This Day In #History 30/07

July 30, 1492

The same month Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain for his “expedition of discovery to the Indies” [actually the Western Hemisphere], was the deadline for all “Jews and Jewsses of our kingdoms to depart and never to return . . .” lest they be executed. Under the influence of Fr. Tomas de Torquemada, the leader of the Spanish Inquisition, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had ordered the expulsion of the entire Jewish community of 200,000 from Spain within four months. Spain’s Muslims, or Moors, were forced out as well within ten years.

All were forced to sell off their houses, businesses and possessions, were pressured to convert to Christianity, and to find a new country to live in. Those who left were known as Sephardim (Hebrew for Spain), settling in North Africa, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe and the Arab world.
Most went to Portugal, were allowed to stay just six months, and then were enslaved under orders of King John. Those who made it to Turkey were welcomed by Sultan Bajazet who asked, “How can you call Ferdinand of Aragon a wise king, the same Ferdinand who impoverished his own land and enriched ours?”

July 30, 1996
Four Ploughshares activists in Liverpool, England, were acquitted of all charges (illegal entry and criminal damage) on the basis of their having prevented a greater crime, after having extensively damaged an F-16 Hawk fighter jet to be sold to the Indonesian government for use in its genocidal occupation of East Timor.

H/T Carl Bunin of PeaceButtons

@iyabadan on Twitter

THIS DAY IN HISTORY 03/11

EVENTS:

1493 – Christopher Columbus discovers island of Dominica

1762 – Spain acquires Louisiana

1793 – French playwright , journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined.

1820 – Cuenca Ecuador declares independence

1838 – The Times of India , the world ‘s largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce .

1903 – Colombia grants independence to Panama

1918 – Poland proclaims independence from Russia after WW I

1960 – Ivory Coast adopts constitution

1961 – General Assembly unanimously elects U Thant acting secretary general

1978 – Dominica gains independence from UK & adopts constitution

1992 – Bill Clinton (D ) wins US presidential election over President Bush (R )

DEATHS:

1793 – Olympe de Gouges, French feminist and revolutionary (b . 1748 )

1982 – Edward H Carr, British historian , dies at 90

    E H Carr is the author of What is History? He defined history as an "unending dialogue between the present and the past".