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In 1492, the Kingdom of Spain defeated the last Islamic state on the Iberian Peninsula, in the same year that their representative, Christopher Columbus, discovered the Americas. The crusading zeal to expel the Muslims from Europe was easily shifted to exploring these new territories and Christianizing their inhabitants. However, due to new place names ripped from popular fiction of fantastical knights and their quests, it appears that explorers were driven to emulate their fictional heroes. In fact, the tales of wondrous new places, peoples and lands likely inspired new books of popular fiction, which in turn stimulated multitudes of young men to get on a ship and seek fortune, a feedback loop which drove Spain’s colonial enterprise. Come learn the fun size story of the Americas and their fictional place names!