About
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of the writer Oliver Goldsmith, Islamic prophet Muhammad, and president George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain that deal with topics such as the Alhambra palace, the arrival of Europeans in the Americas and Christopher Columbus, and the Reconquista. Irving served as the American ambassador to Spain in the 1840s.