The Capitulation of Granada. End of Islamic rule on the Iberian peninsula

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 all Islamic rule on the Iberian peninsula (al-Andalus).

The ten-year war was not a continuous effort, but a series of seasonal campaigns launched in spring and broken off in winter. The Granadans were crippled by internal conflict and civil war, while the Christians were generally unified. The war also saw the effective use of artillery by the Christians to rapidly conquer towns that would otherwise have required a long siege. On January 2, 1492 Muhammad XII of Granada (King Boabdil) surrendered the Emirate of Granada, the city of Granada, and the Alhambra palace to the Castilian forces.

The war was a joint project between Isabella's Crown of Castile 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 the end of convivencia ("live and let live") between religions In the Iberian peninsula: the Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or be exiled in 1492, and by 1501, all of Granada's Muslims were obliged to convert to Christianity, become slaves, or be exiled; by 1526 this prohibition spread to the rest of Spain. "New Christians" (conversos) came to be accused of crypto-Islam and crypto-Judaism.

Spain would go on to model its national aspirations as the guardian of Christianity and Catholicism. The fall of the Alhambra is still celebrated every year by the City Council of Granada, and the Granada War is considered in traditional Spanish historiography as the final war of the Reconquista. At the same time, and uniquely in the "Reconquista", the Granada War itself is never called "the reconquest of Granada"", but rather "the conquest of Granada". Granada in its current form had never been Christian before the "reconquista", however the corresponding region was held by the Christian Visigothic Kingdom prior to the 8th century Umayyad conquest of Hispania.