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Spain and the ‘New World’, c1490–c1555

Spanish exploration, c1490–1512

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2 booklet P

Overview

The end of the Reconquista, the crusading spirit, Spain's other ambitions, Portugal's refusal of Columbus, Isabella's backing and his rewards, the three ships, landfall on 12 October 1492 and the crossing's troubles.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

What made 1492 such a momentous year for Spain, from the fall of Granada to Columbus's Atlantic crossing?

Key term

Which long struggle against Muslim rule in Spain came to an end in January 1492?

Key term

What is meant by the crusading spirit in Spain around 1490?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Which long struggle against Muslim rule in Spain came to an end in January 1492?

    Model answer

    The Reconquista, which ended when the armies of Ferdinand and Isabella took Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in the peninsula.

  2. 2

    What is meant by the crusading spirit in Spain around 1490?

    Model answer

    A conviction that Spain had a God-given duty to fight non-Christians and to carry the Catholic faith into new lands.

  3. 3

    How had the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon been brought together before 1490?

    Model answer

    By the marriage of Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469, which joined the two crowns in a single royal partnership.

  4. 4

    Name two ambitions abroad that Spanish rulers held around 1490 apart from reaching Asia.

    Model answer

    Seizing ports and territory in North Africa, and winning control in Italy, especially the kingdom of Naples, in competition with France.

  5. 5

    Which ruler did Columbus ask for backing first, and why was he turned down?

    Model answer

    He asked King John II of Portugal in 1485, whose advisers rejected the plan because they judged he had badly underestimated the distance west to Asia.

  6. 6

    Why was Queen Isabella willing to pay for a westward voyage in 1492?

    Model answer

    She wanted to carry Christianity to peoples who had never heard it, and to win wealth and prestige for Castile before Portugal could.

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