The fall of Granada holds an significant place among the many important events that mark the latter half of the Spanish 15th century. It completed the reconquista of the eight hundred year-long Moorish civilization in the Iberian Peninsula. Spain, now without major internal territorial conflict, embarked on the great phase of exploration and colonization around the globe. In the same year the sailing expedition of Christopher Columbus became the first European sighting of the New World.

The Americas enriched the crown and country, allowing Isabella I and Ferdinand I significant accomplishments in their reign. Subsequent conquests and colonization from the maritime expeditions they commissioned created the vast Spanish Empire, the largest in the world for a time.