Capitulations of Granada 1492

1492 is a key date in the local history of the city of Granada, as well as in the historical narrative of the Spanish nation: on the 2nd of January, the last Muslim king of the Nasrid dynasty signed with the Catholic Monarch the surrender treaty known as the Capitulations of Granada. Despite the fact that the treaty guaranteed rights for the Muslim population, it became dead letter shortly after its signature. Muslims were soon compelled to convert to Catholicism or leave, and in 1609, a decree of expulsion was sent in to exile all of their descendants. They thus followed the path of the Jewish Sephardic minority that had been expelled in March 1492, only three months after the fall of Granada. The significance of the date and its consequences have been revisited in contemporary Spain in the light of a social diversity. Today, the new visibility of Islam has led to a reconsideration of the validity of the Capitulations and the tensions involved in celebrating the legacy of the Catholic Monarchs.