The famous old Moorish capital of Granada, now chief town of its province, the see of an archbishop and a university town, is magnificently situated at the foot of the Sierra Nevada between two outlying hills which fall steeply down to the fertile vega of the Río Genil (often waterless in
summer).
History
Granada is thought to have originally been an Iberian foundation. In A.D. 711, after the defeat of the Visigoths, it fell into the hands of the Arabs, who called it Gharnatha and built a castle on the Alhambra hill. After the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba, in 1031, the governor of Granada declared the independence of the town and surrounding area. Thereafter Granada was ruled by the Almoravids and Almohads; then in 1241 Ibn al-Ahmed, of the Beni Nasr tribe, founded the Nasrid dynasty, taking the title of Mohammed I, and made Granada the wealthiest city in the Iberian peninsula. After 250 years of splendor the town passed to the Catholic Monarchs under the treaty of Santa Fe in 1491, and on January 2, 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella made their entry into Granada, while Boabdil, the last Moorish ruler, was leaving his kingdom. Thereafter the town remained in Christian hands and enjoyed a fresh period of prosperity during the Renaissance. The bloody repression of a Moorish rising in 1569 was followed by a decline. The town's recovery began with the renovation of the irrigation system in the vega and the introduction of new crops in the early 20th century.
The Town
The more northerly of the two hills between which Granada lies is Albaicín, on which the older part of the city is built; the Alhambra hill to the south is separated from Albaicín by the gorge of the Río Darro, a normally meagre stream which flows underground below the town to join the Río Genil. Crowned by the Alhambra palace on its hill, Granada has been declared a national monument in virtue of its many well preserved remains of a rich alien culture and art and as the scene of great events in the history of Spain.
Granada is a noted tourism and cultural hot spot in Spain. The Alhambra, a Moorish fortress and palace, is a UNESCO World Heritage site that serves as museum of Islamic architecture today. Ther are numerous other notable architectural sites such as Granada's Cathedral, the original Jesuit college, Bermejas Towers, and The Cube. The University of Granada is also well-known in Spain, originally founded in 1349, it now has three campuses and over 60,000 students. It is a popular learning center for European students.
Print this page
Add to Favorites
