1492: Spain's Year of Conquest, Expulsion, and Discovery

1492 was a pivotal and controversial year for Spain, marked by three major events within ten months. On January 2, the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella captured the Alhambra Palace, ending the Emirate of Granada and nearly 800 years of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. On March 31, the Alhambra Decree ordered the expulsion of all practicing Jews from Spain, forcing an estimated 180,000 to convert or leave, forfeiting their property. On August 3, Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos de la Frontera with three ships (Niña, Pinta, Santa María), stopping at the Canary Islands before reaching the Bahamas on October 12, landing on an island he named San Salvador (called Guanahani by the Taíno people). Columbus explored Cuba and Hispaniola before returning to Spain in early 1493. The year consolidated Catholic power, enriched the crown through confiscated Jewish properties, and opened the Americas for Spanish colonization. The Alhambra Decree was only officially rescinded in 1968. Historians increasingly view 1492 as a controversial year rather than a triumphant one, given the suffering inflicted on Muslims and Jews.