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Spain has a long and illustrative
history, below are only highlights from the past two thousand years.
Early history
Before the Roman Empire, the Iberian Peninsula was never politically
unified.
The Roman provinces into which it was divided: Hispania Ulterior and
Hispania Citerior during the late Roman Republic; and, during the Roman
Empire, Hispania Taraconensis in the northeast, Hispania Baetica in the
south (roughly corresponding to Andalucia), and Lusitania in the
southwest (corresponding to modern Portugal).
Visigothic Hispania
(5th-8th centuries)
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes invaded the former
empire, several turned sedentary and created successor-kingdoms to the
Romans in various parts of Europe. Iberia was taken over by the
Visigoths after 410.
In the Iberian peninsula, as elsewhere, the Empire fell not with a bang
but with a whimper. Rather than there being any convenient date for the
"fall of the Roman Empire" there was a progressive "de-Romanization" of
the Western Roman Empire in Hispania and a weakening of central
authority, throughout the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries. At the same time,
there was a process of "Romanization" of the Germanic and Hunnic tribes
settled on both sides of the limes (the fortified frontier of the
Empire along the Rhine and Danube rivers). The Visigoths, for example,
were converted to Arian Christianity around 360, even before they were
pushed into imperial territory by the expansion of the Huns. In the
winter of 406, taking advantage of the frozen Rhine, the (Germanic)
Vandals and Sueves, and the (Asiatic) Alans invaded the empire in
force. Three years later they crossed the Pyrenees into Iberia and
divided the Western parts, roughly corresponding to modern Portugal and
western Spain as far as Madrid, between them. The Visigoths meanwhile,
having sacked Rome two years earlier, arrived in the region in 412
founding the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse (in the south of modern
France) and gradually expanded their influence into the Iberian
peninsula at the expense of the Vandals and Alans, who moved on into
North Africa without leaving much permanent mark on Hispanic culture.
The Visigothic kingdom shifted its capital to Toledo and reached a high
point during the reign of Leovigild, treated in some detail at its own
entry.
Importantly, Spain never entered the period of the Dark Ages such as
were endured in Britain, Gaul, Lombardy and Germany. The Visigoths
tended to maintain more of the old Roman institutions, and they had a
unique respect for legal codes that resulted in continuous frameworks
and historical records for most of the period between 415, when
Visigothic rule in Spain began, and 711, when it is traditionally said
to end. The proximity of the Visigothic kingdoms to the Mediterranean
and the continuity of western Mediterranean trade, though in reduced
quantity, supported Visigothic culture. Arian Visigothic nobility kept
apart from the local Catholic population. The Visigoth ruling class
looked to Constantinople for style and technology while the rivals of
Visigothic power and culture were the Catholic bishops— and a brief
incursion of Byzantine power in Cordoba.
The period of Visigothic rule saw the spread of Arianism briefly in
Spain. In 587, Reccared, the Visigothic king at Toledo, having been
converted to Catholicism put an end to dissension on the question of
Arianism and launched a movement in Spain to unify the various
religious doctrines that existed in the land. The Council of Lerida in
546 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over them
under the blessings of Rome.
The Visigoths inherited from Late Antiquity a sort of feudal system in
Spain, based in the south of the Roman villa system and in the north
drawing on their vassals to supply troops in exchange for protection.
The bulk of the Visigothic army was composed of slaves, raised from the
countryside. The loose council of nobles that advised Spain's
Visigothic kings and legitimized their rule was responsible for raising
the army, and only upon its consent was the king able to summon
soldiers.
The impact of Visigothic rule was not widely felt on society at large,
and certainly not compared to the vast bureaucracy of the Roman Empire;
they tended to rule as barbarians of a mild sort, disinterested in the
events of the nation and economy, working for personal benefit, and
little literature remains to us from the period. They did not, until
the period of Muslim rule, merge with the Spanish population,
preferring to remain separate, and indeed the Visigothic language left
only the faintest mark on the modern languages of Iberia. The most
visible effect was the depopulation of the cities as they moved to the
countryside. Even while the country enjoyed a degree of prosperity when
compared to the famines of France and Germany in this period, the
Visigoths felt little reason to contribute to the welfare, permanency,
and infrastructure of their people and state. This contributed to their
downfall as they could not count on the loyalty of their subjects, when
the Moors arrived in the 8th century.
