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Isabella I
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Christopher Columbus Christophe Colomb a la cour d'Isabelle I Christopher Columbus Painting of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain seated on a throne as a group kneels before them, with a prelate holding a cross in warning during the expulsion of Jews in 1492. Gilt and polychrome relief by Alonso de Mena showing Ferdinand II on the left and Isabella on the right, both with hands raised in prayer, framed by ornate gold trim. Isabella I
Enjoy a dramatization of Christopher Columbus petitioning Spain's king and queen for three ships
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Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus requesting support from Isabella I and Ferdinand II of Spain; chromolithograph after a painting by Václav Brožík, c. 1884.

Isabella I

queen of Spain
Also known as: Isabel la Católica, Isabella the Catholic
Written by
J.R.L. Highfield
Emeritus Fellow of Merton College, Oxford; former Lecturer in Modern History, University of Oxford. Editor of Spain in the Fifteenth Century; coeditor of Europe in the Late Middle Ages.
J.R.L. Highfield
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Isabella I (born April 22, 1451, Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Castile—died November 26, 1504, Medina del Campo, Spain) was the queen of Castile (1474–1504) and of Aragon (1479–1504), ruling the two kingdoms jointly from 1479 with her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand V of Castile). Their rule effected the permanent union of Spain and the beginning of an overseas empire in the New World, led by Christopher Columbus under Isabella’s sponsorship. Isabella was...

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