Which couple unified Spain and expelled the Jews and Moors?

Which couple unified Spain and expelled the Jews and Moors?

• A. Ferdinand and Isabella
• B. Charles V and Isabella
• C. Philip II and Mary
• D. Henry II and Catherine

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how a royal couple unified a country and used religious policy to enforce that unity. When Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married in 1469, they brought together the two strongest kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, creating a centralized authority that could act with one policy across their realms. They completed the Reconquista with the fall of Granada in 1492, which symbolically and physically joined the lands under Christian rule. To maintain a cohesive, Catholic realm, they supported the Spanish Inquisition and issued the Alhambra Decree, which forced Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave Spain in 1492. Their push for religious uniformity and strong royal authority helped lay the groundwork for a unified Spanish state, and their actions are the most closely associated with unifying Spain and expelling Jewish populations, with later pressures affecting Muslim communities as well.

The idea being tested is how a royal couple unified a country and used religious policy to enforce that unity. When Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married in 1469, they brought together the two strongest kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, creating a centralized authority that could act with one policy across their realms. They completed the Reconquista with the fall of Granada in 1492, which symbolically and physically joined the lands under Christian rule. To maintain a cohesive, Catholic realm, they supported the Spanish Inquisition and issued the Alhambra Decree, which forced Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave Spain in 1492. Their push for religious uniformity and strong royal authority helped lay the groundwork for a unified Spanish state, and their actions are the most closely associated with unifying Spain and expelling Jewish populations, with later pressures affecting Muslim communities as well.