Madrid
Spain
Capital of the Spanish Empire at its zenith. The city from which Spain governed territories spanning the Americas, the Philippines, and much of Europe.
Associated figures
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was a Genoese navigator whose 1492 transatlantic voyage, sponsored by the Spanish Crown, established permanent European contact with the Americas. His four voyages across the Atlantic opened the way for widespread European exploration, colonization, and the Columbian Exchange between the Old and New Worlds.
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who organized the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe, sailing westward from Spain in 1519. Though Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines in 1521, his voyage - completed by Juan Sebastian Elcano - proved the Earth's sphericity and revealed the true vastness of the Pacific Ocean.
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright whose masterpiece "Don Quixote" (1605/1615) is widely considered the first modern novel and one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. A soldier who fought at the Battle of Lepanto and spent five years as a prisoner in Algiers, Cervantes drew on a life of extraordinary hardship to create literature of unmatched humanity and wit.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
The British general who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, ending over two decades of European warfare. Wellington first proved himself in India, then drove the French from Spain in the Peninsular War before commanding the Allied forces at the decisive battle of the age. He later served as Prime Minister.