The Alhambra Decree Expels the Jews of Spain
Ferdinand and Isabella order every unconverted Jew out of Spain within four months, ending more than a millennium of Jewish life in Iberia
Quick facts
- Issued
- 31 March 1492, Granada
- Deadline to leave
- 31 July 1492
- Estimated number expelled
- 40,000 to 200,000 (disputed)
- Revoked
- 16 December 1968
What happened
On 31 March 1492, in the city of Granada only months after its conquest, Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree, also called the Edict of Expulsion, ordering unconverted Jews out of every territory under their joint crowns by 31 July of that year. The decree aimed to stop unconverted Jews from influencing conversos, Jews who had already converted to Christianity, into secretly reverting to Judaism. Modern estimates place the number expelled between 40,000 and 200,000 out of a Jewish population of roughly 300,000, with many others choosing conversion over exile; the figures remain debated because contemporary records are incomplete. Those who left scattered mainly to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and North Africa, carrying Spanish Jewish culture into what became the Sephardic diaspora.
Why it matters
Spain has had no significant Jewish population since; current estimates put it below 0.2 percent. The decree stayed on the books for 476 years until Spain formally revoked it in 1968, and in the 2000s Spain and Portugal began granting citizenship to descendants of the Jews they had expelled five centuries earlier.
How we know
The Library of Congress's law blog marks the decree's issuance in the spring of 1492 in Granada and its 476-year survival until the 1968 revocation, and HISTORY.com's account gives the same 1492 date and the range of estimated expulsion numbers along with the destinations Sephardic communities settled.
Sources
- HISTORY.com. Spain announces it will expel all Jews · Reputable sourcehistory.com · The domain "history.com" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Library of Congress, In Custodia Legis. Alhambra Decree: 521 Years Later · Primary sourceblogs.loc.gov · The domain "blogs.loc.gov" is on our Primary source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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