The End of the Andalusian State: A New Reading in the Causes and the Consequences

Abstract

In light of the multiple conflicts and wars that hit the Arab-Muslim world nowadays and which play a very important role in changing the political map, I was interested in finding examples in the history of an event or a historical period that is similar to our contemporary reality. Fundamentally, this memoir seeks to shed light on the history of the Islamic civilization in Andalusia with a particular focus on the causes and consequences of its downfall. To this end, the study has used the historical approach to trace back these important issues. As a matter of fact, along its eight centuries of existence, Andalusia was exposed to a set of internal and external factors that weakened it, the internal conspiracies, the betrayals of the Andalusian rulers and their alliances with the Christian kingdoms against each other, and the frequent campaigns of the Christians from the North, were among the most prominent reasons that led to the collapse. After the fall of Granada, the last Islamic fortress in the Iberian Peninsula, in 1492, the rest of Muslims in that isolated land witnessed one of the worst phases in their history. That dark phase started by the compulsory Christianization and the oppressive inquisitions, and it ended with the final expulsion of all Muslims.