Thehistory of Spain dates to contact between thepre-Roman peoples of theMediterranean coast of theIberian Peninsula with theGreeks andPhoenicians. DuringClassical Antiquity, the peninsula was the site of multiple successive colonizations of Greeks,Carthaginians, and Romans. Native peoples of the peninsula, such as theTartessos, intermingled with the colonizers to create a uniquely Iberian culture. The Romans referred to the entire peninsula asHispania, from which the name "Spain" originates. As was the rest of theWestern Roman Empire,Spain was subject to numerous invasions ofGermanic tribes during the 4th and 5th centuries AD, resulting in the end of Roman rule and the establishment of Germanic kingdoms, marking the beginning of theMiddle Ages in Spain.
The joint rule ofIsabella I andFerdinand II ishistoriographically considered the foundation of a unified Spain. Theconquest of Granada, and thefirst voyage of Columbus, both in 1492, made that year a critical inflection point in Spanish history. The voyages of the explorers andconquistadors of Spain during the subsequent decades helped establish aSpanish colonial empire which was among the largest ever. KingCharles I established theSpanish Habsburg dynasty. Under his sonPhilip II theSpanish Golden Age flourished, the Spanish Empire reached its territorial and economic peak, and his palace atEl Escorial became the center of artistic flourishing. However, Philip's rule also saw the destruction of theSpanish Armada, a number of state bankruptcies and the independence of theNorthern Netherlands, which marked the beginning of the slow decline of Spanish influence in Europe. Spain's power was further tested by its participation in theEighty Years' War, whereby it tried and failed to recapture the newly independent Dutch Republic, and theThirty Years' War, which resulted in continued decline of Habsburg power in favor of the FrenchBourbon dynasty. Matters came to a head with the death of the last Habsburg rulerCharles II of Spain; theWar of the Spanish Succession broke out between two European alliances led by the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs, for the control of the Spanish throne. The Bourbons prevailed, resulting in the ascension ofPhilip V of Spain, who took Spain into various wars and eventually recaptured the territories in southern Italy that had been lost in the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain's late entry into theSeven Years' War was the result of fear of the growing successes of the British at the expense of the French, but Spanish forces suffered major defeats. Motivated by this and earlier setbacks during Bourbon rule, Spanish institutions underwent aperiod of reform, especially underCharles III, that culminated in Spain's largelysuccessful involvement in theAmerican War of Independence.
During theNapoleonic era, Spain became a Frenchpuppet state. Concurrent with, and following, the Napoleonic period theSpanish American wars of independence resulted in the loss of most of Spain's territory in the Americas in the 1820s. During the re-establishment of the Bourbon rule in Spain,constitutional monarchy was introduced in 1813. Spain's history during the nineteenth century was tumultuous, and featured alternating periods of republican-liberal and monarchical rule. TheSpanish–American War led to losses of Spanish colonial possessions and a series of military dictatorships, during which KingAlfonso XIII was deposed and anew Republican government was formed. Ultimately, the political disorder within Spain led to a coup by the military which led to theSpanish Civil War. After much foreign intervention on both sides, theNationalists emerged victorious;Francisco Franco led a fascist dictatorship for almost four decades. Franco's death ushered in a return of the monarchy under KingJuan Carlos I, which saw a liberalization of Spanish society and a re-engagement with the international community. A new liberalConstitution was established in 1978. Spain entered theEuropean Economic Community in 1986 (transformed into theEuropean Union in 1992), and theEurozone in 1998. Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014, and was succeeded by his sonFelipe VI.
The earliest record ofHomogenus representatives living in Western Europe has been found in the Spanish cave ofAtapuerca; a flint tool found there dates from 1.4 million years ago, and early humanfossils date to roughly 1.2 million years ago.[1] Modern humans in the form ofCro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula from north of thePyrenees some 35,000 years ago. The most conspicuous sign of prehistoric human settlements are thepaintings in the northern Spanish cave ofAltamira, which were done c. 15,000BC.[2]
Before theRoman conquest the major cultures along the Mediterranean coast were theIberians, theCelts in the interior and north-west, theLusitanians in the west, and theTartessians in the southwest. The seafaring Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks successively established trading settlements along the eastern and southern coast. Thedevelopment of writing in the peninsula took place after the arrival of early Phoenician settlers and traders (tentatively dated 9th century BC or later).[5]
The south of the peninsula was rich in archaic Phoenician colonies, unmatched by any other region in the central-western Mediterranean.[6] They were small and densely packed settlements.[7] The colony ofGadir—which sustained strong links with its metropolis ofTyre—stood out from the rest of the network of colonies, also featuring a more complex sociopolitical organization.[8]Archaic Greeks arrived on the Peninsula by the late 7th century BC.[9] They foundedGreek colonies such asEmporion (570 BC).[10]
The Greeks are responsible for the nameIberia, apparently after the river Iber (Ebro). By the 6th century BC, much of the territory of southern Iberia passed toCarthage's overarching influence (featuring two centres of Punic influence inGadir andMastia); the latter grip strengthened from the 4th century BC on.[11] TheBarcids, following their landing in Gadir in 237 BC, conquered the territories that belonged to the sphere of influence of Carthage.[12] Until 219 BC, their presence in the peninsula was underpinned by their control of places such asCarthago Nova and Akra Leuké (both founded by Punics), as well as the network of old Phoenician settlements.[13]
The Iberian Peninsula in the 3rd century BC
The peninsula was a military theatre of theSecond Punic War (218–201 BC) waged between Carthage and theRoman Republic, the two powers vying for supremacy in the western Mediterranean. Romans expelled Carthaginians from the peninsula in 206 BC.[14]
The peoples whom theRomans met at the time of their invasion were the Iberians, inhabiting an area stretching from the northeast part of the Iberian Peninsula through the southeast. The Celts mostly inhabited the inner and north-west part of the peninsula. To the east of theMeseta Central, theSistema Ibérico area was inhabited by theCeltiberians, reportedly rich inprecious metals (obtained by Romans in the form oftributes).[15] Celtiberians developed a refined technique of iron-forging, displayed in their quality weapons.[16]
TheCeltiberian Wars were fought between the advancinglegions of the Roman Republic and the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior from 181 to 133 BC.[17][18] The Roman conquest of the peninsula was completed in 19 BC.
Hispania was the name used for the Iberian Peninsula underRoman rule from the 2nd century BC. The population was gradually culturallyRomanized,[19] and local leaders were admitted into the Roman aristocratic class.[20]
The collapse of theWestern Roman Empire did not lead to the same wholesale destruction of classical society as happened in areas likeRoman Britain,Gaul andGermania Inferior during theEarly Middle Ages, although the institutions and infrastructure did decline. Spain's languages, its religion, and the basis of its laws originate from this period.
As Rome declined,Germanic tribes invaded the former empire. Some werefoederati, tribes enlisted to serve in Roman armies and given land as payment, while others, such as theVandals, took advantage of the empire's weakening defenses to plunder. Those tribes that survived took over existing Roman institutions, and created successor-kingdoms to the Romans in various parts of Europe. Hispania was taken over by theVisigoths after 410.[24]
At the same time, there was a process of "Romanization" of the Germanic andHunnic tribes. The Visigoths, for example, were converted toArian Christianity around 360, even before they were pushed into imperial territory by the expansion of theHuns.[25]
The Visigoths, havingsacked Rome two years earlier, arrived in Gaul in 412, founding the Visigothic kingdom ofToulouse (in the south of modern France) and gradually expanded their influence into Hispania after the battle of Vouillé (507) at the expense of the Vandals and Alans, who moved on into North Africa without leaving much permanent mark on Hispanic culture. TheVisigothic Kingdom shifted its capital toToledo and reached a high point during the reign ofLeovigild.
TheVisigothic Kingdom conquered all of Hispania and ruled it until the early 8th century, when the peninsula fell to theMuslim conquests. Hispania never saw a decline in interest in classical culture to the degree observable in Britain, Gaul, and Germany. The Visigoths, having assimilated Roman culture and language during their tenure asfoederati, maintained more of the old Roman institutions. 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 Hispania began, and 711 when it is traditionally said to end.[26] TheLiber Iudiciorum or Lex Visigothorum (654), also known as the Book of Judges, whichRecceswinth promulgated, based on Roman law and Germanic customary laws, brought about legal unification. According to the historian Joseph O'Callaghan, at that time they already considered themselves one people and together with the Hispano-Gothic nobility they called themselves thegens Gothorum.[27] In the early Middle Ages, theLiber Iudiciorum was known as the Visigothic Code and also as theFuero Juzgo. Its influence on law extends to the present.
The proximity of the Visigothic kingdoms to the Mediterranean and the continuity (though reduced) of western Mediterranean trade supported Visigothic culture. The Visigothic ruling class looked toConstantinople for style and technology.
Spanish Catholicism also coalesced during this time. The period of rule by theVisigothic Kingdom saw the spread ofArianism briefly in Hispania.[28] TheCouncils of Toledo debated creed and liturgy in orthodoxCatholicism, and the Council of Lerida in 546 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over them with the approval of the Pope. In 587, the Visigothic king at Toledo,Reccared, converted to Catholicism and launched a movement to unify the various religious doctrines in Hispania.
