Sevilla: Gateway to Empire
Sevilla: Gateway to Empire
— David Eugene Perry
Ahoy! We make our way north to Yuste for a night at the Parador de Jarandilla de la Vera, housed in a 14th-century castle. Carlos V stayed here briefly following his voluntary abdication from the most powerful throne in Europe before retiring to the nearby Monastery of Yuste. En route, we pass by glorious Sevilla. As is our tradition, I cue up Julie Andrews singing the fabulously campy and cliché-ridden The Shady Dame from Seville from Victor/Victoria the moment the historic city comes into view.
Every time we visit or pass by, I am reminded of Sevilla’s extraordinary history—especially its pivotal role during the Age of Exploration.
Today, Sevilla sits nearly 60 miles (90 kilometers) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, connected to the sea by the winding Guadalquivir River. That surprises many visitors. But for centuries, the river was Europe’s maritime superhighway. Ocean-going vessels sailed upriver from Sanlúcar de Barrameda to what became Spain’s only inland seaport, carrying silver, spices, silk, maps, news, and dreams from every corner of the known world.
Long before Madrid became Spain’s permanent capital in 1561, the Castilian court was itinerant, and Sevilla was one of its favorite royal residences. Saint Ferdinand III entered the city after its reconquest in 1248. His son, Alfonso X “the Wise,” governed from here and is buried in the cathedral. Peter I transformed the magnificent Real Alcázar into one of the greatest Mudéjar palaces ever built. Ferdinand and Isabella frequently held court here, and after 1492 they watched as Sevilla became the gateway to a growing overseas empire.
It was also here that a young Genoese navigator named Christopher Columbus spent years seeking support, meeting merchants, financiers, and royal officials. Following his first voyage in 1493—and on subsequent returns—he came through Sevilla, where the astonishing news of lands across the Atlantic spread rapidly. His magnificent tomb now rests in Sevilla Cathedral, one of the city’s most visited landmarks.
In 1503, the Crown established the Casa de la Contratación in Sevilla. It became the administrative nerve center of Spain’s Atlantic empire. Every authorized expedition, every official chart, every pilot, every cargo manifest, and every ounce of treasure from the New World passed through its bureaucracy. In many respects, this was the mission control of the Age of Discovery.
Juan Ponce de León was another familiar figure here. After his exploration of Puerto Rico and Florida, he returned to Sevilla to report to the Crown, settle accounts, obtain new commissions, and organize further voyages. Like Columbus, his path to the Americas led through this remarkable river city.
And then there is perhaps the greatest voyage of them all.
On August 10, 1519, Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet of five ships departed Sevilla, sailing down the Guadalquivir toward Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Ten days later, they entered the Atlantic. Nearly three years later, after Magellan had been killed in the Philippines, the lone surviving ship—Victoria—returned under the command of the Basque mariner Juan Sebastián Elcano.
On September 6, 1522, the battered vessel reached Sanlúcar. Two days later, it completed the final leg upriver to Sevilla. Only eighteen European survivors remained from a crew that had originally numbered well over two hundred. Barefoot, they processed in thanksgiving through the city, having completed humanity’s first circumnavigation of the globe.
There is something wonderfully poetic about that journey. The first voyage around the Earth both began and ended in Sevilla—linked by the same river that had carried explorers, merchants, pilgrims, soldiers, and dreamers for centuries.
Even Carlos V, whose final journey would eventually lead him to the quiet monastery at Yuste, knew Sevilla well. He celebrated his marriage to Isabella of Portugal in the Alcázar in 1526, and during his reign the city reached the zenith of its wealth and global influence as the capital of Spain’s overseas empire.
Today, most visitors admire Sevilla for its cathedral, orange blossoms, flamenco, tapas, and spectacular Alcázar. All wonderful reasons to visit. But I always find myself looking toward the Guadalquivir.
It is easy to imagine caravels riding the tide, bells ringing from the cathedral towers, merchants shouting from the quays, and explorers—Columbus, Ponce de León, Magellan, and Elcano among them—walking these very streets as they prepared to change humanity’s understanding of the world.
Not bad for a city whose arrival is forever announced in our car by Julie Andrews belting out The Shady Dame from Seville.
Some traditions, thankfully, are worth keeping.”