# Canonical recap data for Expulsion of Jews from Spain (1492)
# Source: https://recap.at/1492/expulsion-spanish-jews
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: expulsion-spanish-jews
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1492/expulsion-spanish-jews"
title: Expulsion of Jews from Spain
subtitle: Expulsion of Jews from Spain
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1492-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1492
decade: 1490
country:
name: Spain
slug: spain
summaryShort: On 31 March 1492, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering all unconverted Jews to leave their kingdoms and territories by the end of July that year, unless they converted to Christianity. Motivated by a desire for religious unity
summaryLong: On 31 March 1492, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering all unconverted Jews to leave their kingdoms and territories by the end of July that year, unless they converted to Christianity. Motivated by a desire for religious unity following the completion of the Reconquista and amid fears that unconverted Jews were influencing conversos to revert to Judaism, the decree brought to an end more than a millennium of Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula. It also ranks among the most consequential events in Spanish and Jewish history.
lede: On 31 March 1492, Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree, giving Jews four months to convert to Christianity or leave Spain entirely. The expulsion scattered one of Europe's oldest Jewish communities across the Mediterranean and North Africa, reshaping both Spanish society and the diaspora for centuries.
heroImageUrl: "https://live.staticflickr.com/2915/14593915169_b5097b7b92_b.jpg"
heroImageCredit: "\"La Sinagoga - Calle Judios, Cordoba\" by ell brown is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/."
importance: 50
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Decree issued
  value: 31 March 1492
- label: Departure deadline
  value: 31 July 1492
- label: Estimated Jews expelled
  value: 150,000–200,000
- label: Reigning monarchs
  value: Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile
- label: Decree location
  value: Granada (signed in the Alhambra palace)
- label: Duration in Spain before expulsion
  value: Over 1,000 years (Jews in Iberia since at least 6th century)
- label: Primary alternative to expulsion
  value: Forced conversion to Catholicism
- label: Major destination for expelled Jews
  value: Ottoman Empire
timeline:
- date: 1480-01-01
  title: Spanish Inquisition established
  description: The Catholic Monarchs establish the Inquisition under Tomás de Torquemada in 1478 to enforce religious orthodoxy and investigate Jewish converts (conversos) and Muslims.
- date: 1492-01-02
  title: Granada falls to Christian forces
  description: The Reconquista concludes with Ferdinand and Isabella's conquest of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Iberia, consolidating Christian rule and religious momentum.
- date: 1492-03-31
  title: Alhambra Decree issued
  description: Ferdinand and Isabella sign the Alhambra Decree in Granada, ordering all unconverted Jews to leave Spanish territories by 31 July 1492 or face execution and confiscation of property.
- date: 1492-07-31
  title: Expulsion deadline
  description: The deadline passes for Jews to either leave Spain or convert. Most depart for Portugal, North Africa, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire; some accept forced conversion.
- date: 1492-08-03
  title: Columbus expedition sails
  description: Columbus departs from Palos de la Frontera, three days after the Jewish expulsion deadline-a symbolic coincidence of Spain's religious consolidation and imperial expansion.
- date: 1497-12-01
  title: Portuguese expulsion follows
  description: Portugal's King Manuel I expels or forcibly converts Jews, partly motivated by Ferdinand and Isabella's precedent and pressure from the Spanish monarchy.
sources:
- url: ""
  title: Expulsion of Jews from Spain
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- revolution
metaDescription: In 1492, Spain's Catholic monarchs expelled all unconverted Jews. Thousands fled; those who stayed faced forced conversion or death.
wikidataQid: Q7424558
aliases:
- Alhambra Decree
- Expulsión de los Judíos de España
- Spanish Inquisition expulsion
impactStatement: Ferdinand and Isabella's 1492 expulsion order forced an estimated 150,000–200,000 Jews from Spain.-one of Europe's largest medieval Jewish communities-in a single year. The decree shaped centuries of diaspora, migration patterns to Ottoman territories and the Americas, and redefined Spain's religious and political identity at the moment Columbus sailed west.
