Administration

This dynasty common a total of 20 sultans of Granada. The last of them, Boabdil, known as the "Little

King", paid the taxes and imposed taxes to the Kingdom of Grenade for the supervision of the estate. This

fact led to Queen Elizabeth I of Castile to enter into war with the Nazarí kingdom, which, together with

the civil war that was already suffered this kingdom, facilitated the Christian reconquest. The territorial

and administrative organization of Kingdom will be seen through the tahas.

During the reign of this dynasty will be built the palace of the Alhambra, the grandest exhibition of

Nazarene art and one of the musils of Muslim art of all time

Culture

The Alhambra stands on the hill of the Sabika, one of the highest points of the city of Granada. This site was looking for a strategic defensive situation and at the same time transmit a clear symbol, where the peak of power is very perceptible for the rest of the city, a location chosen to be contemplated. The occupation of this hill goes back to Roman times. From year 899 dated the first written references of a military site in the zone. In the middle of the XI century, when Grenada became capital of the kingdom of Taifa, under the ziríes dynasty, the constructions were extended.

The Alhambra became a royal residence, starting in 1238, with the coming to power of Muhammad ibn Nasr, the first monarch of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, for which he created a water supply of his own. The most luxurious buildings of the palaces that today are preserved, the palace of Comares and the Lions, come from the fourteenth century. The set has an elongated and irregular shape adapted to the shape of the hill on which it stands. Its length is 740 m. And its width varies between 180 and 40 meters.

Mapa virtual y 3D de la Alhambra

Art

Nasrid art

Nasrid art, also called Granada art, is the last stage of Hispano-Muslim art. It develops during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, extending in addition to the Nazari Kingdom of Granada, Barbary and Christian dominions of the Iberian Peninsula, contributing to the emergence of Mudejar art.

The work by antonomasia that defines to the dynasty Nazarí (1237-1492) is the Alhambra

The Alhambra is initiated by the founder of the dynasty, 
Muhammad I.

Decorative Arts

Similar to the architectural splendor is the one acquired by the sumptuous arts, emphasizing the ceramics of metallic reflection and the fabrics of silk to which the bronzes, inlayings and the arms can be added. Luxury ceramics, known as metallic reflections or gold earthenware, are characterized by subjecting their last cooking to reduced fire - oxygen - and lower temperature

Other art exhibitions

From the mid-twentieth century onwards, there has been evidence of hidden paintings in the Hall of Ambassadors of the Comares Palace of the Alhambra, in parts only accessible to the Nasrid artisans who participated in the construction.

Economy

To enable its survival, the Emirate had to make an important effort to increase the sources of agricultural and mercantile wealth by maximizing the use of irrigation techniques by means of a thorough regulation of the use and distribution of water in the plains and granadinas. , They provided an abundance of horticultural and fruit products for both the domestic and foreign markets, offsetting the deficit in cereals of the emirate which they sometimes had to import. The economy was complemented by cattle ranching in mountainous areas, coastal fishing, southeastern mining resources, as well as ceramics and, above all, the silk textile handicraft, the basis of urban economic life and foreign trade.

One of the basic elements of Granada's economy was commerce. Christian control of the Strait of Gibraltar from the Battle of Salado (1340) and the conquest of Algeciras (1344) cut the Kingdom of Granada to military aid from North Africa, but also stimulated a trade between Atlantic Europe and the Mediterranean Of which the Nazaries benefited enormously.

Its ports became basic scales for merchants, while its products were opened to other markets: Catalans and, especially Genoveses, established consulates in Malaga, Almeria, Adra or Almuñécar, the main ports of the Kingdom. Trade with the Maghreb and North Africa was of great importance, followed by commercial networks with the Crown of Aragon: Catalonia, Valencia and Mallorca.

Castilian control of the Strait of Gibraltar revalued the value of Granadian products, especially silk, sugar, nuts and anchovetas. From then on the trade with the Crown of Castile, especially with Seville, acquired great importance. The export of silk, which had its main centers in Granada, Malaga, Vélez-Málaga or Ronda, became one of the main products of manufacture, and its importance was such that the Catholic Monarchs would establish after 1492 the so-called "Rent" Of the silk of Granada ".

