Introduction

In the past decade much has been written about the transformations of European frontiers. Much of this discussion has focused on the internal borders of the European Union, with rather less attention being given to its external boundaries. In many countries of Europe, however, it is precisely at these external boundaries that a sense of Europeanness is most visibly expressed and challenged. Thus, the celebration of ‘1992’ in Spain was suffused with meaning, which sensitised people to many aspects of their national and regional identities. It made boundary problems manifest in many different ways, including the Basque and Catalan ethnonationalisms discussed by Sahlins and Douglass (this volume). Not only was ‘1992’ a powerful symbol of European integration, in particular the projected date of the completion of the single European market promoted by Euro-politicians and the mass media, but it also referred to the commemoration of the ‘discovery’ of America, the celebration of the World Exhibition in Seville, the Olympic Games in Barcelona, the remembrance of the fall in 1492 of the Muslim kingdom of Granada, and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. The Christian reconquest of Granada completely altered the political and cultural map of the Mediterranean world. The expulsion of the Jews and Moriscos became one of the largest ‘ethno-religious cleansing’ operations avant-la-lettre in early-modern Europe.