The Visigoths inherited from Late Antiquity aprefeudal system in Hispania,[29] based in the south on the Romanvilla 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. The loose council of nobles that advised Hispania'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 economy of the Visigothic kingdom depended primarily on agriculture and animal husbandry; there is little evidence of Visigothic commerce and industry.[30]The native Hispani maintained the cultural and economic life of Hispania and were responsible for the relative prosperity of the 6th and 7th centuries. Administration was still based on Roman law, and only gradually did Visigothic customs and Roman common law merge.[31]
The Visigoths did not, until the period of Muslim rule, intermarry with the Spanish population, and the Visigothic language had a limited impact on the modern languages of Iberia.[32] The historian Joseph F. O'Callaghan says that at the end of the Visigothic era the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring rapidly, and the leaders of society were beginning to see themselves as one people.[27] Little literature in the Gothic language remains from the period of Visigothic rule—only translations of parts of the Greek Bible and a few fragments of other documents have survived.[33]
The Hispano-Romans found Visigothic rule and its early embrace of the Arian heresy more of a threat than Islam, and shed their thralldom to the Visigoths only in the 8th century, with the aid of the Muslims themselves.[34] The most visible effect of Visigothic rule was the depopulation of the cities as their inhabitants moved to the countryside. Even while the country enjoyed a degree of prosperity when compared to France and Germany, 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 theMoors arrived in the 8th century.[32]
In Spain, an important collection of Visigothic metalwork was found inGuadamur, known as theTreasure of Guarrazar. Thisarcheological find comprises twenty-sixvotive crowns and goldcrosses from the royal workshop in Toledo, with signs of Byzantine influence.
Two important votive crowns are those ofRecceswinth and ofSuintila, displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid; both are made of gold, encrusted with sapphires, pearls, and other precious stones. Suintila's crown was stolen in 1921 and never recovered. There are several other small crowns and many votive crosses in the treasure.
The aquiliform (eagle-shaped)fibulae that have been discovered innecropolises such asDuraton,Madrona or Castiltierra cities ofSegovia. These fibulae were used individually or in pairs, as clasps or pins in gold, bronze and glass to join clothes.
The Visigothic belt buckles, a symbol of rank and status characteristic of Visigothic women's clothing, are also notable as works of goldsmithery. Some pieces contain exceptionalByzantine-stylelapis lazuli inlays and are generally rectangular in shape, with copper alloy, garnets and glass.[35][b]
Reccopolis, located near the tiny modern village ofZorita de los Canes, is an archaeological site of one of at least four cities founded inHispania by the Visigoths. It is the only city in Western Europe to have been founded between the fifth and eighth centuries.[c] The city's construction was ordered by the Visigothic kingLiuvigild to honor his sonReccared and to serve as Reccared's seat as co-king in the Visigothic province ofCeltiberia.[38]
At the beginning of theVisigothic Kingdom,Arianism was the official religion in Hispania, but only for a brief time, according to historian Rhea Marsh Smith.[28] In 587,Reccared, the Visigothic king at Toledo, converted to Catholicism and launched a movement to unify the religious doctrines that existed in the Iberian Peninsula. TheCouncils of Toledo debated the creed and liturgy of orthodoxCatholicism, and the Council of Lerida in 546 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over them with the approval of the pope.
While the Visigoths clung to their Arian faith, theJews were well-tolerated. Previous Roman and Byzantine law determined their status, and already sharply discriminated against them.[39] Historian Jane Gerber relates that some of the Jews "held ranking posts in the government or the army; others were recruited and organized for garrison service; still others continued to hold senatorial rank".[40] In general, they were well-respected and well-treated by the Visigothic kings, until their transition from Arianism to Catholicism.[41] Conversion to Catholicism across Visigothic society reduced the friction between the Visigoths and the Hispano-Roman population.[42] However, the Visigothic conversion negatively impacted the Jews, who came under scrutiny for their religious practices.[43]
Islamical-Andalus and the ChristianReconquest (8th–15th centuries)
The Muslim conquerors (also known as "Moors") wereArabs andBerbers; following the conquest, conversion and arabization of the Hispano-Roman population took place,[45] (muwalladum orMuwallad).[46][47] After a long process, spurred on in the 9th and 10th centuries, the majority of the population in Al-Andalus converted to Islam.[48] The Muslim population was divided per ethnicity (Arabs, Berbers, Muwallad), and the supremacy of Arabs over the rest of group was a recurrent cause for strife, rivalry and hatred, particularly between Arabs and Berbers.[49] Arab elites could be further divided in the Yemenites (first wave) and Syrians (second wave).[50] Male Muslim rulers were often the offspring of female Christian slaves.[51] Christians and Jews were allowed to live as subordinate groups of a stratified society under thedhimmah system,[52] although Jews became very important in certain fields.[53] Some Christians migrated to the Northern Christian kingdoms, while those who stayed in Al-Andalus progressively arabised and became known asmusta'arab (mozarabs).[54] Besides slaves of Iberian origin,[51] the slave population also comprised theṢaqāliba (literally meaning "slavs", although they were slaves of generic European origin) as well asSudanese slaves.[55] The frequent raids in Christian lands provided Al-Andalus with continuous slave stock, including women who often became part of the harems of the Muslim elite.[51] Slaves were also shipped from Spain to elsewhere in theUmmah.[51]
In what should not have amounted to much more than a skirmish (later magnified bySpanish nationalism),[56][57] a Muslim force sent to put down the Christian rebels in the northern mountains was defeated by a force reportedly led byPelagius, known as theBattle of Covadonga. The figure of Pelagius, a by-product of the Asturian chronicles ofAlfonso III (written more than a century after the alleged battle), has been later reconstructed in conflicting historiographical theories, most notably that of a refuged Visigoth noble or an autochthonousAstur chieftain.[58] The consolidation of a Christian polity that came to be known as theKingdom of Asturias ensued later. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring rapidly. An unknown number fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy. The population of the mountain region consisted of nativeAstures,Galicians,Cantabri,Basques and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society.[27] In 739, a rebellion in Galicia, assisted by the Asturians, drove out Muslim forces and it joined the Asturian kingdom. In the northern Christian kingdoms, lords and religious organizations often owned Muslim slaves who were employed as laborers and household servants.[51]
CaliphAl-Walid I had paid great attention to the expansion of an organized military, building the strongest navy in theUmayyad Caliphate era (the second major Arab dynasty after Mohammad and the first Arab dynasty ofAl-Andalus). It was this tactic that supported the ultimate expansion to Hispania. Islamic power in Spain specifically climaxed in the 10th century underAbd-al-Rahman III.[59] The rulers ofAl-Andalus were granted the rank ofEmir by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I inDamascus. When theAbbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate,Abd al-Rahman I managed to escape to al-Andalus and declared it independent. The state founded by him is known as theEmirate of Cordoba. Al-Andalus was rife with internal conflict between the Islamic Umayyad rulers and people and the Christian Visigoth-Roman leaders and people.
The Christian kingdoms of Hispania and the IslamicAlmohad empire c. 1210
The Vikings invaded Galicia in 844, but were heavily defeated byRamiro I atA Coruña.[60] Many of the Vikings' casualties were caused by the Galicians'ballistas – powerful torsion-powered projectile weapons that looked rather like giant crossbows.[60] 70 Viking ships were captured and burned.[60][61] Vikings returned to Galicia in 859, during the reign ofOrdoño I. Ordoño was at the moment engaged against his constant enemies the Moors; but a count of the province, Don Pedro, attacked the Vikings and defeated them,[62] destroying 38 of their ships.
In the 10th centuryAbd-al-Rahman III declared theCaliphate of Córdoba, 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 theCeuta province. The first navy of the Emir of Córdoba was built after theViking ascent of theGuadalquivir in 844 when theysacked Seville.[63]
In 942,Hungarian raids on Spain, especially inCatalonia,[64] took place, according toIbn Hayyan's work.[65][63] Meanwhile, a slow but steady migration of Christian subjects to the northern kingdoms in Christian Hispania was slowly increasing the latter's power.
Al-Andalus coincided withLa Convivencia, an era of relative religious tolerance, and with theGolden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula.[66] Muslim interest in the peninsula returned in force around the year 1000 whenAl-Mansur (Almanzor) sacked Barcelona in 985, and he assaultedZamora,Toro,Leon andAstorga in 988 and 989, which controlled access toGalicia.[67] Under his son, other Christian cities were subjected to numerous raids.[68] After his son's death, the caliphate plunged into acivil war and splintered into the so-called "Taifa Kingdoms". The Taifa kings competed in war and in the protection of the arts, and culture enjoyed a brief renaissance. Theaceifas (Muslim military expeditions made in summer in medieval Spain) were the continuation of a policy from the times of the emirate: the capture of numerous contingents of Christian slaves, thesaqáliba (plural ofsiqlabi, "slave").[69] These were the most lucrative part of the booty, and constituted an excellent method of payment for the troops, so much so that manyaceifas were hunts for people.The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids' Maghribi and al-Andalus territories by 1147, surpassed the Almoravides in fundamentalist Islamic outlook, and they treated the non-believerdhimmis harshly. Faced with the choice of death, conversion, or emigration, manyJews and Christians left.[70]
Medieval Spain was the scene of almost constant warfare between Muslims and Christians.
The Taifa kingdoms lost ground to the Christian realms in the north. After the loss of Toledo in 1085, the Muslim rulers reluctantly invited theAlmoravids, who invaded Al-Andalus from North Africa and established an empire. In the 12th century the Almoravid empire broke up again, only to be taken over by theAlmohad invasion, who were defeated by an alliance of the Christian kingdoms in the decisiveBattle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. By 1250, nearly all of Hispania was back under Christian rule with the exception of the Muslim kingdom of Granada.
In the 13th century, many languages were spoken in the Christian kingdoms of Hispania. These were the Latin-basedRomance languages ofCastilian,Aragonese,Catalan,Galician,Aranese,Asturian,Leonese, andPortuguese, and the ancientlanguage isolate ofBasque. Throughout the century, Castilian (what is also known today as Spanish) gained a growing prominence in the Kingdom of Castile as the language of culture and communication, at the expense of Leonese and of other close dialects.
One example of this is the oldest preserved Castilian epic poem,Cantar de Mio Cid, written about the military leaderEl Cid. In the last years of the reign ofFerdinand III of Castile, Castilian began to be used for certain types of documents, and it was during the reign ofAlfonso X that it became the official language. Henceforth all public documents were written in Castilian.
At the same time, Catalan and Galician became the standard languages in their respective territories, developing important literary traditions and being the normal languages in which public and private documents were issued: Galician from the 13th to the 16th century in Galicia and nearby regions of Asturias and Leon,[71] and Catalan from the 12th to the 18th century in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia, where it was known as Valencian. Both languages were later substituted in its official status by Castilian Spanish, till the 20th century.
