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intervened once more to thwart plotters
who wanted to impose a regency by Philip's
father, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian,
and again managed the situation in favor of
Ferdinand. Ferdinand reciprocated by
obtaining the title of cardinal for Cisneros.
Cisneros, now regent of Castile, per-
suaded Ferdinand to support a long-cher-
ished project: a crusade against the Muslims
of North Africa. Between 1507 and 1509,
Cisneros not only organized the financing
and equipping of an invasion force but
accompanied Castilian troops during their
capture of Oran. Ferdinand's heart was
never truly in this scheme, and the cardi-
nal's dream of a Christianized North Africa
soon faded. The two men did not ever fully
trust each other. Yet Ferdinand could not
deny the rigorous, uncompromising char-
acter of the cardinal and saw the value that
lay in keeping a man so unlike himself in a
position of trust. Cisneros was continued in
the regency of Castile until Ferdinand's
death and oversaw the accession of C
HARLES
I. The faithful servant laid down his burden
only when the young king had at last set
foot on the soil of Spain. They did not meet,
however, for Cisneros died a few days
before Charles could reach the cardinal's
deathbed.
Cisneros had lived the first 60 years of
his life in an essentially ecclesiastical envi-
ronment where his activities would scarcely
have earned him the attention of histori-
ans, yet during the last 20 years he became
one of the most active and involved person-
alities in the public life of Renaissance
Spain. His concern for the triumph of
Catholicism extended to the New World as
well, for he demanded the establishment of
the Inquisition in C
UBA
as well as Oran. A
loyal supporter of the Castilian dynasty, he
protected the orderly succession that ulti-
mately brought the rightful prince to the
throne, but his willingness to work with
Ferdinand of Aragon showed that he well
understood the political dynamics that were
creating a new Spanish state. A harsh,
unbending individual, Cardinal Cisneros
thus shared with the cunning and flexible
Machiavellian king Ferdinand a major role
in Spain's rise to dominance.
Clarín
Colombia
The coast of this region in the northern cor-
ner of South America was explored by Span-
iards in the early 1500s, and permanent
settlements were made in the 1520s. The
indigenous Chibcha people were conquered
by G
ONZALO
J
IMÉNEZ
DE
Q
UESADA
, who
founded Bogotá, later the capital of Colom-
bia, in 1538. Colombia was the nucleus of
the Viceroyalty of New Granada (which also
included V
ENEZUELA
, E
CUADOR
, and P
AN
-
AMA
), founded in 1718. After an eight-year
struggle for independence from Spain,
Colombia finally achieved victory under
S
IMÓN
B
OLÍVAR
in 1819. The old structure of
New Granada was swept away when Vene-
zuela and Ecuador separated from Colombia
in 1830, although Panama remained a
Colombian province until 1903.
Columbus, Christopher (Cristóbal
Colón)
(1451-1506)
Italian navigator and explorer in the
Spanish service
Born in Genoa, Italy, according to tradi-
tion, Columbus's place of birth, ethnic
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