When was the first part of Don Quixote published?
Don Quixote is published
Se publica el Quijote
January 1605. Early in 1605 the Madrid printer Juan de la Cuesta published the first part of Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, a former soldier who had been…
Where: Spain, The whole Spanish-speaking world, Madrid
What happened
Early in 1605 the Madrid printer Juan de la Cuesta published the first part of Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, a former soldier who had been wounded at Lepanto and held captive for five years in Algiers. In it a poor gentleman who has read too many books of chivalry sets out as a knight, with Sancho Panza as his squire. It was an immediate success. A false sequel by someone else appeared in 1614, and Cervantes published his own second part in 1615. He died in Madrid in April 1616. The book is often called the first modern novel, the high point of Spain's Golden Age, the Siglo de Oro.
Say it
El Quijote es la novela más famosa de la lengua española.
Don Quixote is the most famous novel in the Spanish language.
Why it matters
Spanish is often called 'la lengua de Cervantes'; the Quixote fixed a model of literary Spanish and gave the world the words 'quijotesco' and 'quixotic'.
Read about it
Connected
- The Siglo de Oro (c. 1492–1681)
- Lazarillo de Tormes is printed (1554)
- Lazarillo de Tormes is printed (1554)
- The Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571)
- The Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571)
- Lope de Vega and the comedia (1609)
- The expulsion of the Moriscos (April 1609–January 1614)
- Sor Juana answers Sor Filotea (March 1691)
- The Real Academia Española is founded (3 August 1713)
- The Diccionario de autoridades (1726–1739)
- The Instituto Cervantes is created (March 1991)
- Before: The Armada sails against England
- After: Lope de Vega and the comedia
Sources
- Cronología de la vida y obra de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra — Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes