My grand mother told me that after Arabian rule in Valencia and Alicante, they left the cities taking women with them.
She told me that the Spaniards then moved some women from the north to repopulate the cities. This explains why people in Valencia and Alicante have fair eyes.
She's a kind of history nerd and think our family is from there, so I trust her. Still I can't find nothing about it (but I don't know where to find something this specific). Does it rings a bell? Did she mixed it up with another story?
Thanks.
Your grandmother's explanation is very over simplified but it is more or less accurate. When the christians of aragón regained valencia and alicante from the muslims in the 1200s, the cities were simply incorporated into the kingdom. The population was not kicked out, in fact, it is estimated that the Kingdom of Aragón had one of the highest proportion of Muslims in the Spanish kingdoms.
However, during the expulsion of the moriscos, muslims, and jews, many of these peoples were expelled. While it is debated how effective that the expulsions were, it is clear that they were most effective in the Valencia region.
This expulsion actually devastated the area because there were so many muslims living there previously under the Christian rule. So many other Spaniards were brought into the region in one of many spanish repoblaciónes.