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Jewish population in Spain
  thenValue: ~200,000
  thenYear: 1492
  nowValue: ~65,000
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Spain's Jewish community never fully recovered; current estimates reflect Sephardic and other Jewish communities
- metric: Countries with active expulsion or forced conversion laws targeting Jews
  thenValue: Multiple (Spain, Portugal, parts of Central Europe)
  thenYear: 1492
  nowValue: "0"
  nowYear: 2024
  note: International law and human rights frameworks now prohibit religious persecution and forced displacement
- metric: Sephardic Jewish diaspora centers
  thenValue: Ottoman Empire, North Africa, Italy
  thenYear: 1495
  nowValue: Israel, France, United States, Turkey
  nowYear: 2024
  note: After 1492, many expelled Spanish Jews found refuge in Ottoman territories; communities later dispersed globally
consequences:
- title: Mass expulsion and diaspora
  year: 1492
  description: Between 40,000 and 200,000 Jews left Spain by August 1492. Many migrated to the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, North Africa, and Italy, establishing Sephardic diaspora communities.
- title: Portuguese expulsion and forced conversion
  year: 1497
  description: King Manuel I of Portugal, following Spain's example, expelled Jews and later forced conversions. Thousands of Spanish Jews who had fled to Portugal faced expulsion again or conversion to Christianity.
- title: Economic decline in Spain
  year: 1500
  description: The expulsion removed a significant merchant and professional class. Spain lost skilled tax collectors, physicians, and traders, contributing to long-term economic consequences during the critical early modern period.
- title: Strengthening of Ottoman Jewish communities
  year: 1510
  description: Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II welcomed Spanish Jews, calling the Spanish monarchs foolish for impoverishing their own country. Sephardic communities flourished in Salonica, Izmir, and Istanbul.
- title: Inquisitorial enforcement against Conversos
  year: 1570
  description: The Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478, intensified investigations into Conversos (forced converts) throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, creating a climate of suspicion and secrecy.
culturalContext:
topMusic: []
topFilms: []
topTVShows: []
zeitgeistNote: 1492 marks Columbus's voyage, the completion of the Reconquista, and the establishment of a unified Catholic Spanish state-a year Spain frames as foundational to national identity. The expulsion of Jews, Muslims, and other religious minorities reveals the darker side of that consolidation. The period's cultural production emphasized Christian unity and royal authority; Jewish intellectual and artistic contributions were systematically erased from Spanish memory until modern scholarship began recovery efforts in the 20th century.
relatedQueries:
- Alhambra Decree 1492
- Spanish Inquisition Jews expulsion
- Sephardic Jews Ottoman Empire
- Ferdinand Isabella Catholic Monarchs
- Conversos forced conversion Spain
- 1492 Spain religious persecution history
- Jewish diaspora Mediterranean 15th century
gallery:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260404222047/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/A_View_of_the_Plundering_and_Burning_of_the_City_of_Grymross%2C_by_Thomas_Davies%2C_1758.JPG/1280px-A_View_of_the_Plundering_and_Burning_of_the_City_of_Grymross%2C_by_Thomas_Davies%2C_1758.JPG"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/A_View_of_the_Plundering_and_Burning_of_the_City_of_Grymross%2C_by_Thomas_Davies%2C_1758.JPG/800px-A_View_of_the_Plundering_and_Burning_of_the_City_of_Grymross%2C_by_Thomas_Davies%2C_1758.JPG"
  caption: Expulsion of the Acadians
  credit: Wikipedia · "Expulsion of the Acadians"
  width: 330
  height: 221
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Alhambra_Decree.jpg/1280px-Alhambra_Decree.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Alhambra_Decree.jpg/800px-Alhambra_Decree.jpg"
  caption: Alhambra Decree
  credit: The original uploader was Goodoldpolonius2 at English Wikipedia.
  width: 500
  height: 698
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260523214954/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Expulsi%C3%B3n_de_los_jud%C3%ADos.jpg/1280px-Expulsi%C3%B3n_de_los_jud%C3%ADos.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Expulsi%C3%B3n_de_los_jud%C3%ADos.jpg/800px-Expulsi%C3%B3n_de_los_jud%C3%ADos.jpg"
  caption: Expulsión de los judíos
  credit: Emilio Sala
  width: 2729
  height: 3051
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Expulsi%C3%B3n_jud%C3%ADos-ca.svg/1280px-Expulsi%C3%B3n_jud%C3%ADos-ca.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Expulsi%C3%B3n_jud%C3%ADos-ca.svg/800px-Expulsi%C3%B3n_jud%C3%ADos-ca.svg.png"
  caption: Expulsión judíos-ca
  credit: |-
    Expulsión_judíos.svg: Ecelan
    derivative work: ecelan (talk)
    translator: Manlleus
  width: 570
  height: 400
taxonomy:
domain: religious
eventTypes:
- crusade_or_jihad
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- governance
- mobilization
impactRadius: civilizational
velocity: sudden
predictability: scheduled
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: conflict