In the 13th century many universities were founded in León and in Castile. Some, such as the LeoneseSalamanca and the Castilian Palencia, were among the earliest universities in Europe.
In the 15th century, the most important among all of the Christian kingdoms that made up the oldHispania were theKingdom of Castile, theKingdom of Aragon, and theKingdom of Portugal. The rulers of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were allied with dynastic families in Portugal, France, and other neighboring kingdoms.
The death of KingHenry IV of Castile in 1474 set off a struggle for power called theWar of the Castilian Succession (1475–1479). Contenders for the throne of Castile were Henry's one-time heirJoanna la Beltraneja, supported by Portugal and France, and Henry's half-sister QueenIsabella I of Castile, supported by the Kingdom of Aragon and by the Castilian nobility.
Isabella retained the throne and ruled jointly with her husband,King Ferdinand II. Isabella and Ferdinand had married in 1469.[72] Their marriage united both crowns and set the stage for the creation of the Kingdom of Spain, at the dawn of the modern era. That union, however, was a union in title only, as each region retained its own political and judicial structure. Pursuant to an agreement signed by Isabella and Ferdinand on January 15, 1474,[73] Isabella held more authority over the newly unified Spain than her husband, although their rule was shared.[73] Together, Isabella ofCastile and Ferdinand ofAragon were known as the "Catholic Monarchs" (Spanish:los Reyes Católicos), a title bestowed on them byPope Alexander VI.
Conclusion of the Reconquista and expulsions of Jews and Muslims
The monarchs oversaw the final stages of theReconquista ofIberian territory from theMoors with the conquest ofGranada, conquered theCanary Islands, and expelled the Jews from Spain under theAlhambra Decree.Although until the 13th century religious minorities (Jews and Muslims) had enjoyed considerable tolerance in Castile and Aragon – the only Christian kingdoms where Jews were not restricted from any professional occupation – the situation of the Jews collapsed over the 14th century, reaching a climax in 1391 with large scale massacres in every major city exceptÁvila.
The Catholic Monarchs ordered the remaining Jews to convert or face expulsion from Spain in 1492, and extended the expulsion decrees to their territories on the Italian peninsula, includingSicily (1493),Naples (1542), andMilan (1597).[74]
Over the following decades, Muslims faced the same fate; and about 60 years after the Jews, they were also compelled to convert ("Moriscos") or be expelled. In the early 17th century, the converts were also expelled.
Isabella ensured long-term political stability in Spain by arranging strategic marriages for her five children. Her firstborn,Isabella, marriedAfonso of Portugal, forging important ties between these two neighboring countries and hopefully ensuring future alliance, but the younger Isabella soon died before giving birth to an heir.Juana, Isabella's second daughter, married into theHabsburg dynasty when she wedPhilip the Fair, the son ofMaximilian I, King of Bohemia (Austria) and likely heir to the crown of theHoly Roman Emperor.
This ensured an alliance with the Habsburgs and theHoly Roman Empire, a powerful, far-reaching territory that assured Spain's future political security. Isabella's only son,Juan, marriedMargaret of Austria, further strengthening ties with the Habsburg dynasty. Isabella's fourth child,Maria, marriedManuel I of Portugal, strengthening the link forged by her older sister's marriage. Her fifth child,Catherine, married KingHenry VIII of England and was mother to QueenMary I of England.
Conquest of the Canary Islands, Columbian expeditions to the New World, and African expansion
Christopher Columbus leads expedition to the New World, 1492, sponsored by Spanish crownTaking of Oran byFrancisco Jiménez de Cisneros in 1509.
The Castilian conquest of theCanary Islands, inhabited by Guanche people, took place between 1402 (with the conquest ofLanzarote) and 1496 (with the conquest ofTenerife). Two periods can be distinguished in this process: the noble conquest, carried out by the nobility in exchange for a pact of vassalage, and the royal conquest, carried out directly by the Crown, during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs.[75] By 1520, European military technology combined with the devastating epidemics such as bubonic plague and pneumonia brought by the Castilians and enslavement and deportation of natives led to the extinction of the Guanches.Isabella andFerdinand authorized the 1492 expedition ofChristopher Columbus, who became the first known European to reach theNew World sinceLeif Ericson. This and subsequent expeditions led to an influx of wealth into Spain, supplementing income from within Castile for the state that was a dominant power in Europe for the next two centuries.
Map of territories that were once part of the Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire was one of the firstglobal empires. It was also one of thelargest empires in world history. In the 16th century, Spain and Portugal were in the vanguard of European global exploration and colonial expansion. The two kingdoms on the conquest and Iberian Peninsula competed with each other in opening of trade routes across the oceans. Spanish imperial conquest and colonization began with the Canary Islands in 1312 and 1402.[76] which began theCastilian conquest of the Canary Islands, completed in 1495.
The Conquest of Tenochtitlán
In the 15th and 16th centuries, trade flourished across the Atlantic between Spain and the Americas and across the Pacific between East Asia and Mexico via the Philippines. SpanishConquistadors, operating privately, deposed theAztec,Inca andMaya governments with extensive help from local factions and took control of vast stretches of land.[77] In the Philippines, the Spanish, using Mexican Conquistadors likeJuan de Salcedo, conquered thekingdoms and sultanates of the islands by pitting Pagans and Muslims against each other, employing the principle of "Divide and Conquer".[78] They considered their war against the Muslims of the Southeast Asia an extension of the SpanishReconquista.[79]
This New World empire was at first a disappointment, as the natives had little to trade. Diseases such as smallpox and measles that arrived with the colonizers devastated the native populations, especially in the densely populated regions of the Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations, and this reduced their economic potential. Estimates of the pre-Columbian population of the Americas vary but possibly stood at 100 million—one fifth of humanity in 1492. Between 1500 and 1600 the population of the Americas was halved. In Mexico alone, it has been estimated that the pre-conquest population of around 25 million was reduced within 80 years to about 1.3 million.
In the 1520s, large-scale extraction of silver from the rich deposits of Mexico'sGuanajuato began to be greatly augmented by the silver mines in Mexico'sZacatecas and Bolivia'sPotosí from 1546. These silver shipments re-oriented the Spanish economy, leading to the importation of luxuries and grain. The resource-rich colonies of Spain thus caused large cash inflows.[80] They also became indispensable in financing the military capability ofHabsburg Spain in its long series of European and North African wars.
The Port ofSeville in the late 16th century. Seville became one of the most populous and cosmopolitan European cities after the expeditions to the New World.[81]
Spain enjoyed acultural golden age in the 16th and 17th centuries. For a time, the Spanish Empire dominated the oceans with its experiencednavy and ruled the European battlefield with its well trained infantry, thetercios.
The financial burden within the peninsula was on the backs of the peasant class while the nobility enjoyed an increasingly lavish lifestyle. From the incorporation of thePortuguese Empire in 1580 (lost in 1640) until the loss of its American colonies in the 19th century, Spain maintained one of the largest empires in the world even though it suffered military and economic misfortunes from the 1640s. The thought that Spain could bring Christianity to the New World and protect Catholicism in Europe played a strong role in the expansion of Spain's empire.[82]
Spanish Kingdoms under the 'Great' Habsburgs (16th century)
Spain's world empire reached its greatest territorial extent in the late 18th century but it was under theHabsburg dynasty in the 16th and 17th centuries it reached the peak of its power and declined. TheIberian Union with Portugal meant that the monarch of Castile was also the monarch of Portugal, but they were ruled as separate entities both on the peninsula and in Spanish America and Brazil. In 1640, theHouse of Braganza revolted against Spanish rule and reasserted Portugal's independence.[84]
When Spain's first Habsburg rulerCharles I became king of Spain in 1516 (with his mother and co-monarch Queen Juana I effectively powerless and kept imprisoned till her death in 1555), Spain became central to the dynastic struggles of Europe. Charles also becameCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor and because of his widely scattered domains was not often in Spain.
In 1556 Charles abdicated, giving his Spanish empire to his only surviving son,Philip II of Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire to his brother, Ferdinand. Philip treated Castile as the foundation of his empire, but the population of Castile (about a third of France's) was never large enough to provide the soldiers needed. His marriage toMary Tudor allied England with Spain.
In the 1560s, plans to consolidate control of the Netherlands led to unrest, which gradually led to theCalvinist leadership of the revolt and theEighty Years' War. The Dutch armies waged a war ofmaneuver andsiege, successfully avoidingpitched battle. This conflict consumed much Spanish expenditure during the later 16th century. Other extremely expensive failures included an attempt to invade Protestant England in 1588 that produced the worst military disaster in Spanish history when theSpanish Armada—costing 10 million ducats—was scattered by a storm.
Economic and administrative problems multiplied inCastile, and the weakness of the native economy became evident in the following century. Risinginflation, financially draining wars in Europe, the ongoing aftermath of theexpulsion of the Jews and Moors from Spain, and Spain's growing dependency on the silver imports, combined to cause several bankruptcies that caused economic crisis in the country, especially in heavily burdened Castile. Thegreat plague of 1596–1602 killed 600,000 to 700,000, or about 10% of the population. Altogether more than 1,250,000 deaths resulted from the extreme incidence of plague in 17th-century Spain.[85] Economically, the plague destroyed the labor force as well as creating a psychological blow.[86]
The Spanish Golden Age (Siglo de Oro) was a period of flourishing arts and letters in theSpanish Empire (now Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America), coinciding with the political decline and fall of theHabsburgs. Arts flourished despite the decline of the empire in the 17th century. The last great writer of the age, SorJuana Inés de la Cruz, died inNew Spain in 1695.[87]
TheHabsburgs were great patrons of art in their countries.El Escorial, the great royal monastery built by KingPhilip II, invited the attention of some of Europe's greatest architects and painters.Diego Velázquez, regarded as one of the most influential painters of European history and a greatly respected artist in his own time, cultivated a relationship with King Philip IV and his chief minister, theCount-Duke of Olivares, leaving several portraits that demonstrate his style and skill.El Greco, a respected Greek artist from the period, settled in Spain, and infused Spanish art with the styles of the Italian renaissance and helped create a uniquely Spanish style of painting.
