History of Spain

The history of Spain dates back to the Early Middle

Ages. In 1516, Habsburg Spain unied a number of
disparate predecessor kingdoms; its modern form of a
constitutional monarchy was introduced in 1813, and the
current democratic constitution dates to 1978.

Bourbon constitutional monarchy headed by Prince Juan

Carlos and to democracy. Spain entered the European
Economic Community in 1986 (transformed into the
European Union with the Maastricht Treaty of 1992),
and the Eurozone in 1999. The nancial crisis of 2007
After the completion of the Reconquista, the kingdoms 08 ended a decade of economic boom and Spain entered
a recession and debt crisis and remains plagued by very
of Spain were united under Habsburg rule in 1516. At
the same time, the Spanish Empire began to expand to high unemployment and a weak economy.
the New World across the ocean, marking the beginning Spain is ranked as a middle power able to exert regional
of the Golden Age of Spain, during which, from the early inuence but unlike other powers with similar status (such
1500s to the 1650s, Habsburg Spain was among the most as Germany, Italy and Japan) it is not part of the G8 and
participates in the G20 only as a guest. Spain is part of
powerful states in Europe.
In this time, Spain was involved in all major European the G6.
wars, including the Italian Wars, the Eighty Years War,
the Thirty Years War, and the Franco-Spanish War. In
the later 17th century, however, Spanish power began to 1 Prehistory
decline, and after the death of the last Habsburg ruler,
the War of the Spanish Succession ended with the rele- Main article: Prehistoric Iberia
gation of Spain, now under Bourbon rule, to the status The Iberian Peninsula was rst inhabited by anatomically
of a second-rate power with a reduced inuence in European aairs. The so-called Bourbon Reforms attempted
the renewal of state institutions, with some success, but
as the century ended, instability set in with the French
Revolution and the Peninsular War, so that Spain never
regained its former strength.
Fragmented by the war, Spain at the beginning of the
19th century was destabilised as dierent political parties representing liberal, reactionary, and moderate
groups throughout the remainder of the century fought for
and won short-lived control without any being suciently
strong to bring about lasting stability. The former Spanish Empire overseas quickly disintegrated with the Latin
American wars of independence and eventually the loss
of what old colonies remained in the SpanishAmerican
War of 1898.
A painting of bison dating from the Upper Paleolithic era in the
Altamira caves

A tenuous balance between liberal and conservative

forces was struck in the establishment of constitutional
monarchy during 18741931 but brought no lasting solution, and Spain descended into Civil War between the
Republican and the Nationalist factions.

modern humans about 32,000 years BP.

The earliest record of hominids living in Western Europe has been found in the Spanish cave of Atapuerca; a
int tool found there dates from 1.4 million years ago,[1]
and early human fossils date to roughly 1.2 million years
ago.[2] Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula from north of the
Pyrenees some 35,000 years ago. The most conspicuous sign of prehistoric human settlements are the famous
paintings in the northern Spanish cave of Altamira, which
were done c. 15,000 BC and are regarded as paramount

The war ended in a nationalist dictatorship, led by

Francisco Franco, which controlled the Spanish government until 1975. The post-war decades were relatively stable (with the notable exception of an armed
independence movement in the Basque Country), and the
country experienced rapid economic growth in the 1960s
and early 1970s.
Only with the death of Franco in 1975 did Spain return to
1

3 ROMAN HISPANIA
of the Iberian Peninsula through the southeast. The Celts
mostly inhabited the inner and north-west part of the
peninsula. In the inner part of the peninsula, where
both groups were in contact, a mixed culture arose, the
Celtiberians. The Celtiberian Wars were fought between
the advancing legions of the Roman Republic and the
Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior from 181 to 133
BC.[6][7] The Roman conquest of the peninsula was completed in 19 BC.

3 Roman Hispania

Ethnology of the Iberian Peninsula c. 200 BC

Main article: Hispania

Further information: Roman conquest of Hispania
Further information: Romanization of Hispania
Hispania was the name used for the Iberian Penin-

instances of cave art.[3]

Furthermore, archeological evidence in places like Los
Millares and El Argar, both in the province of Almera,
and La Almoloya near Murcia suggests developed cultures existed in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula
during the late Neolithic and the Bronze Age.[4]
Spanish prehistory extends to the pre-Roman Iron
Age cultures that controlled most of Iberia: those
of the Iberians, Celtiberians, Tartessians, Lusitanians,
and Vascones and trading settlements of Phoenicians,
Carthaginians, and Greeks on the Mediterranean coast.
Roman Empire, 3rd century.

Early history of the Iberian

Peninsula

sula under Roman rule from the 2nd century BC. The
populations of the peninsula were gradually culturally
Romanized,[8] and local leaders were admitted into the
[9]
In the time before the Roman conquest the major cul- Roman aristocratic class.
tures were the Iberians along the Mediterranean coast, the The Romans improved existing cities, such as Tarragona
Celts in the interior and north-west, the Lusitanians in the (Tarraco), and established others like Zaragoza (Caesawest, and the Tartessians in the southwest. The seafaring raugusta), Mrida (Augusta Emerita), Valencia (ValenPhoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks successively es- tia), Len (Legio Septima), Badajoz (Pax Augusta),
tablished trading settlements along the eastern and south- and Palencia.[10] The peninsulas economy expanded unern coast. The rst Greek colonies, such as Emporion der Roman tutelage. Hispania supplied Rome with food,
(modern Empries), were founded along the northeast olive oil, wine and metal. The emperors Trajan, Hadrian,
coast in the 9th century BC, leaving the south coast to and Theodosius I, the philosopher Seneca, and the poets Martial, Quintilian, and Lucan were born in Hispania.
the Phoenicians.[5]
The Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia, appar- Hispanic bishops held the Council of Elvira around 306.
ently after the river Iber (Ebro). In the 6th century BC,
the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia, struggling rst with
the Greeks, and shortly after, with the newly arriving Romans for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their
most important colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name
of modern-day Cartagena).[5]

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th

century, parts of Hispania came under the control of the
Germanic tribes of Vandals, Suebi, and Visigoths.

The collapse of the Western Roman Empire did not lead

to the same wholesale destruction of Western classical
society as happened in areas like Roman Britain, Gaul
The peoples whom the Romans met at the time of their and Germania Inferior during the Early Middle Ages,
invasion in what is now known as Spain were the Iberi- although the institutions and infrastructure did decline.
ans, inhabiting an area stretching from the northeast part Spains present languages, its religion, and the basis of

4.1

Visigothic rule

its laws originate from this period. The centuries of un- At the same time, there was a process of Romanization
interrupted Roman rule and settlement left a deep and of the Germanic and Hunnic tribes settled on both sides
enduring imprint upon the culture of Spain.
of the limes (the fortied frontier of the Empire along the
Rhine and Danube rivers). The Visigoths, for example,
were converted to Arian Christianity around 360, even
into imperial territory by the ex4 Gothic Hispania (5th8th cen- before they were pushed
pansion of the Huns.[14]

turies)

In the winter of 406, taking advantage of the frozen

Rhine, refugees from (Germanic) Vandals and Sueves,
Further information: Visigothic Kingdom, Suebic King- and the (Sarmatian) Alans, eeing the advancing Huns,
dom of Galicia and Spania
invaded the empire in force. Three years later they
The rst Germanic tribes to invade Hispania arrived crossed the Pyrenees into Iberia and divided the Western parts, roughly corresponding to modern Portugal and
western Spain as far as Madrid, between them.[15]
The Visigoths, having sacked Rome two years earlier,
arrived in the region in 412, founding the Visigothic
kingdom of Toulouse (in the south of modern France)
and gradually expanded their inuence into the Iberian
peninsula at the expense of the Vandals and Alans, who
moved on into North Africa without leaving much permanent mark on Hispanic culture. The Visigothic Kingdom
shifted its capital to Toledo and reached a high point during the reign of Leovigild.

4.1 Visigothic rule

The greatest extent of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse, c.

500, showing Territory lost after Vouill in light orange

in the 5th century, as the Roman Empire decayed.[11]

The Visigoths, Suebi, Vandals and Alans arrived in Spain
by crossing the Pyrenees mountain range, leading to the
establishment of the Suebi Kingdom in Gallaecia, in
the northwest, the Vandal Kingdom of Vandalusia (Andalusia), and the Visigothic Kingdom in Toledo. The
Romanized Visigoths entered Hispania in 415. After the
conversion of their monarchy to Roman Catholicism and
after conquering the disordered Suebic territories in the
northwest and Byzantine territories in the southeast, the
Visigothic Kingdom eventually encompassed a great part
of the Iberian Peninsula.[9][12]
As the Roman Empire declined, Germanic tribes invaded
the former empire. Some were foederati, tribes enlisted
to serve in Roman armies, and given land within the
empire as payment, while others, such as the Vandals,
took advantage of the empires weakening defenses to
seek plunder within its borders. Those tribes that survived took over existing Roman institutions, and created
successor-kingdoms to the Romans in various parts of
Europe. Iberia was taken over by the Visigoths after
410.[13]

The Visigothic Kingdom conquered all of Hispania and

ruled it until the early 8th century, when the peninsula
fell to the Muslim conquests. The Muslim state in Iberia
came to be known as Al-Andalus. After a period of Muslim dominance, the medieval history of Spain is dominated by the long Christian Reconquista or reconquest
of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule. The Reconquista gathered momentum during the 12th century, leading to the establishment of the Christian kingdoms of
Portugal, Aragon, Castile and Navarre and by 1250, had
reduced Muslim control to the Emirate of Granada in the
south-east of the peninsula. Muslim rule in Granada survived until 1492, when it fell to the Catholic Monarchs.
Importantly, Spain never saw a decline in interest in classical culture to the degree observable in Britain, Gaul,
Lombardy and Germany. The Visigoths, having assimilated Roman culture during their tenure as foederati,
tended to maintain more of the old Roman institutions,
and they had a unique respect for legal codes that resulted
in continuous frameworks and historical records for most
of the period between 415, when Visigothic rule in Spain
began, and 711, when it is traditionally said to end. However, during the Visigothic dominion the cultural eorts
made by the Franks and other Germanic tribes was not
felt in the peninsula, and were not achieved in the lesser
kingdoms that emerged after the Muslim conquest.
The proximity of the Visigothic kingdoms to the Mediterranean and the continuity of western Mediterranean
trade, though in reduced quantity, supported Visigothic
culture. Arian Visigothic nobility kept apart from the

5 ISLAMIC AL-ANDALUS AND THE CHRISTIAN RECONQUEST (8TH15TH CENTURIES)

the Visigothic language left only the faintest mark on the
modern languages of Iberia.[17]
The most visible eect was the depopulation of the cities
as they moved to the countryside. Even while the country enjoyed a degree of prosperity when compared to the
famines of France and Germany in this period, the Visigoths felt little reason to contribute to the welfare, permanency, and infrastructure of their people and state. This
contributed to their downfall, as they could not count on
the loyalty of their subjects when the Moors arrived in the
8th century.[17]

5 Islamic al-Andalus and the

Christian Reconquest (8th15th
centuries)
Visigothic Hispania and its regional divisions in 700, prior to the
Muslim conquest

Main articles: Muslim conquests, Umayyad conquest of

Hispania, Al-Andalus and Reconquista
The Arab Islamic conquest dominated most of North

local Catholic population. The Visigothic ruling class

looked to Constantinople for style and technology while
the rivals of Visigothic power and culture were the
Catholic bishops and a brief incursion of Byzantine
power in Crdoba.
Spanish Catholic religion also coalesced during this
time. The period of rule by the Visigothic Kingdom
saw the spread of Arianism briey in Spain.[16] The
Councils of Toledo debated creed and liturgy in orthodox Catholicism, and the Council of Lerida in 546 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over
them under the blessings of Rome. In 587, the Visigothic
king at Toledo, Reccared, converted to Catholicism and
launched a movement in Spain to unify the various religious doctrines that existed in the land. This put an end to
dissension on the question of Arianism. (For additional
information about this period, see the History of Roman
Catholicism in Spain.)

Oviedo

KINGDOM OF
ASTURIAS

Toulouse

CAROLINGIAN
EMPIRE

Narbonne

Zaragoza
Barcelona

UMAYYAD CALIPHATE
Toledo
Valencia
Lisbon

Seville

Crdoba

Gibraltar

al-Andalus at its greatest extent, 720

Africa by 710 AD. In 711 an Islamic Berber raiding party,

led by Tariq ibn Ziyad, was sent to Iberia to intervene
in a civil war in the Visigothic Kingdom. Tariqs army
contained about 7,000 Berber horsemen, and Musa bin
Nusayr is said to have sent an additional 5.000 reinforcements after the conquest.[18] Crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, they won a decisive victory in the summer of 711
when the Visigothic King Roderic was defeated and killed
on July 19 at the Battle of Guadalete.

