Isabella I

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• Queen of Castile and Léon (1474–1504) who ruled jointly with her husband, Ferdinand V (king of Aragon as Ferdinand II). Their marriage united two kingdoms and inaugurated the modern Spanish state. They expelled Muslims and Jews from Spain and sponsored Christopher Columbus's voyages.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the queen of Castile whose marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 marked the beginning of the modern state of Spain; they instituted the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 and sponsored the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492 (1451-1504)