“The culmination of the Crusades was the defeat of the Islamic dynasties that had ruled over the Iberian Peninsula for 700 years. Muslim rule had created tolerant, culturally mixed, vibrant cities, the most famous being Cordoba, Seville, and Granada. Jews had thrived in the new climate of cultural dialogue, scholarship, and trade. But on 31 March 1492, the triumphant Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, signed the edict expelling Jews. Expulsion from Spain led to a new scattering with Jewish communities dispersing to other Muslim-ruled territories in the Mediterranean.”

Ali Rattansi, ‘Racism’, Oxford University Press