Intertwined History

The three largest aspects of a society: Art, Politics, and Science, are all interconnected. This is evident through Isabella of Castile, Leonardo da Vinci and the invention of the Compass. Without any of these pieces of history, the others would not have had such a prominent effect on the world. From Columbus's journey, to Isabella's possible decency had her art not been filled with humanistic ideas, the world would have been a much different place if not for these three things working together.

Isabella of Castile, the woman behind the Spanish inquisition. After quickly gobbling up her chance at the throne of Castile ,Isabella and her husband Ferdinand controlled both Castile and Aragon, unifying Spain. The first thing they do with this unified Spain is to cause the torture and deaths of thousands of people. The historical facts do not shine so kindly on the character of Isabella, yet still she had a huge impact on history.

Compass , an instrument able to find directions, usually utilizing the earths magnetic pull to do so. The earliest compasses were of Chinese invention, and consisted of a lodestone sitting in a pool of water with a needle, causing the needle to point south. It is still debated whether Europe invented it's compass separately or whether they received the idea from China. Whatever the means of origin, the compass that began popping up in Europe around 1300 was much different. The European compass did not require water, and also pointed North rather then south. The effect the compass had on sea travel is quite hard to call anything but immense.
Leonardo da Vinci is arguably one of the most diversely, extremely talented men in all of history. An engineer, scientist, inventor, sculptor, mathematician, and most notably a painter; Leonardo accomplished more in his lifetime then ten average geniuses do. He is the creator of such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. He is the inventor of hydraulic pumps, and machines of flight far ahead of his time. He is unarguably one of the most influential people in all of history. He is Leonardo.

Isabella had a fondness for the arts, and as such had a large collection of paintings from relatively unknown Spanish artists. During the time she was amassing this collection, the world of painting was being radically redefined by the great Renaissance artists of Italy, not the least prominent of which happens to be Leonardo. When the entire art form was being shifted so hugely with men like Leonardo at the helm, it doesn't matter that you don't have his exact work, or how far away you are from him, all paintings in the known world were radically different then they had been a century earlier. More realism, and emphasis on the human experience influenced by a humanistic way of thinking creeped into the brush of every aspiring painter of the age. Including those in Spain providing Isabella with her with whatever her cruel heart desired. These paintings filled with humanistic ideas were a driving force in Isabella's compulsion to "cleanse" her religion. These ideas brought by Leonardo indirectly caused the torture and deaths of hundreds.

1492 is the year in which Christopher Columbus finally convinced Isabella to fund his voyage across the ocean to the Indies, after his third try to do so. Without her backing the Americas would not have been found, so quickly at the very least, and possibly not ever, considering the general consensus that the world was flat, and that they would fall of the edge of said flat world if they were to attempt what Columbus attempted. Compasses had become a simply indispensable tool necessary for sea travel by the time either Columbus or Isabella were up and about. Without a way to guide him to his planned destination Columbus may never have reached his completely surprising actual destination.

Isabella of Castile, Leonardo da Vinci, and the invention of the compass, these three were all influential on history, yet seemingly completely individually accomplishing that, be it from persecuting an entire nation, changing art forever, or creating easier navigation. Yet without one of these aspects of history the others would not have had such a profound effect, namely on the discovery of the Americas by Spain. If Columbus hadn't gotten his finances from Isabelle, or ended up going in a completely wrong direction because he lacked reliable navigation technology, how would the history of at least the entire western world have differed? How would the political happenings of Europe have differed, if no one had been occupied trying to grab there piece of "the new world"? If religions other then Catholosism hadn't been discouraged and persecuted so extremely by Isabella (inspired by Leonardo's humanistic ideals), how much would that have changed the development of Europe over the last few centuries? There is no way to truly know the utterly radical differences that would have occurred had these three forces not worked together without realizing they were doing so. This is just one example of how every aspect of the world affects the others, and together they form something we call history.