Columbus sails as Muslim Granada falls

Columbus opens his voyage journal by describing the surrender of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Western Europe, which he watched on January 2, 1492. Ferdinand and Isabella commissioned his Atlantic crossing that same month.

His prologue records seeing 'the royal banners of your Highnesses planted by force of arms upon the towers of the Alhambra.' The end of seven centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia and the start of Europe's American venture are entwined in the same document.