Spanish literature blossomed as well, most famously demonstrated in the work ofMiguel de Cervantes, the author ofDon Quixote. Spain's most prolific playwright,Lope de Vega, wrote possibly as many as one thousand plays over his lifetime, over four hundred of which survive.
Decline under the 'Minor' Habsburgs (17th century)
Spain's severe financial difficulties began in the middle 16th century, and continued for the remainder of Habsburg rule. Despite the successes of Spanish armies, the period was marked by monetary inflation,mercantilism, and a variety of government monopolies and interventions. Spanish kings were forced to declaresovereign defaults nine times between 1557 and 1666.[88]
Philip II died in 1598, and was succeeded by his sonPhilip III. In his reign (1598–1621) a ten-year truce with the Dutch was overshadowed in 1618 by Spain's involvement in the European-wideThirty Years' War. Philip III was succeeded in 1621 by his sonPhilip IV of Spain (reigned 1621–65). Much of the policy was conducted by theCount-Duke of Olivares, the inept prime minister from 1621 to 1643. He over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform. His policy of committing Spain to recapture Holland led to a renewal of the Eighty Years' War while Spain was also embroiled in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). His attempts to centralise power and increase wartime taxation led to revolts in Catalonia and in Portugal, which brought about his downfall.[89]
During the Thirty Years' War, in which various Protestant forces battled Imperial armies, France provided subsidies to Habsburg enemies, especially Sweden. Sweden lost and France's First Minister,Cardinal Richelieu, in 1635 declared war on Spain. The openwar with Spain started with a victory for the French atLes Avins in 1635. The following year Spanish forces based in the Southern Netherlands hit back with devastating lightning campaigns in northern France that left the economy of the region in tatters. After 1636, however, Olivares, fearful of provoking another bankruptcy, stopped the advance. In 1640, bothPortugal andCatalonia rebelled. Portugal was lost for good; in northern Italy and most of Catalonia, French forces were expelled and Catalonia's independence was suppressed. In 1643, the French defeated one of Spain's best armies atRocroi, northern France.[90]
During the long regency forCharles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs, favouritism milked Spain's treasury, and Spain's government operated principally as a dispenser of patronage. Plague, famine, floods, drought, and renewed war with France wasted the country. The Peace of the Pyrenees (1659) had ended fifty years of warfare with France, whose king,Louis XIV, found the temptation to exploit a weakened Spain too great. Louis instigated theWar of Devolution (1667–68) to acquire theSpanish Netherlands.
By the 17th century, the Catholic Church and Spain had a close bond, attesting to the fact that Spain was virtually free of Protestantism during the 16th century. In 1620, there were 100,000 Spaniards in the clergy; by 1660 the number had grown to about 200,000, and the Church owned 20% of all the land in Spain. The Spanish bureaucracy in this period was highly centralized, and totally reliant on the king for its efficient functioning. Under Charles II, the councils became the sinecures of wealthy aristocrats despite attempts at reform. Political commentators in Spain, known asarbitristas, proposed a number of measures to reverse the decline of the Spanish economy, with limited success. In rural areas, heavy taxation of peasants reduced agricultural output as peasants migrated to the cities. The influx ofsilver from the Americas has been cited as the cause of inflation, although only thequinto real (royal fifth) actually went to Spain. A prominent internal factor was the Spanish economy's dependence on the export of luxuriousMerino wool, which had its markets in northern Europe reduced by war and growing competition from cheaper textiles.
The once proud Spanish army was falling far behind its foes. It did badly atBergen op Zoom in 1622. The Dutch won very easily at's-Hertogenbosch andWesel in 1629. In 1632 the Dutch captured the strategic fortress town ofMaastricht, repulsing three relief armies and dooming the Spanish to defeat.[91]
While Spain built a rich American Empire that exported a silver treasure fleet every year, it was unable to focus its financial, military, and diplomatic power on building up its Spanish base. The Crown's dedication to destroying Protestantism through almost constant warfare created a cultural ethos among Spanish leaders that undermined the opportunity for economic modernization or industrialization. When Philip II died in 1598, his treasury spent most of its income on funding the huge deficit, which continued to grow. In peninsular Spain, the productive forces were undermined by steady inflation, heavy taxation, immigration of ambitious youth to the colonies, and by depopulation. Industry went into reverse – Seville in 1621 operated 400 looms, where it had 16,000 a century before. Religiosity led by saints and mystics, missionaries and crusaders, theologians and friars dominated Spanish culture, with the psychology of a reward in the next world. Palmer and Colton argue:
the generations of crusading against infidels, even, heathens and heretics had produced an exceptionally large number of minor aristocrats, chevaliers, dons, and hidalgos, who as a class were contemptuous of work and who were numerous enough and close enough to the common people to impress their haughty indifference upon the country as a whole.[92] Elliott cites the achievements of Castille in many areas, especially high culture. He finds:[93]
A certain paradox in the fact that the achievement of the two most outstanding creative artists of Castile – Cervantes and Velázquez – was shot through with a deep sense of disillusionment and failure; but the paradox was itself a faithful reflection of the paradox of sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Castile. For here was a country which had climbed to the heights and sunk to the depths; which had achieved everything and lost everything; which had conquered the world only to be vanquished itself. The Spanish achievement of the sixteenth century was essentially the work of Castile, but so also was the Spanish disaster of the seventeenth; and it wasOrtega y Gasset who expressed the paradox most clearly when he wrote what may serve as an epitaph on the Spain of the House of Austria: ‘Castile has made Spain, and Castile has destroyed it.’
The Habsburg dynasty became extinct in Spain with Charles II's death in 1700, and theWar of the Spanish Succession ensued in which the other European powers tried to assume control of the Spanish monarchy. KingLouis XIV of France eventually lost theWar of the Spanish Succession. The victors were Britain, the Dutch Republic and Austria. They allowed the crown of Spain to pass to theBourbon dynasty, provided that Spain and France never merged.[94]
After theWar of the Spanish Succession, the assimilation of theCrown of Aragon by theCastilian Crown, through theNueva Planta Decrees, was the first step in the creation of the Spanishnation state. And like other European nation-states in formation,[95] it was not on a uniformethnic basis, but by imposing the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant ethnic group, in this case the Castilian, on those of the other ethnic groups, so they becomenational minorities to be assimilated.[96][97] Nationalist policies, sometimes very aggressive,[98][99][100][101] and still in force,[102][103][104] have been and are the seeds of repeated territorial conflicts within the state.
Recognition of the Duke of Anjou as King of Spain, under the name of Philip V, November 16, 1700
Charles II died in 1700, and having no direct heir, was succeeded by his great-nephewPhilip, Duke of Anjou, a French prince. TheWar of the Spanish Succession (1700–1714) pitted proponents of the Bourbon succession against those for the Hapsburg. Concern among other European powers that Spain and France united under a single Bourbon monarch would upset thebalance of power, the war pitted powerful France and fairly strong Spain against the Grand Alliance of England, Portugal, Savoy, the Netherlands and Austria. After an extended conflict, especially in Spain, thetreaty of Utrecht recognized Philip as King of Spain (as Philip V). However, Philip was compelled to renounce any right to the French throne, despite some doubts as to the lawfulness of such an act. Spain's Italian territories were apportioned.[105]
Philip signed theDecreto de Nueva Planta in 1715, which revoked most of the historical rights and privileges of the different kingdoms that formed the Spanish Crown, especially theCrown of Aragon, unifying them under the laws of Castile, where the CastilianCortes Generales had been more receptive to the royal wish.[106] Spain became culturally and politically a follower ofabsolutist France. Lynch says Philip V advanced the government only marginally and was more of a liability than the incapacitated Charles II; when a conflict came up between the interests of Spain and France, he usually favored France.[107]
Philip made reforms in government, and strengthened the central authorities relative to the provinces. Merit became more important, although most senior positions still went to the landed aristocracy. Below the elite level, inefficiency and corruption was as widespread as ever.The reforms started by Philip V culminated in much more important reforms of Charles III.[107][108] The historianJonathan Israel, however, argues that King Charles III cared little for the Enlightenment and his ministers paid little attention to the Enlightenment ideas influential elsewhere on the Continent: "Most were first and foremost absolutists and their objective was always to reinforce monarchy, empire, aristocracy...and ecclesiastical control and authority over education."[109]
The economy improved over the depressed 1650–1700 era, with greater productivity and fewer famines and epidemics.[110]
Elisabeth of Parma, Philip V's wife, exerted great influence on Spain's foreign policy. Her principal aim was to have Spain's lost territories in Italy restored. In 1717, Philip V ordered aninvasion of Sardinia. Spanish troops then invaded Sicily. The aggression prompted the Holy Roman Empire to form a new pact with the members of theTriple Alliance, resulting in the Quadruple Alliance of 1718. All members demanded Spanish retreat, resulting in war by December 1718. The war lasted two years and resulted in a rout of the Spanish. Hostilities ceased with theTreaty of The Hague in February 1720; Philip V abandoned all claims on Italy. Later, however, Spain reconqueredNaples andSicily during theWar of the Polish Succession (1733–35). In 1748, after theWar of the Austrian Succession (1740–48), Spain obtained the duchies ofParma,Piacenza andGuastalla in northern Italy.
However, there were no reforming impulses in the reign ofCharles IV (1788 to abdication in 1808), seen by some as mentally handicapped. Dominated by his wife's lover,Manuel de Godoy, Charles IV embarked on policies that overturned much of Charles III's reforms. After briefly opposingRevolutionary France early in theFrench Revolutionary Wars, Spain was cajoled into an uneasy alliance with France, only to be blockaded by the British. Charles IV's vacillation, culminating in his failure to honour the alliance by neglecting to enforce theContinental System, led to the invasion of Spain in 1808 underNapoleon I, thereby triggering thePeninsular War, with enormous human and property losses, and loss of control over most of the overseas empire.
