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Sarasota News Leader April 5, 2013 Page 69 Two years later, in 1487, Bartolomeu Dais reached the southern tip of Africa and aptly named it The Cape of Storms (later renamed The Cape of Good Hope). And in 1499, Vasco da Gama succeeded in reaching India and returning. Henry's navigators had not only reopened trade with the Far East, but they also had pioneered the naval architecture and navigational techniques necessary to conduct exploration over the open ocean. The Portuguese success in sailing south around Africa did not deter Columbus. He took his proposal to Spain, where he was placed on a stipend to keep him from seeking support elsewhere. The Christian-Muslim war in Spain ended on Jan. 2, 1492, with the fall of the last Moorish city — the mountaintop stronghold of Grenada. Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon capped 700 years of conflict to unify Spain as a Catholic nation. Columbus was present at the fall of Grenada, and he renewed his proposal. Isabella rejected it, but Ferdinand agreed at the last minute. Italian investors (mostly Genoese) already had put up half the cost of Columbus' expedition. The Spanish king and queen would supply the rest, although contrary to popular legend, Isabella did not pawn her jewelry to pay the royal share. In small and awkward ships, the Spanish sailed west into the unknown. This photo shows a replica of Columbus' Santa Maria made for the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Photo by Edward H. Hart in the Library of Congress members of Spanish nobility needed a new outlet for glory and personal gain, or they might set their sights on replacing Ferdinand and Isabella. The men who followed in Columbus' wake were hard. Their leaders were soldiers, cruel and resourceful. They were devout, strengthened by an unshakable belief in their God. They were also proud of an aristocratic heritage and a superior culture. They thought themselves unconquerable. And they shared another, often-overlooked trait. They were the product of romantic chivalry. Raised on tales such as Tristan and Isolde and El Cid, they believed fame and riches were within their grasp, if they practiced knightly virtues and professed piety. This context is important, because it illuminates the reasons behind the Spanish explosion into the New World. One was mercantile — a desire to renew the rich trade with the Far East, as their Portuguese neighbors had done. A second reason was religious — to spread Christianity, by the evangelical sword As these men and their followers swept into the if necessary. A third reason was political: Hav- New World, only one area would expose their ing defeated the Moors, the now-unemployed weaknesses and destroy them — Florida. %