Granadan forces under Emir Abu l-Hasan Ali (Muley Hacén) seized the Castilian outpost of Zahara in a surprise attack, enslaving many inhabitants. The raid helped trigger a major Castilian–Aragonese response that widened into the final war against the Emirate of Granada.
Castilian-led troops captured Alhama, a fortified town close to Granada, and held it despite immediate Nasrid efforts to retake it. Alhama became an early strategic foothold and a symbol that the Catholic Monarchs meant to press a sustained campaign.
Ferdinand’s army tried to take Loja, a key gateway on the western approaches to Granada, but the Granadan garrison repelled the siege. The defeat showed that the war would not be a quick march to Granada and pushed the Catholic Monarchs toward longer, better-prepared campaigns.
Boabdil (Muhammad XII) attempted a raid and siege at Lucena but was defeated and taken prisoner by Castilian forces. His capture deepened political divisions inside Granada and gave Ferdinand and Isabella leverage to influence Nasrid succession struggles during the war.
After surrounding Ronda and cutting its water supply, Ferdinand’s forces captured the cliff-top fortress city. The fall of Ronda signaled how gunpowder artillery and sustained sieges were changing warfare and helped the Catholic Monarchs tighten pressure on the western Granadan frontier.
A Castilian force moving against Moclín was defeated by Granadan troops in a sharp reversal. Even as Castile and Aragon advanced overall, battles like this showed that Granada could still inflict serious losses and delay the final encirclement.
After a combined land siege and naval blockade, Málaga—Granada’s major Mediterranean port—fell to the Catholic Monarchs. Losing this port cut off key supplies and outside support, making the remaining Nasrid territories more isolated and vulnerable.
Castilian forces captured Baza after a difficult siege, removing one of Granada’s strongest inland defenses. The victory accelerated the collapse of the eastern part of the emirate and set the stage for rapid surrenders in nearby areas.
Soon after Baza’s fall, Ferdinand and Isabella reached a surrender agreement (capitulations) covering Almería and nearby places, negotiated with the Nasrid leader known as El Zagal. These agreements further reduced Granada’s territory and reinforced that negotiated surrender could be preferable to the harsh outcomes of a stormed city.
Almería, a key southeastern port, passed into Castilian control as Christian troops entered the city. With major ports and strongholds lost, Granada’s capital was increasingly cut off from outside help and surrounded by hostile territory.
In spring 1491, Ferdinand and Isabella began the final siege of Granada, tightening a ring of forces around the city. Their purpose-built encampment at Santa Fe became a permanent base that signaled the siege would be maintained until surrender.
Boabdil and the Catholic Monarchs signed the Treaty of Granada (also called the Capitulations), establishing a truce and the conditions for handing over the emirate. The document promised protections for Granada’s Muslim population at the moment of surrender, framing the end of the war as a negotiated transfer rather than a final assault.
Granada formally surrendered, and the Catholic Monarchs took possession of the city and the Alhambra. This ended the Emirate of Granada and concluded the long Reconquista in Iberia, bringing most of the peninsula under Christian rule.
Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering Jews who did not convert to Christianity to leave their realms by a set deadline. Coming soon after Granada’s fall, the decree showed how the war’s end connected to broader state policies aimed at religious uniformity.
War of Granada: the final campaign and fall of Granada (1482–1492)