English and the World · Spain · 1 · Granada · A1–C2 · A1–A2 free
Iberians and Romans, a Jewish vizier who led an army, the last Muslim kingdom in western Europe, a king who wept, and the promises of 1492. The story of Granada, and a walk through it. Choose your level.
From the Iberians to 1492
Granada is a city in the south of Spain, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about an hour and a half from Málaga. It is very old.
First, Iberians lived on a hill here. Then the Romans came, and they called the town Iliberri. After that, in the 8th century, Muslim armies came from North Africa.
In the 11th century, Granada became the capital of a small kingdom. Later, in 1238, a new family of kings, the Nasrids, came to power. They built the Alhambra, a red palace and fortress on a hill.
Finally, on 2 January 1492, the last Nasrid king, Boabdil, gave the city to the Christian king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabella.
A famous story
There is a famous story about Boabdil. He left Granada with his family. On a hill south of the city, he turned and looked at Granada for the last time, and he cried. His mother said: “You cry like a woman for the city you did not defend like a man.”
Today the place is called the Suspiro del Moro, “the Moor’s Sigh”. Is the story true? Nobody knows: people wrote it down many years later.
In April 1492, near Granada, Ferdinand and Isabella made an agreement with Christopher Columbus. In August, he sailed west. Ferdinand and Isabella are buried in Granada, in the Royal Chapel.
🦉 Want more? Sophia explains the past simple, and how to tell a story in the past, in An Incident with a Shelf (Philo & Sophia, Lesson 2).
Language: telling a story in order
| What | How | Example |
|---|---|---|
| The order of events | first → then → after that → later → finally | First, Iberians lived here. Then the Romans came. |
| Irregular verbs | learn them! | come → came, build → built, give → gave, leave → left, write → wrote |
| Regular verbs | verb + -ed | turn → turned, look → looked, cry → cried |
| A date | on + day | on 2 January 1492 |
| A month, a year, a century | in | in April, in 1238, in the 8th century |
Read the texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. Where is Granada?
2. Who built the Alhambra?
3. What happened on 2 January 1492?
4. Is the story of the Moor’s sigh true?
Write the verb in the past simple.
5. Then the Romans (come) to Granada.
6. The Nasrids (build) the Alhambra.
7. Boabdil (give) the city to Ferdinand and Isabella.
8. He (leave) Granada with his family.
Write in or on.
9. Boabdil gave the city away 2 January 1492.
10. The Nasrids came to power 1238.
11. Columbus sailed west August.
12. Muslim armies came the 8th century.
Go there!
Walk: the Alhambra (book your ticket weeks before you go!) → down to the river Darro → up into the Albaicín → the Mirador de San Nicolás at sunset, with the Alhambra in front of you → the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel. Buses go from Málaga to Granada many times a day.
Your task: write the story of your town in five sentences. Use first, then, after that, later and finally.
It tells the full story: Iberian and Roman Iliberri, the Zirid kingdom and its Jewish vizier Samuel ibn Naghrela, the Nasrids, the ten-year war, the surrender of 1492 and the promises that followed, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.
It tells the full story: Iberian and Roman Iliberri, the Zirid kingdom and its Jewish vizier Samuel ibn Naghrela, the Nasrids, the ten-year war, the surrender of 1492 and the promises that followed, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.