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Испания Кралство Испания (на испански: Reino de España[2], или Испания (España[3])) е държава, разположена в Югозападна Европа. Намира се на Иберийския полуостров (Пиренейския полуостров), където са и Португалия, Гибралтар и Андора. На североизток, по хребета на планините Пиренеи, е границата с Франция и малкото княжество Андора. Към Испания се числят Балеарските острови в Средиземно море, Канарските острови в Атлантическия океан, градовете Сеута и Мелиля в Северна Африка, както и много необитавани островчета от средиземноморската страна на Гибралтарския проток, например Чафаринските острови, „скалите“ („peñones“) на Велес и Алхусемас, както и малкият остров Алборан. С площ от 504 645 км², Испания е четвъртата по големина държава в Европа след Русия, Украйна и Франция и втора в Европейския съюз. Със средна надморска височина от 650 м, страната е сред най-планинските държави на континента. Според информацията от общинските регистрации от 2010, населението на Испания е 47 150 800. Конституцията на Испания определя испанския език (кастилски) за официален език, който всички граждани трябва да знаят и използват.[3] Испанският е майчин език за 89% от населението на страната. [4] Други испански езици имат коофициален статут в някои автономни региони. Поради географското си положение, територията на Испания е подложена на много външни влияния още от праисторически времена. След женитбата на Католическите монарси Исабела и Фернандо в края на XV век, Испания се обединява и успешно завършва Реконкистата на полуострова от мюсюлманите. С откриването на Америка и последвалата колонизация, страната се превръща в първата глобална империя и най-мощната държава в света. Културното и историческо наследството е видимо и днес, като испанският е вторият най-разпространен език в света и е официален в 21 държави. Според конституцията от 1978 г. Испания е социална и демократична правова държава под формата на парламентарна конституционна монархия. Съвременна Испания е високоразвита индустриално-аграрна страна. Силният следвоенен икономически растеж и развитието на търговията след като става член на Европейския съюз през 1986 г. прави икономиката на страната 13-та в света през 2010 г., с равнище на БВП на човек на населението е над средното за ЕС, преди Италия.[5] Средната продължителност на живота, общественият транспорт, здравеопазването и инфраструктурата са на много високо равнище, което прави Испания 23-та държава в света по Индекс на човешкото развитие.[6] Съдържание - 1 Етимология - 2 География - 3 История - 4 Политика - 5 Икономика и инфраструктура - 6 Население - 7 Култура - 8 Други - 9 Външни препратки - 10 Бележки Етимология[редактиране | edit source] Името Испания произлиза от латинското Hispania, с което римляните назовавали не само земите на древна Иберия, но и целия Пиренейски полуостров. Днес освен Испания на полуострова има още две политически формирования - Португалия и Андора. За първи път Hispania се среща в латински източник около 200 г. пр.н.е. в текста на песента Квинта Ения. Самото име се налага през 1 век в процеса на римското завоюване на Испания и посредством съчиненията на Помпей Трог. Завладяването от страна на Рим продължава близо два века, но преди това голяма част от полуострова е картагенска колония с център Нови Картаген, като именно оттук Ханибал повежда битката на живот и смърт с Древен Рим по време на Втората пуническа война. На финикийски, съответно пунически език, етимологията на името се свързва с нещо скрито или тайно — на иврит: אי-שפניא (i-shfania), което буквално и семантично значи "Остров на заека" или "Скрития остров".[7] Има и друга версия за произхода на името — от баската дума за "граница" или "край", т.е. западен край на света. География[редактиране | edit source] С площ от 504 645 км2, Испания е 51-вата по големина държава в света и втора в Европейския съюз след Франция. Разположена върху по-голямата част от Пиренейския полуостров, на запад Испания граничи с Португалия, на юг с Мароко чрез градовете Сеута и Мелиля. На североизток граничи по Пиренеите с Франция и малкото княжество Андора. Освен това, Испания включва Балеарските острови в Средиземно море и Канарските острови в Атлантическия океан, както и множество ненаселени островчета в Средиземно море, включително Чафаринските острови, остров Перехил, „скалите“ (peñones) Велес и Алхусемас срещу Мароканското крайбрежие; малкият остров Алборан и Питиуските острови. На севроизток, в Пиренеите, е разположен малкият анклав Ливия, обграден от френска територия. Релеф[редактиране | edit source] Вътрешността на Испания се доминира от голямото плато Месета, което