During most of the 18th century Spain had arrested its relative decline of the latter part of the 17th century. But despite the progress, it continued to lag in the political and mercantile developments then transforming other parts of Europe, most notably in Great Britain, the Low Countries, and France. The chaos unleashed by the Peninsular War caused this gap to widen greatly and slowed Spain's industrialisation.
El paseo de las Delicias, a 1784–1785 painting byRamón Bayeu depicting a meeting of members of the aristocracy in the aforementioned location.
TheAge of Enlightenment reached Spain in attenuated form about 1750. Attention focused on medicine and physics, with some philosophy. French and Italian visitors were influential but there was little challenge to Catholicism or the Church such as characterized the Frenchphilosophes. The leading Spanish figure wasBenito Feijóo, a Benedictine monk and professor. He was a successful popularizer noted for encouraging scientific and empirical thought. By the 1770s the conservatives had launched a counterattack and used censorship and the Inquisition to suppress Enlightenment ideas.[111]
At the top of the social structure of Spain in the 1780s stood the nobility and the church. A few hundred families dominated the aristocracy, with another 500,000 holding noble status. There were 200,000 church men and women, half of them in heavily endowed monasteries that controlled much of the land not owned by the nobles. Most people were on farms, either as landless peons or as holders of small properties. The small urban middle class was growing, but was distrusted by the landowners and peasants alike.[112]
War of Spanish Independence and American wars of independence
The Second of May 1808 was the beginning of the popular Spanish resistance against Napoleon.
In the late 18th century, Spain had an alliance with France, and therefore did not have to fear a land war. Its only serious enemy was Britain, which had a powerful navy; Spain therefore concentrated its resources on its navy. When the French Revolution overthrew the Bourbons, a land war with France became a threat which the king tried to avoid. The Spanish army was ill-prepared. The officer corps was selected primarily on the basis of royal patronage, rather than merit. About a third of the junior officers had been promoted from the ranks and had few opportunities for promotion or leadership. The rank-and-file were poorly trained peasants. Elite units included foreign regiments of Irishmen, Italians, Swiss, andWalloons, in addition to elite artillery and engineering units. Equipment was old-fashioned and in disrepair. The army lacked its own horses, oxen and mules for transportation, so these auxiliaries were operated by civilians, who might run if conditions looked bad. In combat, small units fought well, but their old-fashioned tactics were hardly of use against the Napoleonic forces, despite repeated desperate efforts at last-minute reform.[113] When war broke out with France in 1808, the army was deeply unpopular. Leading generals were assassinated, and the army proved incompetent to handle command-and-control. Junior officers from peasant families deserted and went over to the insurgents; many units disintegrated. Spain was unable to mobilize its artillery or cavalry. In the war, there was one victory at theBattle of Bailén, and many humiliating defeats. Conditions steadily worsened, as the insurgents increasingly took control of Spain's battle against Napoleon. Napoleon ridiculed the army as "the worst in Europe"; the British who had to work with it agreed.[114] It was not the Army that defeated Napoleon, but the insurgent peasants whom Napoleon ridiculed as packs of "bandits led by monks".[115] By 1812, the army controlled only scattered enclaves, and could only harass the French with occasional raids. The morale of the army had reached a nadir, and reformers stripped the aristocratic officers of most of their legal privileges.[116]
Spain initially sided against France in theNapoleonic Wars, but the defeat of her army early in the war led toCharles IV's pragmatic decision to align with the French. Spain was put under a British blockade, and her colonies began to trade independently with Britain, but Britain invaded and was defeated in theBritish invasions of the Río de la Plata in South America (1806 and 1807) without help from mainland Spain, which emboldened independence and revolutionary hopes in Spain's American colonies. A major Franco-Spanish fleet was lost at theBattle of Trafalgar in 1805, prompting the king to reconsider his difficult alliance with Napoleon. Spain temporarily broke off from theContinental System, and Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808 and deposedFerdinand VII, who had been on the throne only forty-eight days after his father's abdication in March 1808. On July 20, 1808,Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, entered Madrid and became King of Spain, serving as a surrogate for Napoleon.[117]
Spaniards revolted. Thompson says the Spanish revolt was, "a reaction against new institutions and ideas, a movement for loyalty to the old order: to the hereditary crown of the Most Catholic kings, which Napoleon, an excommunicated enemy of the Pope, had put on the head of a Frenchman; to the Catholic Church persecuted by republicans who had desecrated churches, murdered priests, and enforced a "loi des cultes"; and to local and provincial rights and privileges threatened by an efficiently centralized government.[118]Juntas were formed all across Spain that pronounced themselves in favor of Ferdinand VII. On September 26, 1808, a Central Junta was formed in the town ofAranjuez to coordinate the nationwide struggle against the French. Initially, the Central Junta declared support for Ferdinand VII, and convened a "General and Extraordinary Cortes" for all the kingdoms of the Spanish Monarchy. On February 22 and 23, 1809, a popular insurrection against the French occupation broke out all over Spain.[119]The peninsular campaign was a disaster for France. Napoleon did well when he was in direct command, but that followed severe losses, and when he left in 1809 conditions grew worse for France. Vicious reprisals, famously portrayed by Goya in "The Disasters of War", only made the Spanish guerrillas angrier and more active; the war in Spain proved to be a major, long-term drain on French money, manpower and prestige.[120]
The promulgation of the Constitution of 1812, oil painting bySalvador Viniegra.
In March 1812, theCortes of Cádiz created the first modern Spanish constitution, theConstitution of 1812 (informally namedLa Pepa). This constitution provided for a separation of the powers of the executive and the legislative branches of government. The Cortes was to be elected by universal suffrage, albeit by an indirect method. Each member of the Cortes was to represent 70,000 people. Members of the Cortes were to meet in annual sessions. The King was prevented from either convening or proroguing the Cortes. Members of the Cortes were to serve single two-year terms. They could not serve consecutive terms; a member could serve a second term only by allowing someone else to serve a single intervening term in office. This attempt at the development of a modern constitutional government lasted from 1808 until 1814.[121] Leaders of the liberals or reformist forces during this revolution wereJosé Moñino, Count of Floridablanca,Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos andPedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes. Born in 1728, Floridablanca was eighty years of age at the time of the revolutionary outbreak in 1808. He had served as Prime Minister under King Charles III from 1777 until 1792; However, he tended to be suspicious of the popular spontaneity and resisted a revolution.[122] Born in 1744, Jovellanos was somewhat younger than Floridablanco. A writer and follower of the philosophers of the Enlightenment tradition of the previous century, Jovellanos had served as Minister of Justice from 1797 to 1798 and now commanded a substantial and influential group within the Central Junta. However, Jovellanos had been imprisoned byManuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcudia, who had served as the prime minister, virtually running the country as a dictator from 1792 until 1798 and from 1801 until 1808. Accordingly, even Jovellanos tended to be somewhat overly cautious in his approach to the revolutionary upsurge that was sweeping Spain in 1808.[123]
The Spanish army was stretched as it fought Napoleon's forces because of a lack of supplies and too many untrained recruits, but atBailén in June 1808, the Spanish army inflicted the first major defeat suffered by a Napoleonic army; this resulted in the collapse of French power in Spain. Napoleon took personal charge and with fresh forces, defeating the Spanish and British armies in campaigns of attrition. After this the Spanish armies lost every battle they fought against the French, but were never annihilated; after battles they retreated into the mountains to regroup and launch new attacks and raids. Guerrilla forces sprang up all over Spain and, with the army, tied down huge numbers of Napoleon's troops, making it difficult to sustain concentrated attacks on Spanish forces. The raids became a massive drain on Napoleon's military and economic resources.[124] Spain was aided by the British and Portuguese, led by theDuke of Wellington. The Duke of Wellington fought Napoleon's forces in thePeninsular War, with Joseph Bonaparte playing a minor role as king at Madrid. The brutal war was one of the firstguerrilla wars in modern Western history. French supply lines stretching across Spain were mauled repeatedly by the Spanish armies and guerrilla forces; thereafter, Napoleon's armies were never able to control much of the country and ending in French defeat. The war fluctuated, with Wellington spending several years behind his fortresses in Portugal while launching occasional campaigns into Spain.[125]
After Napoleon's disastrous 1812 campaign in Russia, Napoleon began to recall his forces for the defence of France against the advancing Russian and other coalition forces, leaving his forces in Spain increasingly undermanned and on the defensive against the advancing Spanish, British and Portuguese armies. At theBattle of Vitoria in 1813, an allied army under the Duke of Wellington decisively defeated the French and in 1814Ferdinand VII was restored as King of Spain.[126][127]
The pro-independence forces delivered a crushing defeat to the royalists and secured the independence of Peru in the 1824battle of Ayacucho.
