Nobody ever taught me a brief history of Spain when I was in school, back in the 80’s, in Murcia. I was a bad student. I almost failed every single year from fifth ‘til eighth grade. I know, it has nothing to do with the brief History of Spain but just wanted to mention.

History was probably the only serious subject I truly liked, very much by the way, although I found it very boring most of the time. There were too many things to remember and little enthusiasm from the school teachers I had.

Give me a shorter version of History instead, please

Despite this general History has always been one of my favourite subjects (including Spanish History, of course) I would have loved that somebody had taught me a brief history of Spain when I was small.

A brief history gives you a global view of the whole historical line. I personally understand it better when I learn it from small to big.

Spanish History, badly explained, can be very boring and uninteresting: thousands of dates, episodes, battles, wars, names and last names, buildings… all spread out over an entire school year, as it used to be in my years as a child.

I can still hear the voice of those terrible teachers I had in school, all of them trained in the strict and isolated Spanish dictatorship. It was not only them, but the educational system overall, their concept of teaching History.

And thinking about all that is how I came up with this article.

Brief History of Spain: my way

The article you are about to read has been fully written by me. However, I had to research several Websites to be able to put everything in chronological order and refresh many of the details I mention.

If you are learning Spanish, I would like you to see one of the Websites I used in my research. It has an interesting visual-voice storytelling:

http://contenidos.proyectoagrega.es/visualizador-1/Visualizar/Visualizar.do?idioma=es&identificador=es_2007073113_0241700&secuencia=false#

Everything is this article is a historical fact, although I have used my own criteria to select what I consider the most important events in the History of Spain.

Many episodes are missing, I know, and perhaps some important ones. You are free to send me an email or post a comment at the bottom to let me know.

Meanwhile this is my brief history of Spain. I hope you enjoy it.

PREHISTORY (2,500,000 B.C. – 700 B.C.)

During this huge amount of time the Spanish Peninsula (it was not Spain back then, of course) went through the following two main Prehistoric ages:

STONE AGE

Paleolithic (circa 2,500,000 B.C – 10,000 B.C)

Northern Spain had the biggest concentration of prehistoric nomad inhabitants. The most ancient human fossils in Europe have been found In Atapuerca, Burgos. Many paintings from animals are still preserved in Atapuerca today.

Neolithic (circa 10,000 B.C. – 6,000 B.C.)

Agriculture and stock breeding appeared in the Iberian Peninsula. These groups became more stable geographically staying mainly near the Mediterranean Sea.

METAL AGE

Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages (circa 6,000 B.C. – 600 B.C.)

During these three periods the most important ethnic groups were the Iberians and Celts, principally established in eastern and western areas respectively; both of them mainly dedicated to agriculture and stock breeding.

The mixture of the Iberians and Celts gave birth to a new powerful group called “Celtiberians”.

ANCIENT AGE (600 B.C – 500 A.D.)

600 B.C. Phoenicians arrived to the peninsula looking for gold, silver and bronze. They founded the cities of Cádiz and Málaga and brought writing systems.

500 B.C. Greeks came also looking for metals and mainly stayed in the Balearic Islands, southern and eastern Iberian Peninsula. Some of their contributions were: olive and coins. They invented in addition the term “Iberian Peninsula” (based on ancient Iberians) to describe the territory where current Spain and Portugal are found at present.

200 B.C. Carthaginians arrived from North Africa and also based their colonies in the Balearic Islands and South-Eastern Spain. They founded the historical city of Cartagena, in the region of Murcia.

200 B.C. Romans colonized all the Mediterranean coast including the entire Iberian Peninsula, which they changed the name to “Hispania”. They introduced spoken and written Latin language, Roman currency, organizational judicial, administration and social systems, new agriculture techniques, and architecture amongst their vast contributions.

Still today there are many Roman buildings in the current Spain, for instance: the Aqueduct of Segovia, Roman theatre of Mérida, Alcántara Bridge or Bara Triumphal Arch.

