The life of Sayyida al Hurra can be understood within geopolitical and religious contexts. The Ottomans had just captured Constantinople in 1453 marking the end of the Roman Empire. She was two years old when the Portuguese started their colonial conquest by capturing some ports at the western coast of Morocco starting the year 1487. A few years later, Granada was falling into the hands of the Catholic Monarchs (los Reyes Católicos) Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon and with that, forced conversions of Muslims in Spain followed.