Catalina de Erauso was a Basque woman, daughter and sister of soldiers from the city of San Sebastian, 1592. Although she declared her birth year to be 1585, this was probably an attempt to appear older. She was expected to become a nun but abandoned the monastery at the age of fifteen, dressed herself as a man, and started a long travel from San Sebastian to Valladolid. From there she visited Bilbao, where she enrolled in a ship, always through contacts with other Basques, reaching America's colonies and enlisting as a soldier under several captains, including her own brother, who she inadvertedly killed along with many others. Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Catalina_de_Erauso. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Basques are an indigenous people who inhabit parts of both Spain and France. ... Geography > Europe > Spain > Basque Country > Guipúzcoa San Sebastián with sailboats Statue of Jesus on Urgull Mountain San Sebastián (Donostia in Basque) is the capital city of the province of Guipúzcoa, in the Spanish autonomous community of Basque Country. ... Events January 30 - The death of Pope Innocent IX during the previous year had left the Papal throne vacant. ... 1585 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. ... This articles is about cross-dressing in general, that is the act of wearing the clothing of another gender for any reason. ... Plaza Mayor and city hall, Valladolid The unfinished cathedral and the Plaza de Cervantes, near the University of Valladolid The church of Santa María la Antigua, Valladolid Valladolid is an industrial city in central Spain, upon the Rio Pisuerga. ... Cityscape of Bilbao, with the Guggenheim Museum on the bottom right Bilbao from satellite (NASA World Wind Landsat) Bilbao (Basque: Bilbo) in the North of Spain, is the largest city in the Pais Vasco and the capital of the province of Vizcaya (Basque: Bizkaia). ... Spanish conquest and colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in America of Christopher Columbus in 1492. ...

She participated in the Arauco war against the natives in South America, currently parts of Chile, Argentina and Peru, but also in commerce, always for Basque businessmen. She killed many men in different rows, many of them soldiers or bureaucrats and officers of the Spanish crown. To escape she took refuge many times in churches, taking sanctuary, which by that time was sacred; soldiers couldn't enter into sanctuary in persecution of anyone. Jump to: navigation, search Arauco, a coastal province of southern Chile, bounded N., E. and S. by the provinces of Concepcion, Bio-bio, Malleco and Cautin. ... Sanctuary has multiple meanings. ...

She wrote an autobiography, the 1838 edition of which is available on-line [1]. Jump to: navigation, search 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...