заема близо 60% от цялата територия на страната. От север на Месетата се издигат Кантабрийските планини, на изток са разположени Пиренеите, Иберийските планини, Каталонските планини, на юг — Андалуските планини и Сиера Невада с най-високия връх в континентална Испания, Муласен — 3478 m. Месетата е разделена на две почти равни части от средновисоките планини Кордилера Сентрал, които се простират от запад при португалската граница до Иберийските планини на изток. На юг от централното плато се намира депресията на река Гуадалкивир, а на североизток — на Ебро. На Канарските острови има редица вулкани, някои от които са действащи, включително и най-високият връх в Испания, Тейде с 3718 м. Води[редактиране | edit source] Петте най-дълги реки в Испания са Тахо, Дуеро, Гуадиана, Гуадалкивир и Ебро, като всички те без Ебро текат от изток на запад и се вливат в Атлантическия океан. Останалите реки са по-къси и със сезонно пълноводие. По-значителни сред тях са Сегура и Хукар. В испанските Пиренеи има близо 1000 ледникови езера, а по средиземноморското крайбрежие има голям брой лагуни и лимани, като най-обширната от тях е Мар Менор (Mar Menor, Малко море) близо до град Картахена. Из цялата страна са създадени хиляди язовири като част от широкомащабна правителствена програма. Климат[редактиране | edit source] Територията на Испания попада в рамките на три климатични пояса — умерен, субтропичен и тропичен. Климатът в северна Испания е умерен морски, с изразено влияние на Атлантическия океан, което отслабва от запад на изток. Характерно за този климат е влажното време през цялата година. В останалата част от континентална Испания и Балеарските острови климатът е субтропичен — континентален в централните региони с горещо лято, студена зима и големи температурни амплитуди и средиземноморски на юг, отличаващ се със сухо и горещо лято и влажна мека зима. По високите части на Пиренеите и другите планини климатът е планински. На Канарските острови климатът е тропичен, сух на изток и с по-голяма влажност на запад. Флора и фауна[редактиране | edit source] Животинския и растителния свят са най-разнообразните в Европа. Основните фактори за това са разнообразните релеф и климатични условия, както и наличието на островни групи и анклави на североафриканското крайбрежие.[8] Флората на Испания включва повече от 8000 вида висши растения, много от които са ендемити. С особено голям ендемизъм се отличават Канарските острови (500 вида за островите и още 500 за района на Макаронезия[9]) и някои региони в южна Испания. Близо до град Елче се намира единствена в Европа естествена палмова гора. Фауната включва средноевропейски видове, като мечка, вълк, лисица, благороден елен, както и множество южни или ендемични видове, като испански рис, генета, мангуста, десман и други. Там се срещат почти всички европейски грабливи птици. История[редактиране | edit source] Праистория и Иберия[редактиране | edit source] Според археологическите проучвания, проведени в Атапуерка, северна Испания, територията на страната е населявана от хуманоиди от повече от 1 милион години.[10] Първите съвременни хора, кроманьонците, започнали да пристигат от север през Пиренеите преди около 35 000 години. За тяхната култура говорят множество пещерни рисунки в северна Испания по склоновете на Кантабрийските планини, като по-известни са тези в Алтамира, Ел Кастило, Пиндал и други. През неолита и бронзовата ера са съществували добре организирани селища в югоизточните части на страната, включително най-голямото селище в Европа от този период, Лос Миралес близо до Алмерия. Първите народи, които обитавали полуострова са иберийците и келтите, като първите населявали югоизточните райони покрай Средиземно море, а вторите — атлантическия бряг на север и северозапад. В централните части, където е имало интензивни контакти между тях, се образува специфична група, наречена келтибери. Освен това, баски племена населявали западните Пиренеи. Между 500 и 300 г. пр.н.е., финикийците и древните гърци основават техни колонии по средиземноморското крайбрежие на полуострова. По-късно картагенците завладяват цяла южна Испания. Техни основни крепости там са Гадер (Кадис) и Нови Картаген (Картахена). По време на Пуническите войни (264 пр.н.е — 146 пр.н.е.) Картаген е победен от римляните, които ги изместват. Римска Испания[редактиране | edit source] В резултат от Втората пуническа война (218 пр.н.е. — 201 пр.н.е.), Римската република завладява картагенските земи в Испания. Римляните установяват контрол над почти цялата част от страната за повече от 500 години, като въвеждат техните език, закони, пътища.