Spain lost all of its North and South American territories, except Cuba and Puerto Rico, in a complex series of revolts 1808–26.[128] Spain was at war with Britain 1798–1808, and the British blockade cut Spain's ties to the overseas empire. Trade was handled by American and Dutch traders. The colonies thus had achieved economic independence from Spain, and set up temporary governments or juntas which were generally out of touch with Spain. After 1814, as Napoleon was defeated and Ferdinand VII was back on the throne, the king sent armies to regain control and reimpose autocratic rule. In the next phase 1809–16, Spain defeated all the uprising. A second round 1816–25 was successful and drove the Spanish out of all of its mainland holdings. Spain had no help from European powers. Indeed, Britain (and the United States) worked against it. When they were cut off from Spain, the colonies saw a struggle for power between Spaniards who were born in Spain (called "peninsulares") and those of Spanish descent born in New Spain (called "creoles"). The creoles were the activists for independence. Multiple revolutions enabled the colonies to break free of the mother country. In 1824 the armies of generalsJosé de San Martín of Argentina andSimón Bolívar of Venezuela defeated the last Spanish forces; the final defeat came at theBattle of Ayacucho in southernPeru. After that Spain played a minor role in international affairs. Business and trade in the ex-colonies were under British control. Spain kept only Cuba and Puerto Rico in the New World.[129]
The Napoleonic wars had severe negative effects on Spain's long-term economic development. The Peninsular war ravaged towns and countryside alike, and the demographic impact was the worst of any Spanish war, with a sharp decline in population in many areas caused by casualties, outmigration, and disruption of family life. The marauding armies seized farmers' crops, and more importantly, farmers lost much of their livestock, their main capital asset. Severe poverty became widespread, reducing market demand, while the disruption of local and international trade, and the shortages of critical inputs, seriously hurt industry and services. The loss of a vast colonial empire reduced Spain's overall wealth, and by 1820 it had become one of Europe's poorest and least-developed societies; three-fourths of the people were illiterate. There was little industry beyond the production of textiles in Catalonia. Natural resources, such as coal and iron, were available for exploitation, but the transportation system was rudimentary, with few canals or navigable rivers, and road travel was slow and expensive. British railroad builders were pessimistic and did not invest. Eventually a small railway system was built, radiating from Madrid and bypassing the natural resources. The government relied on high tariffs, especially on grain, which further slowed economic development. For example, eastern Spain was unable to import inexpensive Italian wheat, and had to rely on expensive homegrown products carted in over poor roads. The export market collapsed apart from some agricultural products. Catalonia had some industry, but Castile remained the political and cultural center, and was not interested in promoting industry.[130]
Although thejuntas, that had forced the French to leave Spain, had sworn by the liberalConstitution of 1812,Ferdinand VII had the support of conservatives and he rejected it.[131] He ruled in the authoritarian fashion of his forebears.[132]
The government, nearly bankrupt, was unable to pay its soldiers. There were few settlers or soldiers in Florida, so it was sold to the United States for $5 million. In 1820, an expedition intended for the colonies revolted inCadiz. When armies throughout Spain pronounced themselves in sympathy with the revolters, led byRafael del Riego, Ferdinand was forced to accept the liberal Constitution of 1812. This was the start of the second bourgeois revolution in Spain, thetrienio liberal which lasted from 1820 to 1823.[127] Ferdinand was placed under effective house arrest for the duration of the liberal experiment.
The tumultuous three years of liberal rule that followed (1820–23) were marked by various absolutist conspiracies. The liberal government was viewed with hostility by theCongress of Verona in 1822, and France was authorized to intervene. France crushed the liberal government with massive force in the so-called "Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis" expedition, and Ferdinand was restored as absolute monarch in 1823. In Spain proper, this marked the end of the second Spanish bourgeois revolution.
In Spain, the failure of the second bourgeois revolution was followed by uneasy peace for the next decade. Having borne only a female heir presumptive, it appeared that Ferdinand would be succeeded by his brother,Infante Carlos. While Ferdinand aligned with the conservatives, fearing another national insurrection, he did not view Carlos's reactionary policies as a viable option. Ferdinand – resisting the wishes of his brother – decreed thePragmatic Sanction of 1830, enabling his daughter Isabella to become Queen. Carlos, who made known his intent to resist the sanction, fled to Portugal.
Ferdinand's death in 1833 and the accession ofIsabella II sparked theFirst Carlist War. Isabella was only three years old at the time so her mother,Maria Christina governed as regent. Carlos invaded the Basque country in the north of Spain and attracted support from absolutist reactionaries and conservatives, known as the "Carlist" forces. The supporters of reform and of limitations on the absolutist rule of the Spanish throne rallied behind Isabella and the regent, Maria Cristina; these reformists were called "Christinos." Though Christino resistance to the insurrection seemed to have been overcome by the end of 1833, Maria Cristina's forces suddenly drove the Carlist armies from most of the Basque country. Carlos then appointed the Basque generalTomás de Zumalacárregui as hiscommander-in-chief. Zumalacárregui resuscitated the Carlist cause, and by 1835 had driven the Christino armies to theEbro River and transformed the Carlist army from a demoralized band into a professional army of 30,000 of superior quality to the government forces. Zumalacárregui's death in 1835 changed the Carlists' fortunes. The Christinos found a capable general inBaldomero Espartero. His 1836 victory at theBattle of Luchana turned the tide of the war, and in 1839, theConvention of Vergara put an end to the first Carlist insurrection.[133]
TheprogressiveGeneral Espartero, exploiting his popularity as a war hero and his sobriquet "Pacifier of Spain", demanded liberal reforms from Maria Cristina. The Queen Regent preferred to resign and let Espartero become regent instead in 1840. Espartero's liberal reforms were then opposed by moderates, and the former general's heavy-handedness caused a series of sporadic uprisings throughout the country from various quarters, all of which were bloodily suppressed. He was overthrown as regent in 1843 byRamón María Narváez, a moderate, who was in turn perceived as too reactionary. Another Carlist uprising, theMatiners' War, was launched in 1846 inCatalonia, but it was poorly organized and suppressed by 1849.
Isabella took a more active role in government after coming of age, but she was unpopular throughout her reign (1833–1868). There was another pronunciamiento in 1854 led GeneralLeopoldo O'Donnell, intending to topple the discredited rule ofthe Count of San Luis. A popular insurrection followed the coup and theProgressive Party obtained widespread support in Spain and came to government in 1854.[134] After 1856, O'Donnell, who had already marched on Madrid that year and ousted another Espartero ministry, attempted to form theLiberal Union, his own political project. Following attacks on Ceuta by tribesmen based in Morocco, awar against the latter country was successfully waged by generals O'Donnell andJuan Prim. The later part of Isabella's reign saw also theSpanish retake of Santo Domingo, and the fruitlessChincha Islands War againstPeru andChile.
Two years later, in 1870, the Cortes declared that Spain would again have a king.Amadeus of Savoy, the second son of KingVictor Emmanuel II of Italy, was selected and duly crownedKing of Spain early the following year.[136] Amadeus – a liberal who swore by the liberal constitution the Cortes promulgated – was faced immediately with the incredible task of bringing the disparate political ideologies of Spain to one table. The country was plagued by internecine strife, not merely between Spaniards but within Spanish parties. Following the Hidalgo affair and an army rebellion, Amadeus famously declared the people of Spain to be ungovernable, abdicated the throne, and left the country.
In the absence of the Monarch, a government of radicals and Republicans was formed and declared Spain a republic. TheFirst Spanish Republic (1873–74) was immediately under siege from all quarters. TheCarlists were the most immediate threat, launching a violent insurrection after their poor showing in the 1872 elections. There were calls for socialist revolution from theInternational Workingmen's Association, revolts and unrest in the autonomous regions ofNavarre andCatalonia, and pressure from the Catholic Church against the fledgling republic.[137]
A coup took place in January 1874, whenGeneral Pavía broke into the Cortes. This prevented the formation of a federal republican government, forced the dissolution of the Parliament and led to the instauration of a unitary praetorian republic ruled byGeneral Serrano, paving the way for theRestoration of the Monarchy through anotherpronunciamiento, this time byArsenio Martínez Campos, in December 1874.
1894 satirical cartoon depicting the tacit accord for seamless government change (turnismo) between the leaders of two dynastic parties (Sagasta andCánovas del Castillo), with the country being lied in an allegorical fashion.
Following the success of a December 1874 military coup the monarchy was restored in the person ofAlfonso XII (the son of former queen Isabella II). The ongoing Carlist insurrection was eventually put down.[138] TheRestoration period, following the proclamation of the1876 Constitution, witnessed the installment of an uncompetitive parliamentary system devised byAntonio Cánovas del Castillo, in which two "dynastic" parties, theconservatives and theliberals alternated in control of the government (turnismo). Election fraud (materialized in the so-calledcaciquismo) became ubiquitous, with elections reproducing pre-arranged outcomes struck in the Capital.[139] Voter apathy was no less important.[140] Thereign of Alfonso was followed by that of his sonAlfonso XIII,[141] initially a regency until the latter's coming of age in 1902.
