English and the World · Spain · 42 · Seville · A1–C2 · Members
A building where merchants once traded, now full of the papers of an empire; a twelve-sided tower that guarded the river; and the quay from which five ships left to sail around the world. Choose your level.
Between the Cathedral and the Alcázar there is a big, square building with a courtyard. It was built in the 16th century as an exchange, a place for merchants to do business. Today it is an archive: the Archive of the Indies.
Inside, there are millions of pages about the history of Spain in the Americas and the Philippines: letters, maps, lists of ships and drawings. Historians come from all over the world to read them. Visitors can see some of the documents in the exhibition rooms.
Down by the river Guadalquivir there is a famous tower: the Torre del Oro, “the Tower of Gold”. It has twelve sides. The Almohads built it in 1220–1221 to protect the port. Today it is a small naval museum.
In 1519, five ships left a quay near the tower. The leader of the expedition was Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor. Three years later, only one ship came back, with eighteen men. They were the first people to sail around the world.
🦉 Want more? Sophia explains a, an, the and when we use no article at all in A Box, The Box, No Box At All (Philo & Sophia, Lesson 21).
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