The Visigoths inherited from Late Antiquity a sort of

feudal system in Spain, based in the south on the Roman
villa system and in the north drawing on their vassals to
supply troops in exchange for protection. The bulk of
the Visigothic army was composed of slaves, raised from
the countryside. The loose council of nobles that advised
Spains Visigothic kings and legitimized their rule was re- Tariqs commander, Musa, quickly crossed with Arab
sponsible for raising the army, and only upon its consent reinforcements, and by 718 the Muslims were in control of nearly the whole Iberian Peninsula. The advance
was the king able to summon soldiers.
Western Europe was only stopped in what is now
into
The impact of Visigothic rule was not widely felt on sonorth-central
France by the West Germanic Franks unciety at large, and certainly not compared to the vast buCharles
Martel
at the Battle of Tours in 732.
der
reaucracy of the Roman Empire; they tended to rule as
barbarians of a mild sort, uninterested in the events of the
nation and economy, working for personal benet, and little literature remains to us from the period. They did not,
until the period of Muslim rule, merge with the Spanish population, preferring to remain separate, and indeed

A decisive victory for the Christians took place at Covadonga, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in the summer of 722. In a minor battle known as the Battle of Covadonga, a Muslim force sent to put down the Christian
rebels in the northern mountains was defeated by Pelagius

5.2

Warfare between Muslims and Christians

of Asturias, who established the monarchy of the Christian Kingdom of Asturias. In 739, a rebellion in Galicia,
assisted by the Asturians, drove out Muslim forces and it
joined the Asturian kingdom. The Kingdom of Asturias
became the main base for Christian resistance to Islamic
rule in the Iberian Peninsula for several centuries.
Caliph Al-Walid I had paid great attention to the expansion of an organized military, building the strongest navy
in the Umayyad Caliphate era (the second major Arab
dynasty after Mohammad and the rst Arab dynasty of
Al-Andalus). It was this tactic that supported the ultimate
expansion to Spain. Caliph Al-Walid Is reign is considered as the apex of Islamic power, though Islamic power
in Spain specically climaxed in the 10th century under
Abd-ar-Rahman III.[19]

5.1

Abbasids overthrow the

Caliphate

5
mostly concerned with maintaining its power base in
North Africa, but these possessions eventually dwindled
to the Ceuta province. The rst navy of the Caliph of Crdoba or Emir was built after the humiliating Viking ascent
of the Guadalquivir in 844 when they sacked Seville.[20]
In 942, pagan Magyars (present day Hungary) raided
across Europe as far west as Al-Andalus.[20] Meanwhile,
a slow but steady migration of Christian subjects to the
northern kingdoms in Christian Hispania was slowly increasing the latters power. Even so, Al-Andalus remained vastly superior to all the northern kingdoms combined in population, economy and military might; and
internal conict between the Christian kingdoms contributed to keep them relatively harmless.

Al-Andalus coincided with La Convivencia, an era of relative religious tolerance, and with the Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula. (See: Emir Abd-arUmayyad Rahman III 912; the Granada massacre 1066).[21]

The rulers of Al-Andalus were granted the rank of Emir

by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I in Damascus. Emir
Abd al-Rahman I challenged the Abbasids. The Umayyad
Caliphate, with origin in Hejaz, Arabian peninsula or
Emirate was overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate or
Emirate (second Arab dynasty), some of the remaining
Umayyad leaders escaped to Castile and declared Crdoba an independent emirate. Al-Andalus was rife with
internal conict between the Islamic Umayyad rulers and
people and the Christian Visigoth-Roman leaders and
people.

5.2 Warfare between Muslims and Christians

Muslim interest in the peninsula returned in force around
the year 1000 when Al-Mansur (also known as Almanzor) sacked Barcelona in 985. Under his son, other Christian cities were subjected to numerous raids.[22] After his
sons death, the caliphate plunged into a civil war and
splintered into the so-called "Taifa Kingdoms. The Taifa
kings competed against each other not only in war but also
in the protection of the arts, and culture enjoyed a brief
upswing.
Medieval Spain was the scene of almost constant warfare
between Muslims and Christians. The Almohads, who
had taken control of the Almoravids Maghribi and alAndalus territories by 1147, surpassed the Almoravides
in fundamentalist Islamic outlook, and they treated the
non-believer dhimmis harshly. Faced with the choice of
death, conversion, or emigration, many Jews and Christians left.[23]
By the mid-13th century Emirate of Granada was the only
independent Muslim realm in Spain, which would last until 1492. Despite the decline in Muslim-controlled kingdoms, it is important to note the lasting eects exerted
on the peninsula by Muslims in technology, culture, and
society.

The Taifa kingdoms lost ground to the Christian realms in

the north. After the loss of Toledo in 1085, the Muslim
rulers reluctantly invited the Almoravides, who invaded
Al-Andalus from North Africa and established an empire.
The Christian kingdoms of Iberia and the Islamic Almohad em- In the 12th century the Almoravid empire broke up again,
pire c. 1210
only to be taken over by the Almohad invasion, who were
defeated by an alliance of the Christian kingdoms in the
In the 10th century Abd-ar-Rahman III declared the decisive battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. By 1250,
Caliphate of Crdoba, eectively breaking all ties with nearly all of Iberia was back under Christian rule with the
the Egyptian and Syrian caliphs. The Caliphate was exception of the small Muslim kingdom of Granada.

6 EARLY MODERN SPAIN

Balearic Islands and Valencia, where it was known as Valencian. Both languages were later substituted in its ocial status by Castillian Spanish, till the 20th century.
In the 13th century many universities were founded
in Len and in Castile. Some, such as the Leonese
Salamanca and the Castilian Palencia, were among the
earliest universities in Europe.
In 1492, under the Catholic Monarchs, the rst edition
of the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de
Nebrija was published.

6 Early Modern Spain

Main articles: Habsburg Spain, Spanish Golden Age,
Spain in the 17th century and Bourbon Spain
A battle of the Reconquista from the Cantigas de Santa Maria

The Kings of Aragn ruled territories that consisted of

not only the present administrative region of Aragon but
also Catalonia, and later the Balearic Islands, Valencia,
Sicily, Naples and Sardinia (see Crown of Aragon). Considered by most to have been the rst mercenary company
in Western Europe, the Catalan Company proceeded to
occupy the Duchy of Athens, which they placed under the
protection of a prince of the House of Aragon and ruled
until 1379.[24]

5.3

6.1 Dynastic union

The Spanish language and universities

In the 13th century, many languages were spoken in

the Christian kingdoms of Iberia. These were the
Latin-based Romance languages of Castilian, Aragonese,
Catalan, Galician, Aranese, Asturian and Leonese, and
the ancient language isolate of Basque. Throughout the
century, Castilian (what is also known today as Spanish)
Iberian polities circa 1360
gained a growing prominence in the Kingdom of Castile
as the language of culture and communication, at the exIn the 15th century, the most important among all of
pense of Leonese and of other close dialects.
the separate Christian kingdoms that made up the old
One example of this is the epic song ('cantar') written af- Hispania were the Kingdom of Castile (occupying northter the military leader El Cid. In the last years of the reign ern and central portions of the Iberian Peninsula), the
of Ferdinand III of Castile, Castilian began to be used for Kingdom of Aragon (occupying northeastern portions of
certain types of documents, and it was during the reign of the peninsula), and the Kingdom of Portugal occupying
Alfonso X that it became the ocial language. Hence- the far western Iberian Peninsula. The rulers of the kingforth all public documents were written in Castilian; like- doms of Castille and Aragon were allied with dynastic
wise all translations were made into Castilian instead of families in Portugal, France, and other neighboring kingLatin.
doms.
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,[25] and Catalan from the 12th to the 18th century in Catalonia, the

The death of King Henry IV of Castile in 1474 set o a

struggle for power called the War of the Castilian Succession (147579). Contenders for the throne of Castile
were Henrys one-time heir Joanna la Beltraneja, supported by Portugal and France, and Henrys half-sister
Queen Isabella I of Castile, supported by the Kingdom
of Aragon and by the Castilian nobility.

6.1

Dynastic union

Isabella retained the throne and ruled jointly with her husband, King Ferdinand II. Isabella and Ferdinand had married in 1469[26] in Valladolid. 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,[27] Isabella held more authority over the newly
unied Spain than her husband, although their rule was
shared.[27] Together, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of
Aragon were known as the Catholic Monarchs (Spanish: los Reyes Catlicos), a title bestowed on them by Pope
Alexander VI.

The monarchs oversaw the nal stages of the Reconquista

of Iberian territory from the Moors with the conquest of
Granada, conquered the Canary Islands, and expelled the
Jews from Spain under the Alhambra Decree. Although
until the 13th century religious minorities (Jews and Muslims) had enjoyed considerable tolerance in Castilla 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 except vila.
Over the next century, half of the estimated 80,000
Spanish Jews converted to Christianity (becoming
"conversos") . The nal step was taken by the Catholic
Monarchs, who, in 1492, ordered the remaining Jews to
convert or face expulsion from Spain. Depending on different sources, the number of Jews actually expelled, traditionally estimated at 120,000 people, is now believed
to have numbered about 40,000 .
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. However,
sucient numbers of Moriscos stayed that Muslim culture remained inuential in Spain. Jews and Muslims
were not the only people to be persecuted during this
time period. All Roma (Gitano, Gypsy) males between
the ages of 18 and 26 were forced to serve in galleys
which was equivalent to a death sentence but the majority managed to hide and avoid arrest.
Isabella and Ferdinand authorized the 1492 expedition of
Christopher Columbus, who became the rst known European to reach the New World since Leif Ericson. This
and subsequent expeditions led to an inux of wealth into
Spain, supplementing income from within Castile for the
state that would prove to be a dominant power of Europe
for the next two centuries.
Isabella ensured long-term political stability in Spain by
arranging strategic marriages for each of her ve children. Her rstborn, a daughter named Isabella, married
Afonso of Portugal, forging important ties between these
two neighboring countries and hopefully ensuring future
alliance, but Isabella soon died before giving birth to an
heir. Juana, Isabellas second daughter, married into the
Habsburg dynasty when she wed Philip the Fair, the son
of Maximilian I, King of Bohemia (Austria) and likely
heir to the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor.

This 16th-century Spanish carpet shows stylistic inuences from

Europe and the Islamic world. Collections of the Textile Museum.

This ensured an alliance with the Habsburgs and the Holy

Roman Empire, a powerful, far-reaching territory that assured Spains future political security. Isabellas only son,
Juan, married Margaret of Austria, further strengthening
6.1.1 Conclusion of the Reconquista and start of the ties with the Habsburg dynasty. Isabellas fourth child,
Maria, married Manuel I of Portugal, strengthening the
Spanish Inquisition
link forged by her older sisters marriage. Her fth child,
Further information: Reconquista, Spanish Inquisition Catherine, married King Henry VIII of England and was
mother to Queen Mary I of England.
and Black Legend

6.2

6 EARLY MODERN SPAIN

Imperial Spain

This New World empire was at rst a disappointment,

as the natives had little to trade, though settlement did
encourage 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 the
economic potential of conquered areas.[29]

In the 1520s, large-scale extraction of silver from the rich

deposits of Mexicos Guanajuato began to be greatly augmented by the silver mines in Mexicos Zacatecas and
Bolivias Potos from 1546. These silver shipments reoriented the Spanish economy, leading to the importation
A map of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires in the period of of luxuries and grain. They also became indispensable in
Iberian Union under the personal union of the Spanish monarchs
nancing the military capability of Habsburg Spain in its
(15801640)
long series of European and North African wars, though,
with the exception of a few years in the 17th century,
Main article: Spanish Empire
Spain itself (Castile in particular) was by far the most imSee also: Habsburg Spain
portant source of revenue.
The Spanish Empire was one of the rst modern global
empires. It was also one of the largest 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 two Castilian expeditions. The rst was an expedition to the Canary Islands
in 1312 of a Castilian eet led by a Genoese, Lancelotto
Malocello. The second was another expedition to the Canaries in 1402 led by French adventurers, Jean de Bthencourt, Lord of Grainville in Normandy and Gadifer de la
Salle of Poitou,[28] which began the Castilian conquest of
the Canary Islands, completed in 1495.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, trade ourished across the
Atlantic between Spain and the Americas and across the
Pacic between East Asia and Mexico via the Philippines.
Conquistadors deposed the Aztec, Inca and Maya governments with extensive help from local factions and laid
claim to vast stretches of land in North and South America.

Spain enjoyed a cultural golden age in the 16th and 17th

centuries. For a time, the Spanish Empire dominated the
oceans with its experienced navy and ruled the European
battleeld with its fearsome and well trained infantry, the
famous tercios, in the words of the prominent French historian Pierre Vilar, enacting the most extraordinary epic
in human history.
The nancial burden within the peninsula was on the
backs of the peasant class while the nobility enjoyed an
increasingly lavish lifestyle. From the time beginning
with the incorporation of the Portuguese Empire in 1580
(lost in 1640) until the loss of its North and South American colonies in the 19th century, Spain maintained the
largest empire in the world even though it suered uctuating military and economic fortunes from the 1640s.
Confronted by the new experiences, diculties and suffering created by empire-building, Spanish thinkers formulated some of the rst modern thoughts on natural law,
sovereignty, international law, war, and economics; there
were even questions about the legitimacy of imperialism
in related schools of thought referred to collectively
as the School of Salamanca. Despite these innovations,
many motives for the empire were rooted in the Middle
Ages. Religion played a very strong role in the spread of
the Spanish empire. The thought that Spain could bring
Christianity to the New World certainly played a strong
role in the expansion of Spains empire.

6.3 Spanish Kingdoms under the Habsburgs (16th17th centuries)

Christopher Columbus setting foot in the New World, 1492

Main article: Habsburg Spain

Spains world empire reached its greatest territorial extent in the late 18th century but it was under the Habsburg
dynasty in the 16th and 17th centuries it reached the peak
of its power and declined. When Spains rst Habsburg
ruler Charles I became king of Spain in 1516, Spain became central to the dynastic struggles of Europe. After

6.3

Spanish Kingdoms under the Habsburgs (16th17th centuries)

However, economic and administrative problems multiplied in Castile, and the weakness of the native economy became evident in the following century. Rising
ination, nancially draining wars in Europe, the ongoing
aftermath of the expulsion of the Jews and Moors from
Spain, and Spains growing dependency on the gold and
silver imports, combined to cause several bankruptcies
that caused economic crisis in the country, especially in
heavily burdened Castile.

