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The Writer's Almanac from Tuesday, January 2, 2007
The Writer's Almanac from Tuesday, January 2, 2007"Thus Spake the Mockingbird" by Barbara Hamby, from Babel. © University of Pittsburgh Press. It's the birthday of one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century, Isaac Asimov, born in Petrovichi, Russia (1920). He's the author of several science fiction novels, but most of the more than 400 books he published in his lifetime were books about scientific subjects for laypeople. It was 515 years ago, on this day in 1492, that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella captured the city of Granada, the last major Muslim stronghold in Spain, bringing to an end more than 700 years of Islamic influence on that country. Muslims from North Africa had first invaded the country back in the year 711, capturing most of the major cities and then ruling without challenge for three centuries. They turned the city of Córdoba into their capital, and it became one of the biggest and most diverse cities in the Western world, rivaling Constantinople and Baghdad. It also became home to the third largest mosque in the world. But starting in 1085, Christian military leaders began to push back into the land controlled by Muslims. After centuries of war, the Muslim kingdom was pushed into the southern part of Spain. The sultan built a fortress in the city of Granada called the Alhambra, where Moorish rule continued for another 200 years. But in 1469, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella got married, uniting the two major kingdoms of Spain, and they set out on a campaign to capture all the remaining territory of the peninsula. The Alhambra was never captured in battle, but the Muslim ruler surrendered it on this day in 1492 after Ferdinand and Isabella promised not to convert or expel any of the Muslims in the city. They didn't keep their promise. Instead, there was a campaign of forced conversion under the threat of torture and prison. Speaking Arabic was outlawed, and Arabic names for children were forbidden. Ferdinand and Isabella chose to take the Alhambra as their own royal palace. When they rode into the city, one of the people following the royal procession was a man that had been hounding them for eight years. A few months later, he finally got a hearing with the royal couple in the Alhambra, where he laid out his plan to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. And that was Christopher Columbus. Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® We hope you can join us for our 50th Anniversary of A Prairie Home Companion. CLICK HEREticket Information and details! If you are a paid subscriber to The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor, thank you! Your financial support is used to maintain these newsletters, websites, and archive. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber and would like to become one, support can be made through our garrisonkeillor.com store, by check to Prairie Home Productions, P.O. Box 2090, Minneapolis, MN 55402, or by clicking the SUBSCRIBE button. This financial support is not tax deductible.
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