[11] Постепенно местното население се романизира и местните водачи стават част от римската аристокрация. Римляните разширяват и благоустрояват съществуващи градове, като Тарагона (Tarraco) и основават нови включително Сарагоса (Caesaraugusta), Мерида (Augusta Emerita), Валенсия (Valentia), Леон (Legio Septima), Бадахос (Pax Augusta) и други. Икономиката са разраства, като Иберия е сред най-важните доставчици на суровини и селскостопански продукти в империята. Страната е житницата на Римската империя, заедно с Египет и изнася злато, мед, вълна, зехтин, вино. Императорите Траян, Теодосий I и философът Сенека са родени в Иберия. Християнството е въведено в страната през 1 век. По време на упадъка на Римската империя през 5 век в страната нахлуват германски племена. Вестготи, свеви, вандали и алани пристигат в Испания, като пресичат Пиренеите. Романизираните вестготи се заселват там през 415. Те приемат християнството и създават Вестготското кралство, което обхваща по-голямата част от полуострова, след като завладява земи от свевите на северозапад и византийските територии на югозапад. Мюсюлманска Испания[редактиране | edit source] Между 711-718 г. почти целият Иберийски полуостров е превзет от бербери-мюсюлмани, известни също като маври. Раздираното от вътрешни противоречия Вестготско кралство става лесна жертва за ислямските нашественици. Само някои отделни планински области в северната част на полуострова, като Астурия, Навара и няколко графства в Пиренеите успяват да запазят своята независимост. В исляма християните и юдеите са признати като „народи на Книгата“ и могат да практикуват религията си при определени дискриминационни условия.[12][13][14] Въпреки това има няколко вълни на масова ислямизация, особено през Х-ХІ век. Самото ислямско общество имало вътрешни търкания. Имало сблъсък на интереси между берберите от северна Африка, които съставлявали по-голямата част от войската и управляващите араби от Близкия изток. През Х век емирът на Кордоба, който е потомък на династията на Омаядите се провъзгласява за халиф. С течение на времето, големи колонии от маври се установяват най-вече в плодородната долина на Гуадалкивир, крайбрежието на Валенсия и планинските райони около Гранада. През Х век Кордоба, столицата на халифата, става най-големият и богат град в средновековна Европа. Процъфтяват търговията по Средиземно море и културата. Мюсюлманите допринасят с интелектуалните традиции на Близкия изток, а ислямски и еврейски философи от Ал-Андалус възраждат класическата древногръцка школа в Западна Европа. Културата на романизираното местно население се съчетава по уникален начин с тази на мюсюлманите и евреите, което спомага за разцвет на архитектурата и литературата. Нашествениците въвеждат нови селскостопански култури и построяват обширна мрежа от поливни канали, което довежда до силно увеличаване на селскостопанското производство. Ал Андалус — така арабите наричат целия Пиренейски полуостров. Днес само най-южната част на полуострова - Андалусия -е запазила това име. Към ХІ век халифатът се разпада на множество враждуващи по между си държавици, наречени тайфас (на испански taifas), което позволява на малките християнски кралства на север да разширят териториите си и да консолидират своите позиции. Пристигането на нови ислямски вълни от Северна Африка, като Алморавидите и Алмохадите временно спира християнското настъпление и въвежда по-консервативна и по-малко търпима форма на исляма. Въпреки че постигат някои успехи, те се оказват неспособни да се справят с нарастващата военна мощ на християнските кралства. Реконкиста[редактиране | edit source] Терминът „реконкиста“ (reconquista, отвоюване) обозначава седемвековния период между началото на 8 в. и края на 15 в., през който северните християнски кралства Кастилия, Навара, Леон, Арагон и Португалия отвоюват обратно южните иберийски земи, поробени от Арабския халифат. Смята се, че Реконкистата започва с успешната битка при Ковадонга през 722, когато кралят на Астурия Рамиро побеждава мюсюлманите. През 732 ислямските армии са разбити от краля на франките Карл Мартел в битка при Поатие, което ги принуждава да се изтеглят на юг и да осигурят стабилна граница по реките Ебро и Дуеро. През 739 г. те са прогонени от Галисия, която впоследствие се превръща в третия по важност поклоннически център в християнския свят с катедралата в Сантяго де Компостела. Няколко години по-късно франките успяват да завладеят най-североизточните части на Испания, като създават Испанската марка, от която включва части от Навара, Арагон и Каталония.