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 After
a long and hard conquest, the Iberian Peninsula became a region of the
Roman Empire known as Hispania. During the early Middle Ages it came
under Germanic rule but later was conquered by Muslim invaders. Through
a very long and fitful process, the Christian kingdoms in the north
gradually rolled back Muslim rule, finally extinguishing its last
remnant in Granada in 1492, the same year Columbus reached the Americas.
A global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in
Europe and the leading world power in the 16th century and first half of
the 17th century. Continued wars and other problems however, eventually
led to a diminished status. The French invasion of Spain in the early
19th century led to chaos; triggering independence movements that tore
apart most of the empire and left the country politically unstable. In
the 20th century it suffered a devastating civil war and came under the
rule of an authoritarian government, leading to years of stagnation, but
finishing in an impressive economic surge. Democracy was restored in
1978 in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. In 1986,
Spain joined the European Union; experiencing a cultural renaissance and
steady economic growth.
Prehistory and pre-Roman peoples
Main article: Prehistoric Iberia
Replica of the Altamira Cave paintingsArchaeological research at
Atapuerca indicates the Iberian Peninsula was peopled 1.2 million years
ago. Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the
Iberian Peninsula through the Pyrenees some 35,000 years ago. The best
known artifacts of these prehistoric human settlements are the famous
paintings in the Altamira cave of Cantabria in northern Spain, which
were created about 15,000 BCE.
Archaeological and genetic evidence strongly suggests that the Iberian
Peninsula acted as one of three major refugia from which northern Europe
was repopulated following the end of the last ice age.
The two main historical peoples of the peninsula were the Iberians and
the Celts, the former inhabiting the Mediterranean side from the
northeast to the southwest, the latter inhabiting the Atlantic side, in
the north and northwest part of the peninsula. In the inner part of the
peninsula, where both groups were in contact, a mixed, distinctive
culture—known as Celtiberian—was present. In addition, Basques occupied
the western area of the Pyrenees mountains. Other ethnic groups existed
along the southern coastal areas of present day Andalusia. Among these
southern groups there grew the earliest urban culture in the Iberian
Peninsula, that of the semi-mythical southern city of Tartessos (perhaps
pre-1100 BC) near the location of present-day Cádiz. The flourishing
trade in gold and silver between the people of Tartessos and Phoenicians
and Greeks is documented in the history of Strabo and in the biblical
book of king Solomon. Between about 500 BC and 300 BC, the seafaring
Phoenicians and Greeks founded trading colonies all along the Spanish
Mediterranean coast. Carthaginians briefly took control of much of the
Mediterranean coast in the course of the Punic Wars, until they were
eventually defeated and replaced by the Romans.
Roman Empire and the Germanic Kingdoms
Main article: Hispania
Roman Theatre of MéridaDuring the Second Punic War, an expanding Roman
Empire captured Carthaginian trading colonies along the Mediterranean
coast from roughly 210 BC to 205 BC, leading to eventual Roman control
of nearly the entire Iberian Peninsula; this lasted over 500 years,
bound together by law, language, and the Roman road.
The base Celt and Iberian population remained in various stages of
Romanisation, and local leaders were admitted into the Roman
aristocratic class. Hispania served as a granary for the Roman market,
and its harbors exported gold, wool, olive oil, and wine. Agricultural
production increased with the introduction of irrigation projects, some
of which remain in use. Emperors Trajan, Theodosius I, and the
philosopher Seneca were born in Hispania.[note 8] Christianity was
introduced into Hispania in the 1st century CE and it became popular in
the cities in the 2nd century CE. Most of Spain's present languages and
religion, and the basis of its laws, originate from this period.[8]
Rome's loss of jurisdiction in Hispania began in 409, when the Germanic
Suevi and Vandals, together with the Sarmatian Alans crossed the Rhine
and ravaged Gaul until the Visigoths drove them into Iberia that same
year. The Suevi established a kingdom in what is today modern Galicia
and northern Portugal. The Alans' allies, the Hasdingi Vandals,
established a kingdom in Gallaecia, too, occupying largely the same
region but extending further south to the Duero river. The Silingi
Vandals occupied the region that still bears a form of their name -
Vandalusia, modern Andalusia, in Spain. The Byzantines established an
enclave, Spania, in the south, with the intention of reviving the Roman
empire throughout Iberia. Eventually, however, Hispania was reunited
under Visigothic rule.
Muslim Iberia
Main article: Al-Andalus
The Alhambra palace complex in Granada.In the 8th century, nearly all of
the Iberian Peninsula was conquered (711-718) by Muslim armies (see
Moors) from North Africa. These conquests were part of the expansion of
the Umayyad Islamic Empire.[note 9] Only a number of areas in the north
of the Iberian Peninsula managed to resist the initial invasion and they
were the starters of the Reconquista. These areas roughly corresponding
to modern Asturias, Cantabria, Navarre and northern Aragon.
Under Islam, Christians and Jews were recognised as "peoples of the book",
and were free to practice their religion, but faced a number of
mandatory discriminations and penalties as dhimmis.[9] Conversion to
Islam proceeded at a steadily increasing pace. The muladies (Muslims of
ethnic Iberian origin) are believed to have comprised the majority of
the population of Al-Andalus by the end of the 10th century.
The Muslim community in the Iberian peninsula was itself diverse and
beset by social tensions. The Berber people of North Africa, who had
provided the bulk of the invading armies, clashed with the Arab
leadership from the Middle East.[note 10] Over time, large Moorish
populations became established, especially in the Guadalquivir River
valley, the coastal plain of Valencia, and (towards the end of this
period) in the mountainous region of Granada.
Córdoba, the capital of the caliphate, was the largest, richest and most
sophisticated city of medieval western Europe. Mediterranean trade and
cultural exchange flourished. Muslims imported a rich intellectual
tradition from the Middle East and North Africa. Muslim and Jewish
scholars played an important part in reviving and expanding classical
Greek learning in Western Europe. The Romanized cultures of the Iberian
peninsula interacted with Muslim and Jewish cultures in complex ways,
thus giving the region a distinctive culture. Outside the cities, where
the vast majority lived, the land ownership system from Roman times
remained largely intact as Muslim leaders rarely dispossessed landowners,
and the introduction of new crops and techniques led to a remarkable
expansion of agriculture.
However, by the 11th century, Muslim holdings had fractured into rival
Taifa kingdoms, allowing the small Christian states the opportunity to
greatly enlarge their territories and consolidate their positions. The
arrival of the North African Muslim ruling sects of the Almoravids and
the Almohads restored unity upon Muslim holdings, with a stricter, less
tolerant application of Islam, but ultimately, after some successes in
invading the north, proved unable to resist the increasing military
strength of the Christian states.
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