Right Heir, Right Now: Castilian War of Succession, 1475
The Castilian War of Succession was fought from 1475 to 1479 between Isabella, half-sister to the ruling king, Enrique IV, and Juana la Beltraneja, daughter of Enrique who was rumored to be illegitimate. Although Isabella was declared queen in 1474, the succession was disputed by Juana, resulting in a succession war breaking out. Both Isabella and Juana were strategically married to Castile’s neighbors, Aragon and Portugal, respectively. As civil war broke out in Castile, Aragon, Portugal, and France all became closely involved. Initially a collection of skirmishes, the pace ramped up quickly with increased foreign involvement, resulting in both a land war on Castilian soil and a naval war in the Atlantic.
As Portuguese forces led by Afonso V of Portugal, husband of Juana, into Castile, Isabella’s courtiers must come up with solutions to pressures from within Castile and abroad. How will you navigate the difficult political and social fabrics of Castile and the Iberian peninsula in the early modern age? How will you end the war and restore the glory of the Castilian throne? All members of the court must put aside their past differences and work together to guide Castile and Aragon into a new age of peace and prosperity. Pax Castilla!
Diana Gothong
Chair
Diana is a second-year rising sophomore at UChicago studying Economics and Law. She was born and raised in the Philippines but spent her senior high in the UK. She’s previously served as AC for EU MUNUC 37 and Byzantine Empire ChoMUN XXVIII, will serve as Chair for Principat de Catalunya MUNUC 38, and has also competed in MUN since high school.
Outside of MUN, Diana is involved in a wide range of campus activities, including The Blue Chips Investment Club and Debate Society. When she’s not in a club meeting, you’ll likely find her on the golf course or the skating rink. She also enjoys reading, cooking elaborate meals she can’t finish, and playing four-hour board games with friends who claim they’ll never play that long of a game again–but always do.
Diana is very excited to return as Chair for ChoMUN XXIX and can’t wait to see what the delegates will make of this year’s committee. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at dgothong@uchicago.edu.
Kaan Alp Acik
Crisis Director
Kaan Alp (or simply just Kaan) is a rising fourth year majoring in business economics and minoring in environmental science. He was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, but he currently resides in Chatham, NJ, while studying at the University of Chicago. He has participated in 3 MUN conferences in Turkey as a delegate during his high school days. He is a proud member of University of Chicago’s travel TEAM and has served as an assistant chair in the committee “The Fall of The Cholas” in ChoMUN XXVI, a co-chair in “G77” in ChoMUN XXVII, and a crisis director in “Rise of the Fallen: Mongolian Empire, 1259 in ChoMUN XXVIII. He will remain in the travel TEAM and will be serving as a co-chair in the UNCTAD committee at MUNUC next year.
In his free time, Kaan loves to eat food, drive cars, hang out with friends, watch comedy shows, run track, go to the gym to work out, and play basketball, table tennis, or football (the globally recognized one, not the American one).
Kaan is very excited to return as a Crisis Director for ChoMUN XIV, and cannot wait to see how delegates will navigate both the frontrooms and backrooms of the committee. If you have any questions, email Kaan at kaacik@uchicago.edu.
Andy Cheng
CRISIS DIRECTOR
Andy is a rising fourth-year at the college, double majoring in Public Policy and Political Science. He was born in Shanghai, China, which makes him proudly trilingual – English, Mandarin, and Shanghainese. Within MUN, Andy served as the Crisis Director of the Soviet Space Program for ChoMUN XXVIII, Admin Exec for ChoMUN XXVII, as well as both moderator and backroom AC for Wells Fargo at ChoMUN XXVII. For MUNUC, UChicago’s high school conference, Andy is the co-chair of UNCTAD for MUNUC 38.
Outside of MUN, Andy is engaged in various activities around campus. He attends badminton training and sometimes rugby practices; he is an amateur photographer, DJs for friends at parties, and maintains his own electronic music blog (even though sometimes he goes on political spiels in the middle of the blog). He is also a fanatic fan of F1, WRC, and WRX, as well as anything sim-racing.
Andy is very excited to return as a Crisis Director for ChoMUN XXIX, and cannot wait to see how delegates will navigate both frontroom and backroom of the committee. If you have any questions, please reach out at andycfy@uchicago.edu!
Secretariat oversight:
Steven sotomayor, Under-secretary-general