Charles I of Spain (better known in the English-speaking world

as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) was the most powerful
European monarch of his day.[30]

A map of Europe in 1648, after the Peace of Westphalia

he became king of Spain, Charles also became Charles

V, Holy Roman Emperor and because of his widely scattered domains was not often in Spain. As he approached
the end of his life he made provision for the division of
the Habsburg inheritance into two parts. On the one hand
was Spain, its possessions in Europe, North Africa, the
Americas and the Netherlands; on the other hand was the
Holy Roman Empire. This was to create enormous diculties for his son Philip II of Spain.
Philip II became king on Charles Is abdication in 1556.
Spain largely escaped the religious conicts that were raging throughout the rest of Europe and remained rmly
Roman Catholic. Philip saw himself as a champion of
Catholicism, both against the Muslim Ottoman Empire
and the Protestant heretics.
In the 1560s, plans to consolidate control of the Netherlands led to unrest, which gradually led to the Calvinist
leadership of the revolt and the Eighty Years War. This
conict consumed much Spanish expenditure during the
later 16th century. Conicts included an attempt to conquer England a cautious supporter of the Dutch in
the unsuccessful Spanish Armada, an early battle in the
Anglo-Spanish War (15851604), and war with France
(159098).
Despite these problems, the growing inow of New World
silver from mid-16th century, the justied military reputation of the Spanish infantry and even the navy quickly
recovering from its Armada disaster, made Spain the
leading European power, a novel situation of which its citizens were only just becoming aware. The Iberian Union
with Portugal in 1580 not only unied the peninsula, but
added that countrys worldwide resources to the Spanish
crown.

Barbary pirates from North Africa became an increasing

problem. The coastal villages of Spain and of the Balearic
Islands were frequently attacked. Formentera was even
temporarily abandoned by its population. This occurred
also along long stretches of the Spanish and Italian coasts,
a relatively short distance across a calm sea from the pirates in their North African lairs. The most famous corsair was the Turkish Barbarossa (Redbeard).[31] According to Robert Davis between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by North African pirates
and sold as slaves in North Africa and Ottoman Empire
between the 16th and 19th centuries. This was gradually alleviated as Spain and other Christian powers began to check Muslim naval dominance in the Mediterranean after the 1571 victory at Lepanto, but it would be
a scourge that continued to aict the country even in the
next century.[31]
The great plague of 15961602 killed 600,000 to
700,000 people, or about 10% of the population. Altogether more than 1,250,000 deaths resulted from the extreme incidence of plague in 17th-century Spain.[32] Economically, the plague destroyed the labor force as well as
creating a psychological blow to an already problematic
Spain.[33]
Philip II died in 1598, and was succeeded by his son
Philip III. In his reign (15981621) a ten-year truce with
the Dutch was overshadowed in 1618 by Spains involvement in the European-wide Thirty Years War. Government policy was dominated by favorites, but it was also
the period in which the geniuses of Cervantes and El
Greco ourished.
Philip III was succeeded in 1621 by his son Philip IV of

10

6 EARLY MODERN SPAIN

Spain (reigned 162165). Much of the policy was conducted by the minister Gaspar de Guzmn, Count-Duke
of Olivares. In 1640, with the war in central Europe having no clear winner except the French, both Portugal and
Catalonia rebelled. Portugal was lost to the crown for
good; in Italy and most of Catalonia, French forces were
expelled and Catalonias independence was suppressed
In the reign of Philips developmentally disabled son
and successor Charles II (16651700), Spain was essentially left leaderless and was gradually being reduced to a
second-rank power.
The Habsburg dynasty became extinct in Spain with
Charles IIs death in 1700, and the War of the Spanish
Succession ensued in which the other European powers
tried to assume control of the Spanish monarchy. King
Louis XIV of France eventually lost the War of the Spanish Succession, but because the victors (Great Britain,
the Dutch Republic and Austria) candidate for the Spanish throne (Archduke Charles of Austria) became Holy
Roman Emperor, control of Spain was allowed to pass to
the Bourbon dynasty. However, the peace deals that followed included relinquishing the right to unite the French
and Spanish thrones and the partitioning of Spains European empire.

6.4

The Golden Age (Siglo de Oro)

Main article: Spanish Golden Age

The Spanish Golden Age (in Spanish, Siglo de Oro) was

II). It is interesting to note how arts during the Golden

Age ourished despite the decline of the empire in the
17th century. The last great writer of the age, Sor Juana
Ins de la Cruz, died in New Spain in 1695.[34]
The Habsburgs, both in Spain and Austria, were great
patrons of art in their countries. El Escorial, the great
royal monastery built by King Philip II, invited the attention of some of Europes greatest architects and painters.
Diego Velzquez, regarded as one of the most inuential
painters of European history and a greatly respected artist
in his own time, cultivated a relationship with King Philip
IV and his chief minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares,
leaving us 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.
Some of Spains greatest music is regarded as having been
written in the period. Such composers as Toms Luis
de Victoria, Luis de Miln and Alonso Lobo helped to
shape Renaissance music and the styles of counterpoint
and polychoral music, and their inuence lasted far into
the Baroque period.
Spanish literature blossomed as well, most famously
demonstrated in the work of Miguel de Cervantes, the
author of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Spains most prolic playwright, Lope de Vega, wrote possibly as many as
one thousand plays over his lifetime, over four hundred
of which survive to the present day.

6.5 Decline in the 17th century

Main article: Spain in the 17th century
The Spanish Golden Age politically ends no later than

View of Toledo by El Greco, between 1596 and 1600

The Battle of Marsaglia during the Nine Years War, 1693

a period of ourishing arts and letters in the Spanish Empire (now Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of
Latin America), coinciding with the political decline and
fall of the Habsburgs (Philip III, Philip IV and Charles

1659, with the Treaty of the Pyrenees, ratied between

France and Habsburg Spain. Spain had experienced severe diculties in the later 16th century, including military defeats in Europe like the Spanish Armada and a se-

11
ries of nancial crises that had caused the Spanish Crown
to declare bankruptcy four times in the late 1500s (1557,
1560, 1576, 1596). Many dierent factors, including the
decentralized political nature of Spain, inecient taxation, a succession of weak kings, power struggles in the
Spanish court and a tendency to focus on the American
colonies instead of Spains domestic economy, all contributed to the decline of the Habsburg rule of Spain.

tria.

After many battles, especially in Spain, the treaty of

Utrecht recognised Philip, Duke of Anjou, Louis XIVs
grandson, as King of Spain (as Philip V), thus conrming the succession stipulated in the will of the Charles II
of Spain. However, Philip was compelled to renounce
for himself and his descendants any right to the French
throne, despite some doubts as to the lawfulness of such
During the long regency for Charles II, the last of the an act. Spains Italian territories were apportioned.[35]
Spanish Habsburgs, favouritism milked Spains treasury,
and Spains government operated principally as a dispenser of patronage. Plague, famine, oods, drought, and
renewed war with France wasted the country. The Peace
of the Pyrenees (1659) had ended fty years of warfare
with France, whose king, Louis XIV, found the temptation to exploit weakened Spain too great. Louis instigated
the War of Devolution (166768) to acquire the Spanish
Netherlands.
By the 17th century, the Catholic Church and Spain
had showcased a close bond to one another, 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 there were
about 200,000 Spaniards in the clergy and the Church
owned 20% of all the land in Spain. The Spanish bureaucracy in this period was highly centralized, and totally An 18th-century map of the Iberian Peninsula
reliant on the king for its ecient functioning. Under
Charles II, the councils became the sinecures of wealthy
aristocrats despite various attempt at reform. Political
commentators in Spain, known as arbitristas, proposed a
number of measures to reverse the decline of the Spanish
economy, with limited success. In rural areas of Spain,
heavy taxation of peasants reduced agricultural output as
peasants in the countryside migrated to the cities. Many
believed that the inux of gold and silver from the Americas was the cause of ination, when only one fth of the
precious metals actually went into Spain. A more prominent internal factor was the Spanish economys dependence on luxurious Merino wool, which faced competition from cheaper textiles from England and the Netherlands.
Attacking Spanish infantry (about 1740)

Spain under the Bourbons (18th

century)

Main article: Enlightenment Spain

Philip V signed the Decreto de Nueva Planta in 1715.

This new law revoked most of the historical rights and
privileges of the dierent kingdoms that formed the
Spanish Crown, especially the Crown of Aragon, unifying them under the laws of Castile, where the Castillian
Cortes Generales had been more receptive to the royal
wish.[36] Spain became culturally and politically a follower of absolutist France. Lynch says Philip V advanced
the government only marginally over that of his predecessors and was more of a liability than the incapacitated
Charles II; when a conict came up between the interests
of Spain and France, he usually favored France.[37]

Charles II, having no direct heir, was succeeded by his

great-nephew Philippe d'Anjou, a French prince, in 1700.
Concern among other European powers that Spain and
France united under a single Bourbon monarch would upset the balance of power led to the War of the Spanish
Succession between 1701 and 1714. It pitted powerful Philip made reforms in government, and strengthened the
France and fairly strong Spain against the Grand Alliance central authorities relative to the provinces. Merit beof England, Portugal, Savoy, the Netherlands and Aus- came more important, although most senior positions still

12

8 THE 19TH CENTURY

went to the landed aristocracy. Below the elite level, in- have an Industrial Revolution.
eciency and corruption was as widespread as ever.
The Age of Enlightenment reached Spain in attenuated
The reforms started by Philip V culminated in much more form about 1750. Attention focused on medicine and
important reforms of Charles III.[37][38] However Israel physics, with some philosophy. French and Italian visargues that King Charles III cared little for the Enlight- itors were inuential but there was little challenge to
enment and his ministers paid little attention to the En- Catholicism or the Church such as characterized the
lightenment ideas inuential elsewhere on the Continent. French philosophes. The leading Spanish gure was
Israel says, Only a few ministers and ocials were se- Benito Feijo (16761764), a Benedictine monk and
riously committed to enlightened aims. Most were rst professor. He was a successful popularizer noted for enand foremost absolutists and their objective was always couraging scientic and empirical thought in an eort to
to reinforce monarchy, empire, aristocracy...and ecclesi- debunk myths and superstitions. By the 1770s the conserastical control and authority over education.[39]
vatives had launched a counterattack and used censorship
[42]
The economy, on the whole, improved over the de- and the Inquisition to suppress Enlightenment ideas.
pressed 16501700 era, with greater productivity and At the top of the social structure of Spain in the 1780s
fewer famines and epidemics.[40]
stood the nobility and the church. A few hundred families
The rule of the Spanish Bourbons continued under dominated the aristocracy, with another 500,000 holdFerdinand VI (174659) and Charles III (175988). ing noble status. There were 200,000 church men and
Elisabeth of Parma, Philip Vs widow, exerted great in- women, half of them in heavily endowed monasteries that
uence on Spains foreign policy. Her principal aim was controlled much of the land not owned by the nobles.
to have Spains lost territories in Italy restored. She even- Most people were on farms, either as landless peons or
tually received Franco-British support for this after the as holders of small properties. The small urban middle
class was growing, but was distrusted by the landowners
Congress of Soissons (172829).[41]
and peasants alike.[43]
Under the rule of Charles III and his ministers Leopoldo
de Gregorio, Marquis of Esquilache and Jos Moino,
Count of Floridablanca the economy improved. Fearing
that Britains victory over France in the Seven Years War 8 The 19th century
(175663) threatened the European balance of power,
Spain allied itself to France but suered a series of mil- 8.1 War of Spanish Independence (1808
itary defeats and ended up having to cede Florida to
14)
the British at the Treaty of Paris (1763) while gaining
Louisiana from France. Spain regained Florida with the Main article: Peninsular War
Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revo- In the late 18th century, Bourbon-ruled Spain had an
lutionary War (177583), and gained an improved international standing.
However, there were no reforming impulses in the reign
of Charles IV (1788 to abdication in 1808), seen by some
as mentally handicapped. Dominated by his wifes lover,
Manuel de Godoy, Charles IV embarked on policies that
overturned much of Charles IIIs reforms. After briey
opposing Revolutionary France early in the French Revolutionary Wars, Spain was cajoled into an uneasy alliance with its northern neighbor, only to be blockaded
by the British. Charles IVs vacillation, culminating in
his failure to honour the alliance by neglecting to enforce
the Continental System led to Napoleon I, Emperor of
the French, invading Spain in 1808, thereby triggering
the Peninsular War, with enormous human and property
losses, and loss of control over most of the overseas emThe Second of May 1808 was the beginning of the popular Spanpire.
ish resistance against Napoleon.
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 Spain would not

alliance with Bourbon-ruled France, and therefore did

not have to fear a land war. Its only serious enemy
was Britain, which had a powerful Royal 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

8.1

War of Spanish Independence (180814)

to avoid. The Spanish army was ill-prepared. The ofcer corps was selected primarily on the basis of royal
patronage, rather than merit. About a third of the junior ocers have been promoted from the ranks, and
they did have talent, but they had few opportunities for
promotion or leadership. The rank-and-le were poorly
trained peasants. Elite units included foreign regiments
of Irishmen, Italians, Swiss, and Walloons, 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 away
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 eorts at last-minute reform.[44] 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 ofcers 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 the Battle of Bailn, and many humiliating defeats. Conditions steadily worsened, as the insurgents increasingly took control of Spains battle against
Napoleon. Napoleon ridiculed the army as the worst in
Europe"; the British who had to work with it agreed.[45]
It was not the Army that defeated Napoleon, but the insurgent peasants whom Napoleon ridiculed as packs of
bandits led by monks (they in turn believed Napoleon
was the devil).[46] 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 ocers of
most of their legal privileges.[47]

