Comparisons of Central Bali to Central Spain

Published 1 year, 4 months ago in Arts & Culture, Environment & Nature, Destination and Resort by Don Bennett | 1,026 Views

Both Spain and Bali have rich cultures, a colorful history, and are popular with international tourists. But the imagery is quite different given one is a tropical island in SE Asia, the other a Southern European peninsula.

A short history:

Why didn’t Spain figure into the history of Bali, or did it? The royalty of Spain supported Columbus in searching for the Spice Islands (1492) at time that the Moors had been pushed out of Southern Spain, but Columbus, looking for the East Indies, ran into the unknown Americas (West Indies). But, then the Spanish could use South American silver to trade with the Chinese for spices, in Manila Bay, Philippines [the spices were trans-shipped across the Pacific Ocean to ports in Mexico, then onto Spain by large Galleon sailing ships].

So, since the routes though the Indian Ocean were controlled by Portugal and the Netherlands, Spain had to find another route (a much longer and more dangerous route). In 1521, Fernando Magellan sailed around the tip of South America, on to the Philippines, then found the Spice Islands (Molluccas).

Comparisons:

Large religious building in Spain (Cathedral) vs large temple in Mengwi, Bali.

Carved entrance to Cathedral in Spain vs carved entrance to Palace in Sayan, Bali.

Typical rice padi view in Bali vs view of hills around Madrid.

Ceiling from Bali vs ceiling from Madrid.

Old City walls of Avila vs dancers of Bali.

Castle in Segovia vs house overlooking rice padi in Bali.

Worshipers in the streets of Bali, vs narrow streets of Old Toledo.

Bookmark this at

Related posts

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 14th, 2007 at 8:03 am and is filed under Arts & Culture, Environment & Nature, Destination and Resort. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Tags: Americas, bali, Chinese, Columbus, culture, East Indies, Fernando Magellan, Galleon sailing ships, international tourists, Manila Bay, Molluccas, Moors, Netherlands, Philippines, Southern European peninsula, spain, Spice Islands.

2 Responses to “Comparisons of Central Bali to Central Spain”

Don Bennett
January 23rd, 2007 05:38
1

The national sport in Spain is Bull Fighting, in Bali Cock Fighting. Both are ancient rituals in their resp countries.
Don Bennett
January 23rd, 2007 05:45
2

Colorful processions such as the annual “Day of the dead” in many Catholic countries are very beautiful, but in Bali you would see similar spectacles several times per week !