ARo

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco lived from 1892 to 1975. Most would consider him the one responsible for the victory in the Spanish Civil War. He was born into a military family and was expected to fight. He served in Spanish Morocco for 17 years and led many attacks against the [|Moroccan] nationalists, which created a name for himself. He then became a general when he was only 36 years old. By 1939, America recognized him as the head of Spain. From then on, he became a dictator, and his rule was the typical dictatorship. Opposition was faced just as it would be in any dictatorship, and the country had secret police to make sure that no one was talking about their leader. When he died in 1975, monarchy returned to Spain.

 Amerigo Vespucci

 Amerigo Vespucci was an early explorer of the new world for Spain, although he was originally born in Florence. At first, he was trying to find a new, faster way to Asia, just like Christopher Columbus. He went on four expeditions, and then around 1501, he noticed that this place didn't seem like Asia. He decided to call it the "New Lands". When he came back, he wrote a book, explaining these new places. When he returned home, he met with this mapmaker, who believed that he should be credited with the title of the man who [|discovered] the new lands. This mapmaker, Martin Waldseemuller, also suggested that these new lands should be named after Vespucci. Vespucci explored mostly places such as Venezuela and Brazil, and other places in central and southern America. At first, only [|South America] was going to be named after him, but the name spread north, and both South and North America were named after Vespucci.

The vestibule of the Laurentian Library

=    This is a picture of the Vestibule of the Laurentian Library, which was Michelangelo's creation. These stairs lead the to the reading room, and Michelangelo purposely put them this way. The stairs on the left and right are very boxy and square. The point of this is to show like they are leading up. The design of them is supposed to be appealing that way you would walk up on the outside. In the middle, the stairs are more curved. The point of this is in order to make them look like they are flowing down. That would appeal to the eye and make people move down the stairs on the right. The stairs were completed from 1559-1662. [|Humanism] in the Renaissance was a time when people became very intellectual. Many people were knowledgeable in areas from art to science and history, and religion. People began to care about every aspect of everything, and people cared a lot about artwork. Michelangelo was a famous artist during this time period, and he designed these stairs. Since he was very intellectual and cared about how much everything formed, the architectural design of the stairs was to go up the stairs on the outside, and down the stairs in the middle. We see this intentional design because during the Italian Renaissance, every little detail needed a presence of art in it, so that is why Michelangelo designed these stairs like this. =