MadridThe miraculous story of Madridhow a village became a great world city For centuries, Madrid was an insignificant settlement on the central Iberian plateau. Under its Muslim rulers, the town was fortified and enlarged, but even after the Reconquista, it remained secondary to nearby Toledo. However, Madrid's fortunes dramatically shifted in the sixteenth century, becoming the centre of a vast global empire. Luke Stegemann tells the surprising story of