulsion of the Moors from their last stronghold in Spain.

Granada, I'm falling under your spell
And if you could speak, what a fascinating tale you would tell
Of an age the world has long forgotten
Of an age that weaves a silent magic in Granada today

("Granada I'm falling under your spell" -Frankie Laine 1954)

Corny it maybe, but the old Frankie Laine song somehow captures the essence of Granada; the feeling that everywhere you look there is magic and a tale to tell.

There was little but bare hillside when the first Iberian Tribes made their home in the area near the present day Albaicin district. They remained for the better part of a millennium, until ousted by the Phonecians who, just 500 years later, were dispatched by the Cartheginians.

In 250BC the might of the Roman Empire descended and, for the next seven centuries, created a thriving municipality which covered the Albaicin, the Alcazaba and the area up to the Alhambra hill. It became a city of two names: Iliberis and the more poetic Florentia (City of flowers and fruits). However, as the Roman Empire began to decline in the 5th century, the Visigoths, never ones to miss an opportunity, moved in and for the next 200 years they ruled over a city that was expanding in population, wealth and influence. The Jewish neighbourhood of Garnatha established itself alongside Iliberis and in 711 their support was a crucial factor in enabling the invading Moors to eject the Visigoths and drive north to occupy the entire peninsula.

The Moors would remain for almost eight centuries, adapting the Jewish name to Karnattah, and creating one of the richest and most forward-looking medieval cities in Spain, attracting traders, artisans and learned men. In 1010 Zawi ben Ziri - the founder of the Ziri dynasty - began to expand the area of the Albaicin and three years later Granada became an independent Kingdom. The Ziris reigned for another 200 hundred years until, in 1238, Muhammad Ibn Yusuf Ibn Nasr took control and the Nasrid dynasty, builders of the Alhambra, came to power.

The city went from strength to strength, creating alliances and changing sides to maintain its position but, as the Catholic armies of Ferdinand and Isabella spread across the peninsula, Granada found itself the last stronghold of the Muslim world. In 1491 the Monarchs, with a united Spain behind them, laid siege to the city. Weakened and isolated, it crumbled within months. Boabdil, the last Nasrid king, having been granted refuge in the Alpujarras, gold and a promise of political and religious freedom for his subjects, surrendered. Ferdinand and Isabella entered Granada with great pomp and ceremony, flags flying and set up court in the lavish Alhambra. Granada was now part of a newly unified Spain.

As for Boabdil, as he fled the city he turned for one last look and the tears flowed. "You do well," said his unsympathetic mother, "to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man." The spot from which Boabdil looked for the last time on Granada is still marked, and is known as "The last sigh of the Moor" (el último suspiro del Moro).

In Part 2; Ferdinand & Isabella, the Inquisition, Granada's Golden age and the war with France that almost destroyed the Alhambra.