MIDDLE AGES (409 A.D. – 1,492 A.D.)

409 – 711 Along other Germanic tribes, the Visigoths finished a weakened and dying Roman empire and settled later on  the peninsula.

Although they left little written documents, paintings or architecture (except for some churches and columns), the Visigoths are considered the first form of independent and unified Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula, as the former Hispania was just a province of Rome.

711 – 1942 Muslims conquered Visigoths and within the next decades much of Hispania, which they called “al-Ándalus”.

For almost 800 years, Muslims established their own territorial system called “caliphates”, ruled by a “caliph”, similar to kingdoms ruled by Kings.

The inheritance left by the Muslims was tremendous in many aspects, such as gastronomy, arts, architecture, pottering or clothing.

The Muslim architectonic legate is mainly concentrated in Southern Spanish region of Andalucía (name given by the Arabic term “al-Ándalus”).

1469 Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon got married, uniting  the two kingdoms of north Spain. In today’s Spanish History books they are known the “Catholic Kings”.

MODERN AGES (1492 – 1789)

1492 Muslims lost the Kingdom of Granada, their last stronghold in Spain. This same year Christopher Columbus discovered America on board of the three famous caravels: La Santa María, La Pinta and La Niña.

1495 The Canary Island became part of Spain.

1500-1700 For two centuries the Spanish empire expanded across Europe, Americas and some areas in Asia having as kings Charles I, Phillip II, Phillip III, Phillip IV and Charles II.

1701-1713 Spanish succession war.

1713 Gibraltar is officially given to Great Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht.

XIX CENTURY

1808 Napoleonic invasion and beginning of the Spanish Independence War against France.

1812 First Spanish constitution, also called “La Pepa”, officially established on the day of Saint Joseph (19th of March). The word “constitution” in Spanish is feminine (la constitución). Joseph in Spanish is “José” and its unofficial version is “Pepe”. The female version of Pepe would be “Pepa”. For that reason was the first constitution was also called “La Pepa”.

1814 Napoleonic expulsion after 6 years of war.

1873 Abdication of Amadeo of Savoy and first Spanish Republic established subsequently.

1875 After a military uprising Alfonso XII is proclaimed King of Spain.

1886 Alfonso XIII succeeds his father Alfonso XII at the Spanish monarchy.

1898 Spain loses a brief war with the United States which ends up with the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines, last colonies of the Spanish overseas empire.

XX CENTURY

1923 Miguel Primo de Rivera, a Spanish general, raises up in arms and sets up a dictatorship with the consent of king Alfonso XIII.

1930 Miguel Primo de Rivera resigns.

1931 Local elections are carried out. Republicans and socialists win. King Alfonso XIII flees from Spain. The second Spanish Republic is proclaimed afterwards.   

1936 After five years of political divisions and pressure, the Spanish Civil war begins.

1939 End of the Civil War. Francisco Franco, a Spanish military general from the so-called “nationals”, takes over the government and therefore a new fascist dictatorship is established in Spain.

1975 Franco dies. The monarchy is restored with King Juan Carlos I de Borbón y Borbón as its head. A new democratic system defined as “parliamentary monarchy” is introduced in Spain.

1977 First general elections after the dictatorship.

1978 First Spanish Constitution after the dictatorship is officially approved.

1986 Spain joins the European Economic Community

1992 Olympic Games celebrated in Barcelona

2002 The Euro becomes the official currency of Spain. It is the end of traditional Spanish “Peseta”.

FINAL THOUGHT

As mentioned earlier, there are many important events that I have probably missed. However, I wanted to keep it as short as possible, that’s why it is a brief history of Spain.

I would dare to say that almost every single country on the earth has a story full of changes, armed conflicts, advances and reverses over the centuries. It is history, our history. And that’s all it is: history.

Spanish History is plenty of ups and downs and cultural mixture, which, in my opinion, is what has finally built our whole culture as of today.

