Almería, contested by the emirs of Granada and Valencia, has experienced many sieges, including one especially fierce siege when Christians, called to the Second Crusade by Pope Eugene III, were also encouraged to attack the Muslim 'infidels' on a more familiar coast.

On that occasion Alfonso VII, at the head of mixed forces of Catalans, Genoese, Pisans and Franks, led a crusade against the rich city, and Almería had been occupied in October 1147.

Within a decade, however, Almería had passed to the control of the puritanical Muslim Almoravid emirs, and not until the late fifteenth century does it fall permanently into Christian hands.

The city surrenders to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferndinand and Isabel, on December 26, 1489, after an extended siege.