High-resolution microstructural analysis of porphyroblast inclusion trails integrated with Sm-Nd garnet geochronology has provided new insight into the tectonic history of the Betic-Rif orogen. Three principal age groups of porphyroblast are demonstrated with distinctly oriented inclusion-trails. Inclusion-trail curvature axes or ‘FIA’ (Foliation Inflexion/Intersection Axes) are shown to represent ‘fossilized’ crenulation axes from which a succession of different crustal shortening directions can be deduced. The regional consistency of inclusion-trail orientations and their geometric relationship with several sets of macroscopic folds reveal the composite character of the Gibraltar Arc formed by a superposition of different folding directions and associated lineations. Bulk-garnet ages of 35-22Ma obtained from 5 micaschist samples of the Alpujarride-Sebtide complex (ASC) and of 35-13Ma from 4 micaschists of the Nevado-Filabride complex (NFC) allow to deduce NNE-SSW directed shortening in the Late Eocene changing to NW-SE shortening in the early Oligocene, alternating with suborthogonal NE-SW shortening during the Miocene. These directions can be related to a major swing in the direction of relative Africa-Iberia plate-motion known from kinematic modeling of magnetic seafloor anomalies, and dynamic interference between plate convergence and suborthogonal ‘tectonic escape’ of the Alboran Domain thereafter. Coupled to previously established P-T-t paths, the new garnet ages support a common tectono-metamorphic evolution of the ASC and NFC since the Late Eocene. However, while the first became exhumed in the Middle-Miocene (15Ma), the second experienced a re-subduction prior to being exhumed itself about 5 Myr later.