[15] По-късно от тези територии се обособили няколко държави. Първото испанско кралство е Астурия, обособило се след битката при Ковадонга. През 910 столицата на кралството е преместена от Овиедо в Леон и то става известно като Кралство Леон. През 11 век Кралство Кастилия, дотогава погранично графство се откъсва от Леон, а от 13 век двете държави се обединяват. Малко по на изток през 824 се създава кралство Навара, а в североизточните райони се образува Кралство Арагон след обединението между едноименното кралство и графство Барселона. През 1139 от Леон се откъсва Португалия. В началото на 11 век, кралят на Навара Санчо Гарсия успява да завладее Кастилия, няколко графства в Пиренеите и да направи краля на Леон свой васал, но след смъртта му през 1035, страната е разделена между синовете му. Разпадането на Ал-Андалус улеснило разширяването на християнските кралства. През 1085 кралят на Кастилия Алфонсо Мъдрия завладява Толедо, с което цялата северна част на полуострова е освободена. През 12 век Алморавидите успяват да нанесат няколко поражения на испанците, но не успяват да спрат тяхното настъпление. През 1212 в решителната битка при Лас Навас де Толоса обединените армии на Кастилия, Арагон и Навара разбиват Алмохадите. Няколко десетилетия по-късно са отвоювани големите градове по долината на Гуадалкивир. През 1236 пада Кордоба, а през 1248 е завладяна и Севиля. Мюсюлманите успяват да задържат само емирство Гранада, което просъществува още над 200 години като васално княжество на Кастилия.[16] Нови нашествия от Северна Африка през 13 век не успяват да възстановят мюсюлманското владичество. По същото време, Арагон успява да се разшири в западното Средиземноморие — завладени са Балеарските острови и Сицилия.[17] През 1469 короните на Кастилия и Арагон са обединени с женитбата на Фернандо II, престолонаследник на Арагон и Исабела, принцеса на Кастилия, с което се поставя началото на обединена Испания. През 1478 е завършено завладяването на Канарските острови, а през 1492 е превзета и Гранада, последната мюсюлманска крепост на полуострова, което приключва 781-годишното ислямско присъствие в Испания.[18] През същата 1492 година испанската експедиция, водена от Христофор Колумб и спонсорирана от кралица Исабела, открива Новия свят. Фернандо и Исабела били представители на Ренесанса, от така наречените „нови монарси“. Те централизирали държавната власт в ръцете на владетеля за сметка на аристокрацията. С техните широкомащабни политически, юридически, религиозни и военни реформи, Испания се превръща в първата световна сила. Испания като световна сила[редактиране | edit source] Обединението на Кастилия и Арагон и последвалото присъединяване на Навара през 1512 поставят основите на съвременна Испания и Испанската империя. През 16 и 17 век Испания е най-мощната страна в Европа и света. Страната достига върха на своята сила при кралете Карлос I (1516-1556) и Фелипе II (1556-1598). През 1571 флотите на Испания и Венеция унищожават османския флот в битката при Лепанто, а през 1586 при Азорските острови е разбита обединената флота на Франция, Англия и Португалия. В няколко последователни войни през 16 век Франция е разгромена, а през 1580 е завладяна и Португалия. През 1588 Испанската Армада отплава към Англия, но е силно повредена от буря, а след няколко малки сражения с англичаните, в които не губи нито един кораб, се оттегля на север, където много кораби потъват при друга буря. Англичаните предприемат няколко атаки към испанските владения, които са разбити. Войната с Англия продължава до 1605 и приключва с изгоден за Испания договор. В началото на 16 век испанските конкистадори завладяват огромни територии в Америка. През 1521 Ернандо Кортес унищожава империята на ацтеките, а през 1533 друг испанец, Франсиско Писаро завладява империята на инките. През 1519-1522, експедицията водена от Фернандо Магелан прави първото околосветско пътешествие, с което кръглата форма на Земята е окончателно доказана. Испанските колонии се простират в Централна и Южна Америка, Мексико, южните и западните части от САЩ, Филипините, Гуам, а от 1580 и португалските колонии в Бразилия, африканското крайбрежие, части от Индия, Макао и други. Испания става известна като империята, където слънцето никога не залязва. Освен ценни метали, скъпоценности и нови култури, испанските изследователи донасят в Европа знания, които променят представите за света.