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Morisco

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Moriscos (, ; ; "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable Muslim population, the mudéjars, in the early 16th century.

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Moriscos were former Muslims and their descendants in Spain who were forced to convert to Christianity or be exiled after the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain banned Islam in the early 16th century. They matter historically because they represent a significant religious and cultural transformation imposed on Spain's large Muslim population during this period.

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L'expulsió dels moriscos (1894), Gabriel Puig Roda, Museu de Belles Arts de Castelló (detall).JPG
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Commons category
Moriscos
native label
moriscos
P8168
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Article

28 sections
Contents
  • Name and etymology
  • Demographics
  • Kingdom of Granada
  • Kingdom of Valencia
  • Aragon and Catalonia
  • Castile, Extremadura and the rest of Andalusia
  • Canary Islands
  • Religion
  • Christianity
  • Islam
  • Timeline
  • Conquest of al-Andalus
  • Forced conversions of Muslims
  • After the conversion
  • Expulsion
  • International relations
  • Literature
  • Aftermath
  • Moriscos in Spain after the expulsion
  • Modern-day ethnicities in Spain associated with Moriscos
  • Moriscos and population genetics
  • Descendants and Spanish citizenship
  • Notable Moriscos and Morisco descendants
  • See also
  • References
  • Bibliography
  • In Spanish
  • External links

Moriscos (, ; ; "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable Muslim population, the mudéjars, in the early 16th century.

The Iberian Union mistrusted Moriscos and feared that they would prompt new invasions from the Ottoman Empire after the Fall of Constantinople, so between 1609 and 1614 they began to expel them systematically from the various kingdoms of the Union. The most severe expulsions occurred in the eastern Kingdom of Valencia. The exact number of Moriscos present in Spain before the expulsion is unknown and can only be guessed based on official records of the edict of expulsion. Furthermore, the overall number who were able to avoid deportation is also unknown, with estimates on the proportion of those who avoided expulsion or returned to Spain ranging from 5% to 40%.

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