The 1876 Constitution granted the Catholic Church control of education (particularly secondary education).[142] Meanwhile, an organization formed in 1876 upon a group ofKrausists educators, theInstitución Libre de Enseñanza, had a leading role in the educational and cultural renovation in the country, covering for the inaction of the Spanish State.[143]
In 1868, Cuba launched awar of independence against Spain. As had been the case in Santo Domingo, the Spanish government was embroiled in a difficult campaign against an indigenous rebellion.Unlike in Santo Domingo, however, Spain initially won this struggle. The pacification of the island was temporary, however, as the conflictrevived in 1895 and ended in defeat at the hands of the United States in theSpanish–American War of 1898. Cuba gained its independence and Spain lost its remaining New World colony, Puerto Rico, which together with Guam and the Philippines were ceded to the United States for $20 million. In 1899, Spain sold its remaining Pacific islands – theNorthern Mariana Islands,Caroline Islands andPalau – to Germany and Spanish colonial possessions were reduced toSpanish Morocco,Spanish Sahara andSpanish Guinea, all in Africa.[144]
The "disaster" of 1898 created theGeneration of '98, a group of statesmen and intellectuals who demanded liberal change from the new government. However bothanarchism on the left andfascism on the right grew rapidly in the early 20th century. A revolt in 1909 inCatalonia was bloodily suppressed.[145] Jensen (1999) argues that the defeat of 1898 led many military officers to abandon the liberalism that had been strong in the officer corps and turn to the right. They interpreted the American victory in 1898 as well as theJapanese victory against Russia in 1905 as proof of the superiority of willpower and moral values over technology. Over the next three decades, Jensen argues, these values shaped the outlook ofFrancisco Franco and other Falangists.[146]
The bipartisan system began to collapse in the later years of the constitutional part of the reign ofAlfonso XIII, with the dynastic parties largely disintegrating into factions: the conservatives faced a schism betweendatistas,mauristas andciervistas. The liberal camp split into the mainstream liberals followers of theCount of Romanones (romanonistas) and the followers ofManuel García Prieto, the "democrats" (prietistas).[147] An additional liberalalbista faction was later added to the last two.[148]
Spain's neutrality in World War I spared the country from carnage, yet the conflict caused massive economic disruption, with the country experiencing at the same time an economic boom (the increasing foreign demand of products and the drop of imports brought hefty profits) and widespread social distress (with mounting inflation, shortage of basic goods and extreme income inequality).[149]A major revolutionary strike was called for August 1917, supported by theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party, theUGT and theCNT, seeking to overthrow the government. TheDato government deployed the army against the workers to brutally quell any threat to social order, sealing in turn the demise of the cabinet and undermining the constitutional order.[150] The strike was one of the three simultaneous developments of a widerthree-headed crisis in 1917 that cracked the Restoration regime, that also included a military crisis induced by the cleavage in the Armed Forces between Mainland and Africa-based ranks vis-à-vis the military promotion (and ensuing formation ofjuntas of officers that refused to dissolve upon request from the government),[151] and a political crisis brought by the challenge posed byCatalan nationalism, whose bourgeois was emboldened by the economic upswing.[152]
During theRif War, the crushing defeat of the Spanish Army in the so-called"Disaster of Annual" in the summer of 1921 brought in a matter of days the catastrophic loss of the lives of about 9,000 Spanish soldiers and the loss of all occupied territory in Morocco that had been gained since 1912.[153] This entailed the greatest defeat suffered by a European power in an African colonial war in the 20th century.[154][dubious –discuss]
Alfonso XIII tacitly endorsed the September 1923 coup by GeneralMiguel Primo de Rivera that installed a dictatorship led by the latter. The regime enforced theState of War all over the country from September 1923 to May 1925.[155][156] Attempts to institutionalise the regime were taken, in the form of a single official party (thePatriotic Union) and a consultative chamber (theNational Assembly).[155][157]
Preceded by a partial retreat from vulnerable posts in the interior of the protectorate in Morocco,[158] Spain (in joint action with France) turned the tides in Morocco in 1925, and theAbd el-Krim-ledRepublic of the Rif started to see the beginning of its end after theAlhucemas landing and ensuing seizure ofAjdir,[159] the heart of the Riffian rebellion. The war had dragged on since 1917 and cost Spain $800 million.[160][161] The Spanish officers of the war ended up taking the brutality of the colonial military practices to the mainland.[162]
The late 1920s were prosperous until the worldwideGreat Depression hit in 1929. In early 1930 bankruptcy and massive unpopularity forced the king to remove Primo de Rivera.
Primo de Rivera was replaced byDámaso Berenguer's so-calleddictablanda. The later ruler was in turn replaced by AdmiralAznar-Cabañas in February 1931, soon before the scheduledmunicipal elections of April 1931, which were considered a plebiscite on the Monarchy. Urban voters had lost faith in the monarch and voted for republican parties. The king fled the country and a republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931.[163][164]
Celebrations of the proclamation of the 2nd Republic in Barcelona.
A provisional government presided byNiceto Alcalá Zamora was installed as the Republic, popularly nicknamed as "la niña bonita" ('the pretty girl'),[165] was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, a democratic experiment at a time when democracies were beginning to descend into dictatorships elsewhere in the continent.[165][166] AConstituent election was called for June 1931. The dominant bloc emerging from the election, an alliance of liberals and socialists, broughtManuel Azaña (who had undertaken a decisive reform as War minister in the provisional government by trying to democratize the Armed Forces)[167] to premiership, heading from the on a number of coalition cabinets.[168] While the Republican government was able to easily quell thefirst 1932 coup d'etat led byJosé Sanjurjo, the generals, who felt humiliated because of themilitary reform privately developed a strong contempt towards Azaña.[167] The new parliament drafted anew constitution which was approved on 9 December 1931.
Political ideologies were intensely polarized. Regarding the crux of the role of the Church, within the Left people saw the former as the major enemy of modernity and the Spanish people, and the right saw it as the invaluable protector of Spanish values.[169]
Under the Second Spanish Republic,women were allowed to vote in general elections for the first time. The Republic devolved substantial self-government toCatalonia and, for a brief period in wartime, also to the Basque Provinces.
The first cabinets of the Republic were center-left, headed byNiceto Alcalá-Zamora andManuel Azaña. Economic turmoil, substantial debt, and fractious, rapidly changing governing coalitions led to escalating political violence and attempted coups by right and left.
Following the 1933 election, the right-wingSpanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA), based on the Catholic vote, was set to enter the radical government. An armed rising of workers in October 1934, which reached its greatest intensity inAsturias, was forcefully put down. This in turn energized political movements across the spectrum, including a revived anarchist movement and new reactionary and fascist groups, such as theFalange and a revivedCarlist movement.[170]
A devastating 1936–39 civil war was won in 1939 by the rebel forces underFrancisco Franco. It was supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The rebels (backed among other by traditionalistCarlists, Fascistfalangists and Far-rightalfonsists) defeated the Republican loyalists (with variable support of Socialists, Liberals, Communists, Anarchists and Catalan and Basque nationalists), who were backed by the Soviet Union.
The Spanish Civil War was started by amilitary coup d'etat in 17–18 July 1936 against the Republican government. The coup, intending to prevent social and economic reforms carried by the new government, had been carefully plotted since the electoral right-wing defeat at theFebruary 1936 election.[171] The coup failed everywhere but in the Catholic heartland (Galicia, Old Castile and Navarre), Morocco,Zaragoza, Seville and Oviedo, while the rest of the country remained loyal to the Republic, including the main industrial cities (such asMadrid,Barcelona,Valencia andBilbao), where the putschists were crushed by the combined action of workers and peasants.[172]
People's militias attacking on a Rebel position in Somosierra in the early stages of the war.
The Republic looked to the Western democracies for help, but following an earlier commitment to provide assistance by French premierLéon Blum, by 25 July the latter had already backtracked on it, as to the mounting inner division within his country the British opposition to intervention added up, as the sympathies of the UK lied in theRebel faction.[173]
The Rebel faction enjoyed direct military support fromFascist Italy andNazi Germany, while since the very beginning they also enjoyed the support ofSalazarist Portugal, the power-base of one of the leading rebels,José Sanjurjo. TheSoviet Union sold weapons to the Republican faction andMexico sent in monetary aid as well as giving Republican refuges the option to seek refuge in Mexico,[174] while left-wing sympathizers around the world went to Spain to fight in theInternational Brigades, set up by theCommunist International. The conflict became a worldwide ideological battleground that pitted the left and many liberals against Catholics and conservatives. Worldwide there was a decline in pacifism and a growing sense that another world war was imminent, and that it was worth fighting for.[175]
After the Spanish Civil War, the active agrarian population began to decline in Spain, the provinces with latifundia in Andalusia continued being the ones with the greatest number of day laborers; at the same time this was the region with the lowest literacy share.[176]
The Spanish Republican government moved to Valencia, to escape Madrid, which was under siege by the Nationalists. It had some military strength in the Air Force and Navy, but it had lost nearly all of the Army. After opening the arsenals to arm local militias, it had little control over the Loyalist ground forces. Republican diplomacy proved ineffective, with only two useful allies, the Soviet Union and Mexico. Britain, France and 27 other countries had agreed to an arms embargo on Spain, and the United States went along.Nazi Germany andFascist Italy both signed that agreement, but ignored it and sent supplies and vital help, including a powerful air force under German command, theCondor Legion. Tens of thousands of Italians arrived under Italian command. Portugal supported the Nationalists, and allowed the trans-shipment of supplies to Franco's forces. The Soviets sold tanks and other armaments for Spanish gold, and sent well-trained officers and political commissars. It organized the mobilization of tens of thousands of mostly communist volunteers from around the world, who formed theInternational Brigades.
In 1936, the Left united in the Popular Front and were elected to power. However, this coalition, dominated by the centre-left, was undermined both by the revolutionary groups such as theanarchistConfederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) andFederación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) and by anti-democratic far-right groups such as theFalange and theCarlists. The political violence of previous years began again. There were gunfights over strikes; landless labourers began to seize land, church officials were killed and churches burnt. On the other side, right wing militias and hired gunmen assassinated left-wing activists. The Republican democracy never generated the consensus or mutual trust between the various political groups. As a result, the country slid into civil war. The right wing of the country and high ranking figures in the army began to plan a coup, and when Falangist politicianJosé Calvo-Sotelo wasshot by Republican police, they used it as a signal to act while the Republican leadership was confused and inert.[177][178]
Two women and a man during the siege of the Alcázar
The Nationalists under Franco won the war, and historians continue to debate the reasons. The Nationalists were much better unified and led than the Republicans, who squabbled and fought amongst themselves endlessly and had no clear military strategy. The Army went over to the Nationalists, but it was very poorly equipped – there were no tanks or modern airplanes. The small navy supported the Republicans, but their armies were made up of raw recruits and they lacked both equipment and skilled officers and sergeants. Nationalist senior officers were much better trained and more familiar with modern tactics than the Republicans.[179]
On 17 July 1936, GeneralFrancisco Franco brought the colonial army from Morocco to the mainland, while another force from the north under General Mola moved south fromNavarre. Another conspirator, General Sanjurjo, was killed in a plane crash while being brought to join the military leaders. Military units were also mobilised elsewhere to take over government institutions. Franco intended to seize power immediately, but successful resistance by Republicans in the key centers of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, the Basque country, and other points meant that Spain faced a prolonged civil war. By 1937 much of the south and west was under the control of the Nationalists, whoseArmy of Africa was the most professional force available to either side. Both sides received foreign military aid: the Nationalists from Nazi Germany and Italy, while the Republicans were supported by organised far-left volunteers from the Soviet Union.
