Early history

The region surrounding what today is Granada has been populated since at least 5500 BC.[1] The most ancient ruins found in the area belong to an oppidum called Ilturir, founded by the Iberian Bastetani tribe around 650 BC.[2] This settlement became later known as Iliberri or Iliberis.[1][3][2] In 44 BC Iliberis became a Roman colony and in 27 BC it became a Roman municipium named Florentia Iliberritana ('Flourishing Iliberri').[2][3] The historical relation between present-day Granada and the Roman-era Iliberis has long been debated by scholars.[4][5][3] Modern archeological digs on the Albaicín hill have uncovered finds demonstrating the presence of a significant Roman town on that site.[3] Little is known, however, about the history of the city in the period between the end of the Roman era and the 11th century.[3]

The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, starting in 711 AD, brought large parts of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim control, becoming known as al-Andalus. During the early Islamic period, under the rule of the Emirate and Caliphate of Cordoba (8th to 10th centuries), the area of the Albaicin was occupied by a small settlement and fortress (ḥiṣn) named Gharnāṭa, which had a mainly Jewish population and was thus also known as Gharnāṭat al-Yahūd ("Gharnāṭa of the Jews").[6][3] A larger settlement, Madīnat Ilbīra, was located further northwest, near present-day Atarfe.[5][3]

Zirid period  Puerta Monaita (formerly Bāb al-Unaydar), one of the 11th-century Zirid gates in the Albaicin

At the beginning of the 11th century, the area became dominated by the Zirids, a Sanhaja Berber group and offshoot of the Zirids who ruled parts of North Africa. When the Caliphate of Cordoba collapsed after 1009, the Zirid leader Zawi ben Ziri established an independent kingdom for himself, the Taifa of Granada. Rather than settling at Madīnat Ilbīra, Zawi ben Ziri settled in the more defensible position of Gharnāṭa (Granada) instead. In a short time this town was transformed into one of the most important cities of al-Andalus.[7]

The Zirids built their citadel and palace, known as the al-Qaṣaba al-Qadīma ("Old Citadel"), on the hill now occupied by the Albaicín neighborhood.[6][8] It was connected to two smaller fortresses on the Sabika hill (site of the future Alhambra) and Mauror hill to the south.[8] The city around it grew during the 11th century to include the Albaicín, the Sabika, the Mauror, and a part of the surrounding plains. The city was fortified with walls encompassing an area of approximately 75 hectares.[6] The northern part of these walls, near the Albaicin citadel, have survived to the present day, along with one of its main gates, the Bāb al-Unaydar (now called Puerta Monaita in Spanish). Another smaller gate, Bāb al-Ziyāda (now known as Arco de las Pesas or Puerta Nueva) is located further east along the same wall.[8][6]

The city and its residences were supplied with water through an extensive hydraulic system of underground cisterns and pipes. The Zirid palace was located near the largest medieval cistern of the Albaicin, known in Arabic as al-Jubb al-Qadīm (“the Old Cistern”) and in Spanish today as the Aljibe del Rey ("Cistern of the King"), which had a capacity of 300 cubic metres.[6] A now-ruined sluice gate called Bāb al-Difāf ("Gate of the Tambourines") was built across the Darro River and could be closed in order to retain water if needed.[9] The nearby Bañuelo, a former hammam (bathhouse), also likely dates from this period, as does the former minaret of a mosque that is now part of the Church of San José.[8]

Nasrid period  Remains of the 14th-century Nasrid walls of the Albaicín

In the 13th century, following the rise and fall of other Muslim dynasties and the military advances of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, Ibn al-Ahmar (Muhammad I) established what became the last and longest reigning Muslim dynasty in the Iberian peninsula, the Nasrids, who ruled the Emirate of Granada.[10] However, when Ibn Al-Ahmar established himself in the city he moved the royal palace from the old Zirid citadel on the Albaicín hill to the Sabika hill further south, beginning construction on what became the present Alhambra, a fortified palace complex that still dominates the city today.[6][11]

The population of the city and the wider Nasrid emirate was swelled by Muslim refugees from the territories newly conquered by Castile and Aragon, resulting in a small yet densely-populated territory which was more uniformly Muslim and Arabic-speaking than before.[12][13] Granada itself expanded and new neighbourhoods grew around the Albaicín.[12]

A new set of walls was constructed further north of the Albaicín during the 13th–14th centuries, with Bab Ilbirah (present-day Puerta de Elvira) as its western entrance.[6][8] Among the major monuments built in the Albaicín during this period are the Maristan (hospital), built in 1365–1367 (later demolished in 1843)[14] and the Great Mosque (congregational mosque) of the Albaicín, dating from the 13th century.[a] During this time the commercial heart of the district was what is now known as Panaderos Street (Calle Panaderos). This street ran between the gate called Bab al-Ziyada to the west and the Great Mosque of the Albaicín to the east. Next to Bab al-Ziyada was a public square called Raḥbat al-Ziyāda ("Enlargement Square") also existed, later known in Spanish as El Ensanche ("the Enlargement") and now as Plaza Larga.[16]

Spanish period  Plaza Nueva ('New Square') and the Royal Chancellery (left)

In 1492, after years of military campaigns, Granada fell under the control of the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, completing the Christian conquest of Muslim al-Andalus. Muslims were initially granted protections and rights according to the terms of the surrender, but these rights were soon undermined. In December 1499, the Albaicín was the starting point of a Muslim rebellion throughout Granada, triggered by the forced conversion of the Muslim population to Christianity, who then became known as 'Moriscos'.[17] After the Christian conquest, much of the Morisco population of the city was displaced to the Albaicin, where they were joined in the 16th century by emigrants from the surrounding hinterlands of the Vega valley, the Alpujarras, and the Lecrín valley.[18] Mosques were replaced with new parish churches, particularly after 1501.[19][20] These new churches were often built in a mix of Mudéjar and Renaissance styles.[21] New civic institutions were also built in the area, such as the Royal Chancellery (Real Chancillería), which overlooks Plaza Nueva, a public square expanded during the 16th century.[22]

 A typical street in the Albaicín

The Morisco rebellion of 1568, however, resulted in a mass expulsion of Moriscos from the city and left much of neighbourhood abandoned. The old Morisco properties were taken over by the remaining Christian residents, but the neighbourhood continued to have low urban density until the 19th century.[18] It was only towards the end of the 19th century, when the present-day Gran Vía de Colón and its surroundings were created between 1895 and 1908, that many of the inhabitants in the centre of the city were forced to relocate to the Albaicin and the neighbourhood increased in density. Many of the former spacious courtyard homes were subdivided into smaller plots to accommodate multiple families, or rooms from adjacent houses were purchased and joined together to expand available living spaces.[18] These crowded conditions continued until the 1970s, when the standard of living increased and some affluent families began to return to the neighbourhood.[18]

In 1994, the Albaicín was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as an extension of the monuments of the Alhambra and the Generalife.[23]

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