1232
Alhambra construction begins in Granada
Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar, founder of the Nasrid dynasty of Granada, began fortifying a Roman-era hill overlooking the Darro River. What began as a military complex would over two centuries grow into the most exquisite Islamic palace ensemble in Europe, the Red Fort. The site's natural springs and commanding views of the Sierra Nevada made it both strategically sound and hauntingly beautiful.
Mongols and Song ally to finish the Jin
The Jin dynasty, squeezed from north and south, faced a Song-Mongol coalition. Kaifeng, the southern Jin capital, fell after a terrible siege in which defenders reportedly used gunpowder bombs. The last Jin emperor would die by suicide a year later. The alliance of convenience would collapse almost immediately, as Song generals attempted to reclaim territory the Mongols considered rightfully theirs.
Korea resists first Mongol invasion
The Goryeo court, pressed by a Mongol army, evacuated the king and bureaucracy to the island of Ganghwa just off the peninsula. From this refuge, invisible to steppe cavalry without a navy, Korea would defy Mongol demands for decades while the mainland burned. The court commissioned the carving of eighty thousand wooden printing blocks of the Buddhist Tripitaka as a prayer for divine deliverance.
Nasrid dynasty founded in Granada
Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar, a resourceful Arab chieftain, established the Nasrid Emirate of Granada by submitting to Castile as a vassal while building an independent Muslim state in Andalusia's mountains. His dynasty would survive two and a half centuries as Islam's last foothold in Iberia, sheltered by diplomacy and geography.