The history of Spain

People lived in the Iberian Peninsula for a very long time before Spain existed. The cave paintings of Altamira, in Cantabria, are some of the best known from prehistory.

• Before the Romans, the peninsula was home to Iberians, Celts and Celtiberians. Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians founded colonies on the coast, for example Cádiz (Gades).
• The Romans arrived in 218 BC and called the land Hispania. They stayed for about six centuries and left roads, bridges, aqueducts, theatres, the Latin language and Roman law. Mérida, Segovia and Tarragona keep important Roman remains.
• Spanish, Catalan, Galician and Portuguese all come from Latin. Christianity spread during the Roman period.
• When the Roman Empire fell, the Visigoths, a Germanic people, ruled Hispania from the 5th century, with their capital in Toledo.

In the year 711 Muslim armies from North Africa crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and in a few years took most of the peninsula. The Muslim territory was called Al-Andalus.

• Córdoba became one of the greatest cities of Europe, with the Mosque of Córdoba, libraries and scholars. Later Granada was the last Muslim kingdom, with the Alhambra palace.
• Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in Al-Andalus for centuries and exchanged knowledge in science, medicine, agriculture and architecture. Many Spanish words come from Arabic, for example aceite, azúcar and almohada.
• In the north, Christian kingdoms (Asturias, León, Castilla, Navarra, Aragón) slowly advanced south. This long process is called the Reconquista (reconquest).
• The Reconquista ended on 2 January 1492, when the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castilla and Ferdinand II of Aragón, took Granada.
• The marriage of the Catholic Monarchs joined the crowns of Castilla and Aragón and is the origin of the Spanish monarchy.

Exam tip: The key date to remember is 1492: the fall of Granada and the voyage of Columbus.

In 1492 Christopher Columbus, paid by the Catholic Monarchs, reached America. This started a period in which Spain became a world power.

• Columbus sailed with three ships: the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María. He reached an island of the Bahamas on 12 October 1492. 12 October is Spain’s national day (Fiesta Nacional de España).
• In the 16th century, under Charles I (Carlos I, also Emperor Charles V) and Philip II (Felipe II), the Spanish Empire spread over a great part of America, the Philippines and Europe. It was said that “the sun never set” on the Spanish Empire.
• This was the Golden Age (Siglo de Oro) of Spanish culture: Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, and Velázquez, El Greco and Lope de Vega worked in these years.
• Later the empire weakened. In the 18th century the Bourbon dynasty came to the throne, with Philip V; the Bourbons still reign in Spain today.
• In the 19th century most of the American colonies became independent, and the country lived through wars, such as the War of Independence against Napoleon (1808–1814), and political instability. The Constitution of Cádiz (1812) was the first liberal constitution.

The 20th century was a hard one. Spain went through a republic, a terrible war and a long dictatorship before it became a stable democracy.

• The Second Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931. It gave the vote to women (1931) and tried to modernise the country.
• The Civil War (Guerra Civil) lasted from 1936 to 1939. It began with a military uprising led by General Franco against the Republic, and it ended with Franco’s victory.
• Franco ruled as a dictator from 1939 until he died in 1975. There were no free elections or political parties, freedoms were limited and many people went into exile.
• After Franco’s death, King Juan Carlos I led the Transition. The Constitution of 1978 started democracy; in 1981 an attempted coup (23-F) failed.
• Spain joined NATO in 1982 and the European Economic Community (today the European Union) on 1 January 1986. The euro replaced the peseta in 2002.

Exam tip: Dates that come up often: 1492, 1936–1939, 1975, 1978 and 1986.