WELCOME to the latest edition of ‘This Week in Spanish History’, written by Michael Coy.
3 AUGUST, 1492 – COLUMBUS SETS SAIL FROM PALOS
In 1492 Spain was a young, confident nation.
It had sailors with ocean-going experience, and major ports like Huelva.
Christopher Columbus, a native of Italy, had been searching for years for someone to sponsor his idea of sailing west to get to the east.
Finally, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain gave him his chance – on August 3 that year, he left Palos de la Frontera (just outside Huelva) on his way to discover America.
3 AUGUST, 1932 – FOSFORITO BORN
Antonio Fernandez Diaz entered the world in Puente Genil, 45 miles south of Cordoba, almost a century ago.
As a flamenco singer, he was known as ‘El Fosforito’.
Flamenco artists who achieve legendary status are awarded the ‘golden key’.
It is so hard to get that there have only ever been five recipients since it was introduced in 1862, but Fosforito is one of them.
The flamenco museum in Cordoba is named in his honour.
3 AUGUST, 1935 – VAZQUEZ (or MINGOLLA) ARRESTED
It’s understandable that the sources are confused. Bandits are hard to pin down factually.
In the 1800s Ronda became a hotbed of criminal activity – it was near enough to the coast to make smuggling viable, and so naturally difficult to penetrate that it was hard for the forces of law and order to ‘police’.
By the 1930s the few remaining ‘bandoleros’ had acquired a sort of romantic gloss.
Headlines proclaiming the capture of Benito Vazquez may, in fact, refer to Juan Mingolla, killed in a 1934 shootout.
Mingolla’s nickname, ‘Pasos Largos’, means ‘Giant Strides’.
3 AUGUST, 2017 – ANGEL NIETO DIES
During the years when he was active (1964-1986), Angel Nieto was the world’s leading motorcyclist.
He raced at every level of the sport, winning 13 world championships and taking the number one podium in no fewer than 90 Grand Prix.
He lived on the island of Ibiza for decades.
In the summer of 2017, while he was out riding his quad bike, he was hit by a car – he died after nine days in a coma.
4 AUGUST, 1881 – HIGHEST-EVER EUROPEAN TEMPERATURE
Everyone in Andalucia knows that Sevilla gets hot in the summer.
Sitting on the flood plain of the Guadalquivir river, without the refreshing mountain breezes enjoyed by towns like Ronda, Sevilla can get relentless.
By the late 19th century, when scientific measurement made reliable records possible, the temperature could be accurately measured.
August 1881 showed an astonishing 50 degrees centigrade!
In 2003, 2017, and 2021, the thermometer reached in excess of 46 degrees but has never again hit 50…so far.
4 AUGUST, 1897 – ‘LADY OF ELCHE’ FOUND
An archaeological dig on a private estate at the end of the 19th century in the Valencian town of Elche turned up one of Spain’s best-known ‘finds’.
The ‘Lady of Elche’ is a limestone bust which dates from 400 BC.
The provenance of the almost perfectly-preserved sculpture is baffling, but it might have belonged to a community of Carthaginians, from what is now Tunisia.
READ MORE: THIS WEEK IN SPANISH HISTORY: A deadly train crash, a royal marriage and the mystery of baby Lucia
6 AUGUST, 1660 – DEATH OF VELAZQUEZ
Diego Velazquez of Sevilla can claim to be Spain’s greatest-ever painter.
As a young man, he obtained a post at the royal court.
This made him famous but also led to his death.
He was ordered to go to the Basque provinces in the summer of 1660, to decorate a royal wedding pavilion.
The area was swampy, and he caught a fever – and died.
6 AUGUST, 2022 – SCOTTISH FATHER MOURNS ADULT SON
Craig Mallon, 26, in Lloret del Mar for his brother’s bachelor weekend, lost his life in May 2012, when he was attacked near a nightclub.
The incident occurred outside Rockefeller’s Disco Bar.
Craig’s family, unhappy at the lack of progress in solving the case, is putting pressure on Catalunya’s police, the Mossos de Esquadra.
The family has compiled a dossier of information on various groups of French tourists blamed for the homicide, and Craig’s father has spoken to the national press about his on-going grief.
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