[19] По това време испанската култура е в период на разцвет, познат като Златния век (Siglo de oro). В Испания творят световноизвестни художници, писатели, архитекти; появява се интелектуално течение, познато като Школата от Саламанка. Към средата на 16 век започва да се чувства криза, която постепенно обхваща цялата империя. Испанските Хабсбурги замесват страната в многобройни религиозни и политически конфликти, които постепенно изтощават ресусрсите на Испания. През Тридесетгодишната война (1618-1648), Испания застава на страната на Католическата лига и въпреки че успява да затвърди и разшири католицизма в Германия, страната претърпята първото си голямо поражение от векове — през 1643 испанската армия е победена от французите в битката при Рокроа. През 1640 година избухват въстания в Португалия и Каталония, като първата успява да се откъсне от властта на испанския крал. Войната с Франция продължава до 1656 и приключва с Пиренейския мир. До края на века, страната е често във война с французи, англичани, холандци, португалци и османци и въпреки няколко малки териториални загуби, успява да съхрани империята си почти непокътната. През 1700 умира последният испански Хабсбург, Карлос II и спорът за испанския трон прераства във Войната за испанското наследство (1701-1714). Войната струва на страната всичките ѝ европейски владения и е сериозен удар върху позициите на Испания като европейска сила. По време на войната, на трона стъпва нова династия, Бурбоните. През 18 век, страната постепенно се възстановява и империята просперира. Новата Бурбонска монархия модернизира администрацията и икономиката по френски модел. Започват да проникват идеи от Просвещението, а към края на века търговията отбелязва силен подем. Страната се възстановява и във военно отношение — още при Фелипе V (1700-1741), Испания си възвръща Сицилия и Южна Италия, а по-късно сериозно допринася за победата над Англия в Американската война за независимост, което подобрява международното ѝ положение. Деветнадесети век[редактиране | edit source] През 1793 г.Испания обявява война на революционна Франция, където Бурбонския крал Луи XVI е свален и екзекутиран. Войната поляризира испанското общество, тъй като народът мрази и презира франкофонския елит. Испанските армии са победени на бойното поле и през 1795 г. страната е принудена да сключи мир с Франция, а на следващата година обявява война на Англия и Португалия. Окаяното икономическо положение и други фактори водят до абдикацията на Карлос IV в полза на сина му Фернандо, но след нашествието на Наполеон крал става неговият брат Жозеф Бонапарт. Новият чуждестранен монарх е посрещнат с възмущение. На 2 май 1808 г. в Мадрид избухва народно въстание срещу френските окупатори, което прераства в Испанската война за независимост. Във всички провинции се създават регионални армии от доброволци и бивши офицери и войници от армията. Те успяват да нанесат няколко поражения на французите, но след личната намеса на Наполеон са победени поради липсата на координация и снаряжение. На Наполеон се противопоставя английски експедиционен корпус под ръководството на херцог Уелингтън, който с помощта на испанците окончателно изтласква французите от полуострова през 1814 г. През 1812 г. на събранието на Кортесите (Парламента) в Кадис е приета една от първите в света либерални конституции. Френското нашествие съсипва икономиката и разделя испанското общество, което довежда до политическа нестабилност, продължила повече от век. Националноосвободителните движения в Латинска Америка се възползват от затрудненията на метрополията и след 25 годишна война почти всички американски колонии на Испания извоюват независимостта си, с изключение на Куба и Пуерто Рико. През 19 век се водят няколко последователни граждански войни, които влошават още повече ситуацията в страната. През 1898 г. след испано-американската война със САЩ са загубени и Куба, Пуерто Рико, Филипините и Гуам. Съвременна история[редактиране | edit source] Двадесети век не носи мир на Испания — страната участва в колонизацията на Африка и завладява Испанско Мароко, Западна Сахара и Екваториална Гвинея. Тежките загуби във войната в Риф срещу берберите подкопават монархията. Установен е авторитарен режим под ръководството на генерал Примо де Ривера (1923-1931), който завършва със създаването на Втората испанска република. Новото правителство предлага автономия на Галиция, Баския и Каталония и избирателни права на жените. След кървавата Гражданска война в Испания (1936-1939), Републиката е свалена от генерал Франсиско Франко, който установява авторитарен режим до смъртта си през 1975. Непосредствено след Втората световна война, Испания е изолирана политически и икономически, поради близостта на Франко с Хитлер и Мусолини. Страната е приета за член на ООН през 1955, когато страната започва да излиза от автархията и изолацията. От 60-те години испанската икономика отбелязва безпрецедентен растеж, който става известен като „Испанското чудо“. Според завещанието на Франко, след неговата смърт през 1975 принц Хуан Карлос I става крал. През октомври 1977 г. в замъка Монклоа се сключва