Like some of you, I have a Spanish connection. My maternal grandfather was born in Asturias and came to Cuba in the 1920s. He met my future grandmother Adelina, also of Spanish stock. My other “abuelos” have Spanish heritage as well. The Canto side came to Cuba in the 1860s. Cool story, as my sons would say.

Spanish history is interesting to me. So it is shocking for me to hear of low Spanish birth rates and how Spain -- the people that is -- may disappear. Who replaces them? I hope it’s people who appreciate the country and the language.

So let's look at a marriage that mattered a lot. On this day in 1469, 20-year-old Ferdinand of Aragon married 18-year-old Isabella of Castile. On the surface, it sounds like another wedding between a couple of young royals. In reality, it turned out to be one of the most consequential marriages in world history. 

First, it united all the dominions of Spain into what would become the world’s foremost military power.

Years later, they sponsored Columbus’s trip, and the rest is the good history we used to learn in school before the P.C. crowd decided to spoil our celebrations of Columbus Day. The trips convinced the royal couple to encourage colonial activity in the New World, leading to a period of great prosperity and imperial supremacy for Spain. 

A more dubious action occurred in 1492 -- incredibly, the same year that Columbus departed on his trip, when they ordered all Spanish Jews to convert to Christianity or face expulsion from Spain. The Muslims were also driven out of Spain during their very consequential reign.

They were what we would call today a power couple, as Kathy Copeland Padden wrote:

They had an incredibly modern relationship in many ways, with Isabella on an equal par with her husband. They enjoyed a profound love and mutual respect in their relationship, tirelessly working together to achieve their aims.

In Ferdinand and Isabella’s estimation, their crowning achievement wasn’t expanding their empire to include the New World, or uniting the various dominions that would become modern Spain. They believed their greatest accomplishment was driving out all Muslims from their country.

They both died young: Ferdinand died in 1516 and Isabella in 1504. Who knew that the grandson of a Spaniard, born in Cuba and raised in the U.S. would remember this? My grandparents up in heaven are probably thrilled.

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Image: Picryl