The site of Granada is a beautiful combination of hills and valley with a small stream running through it. It is close to the Mediterranean Sea but not so close that in ancient times there was a danger of an invasion from the sea. An Iberian village was estabished at the site perhaps as early as 2000 BCE. When the Phoenician established trading posts along the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula they also made contact with the Iberian village at the site of Granada. Later the trade shifted to the ships of the Phoenician colony of Carthage.

When Rome defeated Carthage and took control of the western Mediterranean lands the village at the present site of Granada was named Ilberis. It was not of any great significance to the Romans. After the decline and collapse of the Western Roman Empire the barbarian tribes invaded the empire. In Spain the land, including Granada, came under the control of Visigothic tribes. The Visigothic tribes established kingdoms that were frequently at war with each other. this internecine warfare led in the tear 711 to an invasion by Berber Moslems from what is now Morocco. In a few years these Moslem warriors conquered all of the Iberian Peninsula except for the nothern tier of mountains.

Before the Moslem conquest of the area of Granada in 713 there was a small settlement of Jews at the site and their community was known as Granata al-yahut (Granada of the Jews). The name Granada refers to the pomegranate, the grained apple. This fruit was originally from Iran but very early spread to the Mediterranean area. Thus the city of Granada was named after the fruit, which grew well there.

By the year 1010 feuds among the Moslem leaders had almost destroyed Granada, but in 1013 the clan of the Ziries emerged dominant. The Ziries clan declared the independence of their kingdom from Morocco and the other Moslem kingdoms. The Ziries relocated the town medina from its site on a hill to the valley at a place known as Albaycin, which still exists as the Moorish quarter of Granada.

By 1238 the Ziries dynasty lost power to another clan, the Nazari. The Nazari rulers expanded control far beyond the site of Granada. During the heyday of Nazari power they built the fortress of alHambra, the red fortress. It was so named for the color of the stone used in its construction.

In the 13th century the Moslem ruler of Granada forestalled conquest by accepting the overlordship of the Spanish Christian king, Ferdinand III. This relationship was maintained until 1492 when the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, decided to eliminate the last Moslem stronghold in Spain, Granada.

The army of the Christians monarchs camped at near Granada.

The end of Moslem control of Granada came with the surrender of the city in by its Moslem leader in return for the promise of safe conduct for himself and family along with any Moslem who chose to go with him. The story that is told, perhaps apocryphal, is that when the Moslem leader stopped at a mountain pass and looked back on Granada, his former kingdom, he started to cry. His mother then said, "It is well for you to cry like a baby for what you could not defend like a man!"

(To be continued.)