споразумението Монклоа: споразумение между политици, партии и търговски съюзи как да се планира и провежда икономиката по време на прехода от диктатура към демокрация. Споразумението се разглежда като първото демократично в Испания. В резултат на това споразумение, новата испанска конституция е одобрена от референдум на 6 декември 1978 и Испания става демократична държава и предоставя автономия на всичките си провинции. През 1986 страната става член на Европейския съюз, което дава нов тласък на икономиката. От близо 50 години правителството на Испания се бори с баската терористична организация ЕТА, която иска да откъсне Баския от кралството. Политика[редактиране | edit source] Държавно устройство[редактиране | edit source] Според настоящата конституция, приета на референдум през 1978 г., Испания е парламентарна монархия, начело с наследствен монарх, Хуан Карлос I - от 22 ноември 1975 г., и двукамарен парламент (Cortes Generales). Законодателна власт се осъществява от Генерални кортеси (парламент), състоящ се от две палати — Сенат (Горна палата - 256 души) и Конгрес на депутатите (350 души), избрани за 4 години. Изпълнителна власт се осъществява от правителство начело с министър-председател, който на испански се нарича президент. Освен това страната е разделена на 17 автономни региона и два автономни града с различна степен на самостоятелност, които имат свои парламенти и правителства, с широки пълномощия. Административно деление[редактиране | edit source] Политически Испания е разделена на 17 автономни области — на север - Галисия, Астурия, Кантабрия, Паис Баско, Ла Риоха и Навара; на изток - Арагон, Каталония, Валенсия и Балеарски острови; в централната част - Кастилия и Леон, Мадрид, Кастилия-Ла Манча и Естремадура; на юг - Андалусия, Мурсия и Канарски острови. Освен това съществуват два автономни града по африканското крайбрежие, Сеута и Мелиля. Сегашните автономни области са образувани през 1983. По територия най-големият регион е Кастилия и Леон, а най-малкият — Балеарските острови. С най-много население е Андалусия, а с най-малко е Ла Риоха. Административно, страната е разделена и на 50 провинции. Седем автономни региона се състоят от по една провинция — Астурия, Кантабрия, Навара, Ла Риоха, Мадрид, Мурсия и Балеарските острови. Най-ниската административна единица в Испания е общината (municipio), като техният брой е 8 111. Исторически, някои региони са разделени на комарки (comarcas), които имат различен произход и значение в отделните региони, като в Каталония представляват историческите графства. Автономните области са с широка законодателна и изпълнителна независимост, обезпечена от автономно парламентарно и регионално управление. Правомощията на отделните области се определят от техния статут на автономност. Има известно разделяне на така наречените исторически области (Баския, Каталония, Галисия и Андалусия) от останалите. Историческите области имат по-широка автономност, включително контрол върху местните избори. Въоръжени сили[редактиране | edit source] Според член осми на конституцията, въоръжените сили трябва да гарантират суверенитета и независимостта на Испания и да защитават нейната териториална цялост и конституционен ред. Общият персонал към 2011 г. се състои от 230 000 човека[20] с бюджет от € 6 868 000 000 или 0,5% от БВП.[21] Традиционно въоръжените сили се делят на сухопътни, военноморски и военновъздушни сили. Към тях се числи и Кралската гвардия, чиито задачи са свързани основно с поддържане на сигурността. Испания е сред важните членове на НАТО от 1982 г. и разполага с шестия най-силен флот на света. Испанските морски пехотинци са най-старата институция в този род войски, като корпусът е създаден през 1537 г. Към 2011 г. на мисии извън страната са 2,600 военни в Афганистан, Босна и Херцеговина, Джибути, Кения, Ливан и Чад. Икономика и инфраструктура[редактиране | edit source] Стопанство[редактиране | edit source] Според Световната банка, икономиката на Испания е девета по големина в света и пета в Европа. За 2007 БВП на човек от населението е $ 33,700 с което Испания задминава някои страни от Г-7, като Италия и се нарежда непосредствено след Япония и Франция (чиито БВП е $ 33,800). Растежът на испанската икономика за 2007 е 3,7% като по този показател изпреварва всички членове на Г-7 и другите големи европейски икономики за трета поредна година. Правителството на Хосе Мария Аснар успешно въвежда еврото в началото на 1999 г. и кешово от 1 януари 2002 г.