jan 2, 1492 - Fall of Granada

Description:

For centuries, the Spanish had been trying to rid Spain of North African Muslim Moors, an effort known as the Reconquista, and with the fall of Granada, they succeeded. Centuries of conflict had created societal tendencies toward intolerance and obsessions with status and honor, which, when the Reconquista ended, translated to the conquistadores in the New World. These conquistadores sought royal titles from their king, God's favor by spreading Christianity, and riches, but they rarely got what they wanted. Nevertheless, this colonizing spirit put Spain a century ahead of other European countries in terms of colonization, and it created for them an expansive empire stretching from California to Florida to Peru.