Morisco
Moriscos (Spanish: [moˈɾiskos], Catalan: [muˈɾiskus], [moˈɾiskos]; Portuguese: mouriscos [mo(w)ˈɾiʃkuʃ], [mo(w)ˈɾiskus]; meaning "Moorish") were former Muslims who converted or were coerced into converting to Christianity, after Spain finally outlawed the open practice of Islam by its sizeable Mudejar population in the early 16th century.
The Moriscos were subject to systematic expulsions from Spain's various kingdoms between 1609 and 1614, the most severe of which occurred in the eastern Kingdom of Valencia. The overall success of the expulsion is subject to academic debate although the large majority of those permanently expelled settled on the western fringe of the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Morocco. The last mass prosecution against Moriscos for crypto-Islamic practices occurred in Granada in 1727, with most of those convicted receiving relatively light sentences. From then on, the indigenous practice of Islam is considered to have been effectively extinguished in Spain.