It is fascinating to explore your own culture and discover those inflection points that change everything. Writing this article has been a very interesting learning process… and I loved it :-)

Nobody ever taught me a brief history of Spain when I was in school, back in the 80’s, in Murcia. I was a bad student. I almost failed every single year from fifth ‘til eighth grade. I know, it has nothing to do with the brief History of Spain but just wanted to mention.

History was probably the only serious subject I truly liked, very much by the way, although I found it very boring most of the time. There were too many things to remember and little enthusiasm from the school teachers I had.

Give me a shorter version of History instead, please

Despite this general History has always been one of my favourite subjects (including Spanish History, of course) I would have loved that somebody had taught me a brief history of Spain when I was small.

A brief history gives you a global view of the whole historical line. I personally understand it better when I learn it from small to big.

Spanish History, badly explained, can be very boring and uninteresting: thousands of dates, episodes, battles, wars, names and last names, buildings… all spread out over an entire school year, as it used to be in my years as a child.

I can still hear the voice of those terrible teachers I had in school, all of them trained in the strict and isolated Spanish dictatorship. It was not only them, but the educational system overall, their concept of teaching History.

And thinking about all that is how I came up with this article.

Brief History of Spain: my way

The article you are about to read has been fully written by me. However, I had to research several Websites to be able to put everything in chronological order and refresh many of the details I mention.

If you are learning Spanish, I would like you to see one of the Websites I used in my research. It has an interesting visual-voice storytelling:

http://contenidos.proyectoagrega.es/visualizador-1/Visualizar/Visualizar.do?idioma=es&identificador=es_2007073113_0241700&secuencia=false#

Everything is this article is a historical fact, although I have used my own criteria to select what I consider the most important events in the History of Spain.

Many episodes are missing, I know, and perhaps some important ones. You are free to send me an email or post a comment at the bottom to let me know.

Meanwhile this is my brief history of Spain. I hope you enjoy it.

PREHISTORY (2,500,000 B.C. – 700 B.C.)

During this huge amount of time the Spanish Peninsula (it was not Spain back then, of course) went through the following two main Prehistoric ages:

STONE AGE

Paleolithic (circa 2,500,000 B.C – 10,000 B.C)

Northern Spain had the biggest concentration of prehistoric nomad inhabitants. The most ancient human fossils in Europe have been found In Atapuerca, Burgos. Many paintings from animals are still preserved in Atapuerca today.

Neolithic (circa 10,000 B.C. – 6,000 B.C.)

Agriculture and stock breeding appeared in the Iberian Peninsula. These groups became more stable geographically staying mainly near the Mediterranean Sea.

METAL AGE

Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages (circa 6,000 B.C. – 600 B.C.)

During these three periods the most important ethnic groups were the Iberians and Celts, principally established in eastern and western areas respectively; both of them mainly dedicated to agriculture and stock breeding.

The mixture of the Iberians and Celts gave birth to a new powerful group called “Celtiberians”.

ANCIENT AGE (600 B.C – 500 A.D.)

600 B.C. Phoenicians arrived to the peninsula looking for gold, silver and bronze. They founded the cities of Cádiz and Málaga and brought writing systems.

500 B.C. Greeks came also looking for metals and mainly stayed in the Balearic Islands, southern and eastern Iberian Peninsula. Some of their contributions were: olive and coins. They invented in addition the term “Iberian Peninsula” (based on ancient Iberians) to describe the territory where current Spain and Portugal are found at present.

200 B.C. Carthaginians arrived from North Africa and also based their colonies in the Balearic Islands and South-Eastern Spain. They founded the historical city of Cartagena, in the region of Murcia.

200 B.C. Romans colonized all the Mediterranean coast including the entire Iberian Peninsula, which they changed the name to “Hispania”. They introduced spoken and written Latin language, Roman currency, organizational judicial, administration and social systems, new agriculture techniques, and architecture amongst their vast contributions.

Still today there are many Roman buildings in the current Spain, for instance: the Aqueduct of Segovia, Roman theatre of Mérida, Alcántara Bridge or Bara Triumphal Arch.

