Tilting at windmills Don Quixote fights windmills that he imagines are giants. A relevant portion of the novel states: Cervantes wrote "Don Quixote" in two parts, published respectively in 1605 and 1615, during the latter part of a historical period known as the Spanish Golden Age. During this age, Spain pursued military conquests in parts of Europe and conquered large parts of the Americas, which brought great riches to the country and inspired a flowering of the arts. In La Mancha, Castilla, Cervantes' setting for the novel, there still exist some examples of the era's windmills that Don Quixote found in his adventures.
Windmills in Leeuwarden Windmills in Leeuwarden The city of Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands has had at least 130 windmills over the centuries. Only one, the "Froskepôlemolen" survives today within Leeuwarden. Six other mills which have stood in Leeuwarden survive elsewhere in the Netherlands. The mills had a wide range of industrial and agricultural uses. The industrial uses include the processing of bark for tanning leather, the fulling of cloth, the production of cement, the production of dyes, the extraction of oil (including the production of paints), the grinding of tobacco to produce snuff, the production of gunpowder, and the sawing of timber. Agricultural