¡Hola! Welcome to my spectacular trip to Spain! (I just got back from my trip to South America, so I REALLY need to get these Spain posts done! I can’t get started on my South America posts until Spain is done.) Technically, it’s my trip to Central Spain–Madrid (including lots of day trips) and Valencia. There’s so much more of Spain to see, so I’ll just have to go back.
A Little History
I’m not going to go into too much history. Well, not TOO much. The history of Spain is largely a history of one group of outsiders taking over Spain after another. (Much of what I learned about the history of Spain was at the fascinating Museo Arqueológico in Madrid.) I believe that reading through my writeup will give you a context to get more out of my upcoming blog posts.
In very ancient times, the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by numerous tribes–the two largest of which were the Celts, who seemed to be all over Europe, and the Iberians, namesake of their home peninsula. Other groups included the Lusitanians (the forerunners to the Portuguese) and the mysterious Basques. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks established trading colonies on the peninsula along the Mediterranean coast. The Romans had little interest in the peninsula until the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage (218-201 BC). In 206 BC, the Romans drove the Carthaginians out of Iberia. During their time on the peninsula, they realized that Iberia held a strategic location in the western Mediterranean. It took the Romans about 200 years to conquer the whole peninsula. The Romans called the peninsula Hispania, rather than Iberia, but no one is totally sure why.
Eventually, of course, Rome fell. Hispania was invaded by various marauding tribes. But by 418, the Visigoths, of all people, consolidated power throughout the peninsula. The Visigoths had mostly assimilated to Roman ways, including Christianity and Latin. They ruled for 300 years, until in 720 they were overthrown by the Moors, Muslims who invaded across the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa. The only part of the peninsula that the Moors did not conquer was the very small Kingdom of Asturias in northern Spain. The Christians of the north wasted no time in trying to regain the land conquered by the Moors. But it took time, about 770 years in all. The Reconquista wasn’t completed until 1492, a year that may ring a bell.
The end of the Reconquista was presided over by the Catholic Monarchs, better known as Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II. Isabella was from the Kingdom of Castille. Ferdinand was from the Kingdom of the Kingdom of Aragon. When they married in 1469, their union basically resulted in the unification of Spain, as Castille and Aragon were, along with the Kingdom of Portugal, the most important Christian kingdoms on the peninsula. (We can take a shortcut and say that this left Portugal on its own, which is why Portugal is not part of Spain. In reality, it’s a lot more complicated.) You could say that 1492 was a momentous year for Isabella and Ferdinand. They drove the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula. And they sent future historical villain Christopher Columbus off to “India”, thus creating enormous wealth for what had become the Spanish Empire. It’s also the year they expelled Jews from Spain, 14 years after creating the Spanish Inquisition.
Okay, here’s where it gets confusing. Isabella and Ferdinand’s grandson Charles became King of Spain in 1516. He was also the heir to the Habsburg dynasty out of Austria. (He also managed to be Holy Roman Empire.) This created Spain’s Austrian period, if that makes any sense. In 1715, Philip, a French prince of the House of Bourbon, inherited the throne, beginning Spain’s Bourbon period. After the French Revolution, the Bourbons were deposed and Spain was occupied by France. The Spanish fought back and gained independence from France and the House of Bourbon was restored.
In the 20th century, Spain struggled to be a constitutional monarchy and a democracy. The devastating Civil War broke out in 1936, leading to the brutal 3 decade rule of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. He died in 1975, and I confirmed while I was in Spain that he is still dead. After Franco’s death, a countercultural movement known as La Movida rose up in Spain. This movement gave us esteemed filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, among others. Regionalism in Spain has caused sometimes violent struggles. But Spain has been enjoying democracy for 5 decades now. It remains a constitutional monarchy under the House of Bourbon.
Now you’ve got all you need to know about Spanish history. I’ve got the pictures coming up, not to mention the food diaries. (I had so much good food in Spain, including the best meal I’d had in 2 decades.) For now, I’ll leave you with the traditional goofiness.
Guillermo de Connell
[Historical information is primarily gathered from Wikipedia, so you know it must be true.]
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