Spain - Part 3

Picking up with Mark William's book, "The Story of Spain, " Chapter 5. (Yes, I skipped 3 and 4) For history lovers I think William's gives one of the best introductions I have ever read. "Romantic writers such as Washington Irving have created a windmill of words describing the glories of Granada. Yet few of the million of tourists who visit each year realize that one of history's most important towns lies nearby. Sleepy Santa Fe straddles the road to Malaga in the heart of a highly fertile vega, once watered with the blood of Christians and Moors. A signpost at the town's entrace reads La Cuna de Hispanidad, literally 'the cradle of Spanishness'... In 1492 Santa Fe witnessed some of history's most important months in that most famous of years, but today it is just a forgotten curiousity" (pg.97-98).

A lot happened in the year 1492, and indeed it was a very important year not only for Spain, but also for the rest of the world. On the morning of Ocotber 12, 1492 the world was forever changed when Chrisopher Columbus landed on what is known today as San Salvador. Little did he know what he had accidently stumbled upon. Thinking that he was in India, his intended destination, he named the locals 'Indians'. He soon returned to Spain to be thanked by Queen Isabel, but was later actually jailed and died at the young age of 55 in the year 1506. I know that sounds like a short and blunt description, but for someone who is talked about so much, very little is actually taught about his struggles in life.

Christopher Columbus by no means led an easy life, he was not born into money, and for that matter never really had any. His exact orgins are still debated to this day, but we know that he was Italian and his father lived in Genoa, Italy. At a very young age he moved to Portugal, married an upper class woman, and worked for the Portugese King until he decided to head for Spain. It tooks dozens or attempts to get Queen Isabel to even let him sail for Spain, and she did not agree because of Columbus' persausion but rather some of her other close friends. For a man that has gone down in history for discovering the 'New World', his life sucked, to put it bluntly. He died at a relatively young age, never knowing what he has actually discovered on that October morning in 1492.