Why did the Granada War mark the end of Muslim rule in Spain?

The Granada War marked the end of Muslim rule in Spain as it resulted in the Catholic Monarchs capturing Granada, the last Muslim stronghold.

The Granada War, which took place from 1482 to 1492, was a significant turning point in the history of Spain. It was a ten-year military campaign by the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. This war was the final chapter of the Reconquista, a long period of Christian re-conquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule.

The Emirate of Granada had been a tributary state to Castile for many years, but when internal conflicts weakened the Muslim state, the Catholic Monarchs seized the opportunity to launch a war. The war was not just a simple military campaign, but also a significant part of the larger Spanish Inquisition, an institutionalised movement within the Catholic Church to root out and eliminate non-Christian faiths in Spain.

The war ended on 2 January 1492, when Muhammad XII, the last Nasrid ruler, surrendered the Emirate of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs. This marked the end of almost eight centuries of Muslim rule in Spain, which had begun with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the 8th century. The fall of Granada also marked the end of al-Andalus, the Muslim-ruled areas of the Iberian Peninsula.

The end of the Granada War and the subsequent end of Muslim rule in Spain had profound implications. It marked the completion of the Reconquista and paved the way for Spain's emergence as a unified country under Catholic rule. It also led to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in the same year and the forced conversion or expulsion of the remaining Muslims in the early 16th century. The end of Muslim rule in Spain, therefore, was not just a change in political control, but also a significant shift in religious and cultural dynamics.