Don Quixote -- Cervantes is Born

Miguel de Cervantes was born in Madrid, Spain on September 29, 1547. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare, but Cervantes is perhaps best known as the author of Don Quixote. The life of Cervantes was full of notoriety and adventure. He fought against the Turks in his service for the Spanish fleet; he was captured by pirates and only ransomed after five years of captivity in Algiers; and he was jailed for accounting inconsistencies as a tax collector. Although Cervantes may have written as many as 30 plays, only two of them appear to have survived. He also left us his famous tale of the errant knight, who rides at windmills with the courage of a hero fighting the most horrendous beast. Part II of "Don Quixote" appeared in 1615, just a year before he died. Read one of the greatest works of literature: Don Quixote.