Al-Andalus (8th-15th
centuries)
In 711, Arabs and Berbers had converted to Islam, a religion founded in
the 7th century by prophet Muhammad and which by the 8th dominated all
the north of Africa. A raiding party led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad was sent to
intervene in a civil war in the Visigothic kingdoms in Iberia. Crossing
the Strait of Gibraltar, it won a decisive victory in the summer of 711
when the Visigoth king Roderic was defeated and killed on July 19th at
the Battle of Guadalete. Tariq's commander, Musa bin Nusair quickly
crossed with substantial reinforcements, and by 718 the Muslims
dominated most of the peninsula. The advance into Europe was stopped by
the Franks under Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers (France) in
732.
The rulers of Al-Andalus were granted the rank of Emir by the Umayyad
Caliph in Damascus. After the Umayyad were overthrown by the Abbasids,
Abd-ar-rahman I declared Cordoba an independent emirate. Al-Andalus was
rife with internal conflict between the Arab Umayyad rulers, the Berber
(North African) commoners and the Visigoth-Roman Christian population.
Many of the Berbers, who had been given poor land in the northern parts
of the peninsula, soon abandoned their estates and returned to Africa
after a number of years with failed harvests. The lands were left
unclaimed through disinterest, and this created a power vacuum where
Christian kingdoms later would rise.
In the 10th century Abd-ar-rahman III declared the Caliphate of
Cordoba, effectively breaking all ties with the Egyptian and Syrian
Caliphs. The Caliphate was mostly concerned with maintaining its power
base in North Africa, but these possessions eventually dwindled to the
Ceuta province. Meanwhile, a slow but steady migration of Christian
subjects to the northern kingdoms was slowly increasing the power of
the northern kingdoms. Even so, Al-Andalus remained vastly superior to
all the northern kingdoms combined in population, economy, culture and
military might, and internal conflict between the Christian kingdoms
contributed to keep them relatively harmless.
Muslim interest in the peninsula returned in force around the year
1000. Under Al-Mansur (a.k.a. Almanzor), who sacked Barcelona (985),
and subsequently his son, Christian cities were subjected to numerous
raids. After his son's death, the Caliphate plunged into a civil war
and splintered into the so-called "Taifa Kingdoms". The Taifa kings
competed against each other not only in war, but also in the protection
of the arts, and culture enjoyed a brief upswing. The Taifa kingdoms
lost ground to the Christian realms in the north and, after the loss of
Toledo in 1085, the Muslim rulers reluctantly invited the Almoravides,
who invaded Al-Andalus from North Africa and established an empire. In
the 12th century the Almoravide empire broke up again, only to be taken
over by the Almohad invasion, who were defeated in the decisive battle
of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. By the mid-13th century Granada was the
only independent Muslim realm in Spain, which would last until 1492.
Córdoba became one of the most beautiful and advanced cities of
Europe, and an important scholarly center.
Reconquista (8th-15th
centuries)
The expulsion of the Muslims was reputedly started by the first King of
Asturias, named Pelayo (718-737), who started his fight against the
Moors in the mountains of Covadonga (722). Later, his sons and
descendants continued with his work until all of the Muslims were
expelled. See Pelayo for more information.
Meanwhile, in the east of the peninsula the Frankish emperors
established the Marca Hispanica across the Pyrenees in part of what
today is Catalonia, reconquering Girona in 785 and Barcelona in 801. It
was a buffer zone against Islam.
The idea of the Reconquista as a single process spanning eight
centuries is historically inaccurate. The Christian realms in northern
Spain warred against each other as much as against the Muslims. The
ancient Kingdom of Asturias clung to the loose mountains of
northeastern Spain, with its capital at Oviedo, while the Basques in
Navarre retained sovereignty through the period of Muslim rule. The
military decline of the Ummayads in Spain led to the creation in 913 of
the Kingdom of León. Sancho III of Navarre - a man of
considerable military skill - placed his son Fernando on the throne of
the County of Castilla in 1028, propelling Christian Spain yet further
into the south. Ferdinand was a prudent and pious monarch, unifying
Navarre, Galicia, Asturias, and León under his leadership.
Because the tradition of primogeniture did not yet exist in Spain, upon
Fernando's death in 1065 his lands were divided among his sons, Alfonso
VI of Castilla, Sancho II of Castilla, and García of Galicia.
Alfonso attempted to take Sancho's land, although the latter apparently
inherited more of his father's tact and strategy, and after defeating
him sent Alfonso into exile. García never ruled, and was
imprisoned for the duration of his short life.
