Castile: Did you mean...?

Ignatius of Loyola (l. 1491-1556) was a Basque soldier who became a Catholic priest and theologian after a mystical experience convinced him he was called to the service of Christ. He founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to defend the Church...

Taifas ("factions" or "camps") were small independent Muslim kingdoms and principalities that emerged after the fall of hegemonic Muslim caliphates in al-Andalus – the Muslim-controlled part of the Iberian peninsula – during the High Middle...

This map illustrates the dramatic rise and gradual decline of Spain as a global imperial power between the late 15th and late 17th centuries. Emerging from a union of northern Iberian kingdoms, Spain reached its zenith under Habsburg rule...

The knights of medieval Europe were meant to be the finest fighting men of their age, even more important, they were expected to be pure in thought and deed, as exemplified in the chivalrous code which they (usually) followed. Here are the...

European explorers began to probe the Western Hemisphere in the early 1500s, and they found to their utter amazement not only a huge landmass but also a world filled with several diverse and populous indigenous cultures. Among their most...

The political fragmentation of al-Andalus began with the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba (756–1031), culminating in its formal dissolution in 1031. In the power vacuum that followed, the Iberian Peninsula fractured into dozens...

This map illustrates the four voyages of Christopher Columbus between 1492 and 1504, commissioned by Queen Isabella I of Castile (reign 1474–1504) and King Ferdinand II of Aragon (reign 1479–1516). Overlaid on the prevailing winds and currents...

An image of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) seeking an audience with Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504) and Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516). Painted by Eugène Delacroix in 1839. Oil on Canvas. Located in the Toledo Musuem of Art in Toledo...

The Columbian exchange is a term coined by Alfred Crosby Jr. in 1972 that is traditionally defined as the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World of Europe and Africa and the New World of the Americas. The exchange...

Christopher Columbus (l. 1451-1506 CE, also known as Cristoffa Corombo in Ligurian and Cristoforo Colombo in Italian) was a Genoese explorer (identified as Italian) who became famous in his own time as the man who discovered the New World...