13

The Third of May 1808, Napoleons troops shoot hostages. Goya

who put his own brother on the throne. 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 eciently centralized government.[49] 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 of Aranjuez 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
Spain initially sided against France in the Napoleonic
over Spain.[50]
Wars, but the defeat of her army early in the war led to
Charles IV's pragmatic decision to align with the revolutionary French. Spain was put under a British blockade, and her colonies began to trade independently with
Britain but it was the defeat of the British invasions of
the Ro de la Plata in South America (1806 and 1807)
that emboldened independence and revolutionary hopes
in Spains North and South American colonies. A major Franco-Spanish eet was lost at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, prompting the vacillating king of Spain to
reconsider his dicult alliance with Napoleon. Spain
temporarily broke o from the Continental System, and
Napoleon aggravated with the Bourbon kings of Spain
invaded Spain in 1808 and deposed Ferdinand VII, who
had been on the throne only forty-eight days after his
fathers abdication in March 1808. On July 20, 1808, Lo mismo. An insurgent is about to kill a French soldier. Goya
Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte,
entered Madrid and established a government by which The peninsular campaign was a disaster for France.
he became King of Spain, serving as a surrogate for Napoleon did well when he was in direct command, but
Napoleon.[48]
that followed severe losses, and when he left in 1809
The former Spanish king was dethroned by Napoleon, conditions grew worse for France. Vicious reprisals, famously portrayed by Goya in "The Disasters of War",

14

8 THE 19TH CENTURY

only made the Spanish guerrillas angrier and more active; this war, Spain was aided by the British and Portuguese,
the war in Spain proved to be a major, long-term drain on led by the Duke of Wellington. The Duke of WellingFrench money, manpower and prestige.[51]
ton fought Napoleons forces in the Peninsular War, with
In March 1812, the Cdiz Cortes created the rst mod- Joseph Bonaparte playing a minor role as king at Madrid.
ern Spanish constitution, the Constitution of 1812 (in- The brutal war was one of the rst guerrilla wars in modformally named La Pepa). This constitution provided ern Western history. French supply lines stretching across
for a separation of the powers of the executive and the Spain were mauled repeatedly by the Spanish armies and
legislative branches of government. The Cortes was to guerrilla forces; thereafter, Napoleons armies were never
able to control much of the country. The war uctube elected by universal surage, albeit by an indirect
method. Each member of the Cortes was to represent ated, with Wellington spending several years behind his
fortresses in Portugal while launching occasional cam70,000 people. Members of the Cortes were to meet
[56]
in annual sessions. The King was prevented from either paigns into Spain.
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 oce. This attempt at the development of a modern constitutional government lasted
from 1808 until 1814.[52] Leaders of the liberals or reformist forces during this revolution were Jos Moino,
Count of Floridablanca, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
and Pedro Rodrguez, 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 of Spain from
1777 until 1792; However, he tended to be suspicious of
the popular spontaneity and resisted a revolution.[53] 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 inuential group
within the Central Junta. However, Jovellanos had been
imprisoned by Manuel 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.[54]
The Spanish army was stretched as it fought Napoleons
forces because of a lack of supplies and too many untrained recruits, but at Bailn in June 1808, the Spanish army inicted the rst major defeat suered by a
Napoleonic army; this resulted in the collapse of French
power in Spain. Napoleon took personal charge and with
fresh forces reconquered Spain in a matter of months, defeating the Spanish and British armies in a brilliant campaign of encirclement. After this the Spanish armies lost
every battle they fought against the French imperial forces
but were never annihilated; after battles they would retreat into the mountains to regroup and launch new attacks and raids. Guerrilla forces sprang up all over the
country and with the army, tied down huge numbers of
Napoleons troops, making it dicult to sustain concentrated attacks on enemy forces. The attacks and raids of
the Spanish army and guerrillas became a massive drain
on Napoleons military and economic resources.[55] In

After Napoleons 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 the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, an allied army under the Duke of Wellington
decisively defeated the French and in 1814 Ferdinand VII
was restored as King of Spain.[57][58]

8.2 Loss of North and South American

colonies
Main article: Spanish American wars of independence
Spain lost all of its North and South American colonies,
except Cuba and Puerto Rico, in a complex series of revolts 180826.[59][60] Spain was at war with Britain 1798
1808, and the British Navy cut o its ties to its colonies.
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 the mother country. 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
180916, Spain defeated all the uprising. A second round
181625 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 o 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 generals Jos de
San Martn of Argentina and Simn Bolvar of Venezuela
defeated the last Spanish forces; the nal defeat came at
the Battle of Ayacucho in southern Peru. After that Spain
played a minor role in international aairs. Business and
trade in the ex-colonies were under British control. Spain
kept only Cuba and Puerto Rico in the New World.[61]

8.3

Reaction and change (181473)

15
der eective house arrest for the duration of the liberal
experiment.
The tumultuous three years of liberal rule that followed
(182023) were marked by various absolutist conspiracies. The liberal government, which reminded European statesmen entirely too much of the governments of
the French Revolution, was viewed with hostility by the
Congress 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.

Execution of Torrijos and his men in 1831. Ferdinand VII took

repressive measures against the liberal forces in his country.

General Simn Bolvar, (17831830), a leader of independence

8.3

Reaction and change (181473)

Main article: Mid-nineteenth century Spain

Although the juntas, that had forced the French to leave
Spain, had sworn by the liberal Constitution of 1812,
Ferdinand VII had the support of conservatives and he
rejected it.[62] He ruled in the authoritarian fashion of his
forebears.[63]
The government, nearly bankrupt, was unable to pay her
soldiers. There were few settlers or soldiers in Florida, so
it was sold to the United States for 5 million dollars. In
1820, an expedition intended for the colonies revolted in
Cadiz. When armies throughout Spain pronounced themselves in sympathy with the revolters, led by Rafael del
Riego, Ferdinand relented and was forced to accept the
liberal Constitution of 1812. This was the start of the
second bourgeois revolution in Spain, which would last
from 1820 to 1823.[58] Ferdinand himself was placed un-

In Spain, the failure of the second bourgeois revolution was followed by a period of 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 of Spain. While Ferdinand
aligned with the conservatives, fearing another national
insurrection, he did not view the Carloss reactionary policies as a viable option. Ferdinand resisting the wishes
of his brother decreed the Pragmatic Sanction of 1830,
enabling his daughter Isabella to become Queen. Carlos,
who made known his intent to resist the sanction, ed to
Portugal.
Ferdinands death in 1833 and the accession of Isabella II
as Queen of Spain sparked the First Carlist War (1833
39). Isabella was only three years old at the time so
her mother, Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, was
named regent until her daughter came of age. Carlos invaded the Basque country in the north of Spain
and attracted support from absolutist reactionaries and
conservatives; these forces were 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 Christina; these reformists
were called Cristinos. Though Cristino resistance to
the insurrection seemed to have been overcome by the
end of 1833, Maria Cristinas forces suddenly drove the
Carlist armies from most of the Basque country. Carlos
then appointed the Basque general Toms de Zumalacr-

16
regui as his commander-in-chief. Zumalacrregui resuscitated the Carlist cause, and by 1835 had driven the
Cristino armies to the Ebro River and transformed the
Carlist army from a demoralized band into a professional army of 30,000 of superior quality to the government forces. Zumalacrreguis death in 1835 changed
the Carlists fortunes. The Cristinos found a capable general in Baldomero Espartero. His victory at the Battle of
Luchana (1836) turned the tide of the war, and in 1839,
the Convention of Vergara put an end to the rst Carlist
insurrection.[64]

8 THE 19TH CENTURY

plan failed and cost Isabella more prestige and favor
with the people. In 1860, Isabella launched a successful
war against Morocco, waged by generals O'Donnell and
Juan Prim that stabilized her popularity in Spain. However, a campaign to reconquer Peru and Chile during the
Chincha Islands War (186466) proved disastrous and
Spain suered defeat before the determined South American powers.
In 1866, a revolt led by Juan Prim was suppressed, but
in 1868 there was a further revolt, known as the Glorious
Revolution. The progresista generals Francisco Serrano
and Juan Prim revolted against Isabella and defeated her
moderado generals at the Battle of Alcolea (1868). Isabella was driven into exile in Paris.[66]
Two years of revolution and anarchy followed, until in
1870 the Cortes declared that Spain would again have a
king. Amadeus of Savoy, the second son of King Victor
Emmanuel II of Italy, was selected and duly crowned
King of Spain early the following year.[67] 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.

Battle of the First Carlist war

The progressive General Espartero, exploiting his popularity as a war hero and his sobriquet Pacier of Spain,
demanded liberal reforms from Maria Cristina. The
Queen Regent, who resisted any such idea, preferred to
resign and let Espartero become regent instead in 1840.
Esparteros liberal reforms were then opposed by moderates, and the former generals 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 by Ramn Mara
Narvez, a moderate, who was in turn perceived as too
reactionary. Another Carlist uprising, the Matiners War,
was launched in 1846 in Catalonia, but it was poorly organized and suppressed by 1849.
Isabella II of Spain took a more active role in government after coming of age, but she was immensely unpopular throughout her reign (183368). She was viewed as
beholden to whoever was closest to her at court, and the
people of Spain believed that she cared little for them.
As a result, there was another insurrection in 1854 led by
General Domingo Dulce y Garay and General Leopoldo
O'Donnell y Jarris. Their coup overthrew the dictatorship of Luis Jose Sartorius, 1st Count of San Luis. As
the result of the popular insurrection, the Partido Progresista (Progressive Party) obtained widespread support in
Spain and came to power in the government in 1854.[65]
In 1856, Isabella attempted to form the Liberal Union, a
pan-national coalition under the leadership of Leopoldo
O'Donnell, who had already marched on Madrid that
year and deposed another Espartero ministry. Isabellas

8.4 First Spanish Republic (187374)

Main article: First Spanish Republic
Following the Hidalgo aair and an army rebellion,
Amadeus famously declared the people of Spain to be
ungovernable, abdicated the throne, and left the country
(11 February 1873).
In his absence, a government of radicals and Republicans was formed that declared Spain a republic. The
First Spanish Republic (187374) was immediately under siege from all quarters. The Carlists were the most
immediate threat, launching a violent insurrection after
their poor showing in the 1872 elections. There were calls
for socialist revolution from the International Workingmens Association, revolts and unrest in the autonomous
regions of Navarre and Catalonia, and pressure from the
Catholic Church against the edgling republic.[68]

8.5 The Restoration (18741931)

Main article: Spain under the Restoration
Although the former queen, Isabella II was still alive, she
recognized that she was too divisive as a leader, and abdicated in 1870 in favor of her son, Alfonso.
Alfonso XII of Spain was duly crowned on 28 December 1874 after returning from exile. After the tumult

17
of the First Spanish Republic, Spaniards were willing
to accept a return to stability under Bourbon rule. The
Republican armies in Spain which were resisting a
Carlist insurrection pronounced their allegiance to Alfonso in the winter of 187475, led by Brigadier General Martnez-Campos. The Republic was dissolved and
Antonio Cnovas del Castillo, a trusted advisor to the
king, was named Prime Minister on New Years Eve,
1874. The Carlist insurrection was put down vigorously
by the new king, who took an active role in the war and
rapidly gained the support of most of his countrymen.[69]
A system of turnos was established in Spain in which
the liberals, led by Prxedes Mateo Sagasta and the
conservatives, led by Antonio Cnovas del Castillo, alternated in control of the government. A modicum of stability and economic progress was restored to Spain during
Alfonso XIIs rule (187485), although progress was cut
short by his sudden death at age 28.

the United States for 20 million dollars. In 1899, Spain

sold its remaining Pacic islands the Northern Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands and Palau to Germany
and Spanish colonial possessions were reduced to Spanish
Morocco, Spanish Sahara and Spanish Guinea, all in
Africa.[71]

The disaster of 1898 created the Generation of '98, a

group of statesmen and intellectuals who demanded liberal change from the new government. However both
Anarchism on the left and fascism on the right grew
rapidly in Spain in the early 20th century. A revolt in
1909 in Catalonia was bloodily suppressed.[72] Jensen
(1999) argues that the defeat of 1898 led many military
ocers to abandon the liberalism that had been strong in
the ocer corps and turn to the right. They interpreted
the American victory in 1898 as well as the Japanese victory against Russia in 1905 as proof of the superior value
of willpower and moral values over technology. Over the
Constitutional monarchy continued under King Alfonso next three decades, Jensen argues, these values shaped the
XIII.[70] Alfonso XIII was born after his fathers death outlook of Francisco Franco and other Falangists.[73]
and was proclaimed king upon his birth. However, the
government had become destabilized by Alfonso XIIs
unexpected death in 1885, followed by the assassination 9 The 20th century
of prime minister Antonio Cnovas del Castillo in 1897.
The reign of Alfonso XIII (18861931) saw the Spanish
American War of 1898, culminating in the loss of the 9.1 191431
Philippines plus Spains last colonies in the Americas,
Cuba and Puerto Rico; the Great War in Europe (now Spains neutrality in World War I allowed it to become a
known as World War I, 191418), although Spain main- supplier of material for both sides to its great advantage,
tained neutrality throughout the conict; the inuenza prompting an economic boom in Spain. The outbreak
pandemic nicknamed the Spanish Flu (191819); and the of Spanish inuenza in Spain and elsewhere, along with
Rif War in Morocco (192026). His reign also saw the a major economic slowdown in the postwar period, hit
rise to dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spain particularly hard, and the country went into debt.
who seized control of the government by military coup in A major workers strike was suppressed in 1919.
1923 and ruled as a dictator with the monarchs support Spanish colonial policies in Spanish Morocco led to an
for seven years (192330). The world-wide recession, uprising known as the Rif War; rebels took control of
marked rst by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, caused most of the area except for the enclaves of Ceuta and
deepening economic hardships in Spain and the resigna- Melilla in 1921. King Alfonso XIII decided to support the
tion of Primo de Riveras government in 1930. General dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923.
elections were held in 1931 to replace the government, As Prime Minister Primo de Rivera promised to reform
with Republican and anticlerical candidates winning the the country quickly and restore elections soon. He deeply
majority of votes. Alfonso XIII left the country in re- believed that it was the politicians who had ruined Spain
sponse to the proclamation of the Second Spanish Re- and that governing without them he could regenerate the
public, although he never abdicated.
nation. His slogan was Country, Religion, Monarchy.

