Yesterday was Granada Day...January 2, 1492....The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. The monarchs celebrated by financing Columbus’ expedition and also by expelling all of their Jewish subjects.

The fall of Moorish Granada to the Catholic Spaniards was one of the most unappreciated moments in western history. The two Catholic houses of Aragon and Castille united under the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella and immediately put their efforts to removing Islam from Iberia (Spain)....the repercussions of this have molded our modern world.

The Catholics waged an intense Holy War and finally succeeded with the fall of Alhambra in Granada. The Moors (Islam) were expelled....but so were the Jews. This created a huge economic vacuum in Spain at a time when the royal treasury was in war debt. Spain was now a nation filled with warriors and soldiers with nothing to do except wait for payment from a depleted treasury. What to do with these warriors? ...the last thing you wanted was to keep them at home, dissatisfied..so Ferdinand and Isabella sent them overseas. It was a win win win for them...soldiers were seeking new conquests: plenty of those "out there". And...they were told, it was a Holy Dictate to spread the word of the Catholic God. And, they were told...riches could be found by securing passages to the eastern lands through the western ocean, a percentage of which would be kept by the conquerors, plus huge grants of land and title.

The result was their discovery of a new lands ripe for plunder, filled with gold, silver, resources and new "converts" to Catholicism. Enter the Golden Age of Spain, which forced European expansion and western religious wars and competition into the new lands...(it also led to the creative genius such as Cervantes and Lope De Vega, but that's another story)

EVERYTHING we are today, everything the American hemisphere became, can be traced directly to the fall of Granada as a result. ....unfortunately for Spain, it meant their decline as a world power as they became more dependent on oversea fortunes.

Yesterday was Granada Day....and as I was sick with a cold, I waited until today to post this. Interesting tine in history...to say the least.

My ancestors were lax in not checking that each batch of immigrants had the proper visas. They didn't account for "anchor babies" or the guns that the Christian invaders carried.

Yes, it was an important date in history.

Just think...if American settlers didn't have guns, there would be no Indian casinos.

Columbus set forth from an island I can see from my living room.

The defeat of the last Muslim rulers in Spain was a significant date. It is similar to the defeats of the Scots in Great Britain, or the rise of Cromwell .Changes in Spain Portugal and Britain made the modern world. This countries provided the explores and soldiers to colonize large parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas.

These countries became powerful because of their empires but are now poor. It is true that their empires brought great harm . However the expansion of their culture did great good. Brazil and East Timor are grateful to the Portuguese and still speak their language. In fact it was this history that gave them freedom and the right to be treated as individual nations.

Spain also spread its culture and language to most of South America and the Philippines. It is true they brought both the cross and the sword, This can be seen in statutes of the conquerors in Philippines churches. Whether the Cross could have flourish without the sword is debatable. But it was the Cross that become the lasting legacy.

Britain or England brought the Anglican and Calvinist religions. They also come with the sword. But after conquering the natives they brought their religions to the new world. Perhaps their lasting legacy is the English Bible. This has done much to bring freedom and rule of law long after the foreign soldiers left.

Colonial rule of other countries has good and bad points but in the end it has made a better world.

Do you feel that is true of Australia? How would the aborigonies and asians have fared in your country had the historical British racism been out of the equation?

For the 90% of natives that perished in the Americas as a result of the slaughter by western man...colonial rule was not a positive thing. Even the Cherokee...who acclimated quickly to white man's ways...by maintaining as many black slaves as whites....and also their leaders lived in homes rivaling any colonial mansion. The trail of tears did two things...whites stole the Cherokee "communities and land"....AND more importantly, marching the Cherokees and other tribes to Oklahoma repressed them...since culturizing to white man standards was the real threat to white man settlers.

Regarding East Timor ...During WW2, 2 million of these East Timor fine people died protecting Australia...yet Australians never recognise this either. I spent quit a bit of time in Australia...and I was once interviewed here in the USA as part of a survey about "heroes". I said mine were Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta. Because neither were on "the list", I was unceremoniously told that my opinions were no longer needed and "Thank You and Have a Nice Day".

Minsadorada, The Aboriginals were treated badly in the British invasion of Australia. Some were killing wars like the American Indians but as they were fairly peaceful this was no so common here.However many were killed by diseases brought by the white man. They are now only 2% of the population. Most were driven from their lands.

Today their original inhabitants are recognized. Some land has been given back but only in desert areas. Nearly all public buildings fly an aboriginal flag as well as the Australia flag. Their original occupation of the land is recognizes at all public ceremonies.

This does not mean they have equal rights. Few aboriginals are in parliament. Whether they have been better off with out the British is debatable As a very primitive race they could not stand up to any invasion even by Asians. I think they are better off under British rule than say Indonesian rule. There were no Asians in Australia before the British arrived but I think there would have been an invasion eventually.

While we once had a White Australia population now a third of Australians are children of immigrants mainly Asian.

Chocolatrgenii, Things have change a little. We were the country that fought to give East Timor independence from Indonesia. Australia was almost alone in giving troops although it was supported by the UN. Today Australia is the main economic supporter of East Timor.

I think the Australia attitude to its native inhabitants was better than in North America. However we did treat them badly which we now acknowledge.