- Miguel de Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares, to Rodrigo Cervantes, a surgeon by profession, and Leonor de Cortina.
- Initially studied humanities, but after a brief stint in the military, was taken captive and spent eight years in a prison at Algiers, where he first attempted writing.
- After returning he had financial difficulties and his play "El trato de Argel" was criticized, though his 1584 pastoral romance _"La Galatea"_ had moderate success.
- In 1605, _"El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha"_ his master work was published. It immediately enjoyed an enormous success and quickly spread throughout Europe.
- His first collection of short stories "_Novelas Ejemplares_" was published in 1613, and his final work, _"Persiles y Sigismunda_" in 1617, after his death in poverty and obscurity.
> Widely regarded as the father of the modern novel, Cervantes' work has had an incalculable influence on Western writers ever since.