The Taifa of Granada (Arabic: ????? ?????? , Ta'ifa Garnata ) was a kingdom in what is now Granada province in Spain . The kingdom originated in 1013 and lasted until 1091.

"Garnata" or "Garnata al-Yahud" was a settlement next to the town the Christians called "Elvira", after the former Iberian name "Ilbira". It was the capital of a province of Caliphate of Córdoba. Civil conflicts that wracked the Caliphate in the early eleventh century led to the destruction of the city in 1010. Zawi ben Ziri, the Zirid chief of one of the armies that took part in the Caliphate civil war that destroyed Medina Azahara in Córdoba, and after destroyed Medina Elvira. He founded the Emirate of Granada or first Taifa Kingdom of Granada and moved the capital from Elvira to Garnata al-Yahud.

The Zirid was a family from northern Africa whose members became chiefs and kings in many other parts of Islam, as in Ifriqiya or Tunisia.

The Kingdom ended after the arrival of Almoravids in 1091 who took the city and united it to their empire.

See also

• Taifa
• Granada
• History of Islam
• History of Spain
• Al-Andalus

External links

• War upon Iberia
• http://personales.ya.com/rpmg/cga/libcrongeo/node170.html
• http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/histesp/contextos/6112.htm