Titans of History

The couple married their daughter Catherine of Aragon to Prince Arthur, son of King Henry VII of England and after the prince’s death, she married his son and heir, Henry VIII, becoming the mother of Queen Mary I. When Isabella died in 1508, she was succeeded on the Castilian throne by their daughter Juana. Juana was married to Philip the Handsome, Habsburg duke of Burgundy and son of the Emperor Maximilian and they had a son, Charles of Ghent. But Juana the Mad was unbalanced; Philip the Handsome died young and so Ferdinand ruled Castile as regent until his death when the Spanish kingdoms along with vast Habsburg lands in Germany and the Low Countries as well as the new territories of America, were inherited by Ferdinand and Isabella’s grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, who in his day was the most powerful monarch in the world.

COLUMBUS

1451–1506

For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps.

Christopher Columbus

Cristobal Colon—better known as Christopher Columbus—was the maverick son of a Genoese weaver who for years had dreamed of sailing across the Atlantic to open up a new path to India, but instead discovered America. An extraordinary sailor, adventurer, dreamer, and obsessional eccentric of remarkable drive and will, he had petitioned the Portuguese court in vain for many years to fund this voyage. He then turned his attentions to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella who, on finally conquering the last Islamic principality of Iberia agreed to fund the voyage. Bizarrely, part of his dream was to find the spices and gold that would pay for a crusade to liberate Jerusalem, to rebuild the Temple for Catholicism and even to attack the Holy City from the other side. In return for royal backing, he demanded and received the title of Grand Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Viceroy and Governor of any new lands plus a generous share of the income from them.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set off on his first expedition with three ships and on October 12 he spotted land, one of the islands of the Bahamas—the first sight of the Americas. He went on to explore the coast of Cuba and Hispaniola before returning to Spain, convinced that he had simply discovered a new route to the Indies. Indeed he called the indigenous people Indians. A year later he set off again with a much larger expedition of settlers, soldiers, priests.

In all there were four voyages around the Caribbean, via Jamaica and Hispaniola, during which Columbus landed on mainland Central and South America, establishing the Spanish presence on the new continent. But Columbus, now Grand Admiral and Governor of the Indies, accompanied by his brothers and children, found it hard adapting to his new role, particularly when he came into confrontation with the newly appointed governors sent by the court in Spain.

Ultimately he was arrested and sent back to Spain, though on his return he was freed by the Catholic Monarchs and reconfirmed in his titles. He was allowed to take one more voyage, his fourth, but his career as an actual governor was over.

He spent his last years frustrated by his great achievements and limitations and his bad health, writing books of plans for his new Jerusalem Temple and other dreams. His eldest son Diego, who married the niece of the duke of Alba, was confirmed in 1509 in his father’s titles as Grand Admiral and Viceroy and spent many years governing parts of the Indies from his residence in San Domingue in today’s Dominican Republic. On his death, his son Luis Colon was awarded the title of Admiral of the Indies and a dukedom. But there ended the three generations of the dynasty of Columbus. Others would conquer and govern the new empire of Spain. To Christopher Columbus himself, the new lands were always the Indies. It was others who called them the New World and it was the Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci after whom the Americas were to be named.

SELIM THE GRIM

1470–1520

A carpet is large enough to accommodate two sufis, but the world is not large enough for two Kings.

Selim the Grim

Sultan Selim I defeated Persia (Iran) and the Mamluks, and conquered the entire Middle East, including Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem for his Ottoman empire, in a reign that was short, bloody and extremely successful. Having eliminated all internal challengers, he established the Ottomans as the preeminent power in the Islamic world. One of the cruelest sultans, he was also one of the greatest.