[22], успява да се справи с безработицата, която става 7,6% и се нарежда сред най-ниските в Европа за 2005 (през 90-те години безработицата достига 20%). Главната слабост на икономиката е сравнително високата инфлация[23], но въпреки това испанската икономика има потенциал да нараства с по-бързи темпове от средните за ЕС, благодарение на индустрията и увеличаващата се търговия с Латинска Америка и Азия. Преди световната криза икономиката на Испания успява да избегне нулевия растеж за разлика от повечето други големи европейски страни.[24] Между 2000 г. и 2005 г. Испания създава половината нови работни места в целия Европейски съюз.[25] До 2008 г., тя продължава да има една от най-динамичните икономики в ЕС и привлича много чужди инвестиции.[26] В резултат на кризата обаче икономиката се свива и се стига до рецесия през 2009 г. и 2010 г., безработицата се увеличава от 7,6% до над 20%. Съвременна Испания е високо развита индустриално-аграрна страна. По обем на промишлено производство е на пето място в Европа и на осмо място в света. Най-силно развити промишлени отрасли са машиностроене, автомобилостроене, корабостроене, самолетостроене, автомобилостроене, електротехническа, химическа, текстилна промишленост. Страната е богата на полезни изкопаеми. Испания е голям производител на вино (3-то място в Европа), ориз (най-високи добиви в света), бадеми, тютюн, маслини (на първо място в света по производство на висококачествен зехтин). Най-големите автомобилостроителни заводи се намират в Марторел (близо до Барселона), Виго, Сарагоса, Валенсия, Мадрид, Памплона, Барселона, Валядолид, Паленсия. Самолети се произвеждат в Севиля (два завода), Хетафе (близо до Мадрид) и Кадис, а хеликоптери — в новия завод в Албасете. Най-големите центрове на локомотиво- и вагоностроенето са Лас Матас (до Мадрид), Сан Андрео Комтал (до Барселона), Беасаин и Ирун (в Баския), Сарагоса, Валенсия и други. Там се произвеждат едни от най-бързите влакове в света. Важен дял в икономиката на страната има международният туризъм. Годишно Испания се посещава от около 60 млн. туристи (95% от тях са от Западна Европа). Страната притежава най-голямата в Европа леглова база за обслужване на многобройните посетители. Голяма част от населението е ангажирано в сферата на туристическото обслужване, а приходите от туризма се равняват на 40 млрд. евро.[27] До икономическата криза, строителството отбелязва силно развитие. Средно на всеки испанец се пада по 45 m² обща площ на жилище (2005 г). За сравнение: В Узбекистан на всеки жител се пада средно 14 m²,в Русия - 20,5 m², в България и Унгария - по 30 m², в Ирландия - по 33 m², в Португалия - по 36 m², във Франция - 37 m², в Германия - 44 m², в Дания - 52 m², в Люксембург - 53 m², в Швеция и Белгия - по 55 m². Делът на собствениците на жилища възлиза на 87% от населението. По този показател Испания заема първо място в ЕС. Транспорт[редактиране | edit source] През по-голямата част от 20 век, транспортната инфраструктура на Испания значително изостава от тази в Западна Европа, но от 70-те години насам, тя е силно разширена и модернизирана и сега Испания разполага с една от най-големите и качествени транспортни системи в Европа. Дължината на асфалтираните шосета е над 650,000 километра, а на автомагистралите — над 15,621 км, по което отстъпва само на САЩ и Китай. Автомагистралната мрежа продължава да се разширява с бързи темпове. Испания цели да има над 1,000,000 електрически автомобила до 2014 г., като част от правителствения план за енергийна ефективност. Според министъра на промишлеността Мигел Себастиан, електрическите автомобили са двигателя на нова индустриална революция.[28] За периода 2000-2010 са инвестирани над 40 млрд. евро в железопътната мрежа на страната. Испания има най-голямата високоскоростна железопътна мрежа в Европа и втора в света след Китай.[29][30] Към октомври 2010 са построени 3,500 км високоскоростни линии, като Мадрид-Севиля с отклонение до Малага; Мадрид-Сарагоса-Барселона с отклонение до Уеска, Мадрид-Валенсия а много повече са в строеж или процес на планиране. Под Кордилера Сентрал се строи тунелът Гуадарама, който с дължината си от 24 км ще бъде втория по дължина в Европа, а под Кантабрийските планини се строи друг 20-километров тунел. Със средна скорост достигаща 300 км/ч, испанските влакове AVE са най-бързите в света, следвани японските и френските TGV[31], а по точност (98,54%) са втори след японските Шинкансен.[32] Силно развит е морският транспорт — над 400 кораба с обща вместимост 3,200 хил. тона. Най-големите морски пристанища са Алхесирас, Билбао, Картахена, Санта Крус де Тенерифе, Барселона, Валенсия, Ла Коруня и други. В страната има над 30 международни летища, най-голямото от които е мадридското Барахас с над 49,8 млн. пътници за 2010 г. Други големи летища са тези в Барселона, Палма де Майорка, Малага. Линията Мадрид-Барселона е най-натоварената въздушна линия в света с полети на всеки половин час и е известна като „въздушен мост“. Население[редактиране | edit source] През 2007 населението на Испания официално достигна 45 200 000 души.