8.6

Disaster of 1898

Cuba rebelled against Spain in the Ten Years War beginning in 1868, resulting in the abolition of slavery in
Spains colonies in the New World. American business
interests in the island, coupled with concerns for the people of Cuba, aggravated relations between the two countries. The explosion of the USS Maine launched the
SpanishAmerican War in 1898, in which Spain fared
disastrously. Cuba gained its independence and Spain
lost its remaining New World colony, Puerto Rico, which
together with Guam and the Philippines were ceded to

Spain (in joint action with France) won a decisive military

victory in Morocco, (192526). The war had dragged on
since 1917 and cost Spain $800 million.[74][75]
The late 1920s were prosperous until the worldwide Great
Depression hit in 1929. In early 1930 bankruptcy and
massive unpopularity forced the king to remove Primo
de Rivera. Historians depict an idealistic but inept dictator who did not understand government, lacked clear
ideas and showed very little political acumen. He consulted no one, had a weak sta, and made frequent strange
pronouncements. He started with very broad support
but lost every element until only the army was left. His
projects ran large decits which he kept hidden. His mul-

18

9 THE 20TH CENTURY

Catalonia, was forcefully put down by the CEDA government. This in turn energized political movements across
the spectrum in Spain, including a revived anarchist
movement and new reactionary and fascist groups, including the Falange and a revived Carlist movement.[78]

9.3 Spanish Civil War (193639)

Main article: Spanish Civil War

Spanish troops landing at Al Hoceima Bay on 8 September 1925

tiple repeated mistakes discredited the king and ruined

the monarchy, while heightening social tensions that led
in 1936 to a full-scale Spanish Civil War. Urban voters
had lost faith in the king, and voted for republican parties in the municipal elections of April 1931. The king
ed the country without abdicating and a republic was
established.[76]

9.2

Second Spanish Republic (193139)

Main article: Second Spanish Republic

See also: Catholicism in the Second Spanish Republic
Political ideologies were intensely polarized, as both right
and left saw vast evil conspiracies on the other side that
had to be stopped. The central issue was the role of the
Catholic Church, which the left saw as the major enemy
of modernity and the Spanish people, and the right saw
as the invaluable protector of Spanish values.[77]
Power seesawed back and forth, 193136, as the monarchy was overthrown and complex coalitions formed and
fell apart. The end came in a devastating civil war, 1936
39, which was won by the conservative, pro-church,
Army-backed Nationalist forces supported by Nazi
Germany and Italy. The Nationalists, led by General
Francisco Franco, defeated the Republican coalition of
liberals, socialists, anarchists, and communists, which
was backed by the Soviet Union.

The Spanish Civil War was marked by numerous small

battles and sieges, and many atrocities, until the rebels
(the Nationalists), led by Francisco Franco, won in
1939. There was military intervention as Italy sent land
forces, and Germany sent smaller elite air force and armored units to the rebel side (the Nationalists). The Soviet Union sold armaments to the Loyalists (Republicans), while the Communist parties in numerous countries sent soldiers to the International Brigades. The
civil war did not escalate into a larger conict, but did
become a worldwide ideological battleground that pitted
the left and many liberals against Catholics and conservatives. Britain, France and the United States remained
neutral and refused to sell military supplies. Worldwide
there was a decline in pacism and a growing sense that
another world war was imminent, and that it would be
worth ghting for.[79]
9.3.1 Political and military balance
In the 1930s, Spanish politics were polarized at the left
and right extremes of the political spectrum. The leftwing favored class struggle, land reform to overthrow the
land owners, autonomy to the regions, and the destruction of the Catholic Church. The right-wing groups, the
largest of which was CEDA, a Catholic coalition, believed in tradition, stability and hierarchy. Religion was
the main dividing line between right and left, but there
were regional variations. The Basques were devoutly
Catholic but they put a high priority on regional autonomy. The Left oered a better deal so in 193637 they
fought for the Republicans. In 1937 they pulled out of
the war.

Under the Second Spanish Republic, women were allowed to vote in general elections for the rst time. The The Spanish Republican government moved to Valencia,
Republic devolved substantial autonomy to the Basque to escape Madrid, which was under siege by the Nationalists. It had some military strength in the Air Force
Country and to Catalonia.
and Navy, but it had lost nearly all of the regular Army.
The rst governments of the Republic were center-left, After opening the arsenals to give ries, machine guns
headed by Niceto Alcal-Zamora and Manuel Azaa. and artillery to local militias, it had little control over the
Economic turmoil, substantial debt, and fractious, rapidly Loyalist ground forces. Republican diplomacy proved inchanging governing coalitions led to escalating political eective, with only useful two allies, the Soviet Union
violence and attempted coups by right and left.
and Mexico. Britain, France and 27 other countries had
In 1933, the right-wing Spanish Confederation of the Au- agreed on an arms embargo to Spain, and the United
tonomous Right (CEDA), based on the Catholic vote, States went along. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy both
won power. An armed rising of workers in October signed that agreement, but ignored it and sent supplies
1934, which reached its greatest intensity in Asturias and and vital help, including a powerful air force under Ger-

9.3

Spanish Civil War (193639)

man command, the Condor Legion. Tens of thousands

of Italian arrived under Italian command. Portugal supported the Nationalists, and allowed the trans-shipment
of supplies to Francos forces. The Soviets sold tanks
and other armaments for Spanish gold, and sent welltrained ocers and political commissars. It organized
the mobilization of tens of thousands of mostly communist volunteers from around the world, who formed the
International 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 the anarchist Confederacin Nacional
del Trabajo (CNT) and Federacin Anarquista Ibrica
(FAI) and by anti-democratic far-right groups such as the
Falange and the Carlists. The political violence of previous years began to start again. There were gunghts over
strikes; landless labourers began to seize land, church
ocials were killed and churches burnt. On the other
side, right wing militias (such as the Falange) and gunmen
hired by employers assassinated left wing activists. The
Republican democracy never generated the consensus or
mutual trust between the various political groups that it
needed to function peacefully. As a result, the country
slid into civil war. The right wing of the country and
high ranking gures in the army began to plan a coup,
and when Falangist politician Jos Calvo-Sotelo was shot
by Republican police, they used it as a signal to act whilst
the Republican leadership was confused and inert.[80][81]
9.3.2

Military operations

The Nationalists under Franco won the war, and historians continue to debate the reasons. The Nationalists were
much better unied 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 ocers and sergeants. Nationalist senior ocers were much
better trained and more familiar with modern tactics than
the Republicans.[82]
On 17 July 1936, General Francisco Franco brought the
colonial army stationed in Morocco to the mainland,
while another force from the north under General Mola
moved south from Navarre. Another conspirator, General Sanjurjo, who was in exile in Portugal, was killed in
a plane crash while being brought to join the other 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 key the 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,

19
whose Army 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 farleft volunteers from the Soviet Union.

Ruins of Guernica

The Siege of the Alczar at Toledo early in the war was a

turning point, with the Nationalists winning after a long
siege. The Republicans managed to hold out in Madrid,
despite a Nationalist assault in November 1936, and frustrated subsequent oensives against the capital at Jarama
and Guadalajara in 1937. Soon, though, the Nationalists began to erode their territory, starving Madrid and
making inroads into the east. The North, including the
Basque country fell in late 1937 and the Aragon front
collapsed shortly afterwards. The bombing of Guernica
on the afternoon of 26 April 1937 a mission used as
a testing ground for the German Luftwae's Condor Legion was probably the most infamous event of the war
and inspired Picassos painting. The Battle of the Ebro in
JulyNovember 1938 was the nal desperate attempt by
the Republicans to turn the tide. When this failed and
Barcelona 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.[83]
The war, cost between 300,000 to 1,000,000 lives. It
ended with the total collapse of the Republic and the accession of Francisco Franco as dictator of Spain. Franco
amalgamated all the right wing parties into a reconstituted
fascist party Falange and banned the left-wing and Republican parties and trade unions. The Church was more
powerful than it had been in centuries,[84]
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 the years or decades.

20

9.4

10

SPAIN SINCE 1975

The dictatorship of Francisco Franco Under its current (1978) constitution, Spain is a
constitutional monarchy. It comprises 17 autonomous
(193675)

communities (Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile and Len,
Main article: Francoist Spain
CastileLa Mancha, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia,
La Rioja, Community of Madrid, Region of Murcia,
During Franco's rule, Spain was ocially neutral in Basque Country, Valencian Community, Navarre) and 2
World War II and remained largely economically and cul- autonomous cities (Ceuta and Melilla).
turally isolated from the outside world. Under a military
dictatorship, Spain saw its political parties banned, ex- Between 1978 and 1982, Spain was led by the Unin
cept for the ocial party (Falange). Labor unions were del Centro Democrtico governments. In 1981 the 23banned and all political activity using violence or intimi- F coup d'tat attempt took place. On 23 February
Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil endation to achieve its goals was forbidden.
tered the Congress of Deputies, and stopped the session,
Under Franco, Spain actively sought the return of where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was about to be named
Gibraltar by the United Kingdom, and gained some sup- prime minister of the government. Ocially, the coup
port for its cause at the United Nations. During the 1960s, d'tat failed thanks to the intervention of King Juan CarSpain began imposing restrictions on Gibraltar, culminat- los. Spain joined NATO before Calvo-Sotelo left oce.
ing in the closure of the border in 1969. It was not fully Along with political change came radical change in Spanreopened until 1985.
ish society. Spanish society had been extremely conserSpanish rule in Morocco ended in 1967. Though mil- vative under Franco, but the transition to democracy also
itarily victorious in the 195758 Moroccan invasion of began a liberalization of values and societal mores.
Spanish West Africa, Spain gradually relinquished its re- From 1982 until 1996, the social democratic PSOE govmaining African colonies. Spanish Guinea was granted erned the country, with Felipe Gonzlez as prime minindependence as Equatorial Guinea in 1968, while the ister. In 1986, Spain joined the European Economic
Moroccan enclave of Ifni had been ceded to Morocco in Community (EEC, now European Union), and the coun1969. Two cities in Africa, Ceuta and Melilla remain un- try hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and
der Spanish rule and sovereignty.
Seville Expo '92.
The latter years of Francos rule saw some economic and
political liberalization, the Spanish miracle, including the
birth of a tourism industry. Spain began to catch up eco- 10.2
nomically with its European neighbors.[85]
Franco ruled until his death on 20 November 1975, when
control was given to King Juan Carlos.[86] In the last few
months before Francos death, the Spanish state went into
a paralysis. This was capitalized upon by King Hassan II
of Morocco, who ordered the 'Green March' into Western
Sahara, Spains last colonial possession.

10

Spain since 1975

Main article: History of Spain (1975present)

10.1

Transition to democracy

Main article: Spanish transition to democracy

The Spanish transition to democracy or new Bourbon
restoration was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state.
The transition is usually said to have begun with Francos
death on 20 November 1975, while its completion is
marked by the electoral victory of the socialist PSOE on
28 October 1982.

