Spanish Expulsion of the Moriscos

Timeline

1. 1609Madrid · CastilePhilip III, urged on by Lerma and Ribera, signed the expulsion edict, deciding to begin with Valencia and keep it strictly secret to prevent flight or revolt. The crown publicly cited religious disloyalty and coastal security while calculating that confiscated property would shore up finances.
2. 1609–1610Valencia · ValenciaAfter tercio units brought from Italy secured ports such as Dénia and Alicante, the edict was proclaimed in Valencia and about 120,000 were shipped in batches to North Africa. Nobles protested the loss of tenant farmers, and the crown compensated them partly through confiscated property; armed resistance arose in the Serranía de Laguardia and elsewhere but was quickly suppressed.
3. 1610–1614Inland kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula · SpainAfter Valencia, the crown issued similar edicts successively in Castile, Andalusia, Aragon, Murcia, and Catalonia. The expelled were allowed to carry only personal belongings; houses and fields reverted to lords or the crown. Many died or were injured en route through shipwreck, robbery, and hardship upon landing in North Africa.
4. 1611–1614Kingdom of Valencia · ValenciaValencia's irrigated agriculture and handicrafts shrank sharply with the disappearance of tenant farmers, and lords' incomes and urban credit deteriorated in turn. About 300,000 were removed nationwide, only a few obtaining special permission or slipping back. The expulsion achieved religious 'Catholic unity' but deepened the empire's fiscal and demographic fragility.