Sancho's death in 1072 meant that Alfonso VI had the superior claim,
and he returned to power, once again in command of all of Fernando I's
domains. Alfonso was an impressive leader as well, and did much to
improve his realm to become one of Christian Europe's foremost
monarchies, tolerating Muslims to an extent remarkable for his time.
During his reign, El Cid, the 11th century hero of Spain's epic poem
was banished and found refuge with the Muslim king of Zaragoza. With
the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Al-Andalus had broken
apart into a number of small, warring domains, which contributed to the
success of Alfonso's southward expansionist drive of the Christian
kingdoms, culminating with the conquest of Toledo in 1085. After the
invasion of the Almoravides, his progress was checked.
On the death of Alfonso VII, León and Castilla were again
divided, although the division was not permanent: Alfonso IX's son
Fernando by Berenguela of Castilla, united the two realms on his
accession to Leon in 1230. Called the Saint, Fernando fought for most
of his reign against the Moors in the south. The reconquest of Spain
had been declared a crusade at the turn of the 13th century, but when
all lands but Granada had been conquered, most of its energy was spent.
Fernando's reign was the beginning of Spain's prominence in European
affairs, ending the diplomatic isolation brought on by his father's
clashes with the Pope over his marriages. The University of Salamanca -
one of Europe's oldest - was built during his reign and spawned an
early Christian school of thought in economics. Ferdanado's successor,
Alfonso X the Learned, helped to reintroduce classical thought to
Europe from the Moorish libraries and universities. Succeeding
monarchs, allied to the Kingdom of Aragón, succeeded in driving
the Muslims further south, capturing Gibraltar in 1309. The despotic
and bloody rule of Pedro el Cruel caused him to be ousted in 1366
briefly. Pedro's wars with Aragón caused Castilla's power to
weaken briefly.
A revived movement for the Christian unification of Spain was
capitalized on by the "Catholic monarchs" (Reyes Católicos in
Spanish) Isabel I of Castilla and Fernando II of Aragón in order
to justify their invasion of Granada, the expulsion of the Jews and the
forceful conversion of the Moors. In the 15th century, the Kingdoms of
Castile and Aragon were united under Isabel and Fernando. These two
able rulers ruled jointly and worked to consolidate the power of the
monarchy at the expense of the nobility. During their reign, the
castles of many nobles (symbols of aristocratic independence from the
monarchy) were demolished, and a system of regular taxation was
established. Fernando and Isabel established the basis for the
unification of Spain religiously as well as politically and
economically. Under their rule the Muslims were expelled from the
Iberian Peninsula. Aragón was at that time already an important
maritime power in the Mediterranean, and Castile was in competition
with Portugal for domination of the Atlantic Ocean. After the final
conquest of the last Moorish stronghold at Granada in 1492, Spain
started financing voyages of exploration. Those of Genoa-born
Cristoforo Columbo brought a New World to Europe's attention, and were
followed by the Conquistadores who brought the native empires of
Mesoamerica and the Inca under Spanish control. At the same time, the
Jews of Spain were ordered on March 30, 1492 to convert to Christianity
or be exiled from the country.
In 1499, about 50,000 Moors in Granada were coerced by Cardinal
Cisneros into mass baptisms and conversion. During the uprising that
followed (known as the First Rebellion of the Alpujarras), people who
refused the choices of baptism or deportation to Africa, were
systematically eliminated. What followed was a mass flee of Moors, Jews
and Gitanos from Granada city and the villages to the mountain regions
(and their hills) and the rural country, however by 1500 Cisneros
reported that "There is now no one in the city who is not a Christian,
and all the mosques are churches".
Through a policy of alliances with other European nobility and the
conquest of most of South America and the West Indies, Spain began to
establish itself as an empire. The Treaty of Tordesillas, negotiated by
Pope Alexander VI between Portugal and Spain, effectively divided up
the non-European world between these two budding empires. Massive
amounts of gold and silver were imported from the New World into
Spain's coffers. However, in the long run this hurt the Spanish economy
much more than it helped it. The bullion caused high inflation rates,
which undermined the value of Spain's currency. Additionally, Spain
became dependent on her colonies for income, and when Queen Elizabeth I
of England began to capture Spanish vessels on the way to and from the
New World, Spain suffered massive economic losses. These effects,
combined with the expulsion of Spain's most economically vital classes
in the late 15th century (the Jews and the Moors), caused Spain's
economy to collapse several times in the 16th century, bringing the
Golden Age of Spain to a close.
