It is March 13, and 346 years ago today the Massachusetts Bay Colony made a novel purchase. Boston Magazine wrote in 2014: “On March 13, 1677, the imperial dreams of Massachusetts came to fruition. For on that day, our colony bought Maine for £1,250 sterling.”
The Reconquista, or Christian reconquest of Iberia, took nearly 800 years. The fighting did not come without great attempts by Muslim powers across the strait trying to reestablish their presence in mainland Europe. The last gasp of that effort came in the 1330s, when the powerful Marinid sultanate of what is modern Morocco invaded in an attempt to reverse Christian gains and secure the perilous position of the Sultanate of Granada.