Spain within the European Union

(1993 to present)

Further information: Spanish property bubble, 200814

Spanish nancial crisis and Eurozone crisis
In 1996, the centre-right Partido Popular government
came to power, led by Jos Mara Aznar. On 1 January
1999, Spain exchanged the peseta for the new Euro currency. The peseta continued to be used for cash transactions until January 1, 2002. On 11 March 2004 a number
of terrorist bombs exploded on busy commuter trains in
Madrid by Islamic extremists linked to Al-Qaeda, killing
191 persons and injuring thousands. The election, held
three days after the attacks, was won by the PSOE, and
Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero replaced Aznar as prime
minister. As Jos Mara Aznar and his ministers at rst
accused ETA of the atrocity, it has been argued that the
outcome of the election has been inuenced by this event.
In the wake of its joining the EEC, Spain experienced an
economic boom during two decades, cut painfully short
by the nancial crisis of 2008. During the boom years,
Spain attracted a large number of immigrants, especially
from the United Kingdom, but also including unknown
but substantial illegal immigration, mostly from Latin
America, eastern Europe and north Africa.[87] Spain had
the fourth largest economy in the Eurozone, but after
2008 the global economic recession hit Spain hard, with

21
the burst of the housing bubble and unemployment reaching over 25%, sharp budget cutbacks were needed to stay
in the Euro zone. The GDP shrank 1.2% in 2012.[88]
Losses were especially high in real estate, banking, and
construction. Economists concluded in early 2013 that,
Where once Spains 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..[89] With the nancial crisis and high unemployment, Spain is now suering from a combination of continued illegal immigration
paired with a massive emigration of workers, forced to
seek employment elsewhere under the EUs "Freedom
of Movement", with an estimated 700,000, or 1.5% of
total population, leaving the country between 2008 and
2013.[90]

Catalonia, Euskadi, Galicia), mostly with seminal ideologies born in the late 19th century,[99][100] some enjoying relatively important yet wavering support from local
population.[101][102] Traditional nationalist parties claims
range from increasing transfer of competencies and new
nancing and tax regime arrangements with the Central
Government to sovereign rights and secessionism from
Spain.
Spain is ranked among the best democracies in the world
by reputed, independent analysts.[103] As the Spanish
Constitution legal framework guarantees civil rights, including the freedom of speech, a part of said nationalist
regional parties[104] have openly promoted and pursued
the secession from Spain, by arguing most notably language, cultural and historic reasons and in some cases,
also justied by alleged race issues.[105][106][107]

Economic reasons are also a separatists recurrent

argument.[108] The ongoing Catalan campaign for in11 Spanish statehood and seces- dependence includes the motto Spain is robbing us
(Espaa nos roba), an argument refuted by many and
sionism
claimed to be as simply propaganda for the nationalists and secessionists interests.[109][110][111] Secessionists
Further information: Crown of Spain, Nationalisms claim that an independent Catalan State, released from
and regionalisms of Spain and History of the regional its nancial contribution to the rest of Spain, would grow
prosper and solve the diculties currently faced by the
distinctions of Spain
autonomous region, an already self-governed economy,
in particular local unemployment and Catalan public debt
Although it had been used in treaties as far back as the
issues.[112][113]
seventeenth century, it was not until the constitution of
1812 that the name Espaas became the ocial name In parallel to the democratic arena and political activism,
for the Spanish kingdom and King of the Spains be- some terrorists groups (i.e. TERRA LLIURE (Catalan
came the ocial title of the head of state.[91] It was not for Free Land),[114] ETA (Basque acronym for Basque
until the constitution of 1876 that the singular form of the Homeland and Freedom)) engaged in criminal activities
name, Espaa (Spain), became the ocial name of the (assassinations -indiscriminate bomb attacks to civilians
incl.- extorsions or kidnappings) in an attempt to reach
Spanish state.[92]
their secessionist goals. It has been recently noticed an inAlthough colloquially and literally the expression King
creasing extremism in Catalonia in form of attacks, boyof Spain or King of the Spains was already
cotts and even death menaces to those not supporting
widespread,[93] and although the two crowns, Aragonese
secessionist movement and events[115] like the so-called
and Castilian, were held by the same monarch, and alconsultation on independence organized by the Catalan
though the dierent kings had the long-term shared ingovernment and some civil organisations held in Novemtention of uniting the peninsula under a single kingdom to
ber 2014 despite the manifest illegality of the process as
restore the Visigoth unity,[94] they were never proclaimed
it was previously deemed by the Spanish Constitutional
ocially as a single kingdom until the enactment of the
Court.[116] Some analysts believe said extremism could
Spanish Constitution of 1812.[95] Portugal was also ruled
lead some current secessionist groups and individuals to
by the House of Habsburg with Castile and Aragon but
undertake terrorist activities.[117]
this came to an end with a revolt after sixty years.
The Spanish Constitution[118] congures and enables a
The statehood of Spain is generally accepted by the popmodern democratic system with its own procedures to
ulation of Spain as the Spanish Constitution of 1978[96]
create, modify and derogate any law, including the Conwas massively approved by universal referendum.[97] The
stitution itself, or even the adoption of a completely new
vigor of the constitutional regime and tacit support by the
one as may be decided by the people of Spain. Any such
Spanish population has been repeatedly conrmed ever
legitimate initiative must comply with the corresponding
since through periodical national elections to congure
legal procedures as stated in the Constitution. Integrity
the Spanish Parliament. Said constitutional bicameral
and unity of the Spanish territory are therefore not irorgan represents all the Spanish territories and people,
removable principles, and secessionism would then be
where the national sovereignty is vested.[98]
possible but subject to the law and to the sovereignty of
Still, there are some nationalist movements and political the whole Spanish population, as it is proclaimed by the
parties of regional scope (i.e. in Aragon, the Canaries,

22

13 NOTES

constitutionalists.[119][120]

[10] The Roman provinces of Hispania included Provincia Hispania Ulterior Baetica (Hispania Baetica), whose capital
was Corduba, presently Crdoba, Provincia Hispania Ulterior Lusitania (Hispania Lusitania), whose capital was
Emerita Augusta (now Mrida), Provincia Hispania Citerior, whose capital was Tarraco (Tarragona), Provincia Hispania Nova, whose capital was Tingis (Tnger in
present Morocco), Provincia Hispania Nova Citerior and
Asturiae-Calleciae (these latter two provinces were created and then dissolved in the 3rd century AD).

The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in its second article, recognizes "nationalities"(a carefully chosen word in
order to avoid the more politically charged nations)
and regions, within the context of the Spanish nation. Account taken of this rich variety of cultures,
Spain has enabled one of the most decentralized systems in Europe and worldwide in terms of decisionmaking power,[121][122][123][124] its Autonomous Regions
enjoying the highest rates of both political and s[11] Payne, Stanley G. (1973). A History of Spain and Porcal competencies from an international comparative law
tugal; Ch. 1 Ancient Hispania. The Library of Iberian
[125][126][127]
viewpoint.
Resources Online. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
Distinct traditional regional identities within Spain in[12] Roger Collins, Visigothic Spain 409711 (2006)
clude the Basques, Catalans, Galicians, Cantabrians and
[128]
Castilians, among others.
[13] Karen Eva Carr, Vandals to Visigoths: Rural Settlement
Patterns in Early Medieval Spain (2002)

12

See also

List of missing monuments in Spain

Economic history of Spain
History of Europe
Politics of Spain

13
[1]
[2]

[3]
[4]

[14] Rhea Marsh Smith (June 1965), Spain: A Modern History

(University of Michigan Press), p. 25 Missing or empty
|title= (help)
[15] p. 14
[16] Rhea Marsh Smith, Spain: A Modern History, pp. 16-17.
[17] Collins, Visigothic Spain 409711 (2006)
[18] Akhbr majma, p. 21 of Spanish translation, p. 6 of
Arabic text.

Notes

[19] Fletcher, Richard (2006). Moorish Spain. Los Angeles,

California: University of California Press. p. 53. ISBN
0-520-24840-6.
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_07_24/
Archaeologists-find-1-4-million-year-old-flint-in-Spain-8972/
[20] Timelines - Vikings, Saracens, Magyars
Spain. Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 2007. Archived
from the original on 2009-10-31. See also: "'First west [21] Granada by Richard Gottheil, Meyer Kayserling, Jewish
Encyclopedia. 1906 ed.
Europe tooth' found. BBC. 30 June 2007. Archived from
the original on 2009-10-31. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
[22] Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of
Merced on the Christian-Islamic Frontier
Spain - History - Pre-Roman Spain - Prehistory. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 2008.
[23] The Almohads
Robert Chapman, Emerging Complexity: The Later Prehistory of South-East Spain, Iberia and the West Mediter- [24] Catalan Company (1302-1388 AD)
ranean (2009)

[5] Spain - History - Pre-Roman Spain - Phoenicians. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 2008.
[6] Grout, James (2007). The Celtiberian War. Encyclopaedia Romana. University of Chicago. Retrieved
2008-06-08.
[7] Major Phases in Roman History. Rome in the Mediterranean World. University of Toronto. Retrieved 200806-08.

[25] Ramn Mario Paz (1999). Historia da lingua galega.

Sotelo Blanco Edicins. pp. 182194. ISBN 978-847824-333-4. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
[26] Hugh Thomas, Rivers of Gold (Random House: New
York, 2003) p. 18.
[27] Hugh Thomas, Rivers of Gold, p. 21.
[28] Hugh Thomas, Rivers of Gold, p. 58.

[8] Great estates, the Latifundia (sing., latifundium), controlled by a land owning aristocracy, were superimposed
on the existing Iberian landholding system.

[29] There is simply no consensus as to the extent, with estimates varying by many orders of magnitude, but that it
occurred is not doubted - See Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas.

[9] Rinehart, Robert; Seeley, Jo Ann Browning (1998). A

Country Study: Spain - Hispania. Library of Congress
Country Series. Retrieved 2008-08-09.

[30] James Patrick (2007). Renaissance and Reformation.

Marshall Cavendish. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-7614-7651-1.
Retrieved 19 August 2013.

23

[31] When Europeans were slaves: Research suggests white

slavery was much more common than previously believed
[32] The Seventeenth-Century Decline
[33] J.H. Elliott, Imperial Spain:
Books, 1970, p.298

[53] Jesus Cruz (2004). Gentlemen, Bourgeois, and Revolutionaries: Political Change and Cultural Persistence among the
Spanish Dominant Groups, 1750-1850. Cambridge U.P.
pp. 21618.

14691716, Penguin

[54] George F. Nafziger (2002). Historical Dictionary of the

Napoleonic Era. Scarecrow Press. p. 158.

[34] Hugh Thomas. The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of

Charles V (2010)

[55] David G. Chandler (1973). The Campaigns of Napoleon.

Simon and Schuster. p. 659.

[35] John B. Wolf, The Emergence of the Great Powers: 1685

1715 (1962)
[36] Henry Kamen, Philip V of Spain (2001)
[37] John Lynch, Bourbon Spain: 17001808 (1989) pp 67115
[38] Payne says Charles III was probably the most successful
European ruler of his generation. Stanley G. Payne, History of Spain and Portugal (1973) 2:71
[39] Jonathan Israel (2011).
Democratic Enlightenment:
Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights 1750-1790.
Oxford University Press. p. 374.
[40] Earl J. Hamilton, Money and Economic Recovery in
Spain under the First Bourbon, 17011746, Journal of
Modern History Vol. 15, No. 3 (Sep., 1943), pp. 192206 in JSTOR

[56] Todd Fisher (2004). The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise And
Fall Of An Empire. Osprey Publishing. p. 222.
[57] Ian Fletcher (2012). Vittoria 1813: Wellington Sweeps the
French from Spain. Osprey Publishing.
[58] John Michael Francis (2006). Iberia and the Americas:
Culture, Politics, and History. ABC-CLIO. p. 905.
[59] John Lynch, The Spanish American Revolutions 18081826 (2nd ed. 1986)
[60] John Lynch, ed. Latin American revolutions, 1808-1826:
old and new world origins (1994), scholarly essays.
[61] Raymond Carr, Spain, 1808-1975 (2nd ed., 1982) pp 1015, 122-23, 143-46, 306-9, 379-88
[62] David R. Ringrose (1998). Spain, Europe, and the 'Spanish Miracle', 1700-1900. Cambridge U.P. p. 325.

[41] Simms p.211

[42] Payne, History of Spain and Portugal (1973) 2:367-71
[43] Franklin Ford, Europe, 1780-1830 (1970) p 32
[44] Charles J. Esdaile, The Spanish Army in the Peninsular
War (1988)
[45] Philip Haythornthwaite; Christa Hook (2013). Corunna
1809: Sir John Moores Fighting Retreat. Osprey. pp. 17
18.
[46] Russell Crandall (2014). Americas Dirty Wars: Irregular
Warfare from 1776 to the War on Terror. Cambridge UP.
p. 21.
[47] Otto Pivka, Spanish Armies of the Napoleonic Wars (Osprey Men-at-Arms, 1975)
[48] Julia Ortiz Grin; William D. Grin (2007). Spain and
Portugal: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the
Present. Infobase Publishing. p. 241.
[49] J. M. Thompson, Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall
(1951) 244-45
[50] Richard Herr (1971). Modern Spain: An Historical Essay.
U. of California Press. pp. 723.
[51] David Gates, The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War (1986)
[52] Jon Cowans (2003). Modern Spain: A Documentary History. U. of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 2627. ISBN 0-81221846-9.

[63] Charles S. Esdaile, Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 18081939 (2000)
[64] Carl Cavanagh Hodge (2008). Encyclopedia of the age
of imperialism: 1800-1914. A - K. Greenwood. p. 138.
Retrieved 13 December 2012.
[65] Stanley G. Payne (1967). Politics and the Military in Modern Spain: Stanley G. Payne. Stanford University Press. p.
26.
[66] William James Callahan (1984). Church, Politics, and Society in Spain, 1750-1874. Harvard U.P. p. 250.
[67] Spencer Tucker (20 May 2009). The Encyclopedia of the
Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 12.
[68] Joseph A. Brandt, Toward the New Spain: The Spanish
Revolution of 1868 and the First Republic (1977)
[69] Earl Ray Beck, Time of Triumph & Sorrow: Spanish Politics during the Reign of Alfonso XII, 18741885 (1979)
[70] Beck, Time of Triumph & Sorrow: Spanish Politics during
the Reign of Alfonso XII, 18741885 (1979)
[71] John L. Oner, Unwanted War: The Diplomacy of the
United States & Spain over Cuba, 18951898 (1992)
[72] H. Ramsden, The Spanish 'Generation of 1898': The
History of a Concept, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 1974, Vol. 56 Issue 2, pp
443-462

24

[73] Georey Jensen, Moral Strength Through Material Defeat? The Consequences of 1898 for Spanish Military
Culture, War & Society, Oct 1999, Vol. 17 Issue 2, pp
25-39

13 NOTES

[95] Pea,Lorenzo. Un puente jurdico entre Iberoamrica y

Europa:la Constitucin espaola de 1812. Instituto de
Filosofa del CSIC
The rst thing to understand is that for the
most part, the Courts of Cadiz created a new
state, the Spanish state. This is neither totally
true nor totally false. The Spanish monarchy
had never stopped being ocially a new juxtaposition of kingdoms and crowns converging on the person of the sovereign. Of course
this vision purely of paper reected neither
the authentic political reality nor the social
culture and not even fully the juridical, which
happened in a background of de facto unity.
The fact remains, however, that ... there had
never been a proclamation of a Kingdom of
Spain, so that diculties always arose over
the legal meaning of the very frequent references to 'Spain' in the legal texts of the
16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The Spanish
sovereigns had always refused the advice...
in the sense of establishing a United Kingdom of Spain, preferring to see themselves
as vertices of converging scattered kingdoms,
at least in theory. Even the Napoleonic Bayonne Constitution of 1808 did not proclaim
a kingdom of Spain, but a 'Crown of Spain
and the Indies. On the other hand, 'Spain'
was merely a geographical name, a simple
Romance version of 'Hispania', whereby its
use, in principle, should not have to go beyond the Latin designations 'Gallia' and 'Germania'. Except that, of course, there was in
fact a political union of most of that Hispania,
and under it there were the very similar Romance languages of the spanned territories,
in addition to very close historic, cultural and
commercial links.

