On This Day in History: January 2

The Reconquista

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Lotta crazy shit happened in Spain in 1492. The crown financed Columbus raping a continent, they kicked out the Jews, and they also finally kicked out the Muslims. Regarding that last one, I say “finally” because they had been fighting them since the Muslims invaded over seven centuries earlier. It was a reconquering of their own territory. That’s why it was called the Reconquista.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: January 2, 1492--

Close to a quarter of the world’s population is Muslim, to varying degrees. How did it spread so far? Welp, it wasn’t exactly through peaceful explanation of the revelations of the prophet. In many cases, it was by the sword: convert, or die. Beginning early in the seventh century, the creation of the religion of Islam involved a series of wars of conquest to spread the glorious word. Islamic law forbids forced conversion, and often attaining new adherents was more indirect: conquer their lands and enforce Islamic laws that make life a lot less shitty if you decide to embrace Islam. It was polytheists Muslims really had no tolerance for, because ONE GOD! But since Jews and Christians are monotheists (mostly), you could remain so if you were willing to pay extra taxes for the privilege.

A mere century after it had begun, Islam spread across North Africa and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar to invade the Iberian Peninsula in 711. At the time, the region that would come to be known as Spain and Portugal was a divided Visigoth kingdom that could not mount a unified defense against Muslim invaders, and over the next 15 years the invaders conquered most of the peninsula, with the exception of the northwest corner. And it was from that corner the Reconquista launched.

And wow was it a long fucking process. Over 700 motherfucking years of fighting to take back the territory, which of course involved forceable conversion of Muslims (and Jews) to Christianity. On January 2, 1492, the Emirate of Granada in the southeast of Spain, the final Muslim stronghold on the peninsula, surrendered to the Christian forces.

The interesting thing is that during the Islamic occupation of Spain, the invaders had been pretty tolerant of other religions, and many Christians and Jews and Muslims lived side by side, mostly in peace. But as the reconquest moved south, the tolerance for anything not Christian was paltry, and this included Jews. A few months after the surrender at Granada, there was a decree that any Jews remaining in the country had to convert to Christianity or get the fuck out.

They say no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, but they kinda telegraphed that shit.

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