Expulsion of the Moriscos (1609–1614): Spain's Last Muslims

The expulsion of the Moriscos was the forced removal from Spain, between 1609 and 1614, of around 300,000 people descended from Muslims who had been compelled to convert to Christianity. Ordered by King Philip III and his chief minister, the Duke of Lerma, it was one of the largest deportations in early modern Europe. It ended almost nine centuries of Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula and caused deep human suffering and economic damage.

Background: forced conversion

After the fall of Granada in 1492, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain surrendered on terms that promised its people freedom of religion. These promises were soon broken. After a revolt in 1499–1501, Muslims in Granada were pressed to convert, and in 1502 the Crown of Castile ordered all Muslims to accept baptism or leave. In the Crown of Aragon, forced baptisms during the Germanies revolt were confirmed, and conversion was imposed throughout Valencia and Aragon in 1525–1526. Spain’s Jews had already been expelled by the Alhambra Decree of 1492.

The converts, called Moriscos (from the Spanish for “Moorish”), were now legally Christians and subject to the Inquisition. Many outwardly attended Mass while privately keeping Islamic prayers, fasting, dietary rules or Arabic, and some wrote in aljamiado, Spanish written in Arabic script. Old Christians often regarded them with suspicion, while Moriscos resented pressure on their language, dress and customs. Their position varied: in Valencia and Aragon many lived as tenants of noble landlords who protected them because they were valuable workers, while in Castile they were fewer and more scattered.

Rising tensions

In 1567 a royal decree banned the Arabic language, Moorish dress and many customs in Granada. It provoked the revolt of the Alpujarras (1568–1571), a brutal war in the mountains south of Granada. After it was crushed, around 80,000 Granadan Moriscos were forcibly dispersed across Castile, spreading the community more widely.

Over the following decades, theologians and officials debated whether the Moriscos could ever be assimilated. Some argued for more patient teaching; others, notably Juan de Ribera, Archbishop of Valencia, came to believe that they were irredeemable. The government feared that Moriscos might assist an Ottoman or North African invasion or collude with Spain’s enemies; there were real contacts, including approaches to Henry IV of France, although the scale of any threat was exaggerated.

The decision of 1609

On 4 April 1609 Philip III’s Council of State approved the expulsion. The timing was significant: days later, on 9 April, Spain signed the Twelve Years’ Truce with the Dutch rebels, a pause that amounted to de facto recognition of the Dutch Republic in the Dutch Revolt. The expulsion allowed the regime of the Duke of Lerma to present a religious triumph at a moment of military retreat.

The operation began in Valencia, where Moriscos made up about a third of the population. Troops and galleys were gathered secretly, and the decree was proclaimed by the viceroy, the Marquis of Caracena, on 22 September 1609. Moriscos were given three days to go to the ports with what they could carry. Their houses and land passed to their lords. Rules on whether young children could stay behind were debated and varied by region.

The expulsion region by region

From October 1609 ships left Dénia, Alicante, Valencia and Vinaròs for North Africa. Some Valencian Moriscos resisted, gathering in the mountains of the Vall de Laguar and the Muela de Cortes, but they were defeated by royal troops in the last weeks of 1609, with heavy loss of life.

The expulsions continued in stages. Decrees for Andalusia and Murcia followed in December 1609, Aragon and Catalonia in 1610, and Castile, La Mancha and Extremadura in 1610. Morisco communities that had seemed well integrated, such as the people of the Ricote valley in Murcia, were finally removed between 1613 and 1614.

Conditions were harsh. Families sold property at a fraction of its value, and many were robbed on the way to the ports or on arrival. Some refugees landing near Spanish-held Oran and elsewhere in North Africa were attacked, and many died from violence, hunger and disease. Estimates of the death toll vary widely and are uncertain.

Where the Moriscos went

Most exiles settled in North Africa. Tunisia, under its rulers of the time, welcomed many, and Morisco settlers founded or revived towns such as Testour, bringing Andalusian architecture, crafts and music. In Morocco, Moriscos from Hornachos in Extremadura settled at Salé and Rabat, where they formed a semi-independent corsair republic in the 1620s. Others went to Algiers and Tetouan, and some travelled through France to the Ottoman Empire. A number returned secretly to Spain.

Key people

• Philip III of Spain (reigned 1598–1621), who signed the expulsion decrees.
• Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, Duke of Lerma (1553–1625), the king’s favourite and chief minister, who drove the policy.
• Juan de Ribera (1532–1611), Archbishop of Valencia, a leading advocate of expulsion.
• The Marquis of Caracena, Viceroy of Valencia, who carried out the first decree.

Consequences

The economic cost was heaviest in Valencia and Aragon, where Moriscos had been skilled farmers and irrigation workers on lordly estates. Valencia lost roughly a third of its people, and some villages were abandoned for years. Landlords lost rents and many fell into debt, so the crown granted them Morisco property in compensation. Repopulation with Christian settlers was slow and incomplete.

The effects differed sharply by region. In Castile, where Moriscos were more scattered and often urban, the loss was spread thinly, though towns such as Hornachos and some districts of La Mancha were hit hard. In Aragon, where Moriscos made up perhaps a fifth or a sixth of the population, the fertile valleys of the Ebro and its tributaries lost many of their most experienced farmers. In Valencia, the sugar, rice and silk economies of the coastal plains suffered, and bankers and religious institutions that had lent money against Morisco rents faced losses.

Historians debate the wider impact. Some saw the expulsion as a major cause of Spain’s seventeenth-century decline, while others stress that Spain’s overall population loss was about 4 percent and that its problems had many causes. The human cost, however, is not in doubt.

Legacy

The expulsion was debated even at the time. Miguel de Cervantes, in Part II of Don Quixote (1615), includes the Morisco Ricote, a sympathetic character forced into exile. Seven large paintings commissioned in the 1610s record the embarkations and the Valencian revolt, offering rare images of the event. In 2009, the 400th anniversary, conferences and exhibitions in Spain, Tunisia and Morocco reconsidered the expulsion, and Morisco heritage is still celebrated in North African towns founded by the exiles.

Timeline

• 1492, 2 January: Granada surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabella.
• 1502: Muslims in Castile are ordered to convert or leave.
• 1525–1526: Forced conversion is imposed in Valencia and Aragon.
• 1568–1571: Revolt of the Alpujarras in Granada.
• 1609, 4 April: The Council of State approves expulsion.
• 1609, 22 September: The decree is proclaimed in Valencia.
• 1609, October–November: Embarkations begin; revolts in the Valencian mountains are crushed.
• 1610: Expulsions from Aragon, Catalonia and Castile.
• 1614: The last Moriscos are removed from the Ricote valley.

Why it matters

The expulsion of the Moriscos ended the long history of Muslim communities in Spain and showed how far an early modern state would go to impose religious uniformity. Its legacy survives in North African towns and in continuing debates about memory, identity and tolerance in Spain.