[74] James A. Chandler, Spain and Her Moroccan Protectorate 1898 - 1927, Journal of Contemporary History
(1975) 10#2 pp. 301-322 in JSTOR
[75] Douglas Porch, Spains African Nightmare, MHQ:
Quarterly Journal of Military History (2006) 18#2 pp 2837.
[76] Raymond Carr, Spain, 1808-1975 (2nd ed 1982) pp 56491
[77] Richard Herr, An Historical Essay on Modern Spain
(1974) pp 162-3
[78] Herr, An Historical Essay on Modern Spain (1974) pp 15487
[79] Stanley G. Payne, The Spanish Revolution (1970) pp 26276
[80] Antony Beevor, The Spanish Civil War (1982), pp. 49-50
[81] Stanley G. Payne (2004). Spanish Civil War, the Soviet
Union, and Communism. Yale University Press. p. 106.
[82] Michael Alpert, The Clash of Spanish Armies: Contrasting Ways of War in Spain, 19361939, War in History
(1999) 6#3 pp 331-351.
[83] Paul Preston, The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge (2nd ed. 2007) pp 266-300
[84] Preston, The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and
Revenge (2007) pp 301-318
[85] Stanley G. Payne, Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany,
and World War II (2009)
[86] Jean Grugel and Tim Rees, Francos Spain (1997)
[87] Giles Tremlett, Spain attracts record levels of immigrants
seeking jobs and sun The Guardian, Wednesday 26 July
2006
[88] Moran Zhang, Spanish Economy Sinks Further Into Recession, Q4 GDP Down 0.6% Quarterly: Bank of Spain,
International Business Times Jan 23, 2013

[96] http://www.tribunalconstitucional.es/es/constitucion/
Paginas/ConstitucionIngles.aspx
[97] http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/28295/
stanley-meisler/spains-new-democracy
[98] Spain

[99] Nationalisms and regionalisms of Spain

[89] Spains Economy: Rajoy unconned?" The Economist
Feb. 13. 2013
[100] Separatism
[90] La nueva emigracin espaola. Lo que sabemos y lo que [101]
no Fundacin Alternativas N: 2013/18
[102]
[91] Constitucin poltica de la Monarqua Espaola Promulgada en Cdiz a 19 de Marzo de 1812
[103]
[92] Estado y territorio en Espaa, 1820-1930: la formacin
del paisaje nacional pg 25-26
[104]
[93] Felipe IV: el hombre y el reinado pg 137
[105]
[94] Jos Manuel Nieto Soria (2007). Conceptos de Espaa en tiempos de los Reyes Catolicos (PDF). Norba. [106]
Nueva Revista de Historia (Universidad de Extremadura)
[107]
19: 105123. ISSN 0213-375X.

http://www.cis.es/cis/opencms/ES/index.html
http://www.fairobserver.com/region/europe/
basque-and-catalan-nationalism-evolution
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/
spain-0#.VG67dktZH18
List of active separatist movements in Europe#Spain
Sabino Arana
es:Pompeyo Gener
Ethnic nationalism

25

[108] http://www.cnbc.com/id/49459644#
[109]
[110]
[111]
[112]
[113]

dierent for every community, as laid out in the autonomy statutes. The ordinary regions, which always had
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/opinion/
fewer powers, have slowly caught up with the historical
a-threat-to-spanish-democracy.html?_r=0
regions. In 1992, for example, the regional autonomy
pact extended the power of the autonomous communities
http://www.jmaznar.es/en/news/518/
in areas of education and health, especially for the
p-strong-em-20-answered-questions-on-catalonia-s-secession-em-strong-p
ordinary autonomous communities. Decentralization in
Spain can be characterized as asymmetrical devolution.
https://www.thespainreport.com/4366/
http://www.fnp.nl/downloads/decentrilization_and_
catalonia-independence-debate-live-blog
economic_growth_per_capita_in_europe.pdf
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48284536
[126] Spain ranks 8 according to the research paper
http://www.econweekly.com/2012/11/
http://www.urv.cat/creip/media/upload/arxius/wp/
the-case-for-and-against-catalonias.html
WP2012/DT.15-2012-850-DIAZ%20i%20MEIX.pdf

[114] Terra Lliure

[127] http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/LEQS/
LEQSPaper55.pdf

[115] http://www.alertadigital.com/2014/11/11/
amenazas-de-muerte-a-la-directora-de-un-instituto-de-barcelona-que-no-abrio-el-9-n-no-cedi-porque-no-quiero-que-me-utilicen
[128] Kingdom of Spain: People. US Department of State.
Retrieved 13 August 2008.

[116] http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/
9d434a66-643d-11e4-bac8-00144feabdc0.html#
axzz3JfRICCXA

14 Bibliography

[117] http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/
catalan-independence-and-a-tumultuous-2014-for-spain-4910
[118] Spanish Constitution of 1978

Barton, Simon. A History of Spain (2009) excerpt

and text search

[119] http://www.eurasiareview.com/
Carr, Raymond. Spain, 1808-1975 (2nd ed 1982),
30092014-spain-pm-rajoy-issues-statement-catalonia-referendum

a standard scholarly survey

[120] http://www.constitutionnet.org/news/
spain-catalonia-problem-needs-constitutional-fix-psoe
[121] http://www.gencat.cat/drep/iea/pdfs/ctA_6.pdf
[122] http://localdemocracy.net/countries/europe/spain
[123] https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=2041471&Site=
Congress

Carr, Raymond, ed. Spain: A History (2001)

excerpt and text search
Casey, James. Early Modern Spain: A Social History
(1999) excerpt and text search
Edwards, John. The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs
14741520 (2001) excerpt and text search

[124] Autonomous communities of Spain

[125] Until the end of the dictatorship of Franco, Spain had a
very centralized political system. In 1978, a decentralization process started after the creation of the current
constitution. The constitution established a complex
framework that combines the concept of Spain as a single
political nation with the existence of autonomy statutes
granted to all seventeen regions. The degree of autonomy
for a number of regions is fairly high, these are the
historical regions. In 1983, all seventeen autonomous
communities had adopted a statute. Although dierences
exist in the level of autonomy between historical and
ordinary regions, all communities have experienced
an increase in their level of autonomy. The group of
the historical communities consists of Catalonia, the
Basque Country and Galicia. This group was joined later
by Andalusia. The group of ordinary regions consists
of the rest of the autonomous communities (Aragon,
Asturias, Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria,
Castilla de La Mancha, Castilla-Leon, Extremadura,
Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, La Rioja, and Valencia).
The autonomous communities have wide legislative and
executive autonomy, with their own parliaments and
regional governments. The distribution of powers is

Esdaile, Charles J. Spain in the Liberal Age: From

Constitution to Civil War, 18081939 (2000) excerpt
and text search
Gerli, E. Michael, ed. Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia. New York 2005. ISBN 0-415-93918-6
Herr, Richard. An Historical Essay on Modern Spain
(1974)
Kamen, Henry. Spain. A Society of Conict (3rd
ed.) London and New York: Pearson Longman
2005. ISBN
Lynch, John. The Hispanic World in Crisis and
Change: 15981700 (1994) excerpt and text search
O'Callaghan, Joseph F. A History of Medieval Spain
(1983) excerpt and text search
Payne, Stanley G. A History of Spain and Portugal (2
vol 1973) full text online vol 1 before 1700; full text
online vol 2 after 1700; a standard scholarly history

26

15

Payne, Stanley G. Spain: A Unique History (University of Wisconsin Press; 2011) 304 pages; history
since the Visigothic era.
Payne, Stanley G. Politics and Society in TwentiethCentury Spain (2012)
Philips, William D., Jr., and Carla Rahn Phillips.
A Concise History of Spain (2010) excerpt and text
search
Pierson, Peter. The History of Spain (2nd ed. 2008)
excerpt and text search
Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction,
Revolution, and Revenge (2nd ed. 2007)
Shubert, Adrian. A Social History of Modern Spain
(1990) excerpt and text search
Tusell, Javier. Spain: From Dictatorship to Democracy, 1939 to the Present (2007) excerpt and text
search

15

External links

History of Spain: Primary Documents

Spanish History Sources & Documents
Stanley G. Payne The Seventeenth-Century Decline
Henry Kamen, The Decline of Spain: A Historical
Myth?", Past and Present, (Explains the complexities of this subject)
WWW-VL Spanish History Index
Carmen Pereira-Muro. Culturas de Espaa. Boston
and New York: Houghton Miin Company 2003.
ISBN