Spain under the Habsburgs
(16th-17th centuries)
Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries reached
its height and declined under the Habsburgs. The Spanish empire reached
its maximum extent under Charles I of Spain, who was also (as Charles
V) emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Charles became king in 1516, and the history of Spain became even more
firmly enmeshed with the dynastic struggles in Europe. During his
reign, the Spanish economy was drastically reoriented by the beginnings
of the influx of precious metals from America. The king was not often
in Spain, and as he approached the end of his life he made provision
for the division of the Habsburg inheritance into two parts: on the one
hand Spain, and its posessions in the Mediterranean and overseas, and
the Holy Roman Empire itself on the other. The Habsburg possessions in
The Netherlands also remained with the Spanish crown.
This was to prove a difficulty for his successor Philip II of Spain,
who became king on Charles's adbdication in 1556. Spain largely escaped
the religious conflicts that were raging throughout the rest of Europe,
and remained firmly Roman Catholic. Philip saw himself as a champion of
Catholicism, both against the Turks and the heretics. In the 1560s,
plans to consolidate control of the Netherlands led to unrest, which
gradually led to the Calvinist leadership of the revolt and the Eighty
Years' War. This conflict consumed much Spanish expenditure, and led to
an attempt to conquer England – a cautious supporter of the Dutch – in
the unsuccessful Spanish Armada.
Despite these problems, the large inflow of American gold and the
justified military reputation of the Spanish infantry made Spain the
leading European power, a novel situation of which its citizens were
only just becoming aware. The union with Portugal in 1580 not only
unified the peninsula, but added that country's worldwide resources to
the Spanish crown. However, economic and administrative problems
multiplied in Castile, and the weakness of the native economy became
evident in the following century: rising inflation, the expulsion of
the Jews and Moors from Spain, and the dependency of Spain on the gold
and silver imports combined to cause multiple bankruptcies and economic
crashes in Spain.
Philip II died in 1598, and was succeeded by his son Philip III of
Spain, in whose reign a ten year truce with the Dutch was overshadowed
in 1618 by Spain's involvement in the European-wide Thirty Years' War.
Government policy was dominated by favourites, but it was also the
reign in which the geniuses of Cervantes and El Greco flourished.
Philip III was succeded in 1621 by his son Philip IV of Spain. Much of
the policy was conducted by the minister Gaspar de Guzman, conde de
Olivares. In 1640, with the war in central Europe having no clear
winner except the French, both Portugal and Catalonia rebelled.
Portugal was lost to the crown for good, Catalonia was suppressed. In
the reign of Philip's son and successor Charles II of Spain, Spain was
gradually being reduced to a second-rank power.
The Habsburg dynasty became extinct in Spain and the War of the Spanish
Succession ensued in which the other European powers tried to assume
control of the Spanish monarchy. King Louis XIV of France eventually
"won" the War the of Spanish Succession, and control of Spain passed to
the Bourbon dynasty.
The Enlightenment: Spain
under the Bourbons (18th century)
Philip V, the first Bourbon king, of French origin, signed the Decreto
de Nueva Planta in 1715, a new law that revoked most of the historical
rights and privileges of the different kingdoms that conformed the
Spanish Crown, unifying them under the laws of Castile, where the
Cortes had been more receptive to the royal wish. Spain became
culturally and politically a follower of France. The rule of the
Spanish Bourbons continued under Ferdinand VI and Charles III. His son
Carlos IV was truly incompetent (some say mentally handicapped), and
under his reign Spain fell to the armies of Napoleon.
Under the Bonaparte, Spain failed to embrace the mercantile and
industrial revolutions of the 18th century, and also failed to absorb
the ideals that of the Enlightenment that were revolutionizing European
thought. These missed opportunities, combined with the economic
failures of the 17th century, caused the country to fall desperately
behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power.
Napoleonic Wars: War of
Spanish Independence (1808-1812)
The Napoleonic invasion gave the opportunity to the American colonies
to claim their independence (See Libertadores). The Allies fought
Napoleon's forces in the Peninsular War, with Joseph Bonaparte ruling
as king at Madrid. In 1812 the Cortes took refuge at Cádiz and
created the first modern Spanish constitution, the Constitution of 1812
(informally named La Pepa).
Reign of Fernando VII
(1814-1833)
1814-1820 The Spanish people, blaming the liberal, enlightened policies
of the francophiles (afrancesados) for the Napoleonic occupation, at
first welcomed the authoritarian rule of Fernando VII. The Constitution
of 1812 was immediately revoked by the returning king Fernando VII in
May 1814.