Commercial exchanges were also carried out along the land border of Granada, often carried out illegally.

Society

As the Castilian conquest advanced, many Andalusians decided to flee to the south of the peninsula. Thus, when the kingdoms of Cordoba, Jaen, Seville and Murcia fell into Castilian hands, some inhabitants decided to leave for the Nazari Kingdom of Granada. The Jewish and Mozarabic minorities, which had been plentiful in earlier periods in the area of ​​the Nazari Kingdom, had almost disappeared during the Almohad domination.

However, as soon as the Kingdom of Granada was consolidated, the Jews returned, brought by the Christian merchants who established their consulates in the main towns of Granada. The presence of Mozarabs was reduced to loose groups, political refugees and merchants, who were allowed to practice their religion in private. It is estimated at 500,000 Muslims who left the Guadalquivir valley on the way to Granada or to North Africa.

Two main groups could be distinguished: the old native population and the new population coming from the conquered lands; And two reduced: the African volunteers and the elches and captives. The circumstances in which lived the Nasrid inhabitants, makes Castilians and Aragonese influence mainly in clothing, food and drink.

Politic

The Kingdom of Granada comprised part of the present provinces of Jaén, Murcia and Cadiz, and the whole of Almeria, Malaga and Granada, but it was reduced until in the XV century it encompassed approximately the present provinces of Granada, Almeria and Malaga. The kingdom was divided into territorial and administrative districts, called tahas. Likewise, the Nasrid Kingdom suffered from an important problem of overpopulation.

The Nazari capital, Granada, became in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries one of the most prosperous cities in a Europe devastated by the crisis of the fourteenth century. It was a commercial and cultural center of first order that had about 165,000 inhabitants and of which are very important urban groups such as the Alhambra and the Generalife. In the Albaicín lived the craftsmen and the rest of the population occupied the flat part towards the South, with large industries, customs and madrasa

When Muhammad ibn Nasr, the first Nasrid king, consolidated the dominions of the Kingdom of Granada, he established the basic scheme of what would be the kingdom's army. In the Nazari Kingdom of Grenada the noble estate was formed by two groups: the autochthonous and the foreign. The native was formed the old landowners, who had great possessions and extensive dominions; They lived comfortably, sometimes even with luxury. The foreigner was composed of the noble families who had been forced to emigrate from the territories occupied by the Christians; Its members were forced to seek employment in court and evil when they did not reach it. Ibn al-Ahmar enlisted the outsiders in the army of Granada; For that reason it was initially formed by two militia corps: a permanent and salaried one, formed by the nobles and captained by the king, and another, the Muttavia, of temporary mercenaries recruited for a certain company and in which the warriors of Any social condition.

Marina

From 1264, the first volunteers led by the brothers Abu Tabit Amir ibn Idris and Abu al-Muarrif Muhammad arrived from Tremecén to the Nazarite kingdom, so another regular militia formed by volunteer Berbers and Moroccan exiles is organized. In addition to these bodies, the Nazarite kings, recalling the custom of the Cordovan Omeyas and the Taifas kings of the eleventh century, entrust their personal guard to a special body formed only by Christians, Castilians mostly, exiled or fled their land, sometimes Captives, Islamized or elche.

The Nazarí war fleet had its main base in the port of Almeria. Nevertheless, the fleet was weak, little imposing and was used more in the piracy by the coast of the Crown of Aragon than in open warfare. The inhabitants of the Nasrid kingdom were little fond of the navy, according to Ibn Khaldun, of whom he says that they were "strangers in the sea." The Nazarite army was forced to enlist mercenaries, daring almogávares and adventurers of the sea, whose ideal was piracy. In the most brilliant period of the Granada navy, in the fourteenth century, two prominent Almerians stood out: the qaid Abu-l-Hasan and his nephew, Abu Abd Allah Ibn Salvator.

BOABDIL