Ismail I (1279–1325) was the fifth Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada (map pictured) on the Iberian Peninsula, from 1314 to 1325. He claimed the throne during the reign of his uncle, Sultan Nasr, after a rebellion started by his father Abu Said Faraj. Ismail was proclaimed sultan in February 1314. He spent the early years of his reign fighting Nasr, who attempted to regain the throne after enlisting the help of Castile. The war reached its climax in the Battle of the Vega in 1319, a complete victory for Ismail's forces over Castile. The deaths in the battle of Infante Peter and Infante John, the two regents for the infant King Alfonso XI, left Castile leaderless. Ismail followed up his victory with the capture of castles on the Castilian border in 1324 and 1325. He was murdered by his relative Muhammad ibn Ismail. Historians characterise Ismail as an effective ruler who improved the emirate's position with military victories.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_I_of_Granada

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1888:

American inventor George Eastman registered the trademark "Kodak" after receiving a patent for his roll film camera. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak

1914:

World War I: The German army began an assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grand_Couronn%C3%A9

1977:

A gang-related shooting took place in Chinatown, San Francisco, leaving five dead and spurring police to end Chinese gang violence in the city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Dragon_massacre

2007:

Three terrorists suspected to be part of al-Qaeda were arrested in Germany after planning attacks on Frankfurt Airport and Ramstein Air Base. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_bomb_plot_in_Germany

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bread and circuses: 1. Food and entertainment provided by the state, particularly if intended to placate the people. 2. (by extension) Grand spectacles staged or statements made to distract and pacify people. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bread_and_circuses

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

If this country can’t find its way to a human path, if it can’t inform conduct with a deep sense of life, then all of us, black as well as white, are going down the same drain… I picked up a pencil and held it over a sheet of white paper, but my feelings stood in the way of my words. Well, I would wait, day and night, until I knew what to say. Humbly now, with no vaulting dream of achieving a vast unity, I wanted to try to build a bridge of words between me and that world outside, that world which was so distant and elusive that it seemed unreal. I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human.   --Richard Wright https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Wright