Granada War

The Granada War (Spanish: Guerra de Granada) was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1492, during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs (los Reyes Católicos) Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It ended with the defeat of Granada and its annexation by Castile, ending Islamic rule, Al-Andalus, on the Iberian peninsula and completing the Reconquista.

The ten-year war was not a continuous effort: it was a series of seasonal campaigns launched in the spring and postponed in the winter. The Granadans were crippled by internal conflict and civil war; meanwhile the Christians were generally unified. The war also saw the effective use of artillery by the Christians to rapidly conquer towns that would have required a long siege otherwise. The decisive Battle of Granada concluded the war. On January 2, 1492 Muhammad XII of Granada (King Boabdil) surrendered the Emirate of Granada, the city of Granada, and the Alhambra palace. It is still celebrated every year on that date by the City Council of Granada.

The war was a joint project between Isabella's Kingdom of Castile and León, and Ferdinand's Crown of Aragon.

The bulk of the troops and funds for the war came from Castile, and Granada was annexed into Castile's lands. The Crown of Aragon was less important: apart from the presence of King Ferdinand himself, Aragon provided naval collaboration, guns, and some financial loans. Aristocrats were offered the allure of new lands, while Ferdinand and Isabella centralized and consolidated power. The aftermath of the war saw religious and ethnic differences sharpen, as the Jews and the Muslims were forced to either convert to Christianity or be exiled. This, too, helped create the future Spain by defining it as the guardian of Christianity; tensions flared between "old Christians" and "new Christians" (conversos), those who had converted.