EXTERNAL LINKS

27

16
16.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

History of Spain Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Spain?oldid=701401704 Contributors: Kpjas, Derek Ross, Mav, Koyaanis Qatsi, Jeronimo, Malcolm Farmer, Higbvuyb, Ed Poor, Andre Engels, Benwbrum, Rgamble, Rmhermen, Miguel~enwiki, Perequin,
SimonP, Perique des Palottes, Montrealais, Olivier, Rickyrab, Infrogmation, TeunSpaans, Llywrch, IZAK, Sannse, Nine Tail Fox, Muriel
Gottrop~enwiki, G-Man, Jebba, Salsa Shark, Error, Ciphergoth, Djnjwd, Jiang, Deisenbe, Lancevortex, Ruhrjung, Raven in Orbit, Alex S,
Adam Bishop, Vanished user 5zariu3jisj0j4irj, RickK, Dysprosia, Wik, Zoicon5, Tpbradbury, Motor, Paul-L~enwiki, Tuomas, Sabbut, Joy,
HarryHenryGebel, Wetman, Jusjih, Flockmeal, Hjr, Robbot, Adam Faanes, Simonf, Bon, Jmabel, Henrygb, Rorro, Gidonb, Vikingstad,
Alphaxer0, Guy Peters, Christopher Parham, Fantamic, Mintleaf~enwiki, Geeoharee, Wiglaf, Timpo, Zigger, Ausir, Everyking, Snowdog,
Alison, Naufana, Apoivre, Dagestan, Nathan Hamblen, Softssa, Neilc, Stevietheman, Slowking Man, Albrecht, Antandrus, ClockworkLunch, Robert Brockway, HistoryBA, Tothebarricades.tk, Karl-Henner, Acad Ronin, Lacrimosus, D6, Poccil, EugeneZelenko, Discospinster, Twinxor, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Shudog, Vsmith, Florian Blaschke, Colin Angus Mackay, LindsayH, Cavebear42, Dbachmann, Stbalbach, SamEV, Bender235, Theodoranian, Diego UFCG~enwiki, Walden, Kwamikagami, Kross, Sietse Snel, Adambro, Vervin,
Circeus, NetBot, Bradkittenbrink, Enric Naval, Shenme, Cmdrjameson, Dtremenak, Foobaz, Jguk 2, Giraedata, Polylerus, Pearle, Nsaa,
Alansohn, Gary, Mick Knapton, StanZegel, Arthena, Riana, Sugaar, Bart133, Ed Halter, Velella, Kdau, Suruena, RainbowOfLight, Mikeo,
Panchurret, Kelly Martin, Mel Etitis, Woohookitty, Jacob Haller, Je3000, Tckma, Bkwillwm, Dolfrog, Male1979, Waldir, Jdorney, Doric
Loon, Prashanthns, Dequinix, Dynamax, RichardWeiss, Stoni, Graham87, Cuvtixo, BD2412, Mendaliv, Rjwilmsi, Gryndor, Carl Logan,
Vary, Josiah Rowe, Ttwaring, MJGR, FlaBot, Ground Zero, CalJW, WillC, Hottentot, Mark83, Str1977, Dalta~enwiki, Imnotminkus,
Butros, Chobot, Raymond Cruise, Bgwhite, Roboto de Ajvol, Mercury McKinnon, YurikBot, Wavelength, Number29, Jimp, RussBot,
Mandolin15, NorCalHistory, Pigman, Rsrikanth05, Abarry, Big Brother 1984, Fnorp, NawlinWiki, SEWilcoBot, The Ogre, Lowe4091,
Welsh, Rjensen, Joelr31, Seeaxid, Kuroi~enwiki, Syrthiss, .marc., Kewp, ElHornberg, Cpl.Punishment, Lt-wiki-bot, Silverhorse, Cbogart2, Closedmouth, Errabee, GraemeL, Chrishmt0423, Miguelin, Cromag, Che829, Moomoomoo, Meegs, Shtove, MateoP, Asterion, Joan
sense nick, CIreland,
robot, Attilios, A bit iy, Hvitlys, SmackBot, Uncertain, Py, Reedy, KnowledgeOfSelf, Swerdnaneb, Ga,
JRGL~enwiki, Hmains, Skizzik, The monkeyhate, Chris the speller, Bluebot, TimBentley, Stubblyhead, Domthedude001, SchftyThree,
JoeBlogsDord, Bazonka, FordPrefect42, Je5102, Colonies Chris, Shunpiker, Bolivian Unicyclist, Blueboar, Adel Montevega, Khoikhoi,
Decltype, Savidan, Valenciano, Will2710, AdeMiami, Alexandra lb, Insineratehymn, KeithB, Ultraexactzz, Sergio.solar, DelDav, JLogan,
Zeorymer, Burgas00, Kuru, Ergative rlt, UberCryxic, DIEGO RICARDO PEREIRA, 16@r, Ravenloft, Battem, Neddyseagoon, BranStark,
Iridescent, Joseph Solis in Australia, Provocateur, RekishiEJ, Courcelles, Adam sk, Tawkerbot2, Lahiru k, WolfgangFaber, Filiep, CmdrObot, Dycedarg, Dgw, Pseudo-Richard, Ddillon, WeggeBot, Future Perfect at Sunrise, Pascal.Tesson, Daniel J. Leivick, Jedonnelley,
Tloc, Kozuch, Thijs!bot, Epbr123, Garcilaso, Ket, Tellyaddict, AntiVandalBot, Widefox, Villasmilraven, QuiteUnusual, Jayron32, Mdotley,
Isilanes, Tillman, MECU, Tangopolis, DuncanHill, MER-C, Hydro, The Transhumanist, Luis wiki, Awien, Acroterion, Mart Cabr, Magioladitis, Connormah, Parsecboy, Bongwarrior, VoABot II, Rivertorch, Kevinmon, Gnassar, Indon, Gunsfornuns, 28421u2232nfenfcenc,
DerHexer, ngel Luis Alfaro, Hdt83, MartinBot, Jonathan Stokes, Rettetast, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, AlexiusHoratius, PrestonH, Bentaguayre, J.delanoy, Jamespeterka, Captain panda, Pharaoh of the Wizards, Altes, Ali, Numbo3, AMP'd, Skumarlabot, Tomensnaben,
BigManChili, Maurice27, Katalaveno, Little Professor, NewEnglandYankee, Molly-in-md, Aquaepulse, KylieTastic, Cometstyles, Treisijs,
Lcawte, Num1dgen, Gibmetal77, Funandtrvl, Lights, VolkovBot, Thedjatclubrock, ABF, Firstorm, Seattle Skier, AlnoktaBOT, Taraborn,
Philip Trueman, TXiKiBoT, Technopat, Ruggiero, Andres rojas22, Antares Dbd, Someguy1221, Anna Lincoln, Steven J. Anderson, Corvus
cornix, EspanaViva, Natg 19, Maxim, FFMG, Falcon8765, Rawr33, The Last Melon, Imperfection, Finnrind, Hmwith, SieBot, Andrarias,
WereSpielChequers, Deckster76, Dawn Bard, SE7, J.M.Domingo, Gravitan, Mdtrep, Act88, Andersmusician, SeiteNichtGefunden, IGuru2, Keilana, Flyer22 Reborn, Exert, Arbor to SJ, Soccergeek43, KPH2293, Fratrep, Belligero, Jhann Heiar rnason, ClueBot, GorillaWarfare, PipepBot, The Thing That Should Not Be, Sue Douglasss, Shaskouri, Enthusiast01, Jminchina, Kuanza, Dingiswayo, Mild
Bill Hiccup, SuperHamster, Straatvaart, TheSmuel, Carlodrago, Puchiko, Auntof6, SamuelTheGhost, Excirial, Anonymous101, Quercus
basaseachicensis, Jusdafax, Erebus Morgaine, Gwguey, NuclearWarfare, Ice Cold Beer, The Red, Thingg, Lord Cornwallis, Versus22,
Dana boomer, SoxBot III, Darkicebot, Micmachete, Spitre, Auslli, Rror, PSWG1920, DaL33T, NonNobisSolum, Atoric, Doggiedogdog, Surtsicna, Imperial Star Destroyer, D.M. from Ukraine, Luwilt, Maldek, Addbot, Willking1979, Guoguo12, IXavier, TutterMouse,
VEB Text, Jncraton, Mispropaganda, NjardarBot, WAhwee001, PranksterTurtle, 5 albert square, Tyw7, Jacoblite, TriniMuoz, Tide rolls,
Mad Thinker, Teles, Captain Climber, spec-zero, of Ion Team, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Js345, Julia W, WellsSouth,
The Emperors New Spy, Azylber, QueenCake, KamikazeBot, Maldek2, MassimoAr, Tempodivalse, AnomieBOT, DemocraticLuntz,
Kristen Eriksen, 1exec1, Jim1138, IRP, Piano non troppo, Sz-iwbot, Plumber, Materialscientist, EuroHistoryTeacher, LilHelpa, Enemydone, Xqbot, Capricorn42, Jerey Mall, Acebulf, Turbo55, Michaelkeatonbatman, Shirik, RibotBOT, Bigfan213, Natural Cut, WebCiteBOT, E0steven, SchnitzelMannGreek, FrescoBot, Tobby72, JeanMich, A little insignicant, Wireless Keyboard, AstaBOTh15, Pinethicket,
Charles Richardson, 10metreh, Lord of Antria, Joshua Dewhurst, Froaringus, Reconsider the static, SkyMachine, Linkinpark890, Orenburg1, FoxBot, PiRSquared17, Nuninho Martins, Callanecc, Vreundl8, Vrenator, Sunburned Streets, Defender of torch, Seahorseruler,
Stasershov-96, Jhenderson777, JV Smithy, Suusion of Yellow, Gordoniz, Reach Out to the Truth, Endo vellicus, Marie Poise, DARTH
SIDIOUS 2, Onel5969, Mean as custard, The Utahraptor, Superoccinaucinihilipilication, Guikipedia, Slon02, John of Reading, Orphan
Wiki, Immunize, Look2See1, ScottyBerg, Dewritech, Fakirbakir, Tommy2010, Amerq, Bongoramsey, Vanished user sdjei4o346jowe3,
Wieralee, Cristiano Toms, Omar-Toons, Alpha Quadrant (alt), Mcmatter, UltimaRatio, L Kensington, Donner60, Pun, DASHBotAV,
Markvigil1, 28bot, The Celestial City, ClueBot NG, MelbourneStar, This lousy T-shirt, Satellizer, Dhh787, Chester Markel, 1sassypaige,
The Master of Mayhem, Snotbot, Eddiewalsh25, Snackerdoodle, Widr, Wllmevans, Cyrrk, Spartemis, Helpful Pixie Bot, Mwheatley1990,
BG19bot, Krenair, Vagobot, Dejangod, MusikAnimal, Cadiomals, Carlstak, Filing Flunky, Whydoihatethis, Anbu121, Vvven, YFdyh-bot,
NitRav, Limleemfutrell, Khazar2, Cody.register6, Jethro B, Onepebble, Dexbot, Charles Essie, Mogism, Thermocycler, VoroSP, Lugia2453, Alexwho314, Marxistfounder, Eyesnore, Caccqtyie, Predator13ize, Pepesia, Princess73771, LouisAragon, Ginsuloft, Gallaecian,
EduardoFernandez, PAST PRESENT FUTURE TIME, Barjimoa, Monkbot, AKS.9955, Aclarke9913, Willhamm, Kazi Wynn Beavers,
TranquilHope, LFCBradz, Dapham777, Yogurto, Carlos Giger, Dash9Z, Butterballs69, , Kfhgkfgh, Hermionedidallthework, Jasontheduck, Julio188red, Spaniardglory and Anonymous: 766

16.2

Images

File:506-Castile_1210.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/506-Castile_1210.png License: CC BY-SA

3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Alexandre Vigo

28

16

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:AltamiraBison.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/AltamiraBison.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Rameessos
File:Ambox_important.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work, based o of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk contribs)
File:Attacking_spanish_infantry_(about_1740).jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/
Public domain Contributors:
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/
Attacking_spanish_infantry_%28about_1740%29.jpg License:
nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=433646&imageID=1122005&word=Bolingbroke&s=1&notword=&d=&c=
&f=&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=18&num=0&imgs=12&pNum=&pos=3
Original
artist:
Unknown<a
href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718'
title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img
alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https:
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png'
width='20'
height='11'
srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png
1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050'
data-le-height='590' /></a>
File:Bataille_de_La_Marsaille,_4_octobre_1693.jpeg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Bataille_de_
La_Marsaille%2C_4_octobre_1693.jpeg License: Public domain Contributors:
Original artist: Eugne Devria
File:Bataille_de_la_premire_guerre_carliste_1833-1840.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/
Bataille_de_la_premi%C3%A8re_guerre_carliste_1833-1840.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.leyendadelarte.com/
catalogo.php?id_menu=157&pag=6 Original artist: Francisco de Paula van Halen (1814-1887)
File:Bolivar_Arturo_Michelena.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Bolivar_Arturo_Michelena.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: Galera de Arte Nacional. Original artist: Arturo Michelena (1863-1898)
File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H25224,_Guernica,_Ruinen.jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
c/ca/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H25224%2C_Guernica%2C_Ruinen.jpg License:
CC BY-SA 3.0 de Contributors:
This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a
cooperation project.
The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation only using the originals (negative and/or positive), resp.
the digitalization of the originals as provided by the Digital Image Archive.
Original
artist:
Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png'
width='20'
height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050'
data-le-height='590' /></a>
File:Cantigas_battle.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Cantigas_battle.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
http://www.hist.umn.edu/courses/hist3613/calendar/art/images/Las%20Cantigas%20de%20Santa%20Maria.jpg
Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png'
width='20'
height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050'
data-le-height='590' /></a>
File:CastillaLeon_1360.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/CastillaLeon_1360.png License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Columbus_Taking_Possession.jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Columbus_Taking_
Possession.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and
Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3b49587.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.

Original artist: L. Prang & Co., Boston

File:El_Greco_View_of_Toledo.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/El_Greco_View_of_Toledo.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: El Greco
File:El_dos_de_mayo_de_1808_en_Madrid.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/El_dos_de_mayo_
de_1808_en_Madrid.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Museo del Prado, Madrid Original artist: Francisco Goya
File:El_tres_de_mayo_de_1808_en_Madrid.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/El_tres_de_mayo_
de_1808_en_Madrid.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Museo Nacional del Prado Original artist: Francisco Goya
File:Emperor_charles_v.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Emperor_charles_v.png License: Public
domain Contributors: english Wiki Original artist: Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, inspir sur Tiziano Vecellio
File:Escudo_de_Espaa_(mazonado).svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Escudo_de_Espa%C3%
B1a_%28mazonado%29.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Adaptacin en formato SVG del modelo en PNG Escudo de Espaa.png,
segn colores establecidos en el Real Decreto 2267/1982 y especicaciones del Manual de Imagen Institucional de la Administracin General del Estado. Original artist: Government of Spain. Vector graphics image by SanchoPanzaXXI.
File:Ethnographic_Iberia_200_BCE.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Ethnographic_Iberia_200_
BCE.PNG License: GFDL Contributors: self-made from Image:Blank-peninsula Iberica.png Original artist: The Ogre
File:Europe_map_1648.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Europe_map_1648.PNG License: CCBY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Flag_of_Spain.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Flag_of_Spain.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Fusilamiento_de_Torrijos_(Gisbert).jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Fusilamiento_
de_Torrijos_%28Gisbert%29.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/galeria-on-line/
galeria-on-line/obra/fusilamiento-de-torrijos-y-sus-companeros-en-las-playas-de-malaga/ Original artist: Antonio Gisbert

16.3

Content license

29

File:Hispania_700_AD.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Hispania_700_AD.PNG License: Public

domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Iberian_Peninsula_antique_map.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Iberian_Peninsula_
antique_map.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Scanned from my personal collection. Original artist: Robert Wilkinson (scanned
by User:RedCoat)
File:Iberian_Union_Empires.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Iberian_Union_Empires.png License: Public domain Contributors: English Wikipedia, original description is/was here. Original artist: en:User:Cmara
File:Landing_of_Alhucemas.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Landing_of_Alhucemas.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:
Q4233718'><img
alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.
svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png'
width='20'
height='11'
srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/
40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050' data-le-height='590' /></a>
File:Map_Iberian_Peninsula_750-en.svg Source:
750-en.svg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Contributors:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Map_Iberian_Peninsula_

Pennsula_ibrica_750.svg Original artist: Little Professor

File:Old_Spanish_rug.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Old_Spanish_rug.jpg License: PD Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Prado_-_Los_Desastres_de_la_Guerra_-_No._03_-_Lo_mismo.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
e/e2/Prado_-_Los_Desastres_de_la_Guerra_-_No._03_-_Lo_mismo.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Museo del Prado Original
artist: Francisco Goya
File:Prima_tetrarchia_Diocletianus.PNG Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Prima_tetrarchia_
Diocletianus.PNG License: Public domain Contributors: This is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modications: In Italian + colours + pars Occidentalis. The original can be viewed here: <a
href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_Empire_with_dioceses_in_300_AD.png' title='File:Roman Empire with dioceses in
300 AD.png'>Roman Empire with dioceses in 300 AD.png</a>. Modications made by Cristiano64. Original artist: Roman Empire
with dioceses in 300 AD.png: Mandrak
File:Visigothic_Kingdom.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Visigothic_Kingdom.png License: Public domain Contributors: the English language Wikipedia (log) Original artist: Javierfv1212 (talk)

16.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0