For seven centuries Spain fought Islam for its land and its faith till finally Fernand and Isabella, the "Catholic Monarchs", suceeded in unifying the nation by driving the last Moorish invaders out of the Iberian peninsula in 1492. With this, Spain became the balwart of Catholicism in Europe, the spearhead of the Counter-Reformation. With Colombus’s discovery of the New World that same year - 1492 - the grandeur of Spain and the Catholic faith were spread through an immensity of lands and seas. These ideals were embodied in the adventure- seeking soldiers of fortune and the priests who accompanied them. Together they succeeded in colonizing and converting the heathen people of America.
So was born the mestizo cultures and nations of the Americas. Artistic achievments were an integral component of this enterprise, which was both civil and religious, as an efficient medium of communication for the evangelization of the Indians. Rapidly the native races took Catholicism to their hearts, and thus became part of western culture.