MIDDLE AGES (409 A.D. – 1,492 A.D.)

409 – 711 Along other Germanic tribes, the Visigoths finished a weakened and dying Roman empire and settled later on  the peninsula.

Although they left little written documents, paintings or architecture (except for some churches and columns), the Visigoths are considered the first form of independent and unified Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula, as the former Hispania was just a province of Rome.

711 – 1942 Muslims conquered Visigoths and within the next decades much of Hispania, which they called “al-Ándalus”.

For almost 800 years, Muslims established their own territorial system called “caliphates”, ruled by a “caliph”, similar to kingdoms ruled by Kings.

The inheritance left by the Muslims was tremendous in many aspects, such as gastronomy, arts, architecture, pottering or clothing.

The Muslim architectonic legate is mainly concentrated in Southern Spanish region of Andalucía (name given by the Arabic term “al-Ándalus”).

1469 Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon got married, uniting  the two kingdoms of north Spain. In today’s Spanish History books they are known the “Catholic Kings”.

MODERN AGES (1492 – 1789)

1492 Muslims lost the Kingdom of Granada, their last stronghold in Spain. This same year Christopher Columbus discovered America on board of the three famous caravels: La Santa María, La Pinta and La Niña.

1495 The Canary Island became part of Spain.

1500-1700 For two centuries the Spanish empire expanded across Europe, Americas and some areas in Asia having as kings Charles I, Phillip II, Phillip III, Phillip IV and Charles II.

1701-1713 Spanish succession war.

1713 Gibraltar is officially given to Great Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht.

XIX CENTURY

1808 Napoleonic invasion and beginning of the Spanish Independence War against France.

1812 First Spanish constitution, also called “La Pepa”, officially established on the day of Saint Joseph (19th of March). The word “constitution” in Spanish is feminine (la constitución). Joseph in Spanish is “José” and its unofficial version is “Pepe”. The female version of Pepe would be “Pepa”. For that reason was the first constitution was also called “La Pepa”.

1814 Napoleonic expulsion after 6 years of war.

1873 Abdication of Amadeo of Savoy and first Spanish Republic established subsequently.

1875 After a military uprising Alfonso XII is proclaimed King of Spain.

1886 Alfonso XIII succeeds his father Alfonso XII at the Spanish monarchy.

1898 Spain loses a brief war with the United States which ends up with the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines, last colonies of the Spanish overseas empire.

XX CENTURY

1923 Miguel Primo de Rivera, a Spanish general, raises up in arms and sets up a dictatorship with the consent of king Alfonso XIII.

1930 Miguel Primo de Rivera resigns.

1931 Local elections are carried out. Republicans and socialists win. King Alfonso XIII flees from Spain. The second Spanish Republic is proclaimed afterwards.   

1936 After five years of political divisions and pressure, the Spanish Civil war begins.

1939 End of the Civil War. Francisco Franco, a Spanish military general from the so-called “nationals”, takes over the government and therefore a new fascist dictatorship is established in Spain.

1975 Franco dies. The monarchy is restored with King Juan Carlos I de Borbón y Borbón as its head. A new democratic system defined as “parliamentary monarchy” is introduced in Spain.

1977 First general elections after the dictatorship.

1978 First Spanish Constitution after the dictatorship is officially approved.

1986 Spain joins the European Economic Community

1992 Olympic Games celebrated in Barcelona

2002 The Euro becomes the official currency of Spain. It is the end of traditional Spanish “Peseta”.

FINAL THOUGHT

As mentioned earlier, there are many important events that I have probably missed. However, I wanted to keep it as short as possible, that’s why it is a brief history of Spain.

I would dare to say that almost every single country on the earth has a story full of changes, armed conflicts, advances and reverses over the centuries. It is history, our history. And that’s all it is: history.

Spanish History is plenty of ups and downs and cultural mixture, which, in my opinion, is what has finally built our whole culture as of today.

