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| Pomegranate, a locally abundant fruit that appears on the city's coat of arms |
Granada's history is one of internal crises because
of the existence of a powerful landowning nobility successive wars
with Castile. Successive kings of Granada sought political support
and military aid from Morocco. Moroccan recruits caused the kingdom
to undergo an intense process of "arabisation", to cut
itself off from all Castilian influences, and to develop an absolute
form of government based on military support.
The central government's economic resources depended
mainly on the silk industry and on external trade; the latter flourished
because of the fortunate position of the chief port, Málaga,
on the route from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Granada paid
close attention to the Strait of Gibraltar; for a whole century
its rulers made efforts to secure control of the straits, allying
to this end at different times with both Morocco and Castile.
In 1306 Muhammad III (ruled 1302-09), then in possession
of Ceuta and Gibraltar, seemed to have succeeded, but a powerful
coalition soon reduced him to the modest position of vassal of the
king of Castile. After 1340, when the battle of Río Salado
settled the question of the straits in Castile's favour, Granada
adopted a policy of isolation, taking advantage of any propitious
circumstance to strengthen its land frontiers. It was in this period
that Yusuf I (ruled 1333-54) and Muhammad V (ruled 1354-59 and 1362-91)
finished building the Alhambra.
The city's name may have been derived either from
the Spanish granada, "pomegranate," a locally abundant
fruit that appears on the city's coat of arms, or from its Moorish
name, Karnattah (Gharnatah), possibly meaning "hill of strangers."
Granada was the site of an Iberian settlement, Elibyrge, in the
5th century BC and of the Roman Illiberis. As the seat of the Moorish
kingdom of Granada, it was the final stronghold of the Moors in
Spain, falling to the Roman Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella
I in January 1492.
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