Iberian Peninsula

The downfall of the Aztec Empire in the 1500s was brought about by a very bloody and ruthless conquest orchestrated by Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés. Central America was devastated by the aggression of the European invaders who were ransacking every town for their valuables and subjugating the populace. Much of what is known about the events that unfolded comes from primary sources written by the Spanish participants or the stories written by the native Nahua people a generation or…

father, was the commander of the Carthaginian forces late in the First Punic War, and this is the root of Hannibal’s great disgust for the Roman Empire. Livy tells us that after this war, when Hamilcar was preparing to transfer his troops to the Iberian Peninsula to help rebuild Carthaginian power, Hannibal begged to travel with him. Hamilcar, about to prepare an offer to the gods for the journey, agreed and “led the boy to the altar and made him solemnly swear…that as soon as he was old…

Introduction The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is located on the northern coast of South America. Venezuela is bordered by the following three countries and a sea: to the east Guyana, to the west Colombia, to the south Brazil and to the north the Atlantic Ocean. The longest border is with Colombia than Brazil. The topography of Venezuela is a very mountainous can be broken down into four geographical divisions. These divisions are the Andes’ chain to the north, Lake Maracaibo to the west,…

Many factors contributed to the uneven growth of urban centres and culture in Europe during the period 1500-1650. This essay will consider the impact of climate change, geography, economy, religion, war, and the changing political landscape in Europe during this period. No one factor caused the changes; rather it appears to have been a combination of those mentioned above, though some may have had a greater impact than others. This is particularly true of the Protestant Reformation, which…

Hannibal Barca is widely considered to have been one of the greatest military commanders of all time. In the second Punic war, he marched an army of elephants, cavalry, and infantry over the Alps to assault Rome in their home territory, his most famous achievement, and fought a war that soaked Italy in blood for more than a decade. In the end, due to lack of support from Carthage, Hannibal was unable to take Rome itself, though he defeated many Roman armies, and he was forced to return to…

Flamenco is an art of great persistence. Its traditional form is truly battle-born and has surpassed centuries of being shunned, social-hierarchical marginalization, and political retribution. Despite originating in Andalusia amongst socially marginalized groups of people, today flamenco is recognized as a national symbol of Spain. Initially it seems difficult to understand how the music of social and political catharsis could transform to a larger national symbol and tradition. But, looking at…

Early Jewish prosperity in the older communities of the Iberian Peninsula is intimately linked to the history of the Muslim conquests of Spain from 711, Sicily in 827, the Balearic Islands in 902 and various incursions into France, and their rule’s slow dissipation. This interlude created a society in whose economy…

energy consumption in 2010 (European Commission, 2012), indicating great dependence on seller nations (primarily Russia, Nigeria, Algeria, Qatar and Norway). The EU receives almost 50% of its gas by pipeline, and LNG continues to support the Iberian Peninsula. Diversification of supply is a high priority. (McRae and Ruppel, 2011) One major step to liberalizing markets would be to establish pricing mechanisms not tied to oil. While potential exists for shale gas development to reduce…

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer born in Genova, Italy around 1451, although being born into a poor family his father was able to send him to the University of Pavia where he studied navigation, Latin, geometry, geography and astronomy. Columbus spent much of his life in Portugal and Spain, after seeking funds for an expedition to locate the Land he believed to be Asia, it was here he met with Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand who obliged him. He was highly revered because of his…

work, 30 in which I showed Columbus's existential impossibility, as a Renaissance Genoese, of convincing himself that what he had discovered was not India. He navigated, according to his own imagination, close to the coasts of the fourth Asiatic peninsula (which Heinrich Hammer had already drawn cartographically in Rome in 1489 31 ), always close to the Sinus Magnus (the great gulf of the Greeks, territorial sea of the Chinese) when he transversed the Caribbean. Columbus died in 1506 without…