It is fascinating to explore your own culture and discover those inflection points that change everything. Writing this article has been a very interesting learning process… and I loved it :-)

Nobody ever taught me a brief history of Spain when I was in school, back in the 80’s, in Murcia. I was a bad student. I almost failed every single year from fifth ‘til eighth grade. I know, it has nothing to do with the brief History of Spain but just wanted to mention.

History was probably the only serious subject I truly liked, very much by the way, although I found it very boring most of the time. There were too many things to remember and little enthusiasm from the school teachers I had.

Give me a shorter version of History instead, please

Despite this general History has always been one of my favourite subjects (including Spanish History, of course) I would have loved that somebody had taught me a brief history of Spain when I was small.

A brief history gives you a global view of the whole historical line. I personally understand it better when I learn it from small to big.

Spanish History, badly explained, can be very boring and uninteresting: thousands of dates, episodes, battles, wars, names and last names, buildings… all spread out over an entire school year, as it used to be in my years as a child.

I can still hear the voice of those terrible teachers I had in school, all of them trained in the strict and isolated Spanish dictatorship. It was not only them, but the educational system overall, their concept of teaching History.

And thinking about all that is how I came up with this article.

Brief History of Spain: my way

The article you are about to read has been fully written by me. However, I had to research several Websites to be able to put everything in chronological order and refresh many of the details I mention.

If you are learning Spanish, I would like you to see one of the Websites I used in my research. It has an interesting visual-voice storytelling:

http://contenidos.proyectoagrega.es/visualizador-1/Visualizar/Visualizar.do?idioma=es&identificador=es_2007073113_0241700&secuencia=false#

Everything is this article is a historical fact, although I have used my own criteria to select what I consider the most important events in the History of Spain.

Many episodes are missing, I know, and perhaps some important ones. You are free to send me an email or post a comment at the bottom to let me know.

Meanwhile this is my brief history of Spain. I hope you enjoy it.

PREHISTORY (2,500,000 B.C. – 700 B.C.)

During this huge amount of time the Spanish Peninsula (it was not Spain back then, of course) went through the following two main Prehistoric ages:

STONE AGE

Paleolithic (circa 2,500,000 B.C – 10,000 B.C)

Northern Spain had the biggest concentration of prehistoric nomad inhabitants. The most ancient human fossils in Europe have been found In Atapuerca, Burgos. Many paintings from animals are still preserved in Atapuerca today.

Neolithic (circa 10,000 B.C. – 6,000 B.C.)

Agriculture and stock breeding appeared in the Iberian Peninsula. These groups became more stable geographically staying mainly near the Mediterranean Sea.

METAL AGE

Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages (circa 6,000 B.C. – 600 B.C.)

During these three periods the most important ethnic groups were the Iberians and Celts, principally established in eastern and western areas respectively; both of them mainly dedicated to agriculture and stock breeding.

The mixture of the Iberians and Celts gave birth to a new powerful group called “Celtiberians”.

ANCIENT AGE (600 B.C – 500 A.D.)

600 B.C. Phoenicians arrived to the peninsula looking for gold, silver and bronze. They founded the cities of Cádiz and Málaga and brought writing systems.

500 B.C. Greeks came also looking for metals and mainly stayed in the Balearic Islands, southern and eastern Iberian Peninsula. Some of their contributions were: olive and coins. They invented in addition the term “Iberian Peninsula” (based on ancient Iberians) to describe the territory where current Spain and Portugal are found at present.

200 B.C. Carthaginians arrived from North Africa and also based their colonies in the Balearic Islands and South-Eastern Spain. They founded the historical city of Cartagena, in the region of Murcia.

200 B.C. Romans colonized all the Mediterranean coast including the entire Iberian Peninsula, which they changed the name to “Hispania”. They introduced spoken and written Latin language, Roman currency, organizational judicial, administration and social systems, new agriculture techniques, and architecture amongst their vast contributions.

Still today there are many Roman buildings in the current Spain, for instance: the Aqueduct of Segovia, Roman theatre of Mérida, Alcántara Bridge or Bara Triumphal Arch.