TheSiege of the Alcázar atToledo early in the war was a turning point, with the Nationalists successfully resisting after a long siege. The Republicans managed tohold out in Madrid, despite a Nationalist assault in November 1936, and frustrated subsequent offensives against the capital atJarama andGuadalajara in 1937. Soon, though, the Nationalists began to erode their territory, starving Madrid and making inroads into the east. The North, including theBasque country fell in late 1937 and the Aragon front collapsed shortly afterwards. Thebombing of Guernica on the afternoon of 26 April 1937 – a mission used as a testing ground for the GermanLuftwaffe'sCondor Legion – was probably the most infamous event of the war and inspiredPicasso's painting. TheBattle of the Ebro in July–November 1938 was the final desperate attempt by the Republicans to turn the tide. When this failed andBarcelona fell to the Nationalists in early 1939, it was clear the war was over. The remaining Republican fronts collapsed, as civil war broke out inside the Left, as the Republicans suppressed the Communists. Madrid fell in March 1939.[180]
The war cost between 300,000 and 1,000,000 lives. It ended with the total collapse of the Republic and the accession of Francisco Franco as dictator. Franco amalgamated all right wing parties into a reconstituted fascist partyFalange and banned the left-wing and Republican parties and trade unions. The Church was more powerful than it had been in centuries.[180]: 301–318
The conduct of the war was brutal on both sides, with widespread massacres of civilians and prisoners. After the war, many thousands of Republicans were imprisoned and up to 150,000 were executed between 1939 and 1943. Some 500,000 refugees escaped to France; they remained in exile for years or decades.
The Francoist regime resulted in the deaths and arrests of hundreds of thousands of people who were either supporters of the previous Second Republic of Spain or potential threats to Franco's state. They were executed, sent to prisons orconcentration camps. According to Gabriel Jackson, the number of victims of the White Terror (executions and hunger or illness in prisons) between 1939 and 1943 was 200,000.[181] Child abduction was also a wide-scale practice. Thelost children of Francoism may reach 300,000.[182][183]
DuringFranco's rule, Spain was officiallyneutral in World War II and remained largely economically and culturally isolated from the outside world. Under a military dictatorship, Spain saw its political parties banned, except for the official party (Falange). Labour unions were banned and all political activity using violence or intimidation to achieve its goals was forbidden.
Under Franco, Spain actively sought the return ofGibraltar by the United Kingdom, and gained some support for its cause at theUnited 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 inMorocco ended in 1967. Though militarily victorious in the 1957–58Moroccan invasion of Spanish West Africa, Spain gradually relinquished its remaining African colonies. Spanish Guinea was granted independence asEquatorial Guinea in 1968, while the Moroccan enclave ofIfni had been ceded to Morocco in 1969. Two cities in Africa,Ceuta andMelilla, remain under Spanish rule and sovereignty.
The latter years of Franco's rule saw some economic and political liberalization (theSpanish miracle), including the birth of a tourism industry. Spain began to catch up economically with its European neighbors.[184]
Franco ruled until his death on 20 November 1975, when control was given toKing Juan Carlos.[185] In the last few months before Franco's death, the Spanish state was paralyzed. This was capitalized upon by KingHassan II of Morocco, who ordered the 'Green March' intoWestern Sahara, Spain's last colonial possession.
The Spanish transition to democracy or new Bourbon restoration started with Franco's death on 20 November 1975, while its completion is marked by the electoral victory of the socialistPSOE on 28 October 1982.
Between 1978 and 1982, Spain was led by theUnión del Centro Democrático governments.In 1981 the23-F coup d'état attempt took place. On 23 FebruaryAntonio Tejero, with members of theGuardia Civil entered the Congress of Deputies, and stopped the session, whereLeopoldo Calvo Sotelo was about to be named prime minister. Officially, thecoup d'état failed thanks to the intervention of KingJuan Carlos. Spain joinedNATO before Calvo-Sotelo left office.Along with political change cameradical change in Spanish society. Spanish society had been extremely conservative under Franco,[186] but the transition to democracy also began a liberalization of values and social customs.
In 1996, the centre-rightPartido Popular government came to power, led byJosé María Aznar. On 1 January 1999, Spain exchanged thepeseta for the newEuro currency. The peseta continued to be used for cash transactions until January 1, 2002. On 11 March 2004 a number ofterrorist bombs exploded on busy commuter trains in Madrid by Islamic extremists linked toAl-Qaeda, killing 191 and injuring thousands.The election, held three days later, was won by the PSOE, andJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero replaced Aznar as prime minister. AsJosé María Aznar and his ministers at first accusedETA of the atrocity, it has been argued that the outcome of the election has been influenced by this event.
During the boom years, Spain attracted a large number ofimmigrants, especially from the United Kingdom, but also including unknown but substantialillegal immigration, mostly from Latin America, eastern Europe and north Africa.[189] Spain had the fourth largest economy in theEurozone, but after 2008 the global economic recession hit Spain hard, with the bursting of the housing bubble and unemployment reaching over 25%, sharp budget cutbacks were needed. The GDP shrank 1.2% in 2012.[190][191] Although interest rates were historically low, investments were not encouraged sufficiently by entrepreneurs.[192] Losses were especially high in real estate, banking, and construction. Economists concluded in early 2013 that, "Where once Spain's problems were acute, now they are chronic: entrenched unemployment, a large mass of small and medium-sized enterprises with low productivity, and, above all, a constriction in credit."[193]With the financial crisis and high unemployment, Spain suffered from a combination of continued illegal immigration paired with a massive emigration of workers, forced to seek employment elsewhere under the EU's "Freedom of Movement", with an estimated 700,000, or 1.5% of total population, leaving the country between 2008 and 2013.[194]
Spain is ranked as amiddle power able to exert modestregional influence. It has a small voice in international organizations; it is not part of theG8 and participates in theG20 only as a guest. Spain is part of theG6 (EU).
^Important findings have also been made in the Visigothicnecropolis of Castiltierra (Segovia) in Spain.[36]
^According to E. A Thompson, "The Barbarian Kingdoms in Gaul and Spain",Nottingham Mediaeval Studies,7 (1963:4n11), the others were (i)Victoriacum, founded by Leovigild and may survive as the city ofVitoria, but a twelfth-century foundation for this city is given in contemporary sources, (ii)Lugo id est Luceo in theAsturias, referred to byIsidore of Seville, and (iii)Ologicus (perhapsOlogitis), founded usingBasque labour in 621 bySuinthila as a fortification against the Basques, is modernOlite. All of these cities were founded for military purposes and at least Reccopolis, Victoriacum, and Ologicus in celebration of victory. A possible fifth Visigothic foundation isBaiyara (perhaps modernMontoro), mentioned as founded by Reccared in the fifteenth-century geographical account,Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar, cf. José María Lacarra, "Panorama de la historia urbana en la Península Ibérica desde el siglo V al X,"La città nell'alto medioevo,6 (1958:319–358). Reprinted inEstudios de alta edad media española (Valencia: 1975), pp. 25–90.
^Great estates, theLatifundia (sing.,latifundium), controlled by a land owning aristocracy, were superimposed on the existing Iberian landholding system.
^The Roman provinces of Hispania includedProvincia Hispania Ulterior Baetica (Hispania Baetica), whose capital wasCorduba, presently Córdoba,Provincia Hispania Ulterior Lusitania (Hispania Lusitania), whose capital was Emerita Augusta (nowMérida),Provincia Hispania Citerior, whose capital wasTarraco (Tarragona),Provincia Hispania Nova, whose capital wasTingis (Tánger in present Morocco),Provincia Hispania Nova Citerior andAsturiae-Calleciae (these latter two provinces were created and then dissolved in the 3rd century AD).
^Boyd, Carolyn P. (2002). "The Second Battle of Covadonga: The Politics of Commemoration in Modern Spain".History and Memory.14 (1–2):37–64.doi:10.2979/his.2002.14.1-2.37.JSTOR10.2979/his.2002.14.1-2.37.The battle cannot have amounted to much more than a minor skirmish between a small band of Asturian warriors and the Muslim expeditionary force sent to crush their resistance
^García-Guijarro Ramos, Luis (2016). "Christian expansion in medieval Iberia:Reconquista or crusade?". In Boas, Adrian J. (ed.).The Crusader World.Routledge. p. 166.ISBN978-0-415-82494-1.Traditional Spanish nationalism converted a skirmish, the Battle of Covadonga (718–722) and the figure of Pelayo, reckoned as first king of Asturias (718–737), into symbols of the will to recover the Visigothic unity and reinstate Christianity only a few years after the rout of Guadalete
^Guillermo, Artemio (2012) [2012].Historical Dictionary of the Philippines. The Scarecrow Press Inc. p. 374.ISBN978-0810875111. RetrievedSeptember 11, 2020.To pursue their mission of conquest, the Spaniards dealt individually with each settlement or village and with each province or island until the entire Philippine archipelago was brought under imperial control. They saw to it that the people remained divided or compartmentalized and with the minimum of contact or communication. The Spaniards adopted the policy of divide et impera (divide and conquer).
^Hawkley, Ethan (2014)."Reviving the Reconquista in Southeast Asia: Moros and the Making of the Philippines, 1565–1662".Journal of World History.25 (2–3). University of Hawai'i Press: 288.doi:10.1353/jwh.2014.0014.S2CID143692647.The early modern revival of the Reconquista in the Philippines had a profound effect on the islands, one that is still being felt today. As described above, the Spanish Reconquista served to unify Christians against a common Moro enemy, helping to bring together Castilian, Catalan, Galician, and Basque peoples into a single political unit: Spain. In precolonial times, the Philippine islands were a divided and unspecified part of the Malay archipelago, one inhabited by dozens of ethnolinguistic groups, residing in countless independent villages, strewn across thousands of islands. By the end of the seventeenth century, however, a dramatic change had happened in the archipelago. A multiethnic community had come together to form the colonial beginnings of a someday nation: the Philippines. The powerful influence of Christian-Moro antagonisms on the formation of the early Philippines remains evident more than four hundred years later, as the Philippine national government continues to grapple with Moro separatists groups, even in 2013.
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^Simon, Antoni (2006)."L'Espill, nº 24".L'Espill (in Catalan) (24). Universitat de València:45–46.
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^Eduard, Llaudó Avila (2021).Racisme i supremacisme polítics a l'Espanya contemporània (7th ed.). Manresa: Parcir.ISBN978-8418849107.
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