Ferdinand II of Aragon (10 March 1452 - 23 January 1516), also known as Ferdinand V of Castile (Spanish: Fernando), was King of the Spanish region of Aragon (1479-1516) and several Italian provinces. His marriage to Isabella I of Castile united their two kingdoms and laid the foundation for a single Spain. Ferdinand authorized Christopher Columbus' exploratory mission across the Atlantic Ocean, which opened the New World to Spanish colonisation.
His daughter Catherine married King Henry VIII of England, and became the mother of Mary Tudor. He had four other children with Isabella, most of whom were also wed to sovereigns, thereby extending the power of Spain in Europe. Upon Isabella's death, Ferdinand remarried, but the only child died hours after birth. Ferdinand also fathered another six children with various mistresses.
King Fernando and Queen Isabella ruled a Spain that had developed a complex, labyrinthian system of government agencies. In 1491 they requested a study by the Special Committee on the Quality of Life as to the desirability of granting Cristóbal Colón the ships and men needed to attempt a circumnavigation of the world via the Oceanic Sea rather than around Africa. The third report, turned in on 30 November 1491, concluded that such an attempt would not be in Spain's best interest.[2]