MIDDLE AGES (409 A.D. – 1,492 A.D.)

409 – 711 Along other Germanic tribes, the Visigoths finished a weakened and dying Roman empire and settled later on  the peninsula.

Although they left little written documents, paintings or architecture (except for some churches and columns), the Visigoths are considered the first form of independent and unified Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula, as the former Hispania was just a province of Rome.

711 – 1942 Muslims conquered Visigoths and within the next decades much of Hispania, which they called “al-Ándalus”.

For almost 800 years, Muslims established their own territorial system called “caliphates”, ruled by a “caliph”, similar to kingdoms ruled by Kings.

The inheritance left by the Muslims was tremendous in many aspects, such as gastronomy, arts, architecture, pottering or clothing.

The Muslim architectonic legate is mainly concentrated in Southern Spanish region of Andalucía (name given by the Arabic term “al-Ándalus”).

1469 Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon got married, uniting  the two kingdoms of north Spain. In today’s Spanish History books they are known the “Catholic Kings”.

MODERN AGES (1492 – 1789)

1492 Muslims lost the Kingdom of Granada, their last stronghold in Spain. This same year Christopher Columbus discovered America on board of the three famous caravels: La Santa María, La Pinta and La Niña.

1495 The Canary Island became part of Spain.

1500-1700 For two centuries the Spanish empire expanded across Europe, Americas and some areas in Asia having as kings Charles I, Phillip II, Phillip III, Phillip IV and Charles II.

1701-1713 Spanish succession war.

1713 Gibraltar is officially given to Great Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht.

XIX CENTURY

1808 Napoleonic invasion and beginning of the Spanish Independence War against France.

1812 First Spanish constitution, also called “La Pepa”, officially established on the day of Saint Joseph (19th of March). The word “constitution” in Spanish is feminine (la constitución). Joseph in Spanish is “José” and its unofficial version is “Pepe”. The female version of Pepe would be “Pepa”. For that reason was the first constitution was also called “La Pepa”.

1814 Napoleonic expulsion after 6 years of war.

1873 Abdication of Amadeo of Savoy and first Spanish Republic established subsequently.

1875 After a military uprising Alfonso XII is proclaimed King of Spain.

1886 Alfonso XIII succeeds his father Alfonso XII at the Spanish monarchy.

1898 Spain loses a brief war with the United States which ends up with the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines, last colonies of the Spanish overseas empire.

XX CENTURY

1923 Miguel Primo de Rivera, a Spanish general, raises up in arms and sets up a dictatorship with the consent of king Alfonso XIII.

1930 Miguel Primo de Rivera resigns.

1931 Local elections are carried out. Republicans and socialists win. King Alfonso XIII flees from Spain. The second Spanish Republic is proclaimed afterwards.   

1936 After five years of political divisions and pressure, the Spanish Civil war begins.

1939 End of the Civil War. Francisco Franco, a Spanish military general from the so-called “nationals”, takes over the government and therefore a new fascist dictatorship is established in Spain.

1975 Franco dies. The monarchy is restored with King Juan Carlos I de Borbón y Borbón as its head. A new democratic system defined as “parliamentary monarchy” is introduced in Spain.

1977 First general elections after the dictatorship.

1978 First Spanish Constitution after the dictatorship is officially approved.

1986 Spain joins the European Economic Community

1992 Olympic Games celebrated in Barcelona

2002 The Euro becomes the official currency of Spain. It is the end of traditional Spanish “Peseta”.

FINAL THOUGHT

As mentioned earlier, there are many important events that I have probably missed. However, I wanted to keep it as short as possible, that’s why it is a brief history of Spain.

I would dare to say that almost every single country on the earth has a story full of changes, armed conflicts, advances and reverses over the centuries. It is history, our history. And that’s all it is: history.

Spanish History is plenty of ups and downs and cultural mixture, which, in my opinion, is what has finally built our whole culture as of today.

It is fascinating to explore your own culture and discover those inflection points that change everything. Writing this article has been a very interesting learning process… and I loved it :-)