6.3: Minimal History of Spain

The first inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, dating back to prehistoric times, are known as the Iberians. The paintings in several caves on the peninsula, including those of Altamira in the north, are a famous testament to the oldest human presence in these regions. Several civilizations developed over the centuries, as a result of a constant series of invasions. The Phoenicians introduced the alphabet and their expertise in navigation. The Celts introduced the use of bronze and other metals. Finally, the Romans left behind a profound cultural and linguistic influence.

Hispania

In 218 BC, the Iberian Peninsula became a province of the Roman Empire, which imposed its language, culture and government. They built cities, roads, bridges and aqueducts, with Seville and Córdoba being the most important urban centers. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) was born in this region, a philosopher, statesman, orator, and playwright who became one of the most important intellectual figures in first-century Rome, with particular political influence in the early years of Nero's rule. As in other Roman provinces, Christianity gradually spread in Hispania, and by the 4th century, it had become the predominant religion.

The Invasion of the Visigoths

The crisis of the Roman Empire facilitated the invasion of Hispania, starting in 409 AD, by several Germanic peoples, including the Vandals and the Visigoths, in a period known as the “barbarian” invasions (the Greeks and Romans referred to foreigners as “barbarians”). In 587, King Recaredo of the Visigoths converted to Roman Catholicism, leading all his people to follow suit. The political and economic system of the Visigoths, which is now known as feudalism, was hierarchical, based on land ownership (fiefdoms) and warfare.

The Muslim Presence

In the year 711, Muslims from North Africa invaded Hispania, and within a few years they conquered most of the peninsula. The city of Córdoba became a cultural hub of Islamic civilization. There, advances were made in science, literature, crafts, agriculture, architecture and urban planning. Muslims generally maintained a regime of ethnic and religious tolerance towards Christians and Jews during the eight centuries that they occupied the peninsula.

The Reconquest

The Visigoths, who had to take refuge in northern Spain, consistently maintained their determination to reconquer the entire peninsula, and much of their history is centered on these wars. The figure of El Cid Campeador, whose poem is considered one of the founding texts of Spanish literature, is an emblem of this period. Finally, in 1492, the last Muslim kingdom, Granada, fell to the troops of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

The year 1492 also held great significance due to the political and territorial unification that resulted from the victory over the Muslims (known as “Moors”), the expulsion of Jews who refused to convert to Christianity, and the publication of the first grammar of the Spanish language. Thus, the first modern European nation was constituted on the basis of linguistic (Spanish) and religious (Catholicism) homogeneity. In addition, the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the lands he named “The Indies” implied an impressive expansion for the new Spain, which would become the first empire of the Modern Age.

The First World Power

In 1516, the grandson of the Catholic Monarchs, Charles of Habsburg, assumed the throne of Spain with the title of Charles I and, in 1519, he was appointed emperor of the Holy Roman Empire with the name of Charles V. His empire was so extensive that in his domains “the sun never set”: a large part of the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Austria, parts of France and North Africa, in addition to the territories of America and later the Philippines.

Thus began an era of enrichment and impressive military and political power for Spain. However, instead of using gold and wealth from America to boost the development of its economy, the Spanish government used them to pay for continuing European wars and to buy imported products.

The Reign of Philip II

In 1556, Charles V divided his empire between his brother Ferdinand and his son Philip II, who received Spain, the Netherlands and the possessions of America and Italy. Felipe turned Spain into the center of opposition to Protestantism and maintained a constant state of religious war. He relocated the capital from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, and in 1557, he commissioned the construction of the palace-convent known as El Escorial. He defeated the Turks in the naval battle of Lepanto, but the defeat of the Invincible Armada (1588) against England marked the beginning of Spanish decline.

Between 1550 and 1650, Spanish art and literature had a profound influence on Europe, a period now known as “The Golden Age.” Great painters such as El Greco, Velázquez and Murillo, and writers such as Santa Teresa de Jesús, Fray Luis de León, San Juan de la Cruz, Cervantes, Quevedo, Lope de Vega, Góngora, and Calderón de la Barca, among many others, stood out.

The Fall of the Spanish Empire

During the mediocre reigns of Philip III (1598-1621) and Felipe IV (1621-1665), Spain's economy and empire went into crisis: the State lacked efficiency and lost many of its European territories, silver in the New World declined, wars had high costs, and inflation grew unchecked, along with taxes.

By 1714, following a war of succession, the French Bourbon family took possession of the monarchy and imposed reforms and fashions in France, constructing beautiful buildings and avenues. The Bourbon kings also founded academies, libraries and museums, and undertook a reorganization of the empire, liberalizing trade between Spain and its American colonies.

However, in 1807, Napoleon's French troops invaded Spain, sparking a popular rebellion and a power vacuum that ultimately led to the expulsion of the French in 1814. Francisco de Goya, an exceptional observer of this entire Bourbon period, testified to this situation in his impressive painting. In the midst of confusion, most Spanish territories in America took advantage of the situation to achieve their independence. With the Battle of Ayacucho (1824), Spain lost all its control over mainland America.

The Crises of the 19th Century

Throughout the 19th century, a constant struggle ensued between liberals, who sought to establish a democratic republic, and monarchists, who aimed to preserve the traditional structures of the nobility. Thus, during the long reign of Elizabeth II (1833-1868), six different constitutions were enacted, and there were fifteen military uprisings. In 1873, the First Republic was proclaimed, which lasted only twenty-two months.

In 1898, as a result of the Cuban War, Spain ceded its last Caribbean and Asian colonies to the United States (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines). Around this event, a literary and philosophical movement of great importance took place in the peninsula, known as the “Generation of 98,” which included influential authors such as Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) and Antonio Machado (1875-1939).

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

The political crisis continued into the 20th century. In 1931, the Second Democratic Republic was proclaimed. However, political trends polarized, and in 1936, a military rebellion divided Spain into two opposing forces: on the one hand, the republican forces that were later supported by the Soviet Union and Mexico, and on the other, the nationalist forces backed by German and Italian fascism.

The Nationalists, under the leadership of General Francisco Franco, defeated the Republican defenders in 1939. One of the first victims of the war was the poet Federico García Lorca (1898-1936), who was shot dead in Granada by the nationalists.

Franco's Regime

Generalissimo Francisco Franco held power in Spain for thirty-six years, exercising a regime of censorship, extreme control, Catholic traditionalism and strict surveillance by the Guardia Civil. The defeat of Germany and Italy in World War II isolated their governments internationally, but the onset of the Cold War improved their strategic situation. In 1953, the Spanish-American Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation was signed, allowing the establishment of North American military bases in Spain. In the sixties, there was great tourist and industrial development.

The Return of Democracy

After Franco's death in 1975, the young King Juan Carlos I worked from the outset to promote democracy, which was enshrined in the new constitution of 1978. It designated Spain as a State of Autonomies, with seventeen in total, each having its own parliament and government, thus recognizing the internal diversity of the Spanish people.

In the last decades of the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st century, Spanish society was profoundly transformed, fully integrating itself into the European Union and the democratic and globalized world. The euro economy became part of it, it developed significant international investments, and its culture was widely disseminated in Europe and the world through cinema, literature, arts and music. Many African and Latin American immigrants have sought a more prosperous future in today's open and progressive Spanish society.