"The Other 1492: Ferdinand, Isabella, and the Making of an Empire" Prof. Teofilo F. Ruiz (12 Lectures / 30 Minutes Per Lecture / 6x CD - The Great Courses)
 
Instead of isolating the single narrative of Christopher Columbus's voyage, the curriculum explores how a unified Spanish identity was violently forged under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. It breaks down the critical events that marked this historic transition, focusing on the final military collapse of the Muslim Kingdom of Granada and the sweeping Edict of Expulsion that forced Spain's long-standing Jewish population to either convert to Christianity or face immediate exile.
 
Moving past the victories of the crown, the lessons meticulously examine these historical shifts from multiple perspectives, capturing the experiences of the Muslims, Jews, and New World indigenous populations for whom 1492 represented an era of profound disruption and displacement. The lectures analyze the rise of the Spanish Inquisition as an administrative tool of state security and track how Castilian cultural attitudes toward religion, property, and governance were eventually exported across the Atlantic to shape the Americas. Ultimately, this course delivers a nuanced investigation into how the domestic religious cleansing and imperial expansion of 1492 laid the foundational architecture for the early modern world.
 
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