1820-1823 After the pronunciamento (coup d'etat) by Rafael del Riego,
the king was forced to accept the liberal Constitution of 1812.
1823-1833 Another coup d'etat revoked the Constitution, executed
Riego, and restored Fernando VII as absolute monarch.
The "disaster" of 1898
By 1898, Spain had lost most of its colonial possessions. Then Cuba,
Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam were lost to the United
States. Spain's colonial possessions were reduced to Spanish
Morocco, Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea.
The "disaster" of Annual
(1921)
Mistreatment of the Moorish population in Morocco led to an uprising
and the loss of all North African possessions except for the enclaves
of Ceuta and Melilla in 1921. Abd el-Krim, Annual. In order to avoid
accountability, the king Alfonso XIII decided to support the
dictatorship of general Miguel Primo de Rivera.
The dictatorship of Primo
de Rivera (1923-1930)
The dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera collapsed in 1930. Disgusted
with the king's involvement in it, urban population voted for
republican parties in the municipal elections of April 1931. The king
was forced to resign and a republic was established.
Second Spanish Republic
(1931-1939)
First time women are allowed to vote in general elections. Autonomy
devolved to the Basque Country and to Catalonia.
The first governments of the Republic, were center-left, headed by
Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, and Manuel Azaña. In 1933, the
right-wing CEDA won power; an armed rising of workers of October 1934,
which reached its greatest intensity in Asturias and Catalonia, was
forcefully put down by the CEDA government.
The dictatorship of Franco
1936-1975
Spain remained officially neutral in World Wars I and II, but suffered
through a devastating Civil War (1936-39). During Franco's rule, Spain
remained largely economically and culturally isolated from the outside
world, but slowly began to catch up economically with its European
neighbors.
Under Franco, Spain actively sought the return of Gibraltar by the UK,
and gained some support for its cause at the United Nations. During the
1960s, Spain began imposing restrictions on Gibraltar, culminating in
the closure of the border in 1969. It was not fully reopened until 1985.
Spanish rule in Morocco ended in 1956. Though militarily victorious in
the 1957-1958 Moroccan invasion of Spanish West Africa, Spain gradually
relinquished its remaining African colonies. Spanish Guinea was granted
independence as Equatorial Guinea in 1968, while the Moroccan enclave
of Ifni had been ceded to Morocco in 1969.
The latter years of Franco's rule saw some economic and political
liberalization, the so-called Spanish Miracle, including the birth of a
tourism industry. Francisco Franco ruled until his death on November
20th 1975 when control was given to King Juan Carlos.
In the last few months before Franco's death, the Spanish state went
into a paralysis. This was capitalized upon by King Hassan of Morocco,
who ordered the 'Green March' into Western Sahara, Spain's last
colonial possession.
The transition to
democracy 1975-1978
At present, Spain is a constitutional monarchy, and is comprised of 17
autonomous communities (Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias,
Illes Balears, Islas Canarias, Cantabria, Castilla y León,
Castilla-La Mancha, Catalunya, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid,
Murcia, País Vasco, Comunitat Valenciana, Navarra, Ceuta and
Melilla). One of the most important problems facing Spain today is
ETA's terrorism - this illegal organization defends Basque independence
through violent means, which is condemned by both Central and Basque
government, although there is tension between these governments since
PNV (the party presently governing Basque Country) longs for greater
autonomy from Spain, including the possibility of independence,
something Spanish government doesn't accept.
Spain since 1978
The Unión del Centro Democrático governments. 1981 The
23-F coup d'état attempt. On February 23 Antonio Tejero, with
members of the Guardia Civil entered the Spanish Congress of Deputies,
and stopped the session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was going to be
named president of the government. Officially, the coup d'état
failed thanks to King Juan Carlos.
Felipe González's Socialist governments. Spain joins the NATO.
1986 Spain enters the European Union. 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Expo '92
in Seville.
The Partido Popular governments of José María Aznar. On
January 1, 1999 Spain exchanges the peseta for the new euro currency.
On March 11, 2004 a number of terrorist bombs exploded on busy commuter
trains in Madrid during the morning rush-hour days before the general
election. José María Aznar quickly accuses ETA however
soon after it becomes apparent that the bombing was the work of an
extremist Islamic group linked to Al-Qaida. Many believe that this
attack directly influenced the results of the election. Opinion polls
at the time show that the difference between the two main contenders
was too close to make an accurate judgement.
Copyright
(c) 2006
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
Free Documentation License".
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