(sold for $66.0)

1465, Spain (al-Andalus), Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. Silver 1/4 Dirham Coin. VF+

Reference: Vives 2194. Mint Period: ca. 1465 AD  Denomination: 1/4 Dirham Condition: Lightly deformed, otheriwse VF+ Diameter: 14mm   Weight: 0.43gm Material: Silver

The Emirate of Granada (Arabic: إمارة غرﻧﺎﻃﺔ‎, trans. Imārat Ġarnāṭah), also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (Spanish: Reino Nazarí de Granada), was an Islamic realm in southern Iberia during the Late Middle Ages. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western Europe.

Muslims had been present in the Iberian Peninsula, which they called Al-Andalus, since the early eighth century. At its greatest geographical extent, Muslim-controlled territory occupied most of the peninsula and part of present-day southern France. From the ninth to the tenth century, under the Caliphate of Córdoba, the region was one of the most prosperous and advanced in Europe. Conflict with the northern Christian kingdoms was recurrent, while mounting civil strife led to a fragmenting of Muslim states in the early eleventh century. This marked a precipitous decline in Muslim power and facilitated the centuries-long Christian Reconquista.

By 1230, the Almohad Caliphate in Morocco ruled the remaining Muslim territories in southern Iberia, which roughly corresponded to the modern Spanish provinces of Granada, Almería, and Málaga. Exploiting the Almohad's dynastic strife, the ambitious Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar rose to power and established the Nasrid dynasty over these lands. By 1250, the emirate was the last Muslim polity in the peninsula. Although effectively a vassal of the rising Crown of Castile, for over two centuries, Granada enjoyed considerable cultural and economic prosperity; much of the famed Alhambra palace complex was built during this period, and the Nasrids would be the longest-lived Muslim dynasty in Iberia.

Nascent Christian power in Iberia meant that Granada's existence was always precarious. In 1491, after a decade of intermittent warfare known as the Granada War, the emirate was forced to capitulate to the Catholic Monarchs. The following year, Muhammad XII, the last Nasrid ruler of Granada, formally relinquished his sovereignty and surrendered his territories to Castile, eventually moving to North Africa in exile. This marked the end of independent Muslim rule in Iberia.