March 31st, 1492 – Jews are Expelled from Spain

Posted by Lorren on March 31, 2010

I noticed that today was the day that King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Castille and Aragon (now modern day Spain) expelled the Jews from their kingdoms on this date. Well, they made the decree to expel the Jews by July 31st of that year. That was 1492.

Many of us, when we think of 1492, think about Columbus. That was the other thing that Ferdinand and Isabella did that year. Before that, they conquered the Moslem kingdom of Granada to the south.

We had just read about Ferdinand and Isabella in The Story of the World Volume 2. They don’t mention the Spanish Inquisition in that book (that Ferdinand and Isabella were also involved in), but they do mention the expulsion of the Jews. Columbus was to sail later on in that year.

I have written a longer article on the subject of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, if you are interested.