• Ferdinand and Isabella drive the Muslims out of Granada
• Columbus launches his voyage to the New World
• The Jews are expelled from Spain
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Almost exactly two centuries after the fall of Acre, the last Christian stronghold in the East, in 1291—an event that signaled the end of the Crusades—three important events took place in Spain. These events in 1492 could be said to mark the end of the Middle Ages in Europe. That year, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella finally drove Muslims out of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) after defeating them at their last stronghold, the city of Granada. Also that year, Christopher Columbus began his voyage in search of a westward route to Asia. His...