Bienvenidos a Espana!
Directions: Read about the Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, the
Reconquista, and the Spanish Inquisition. Then, fill in the chart based on
what you read and make sure you draw a little picture to help you remember
what the key concepts are! 
Ferdinand and Isabella and the Expulsion of Jews and Moors The Alhambra Decree (aka the Edict of Expulsion) was an edict issued on March 31, 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand II ordering the expulsion of Jews and Moors (Muslims living in the Iberian Peninsula) from Spain by July 31st of that year. Beginning in the 8th century, Muslims had conquered and settled most of the Iberian Peninsula. Jews who had lived in these regions since Roman times were considered “People of the Book” and given special status and often thrived under Muslim rule. The tolerance of the Muslim Moorish rulers attracted Jewish immigration and Jewish communities in Muslim Iberian cities flourished as places of learning and commerce. Progressively, however, living conditions for Jews became harsher after the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate. The Reconquista (think re‐conquest), or gradual re‐conquest of Muslim Iberia by the Christian kingdoms, was driven by a power of religious motivation. Christians wanted to reclaim Iberia for Christendom (the Christian World). By the 14th Century, most of the Iberian Peninsula had been conquered by the Christian kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Leon, Galicia, Navarre, and Portugal. Overt hostility against Jews became more pronounced, finding expression in brutal episodes of violence and oppression. Thousands of Jews sought to escape these attacks by converting to Christianity. At first these conversions seemed to be an effective solution to the cultural conflict, but eventually their success made these new Catholics unpopular with some of the clergy of the Church and royal hierarchies. These suspicions on the part of Christians were only heightened by the fact that some of the coerced conversions were undoubtedly insincere. Some, but not all of those who converted had understandably chosen to salvage their social and commercial prestige by the only option open to them – baptism and embrace of Christianity – while privately adhering to their Jewish practice and faith. Ferdinand and Isabella The hostility toward Jews was brought to a climax by the Catholic Monarchs—Ferdinand II and Isabella I, whose marriage in 1469 formed a union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, with coordinated policies between their distinct kingdoms. Ferdinand and Isabella were disturbed at reports that some Jewish converts to Christianity were insincere in their conversion, continued to practice Judaism in secret, and were trying to draw other people who converted to Christianity back into the Jewish fold. In 1478, Ferdinand and Isabella made formal application to Rome for a tribunal of the Inquisition in Castile to investigate these and other suspicions. In 1487, King Ferdinand established the Spanish Inquisition in Aragon. The king and queen issued the Alhambra Decree (aka Edict of Expulsion) and in it, Jews were accused of trying "to subvert their holy Catholic faith and trying to draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs." Some Jews were only given four months and ordered to convert to Christianity or leave the country. Under the edict, Jews were promised royal "protection and security" for the effective three‐month window before the deadline. They were permitted to take their belongings with them – except "...gold or silver or minted money or other things prohibited by the laws of our kingdoms...” The punishment for any Jew who did not convert or leave by the deadline was death without trial. The punishment for a non‐Jew who sheltered or hid Jews was the confiscation of all belongings and hereditary privileges. Inquisition To unify their country under Christianity and to consolidate their power, Isabella and Ferdinand made use of the Inquisition. This was a tribunal (set of trials) held by the Church to suppress heresy. Heretics were people whose religious beliefs differed from the teachings of the Church. The inquisitors suspected Jewish and Muslim converts of heresy (belief/opinion that goes against the Church). A person who was suspected of heresy might be questioned for weeks and even tortured. If a suspect confessed, they were often burned at the stake. Sometimes they used other torture methods like the garrucha, toca and the potro. Garrucha consisted of suspending the victim from the ceiling by the wrists, which are tied behind the back. Sometimes weights were tied to the ankles, with a series of lifts and drops, during which the arms and legs suffered violent pulls and were sometimes dislocated. The toca, consisted of introducing a cloth into the mouth of the victim, and forcing them to ingest water spilled from a jar so that they had the impression of drowning. The potro, (the rack), was the instrument of torture used most frequently where they would tie people on a rack with cords that could be tightened. There were five possible outcomes for the accused. 