History
Spain On This Day - March 19
By m.p.
Mar 19, 2008 - 12:19 AM

1812: With Spain in the midst of war in the Spanish War of Independence, the country’s first Constitution, the historic Constitución Española of 1812, is published by the Cortes in Cádiz.

Saint José de Anchieta, the Jesuit missionary known as the Apostle of Brazil, was born on the island of Tenerife on this day in 1534. He was one of the founders of both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, was a writer and a poet, and is considered the first Brazilian dramatist and the father of Brazilian literature.

The Catalan film director, Juan José Bigas Luna, who won the 1992 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion for ‘Jamón, jamón’ was born in Barcelona in 1946.

The actress and singer Juanita Reina, known as the Queen of Copla, died on this day in 1999 in her home town, Seville.