1. The prisoner could be acquitted and charges against them dropped, which was very rare. 2. The trial could be suspended, which was like an acquittal, but without a determination of innocence, and the trial could be re‐started if more evidence appeared. 3. The prisoner could be penanced, which meant they had to admit their crimes in public and accept a public punishment (fines or public service). 4. The defendant could be reconciled, which meant that they were accepted back into the Catholic Church, but also suffered a punishment (fines, whipping, imprisonment). 5. Finally, the accused could receive a sentence of relaxation, in which they were publicly burned at the stake. Dispersal The Spanish Jews who chose to leave Spain dispersed throughout places like North Africa and the Ottoman Empire. Scholars disagree about how many Jews left Spain as a result of the decree; the numbers vary between 130,000 and 800,000. Many (likely more than half) went to Portugal, where they eluded persecution for only a few years. The Jewish community in Portugal (perhaps then some 10% of that country's population) were then declared Christians by Royal decree unless they left. Tens of thousands of Jews died while trying to reach safety. In the last days before the expulsion, rumors spread throughout Spain that many Jews had swallowed gold and diamonds they hoped to take with them. As a result, many Jews were knifed to death and had their stomachs cut open by brigands looking for treasure. In another example, Jews who tried escaping via the sea were often charged exorbitant sums by Spanish ship captains, and were then sometimes tossed overboard in the middle of the sea. Other Spanish Jews (estimates range between 50,000 and 70,000) chose to avoid expulsion by conversion to Christianity. However, their conversion did not protect them from ecclesiastical hostility after the Spanish Inquisition came into full effect; persecution and expulsion were common. The Nation State of Spain
Term
Moors
Ferdinand
and Isabella
Reconquista
Inquisition
Results of the
Inquisition
Definition and Significance
Image
Trade, Goods, Technology, and Ideas
Directions: Using the paper provided…
1. Identify the major world trade routes during 1500 CE
2. Use context clues to figure out the major goods traded!
3. Look at the maps, use your knowledge of world religions
and regions to fill in the blanks to complete the sentences!
Major Trade Routes
Using the Map, match each trade route listed below with the correct letter on the map!
1. _____: Silk Routes across Asia to the
Mediterranean basin
2. _____: Maritime routes across the Indian
Ocean
3. _____:Trans-Saharan routes across North
Africa
4. _____: Northern European links with the
Black Sea
5. _____: Western European sea and river trade
6. _____: South China Sea and lands of
Southeast Asia
Goods
Match the goods/region to the correct box below based on your knowledge of trading in world history!
Good(s)
Region(s)
Gold
Ivory
Salt
Cotton
India, China, the Middle East, and later
Europe
Porcelain
Amber
Baltic Region
Paper
Making Sugar
Waterwheels and windmills
India
Middle East
Compass
Africa
Africa
China and Persia
Word Bank:
Africa
China
India
Textiles
China
Spread of Ideas
Below are three maps that identify the spread of a major religion or religions. Identify which religion(s) fits with each map!
____________________ spreads from _________________ to _________________ and __________________.
__________________ and __________________ spread from _________________ to _____________________.
_______________________ spreads from __________________________ to _________________,
____________________, and _______________________.
African Empires
Directions: Using the paper provided…
1. Circle the location of the empire on the map!
2. Read the information about the African Empires (you have this
paper already)
3. Answer the questions provided!
African Empires
Empire
Axum (Ethiopia)
Information
What’s great about their location – think “cross roads of 3 continents”?
What religion do they practice?
Great Zimbabwe
What are they known for?
What did they trade?
Ghana
What two items were traded in Ghana?
How did the kings get power?
How did Ghana fall?
Mali
What mines did they take control of?
What religion did the leaders convert to?
Who is Mansa Musa?
What is Timbuktu?
Songhai
What were the people of Songhai skilled at doing?
What did they expand, and how far did it reach?
What religion did they practice?
How did they fall?