[33][34] Гъстотата на населението от 90 човека на км2 е по-ниска от тази на повечето европейски държави, а разположението му е неравномерно. С изключение на Мадрид, долината на река на Гуадалкивир и някои градски ядра, най-гъстонаселените райони са крайбрежието и прилежащите низини. Населението на Испания се удвоява през 20 век, благодарение на забележителния бум на раждаемостта през 60-те и 70-те години. Растежът на населението е неравномерен поради голямата вътрешна миграция от селските към индустриалните райони. През 20 век населението на единадесет от петдесетте провинции е намаляло. Раждаемостта спада през 70-те години, но населението продължава да се увеличава след завръщането на много испанци, емигрирали от страната по време на режима на Франко, а в последно време и от много чужди емигранти, най-вече от Латинска Америка (38.75%), Източна Европа (16.33%), Северна Африка (14.99%) и Африка на юг от Сахара (4.08%).[35] Около 20.77% от емигрантите идват от други страни от Европейския съюз и живеят главно по средиземноморското крайбрежие и Балеарските острови. Най-големите градове в Испания са: Преобладаващата религия е християнството - 97,6% от населението (от тях католици - 97,4 %, протестанти - 2,6 %). Според Глава 2 от Конституцията, Испания няма официална религия, но все пак католицизмът остава традиционната религия. Според проучване на Испанския център за социологически проучвания, 54% от вярващите ходят рядко на църква или изобщо не ходят, 15% ходят на църква няколко пъти годишно, 10% няколко пъти месечно и 19% ходят на църква всяка неделя или няколко пъти седмично. Около 22% от населението на страната посещава църковни служби поне веднъж месечно. Испанската конституция от 1976 признава съществуването на региони като част от Испанската нация. Основните етнически групи са кастилци, каталонци, галисийци и баски (2,4%). Освен кастилския испански, който е официалният език в страната, в някои части на Испания се говорят още каталонски, галисийски и баски, като те са официални наред с кастилския в съответните автономни региони. Култура[редактиране | edit source] Испания е прочута с богатото си и разнообразно културно наследство. Испанската култура е повлияна от многобройните народи, населявали Пиренейския полуостров през вековете - иберийци, келти, римляни, ислямско и католическо влияние. Освен това, свое влияние оказват и Атлантическия океан и Средиземно море, които се явяват връзка с други народи по техните брегове. Днес всяка област в страната има свой собствен културен облик. Испания е втора в света след Италия по брой на обектите в Списъка на световното културно и природно наследство на ЮНЕСКО - общо 40. Други[редактиране | edit source] Външни препратки[редактиране | edit source] - ((es)) Посолство на Испания в България - ((es)) Официална страница на кралското семейство - ((en)) Информация за Испания на страницата на испанското правителство - ((en)) Испански статистически институт, статистическа информация за Испания Бележки[редактиране | edit source] - ↑ Población padronal a 1 de enero de 2011. Instituto Nacional de Estadística - ↑ El Pais - Reyno de España - ↑ а б Предварителни положения на Конституцията на Испания. - ↑ Според Eurobarómetro (24/02/2006). - ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html - ↑ Индекс на човешкото развитие за 2011 - ↑ Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géographie, t. iv., p. 318. - ↑ Palomo L. Secem Atlas y Libro Rojo de mamíferos terrestres de España, 2007, ISBN: 9788480147118, с. 586 - ↑ Gil González, Introducción a la flora vascular de Canarias - ↑ 'First west Europe tooth' found. // BBC News, 30 June 2007. - ↑ Payne, Stanley G.. A History of Spain and Portugal; Ch. 1 Ancient Hispania. // The Library of Iberian Resources Online, 1973. - ↑ The Treatment of Jews in Arab/Islamic Countries - ↑ The Forgotten Refugees - ↑ The Almohads - ↑ Rinehart, Robert и др. A Country Study: Spain — Castile and Aragon. // Library of Congress Country Series, 1998. - ↑ Payne, Stanley G.. A History of Spain and Portugal; Ch. 4 Castile-León in the Era of the Great Reconquest. // The Library of Iberian Resources Online, 1973. - ↑ Payne, Stanley G.. A History of Spain and Portugal; Ch. 5 The Rise of Aragón-Catalonia. // The Library of Iberian Resources Online, 1973. - ↑ Договорът от Гранада (вижте Договорът от Гранада, 1492) гарантиращ религиозна толерантност на мюсюлманите. - ↑ Thomas, Hugh. Rivers of gold: the rise of the Spanish Empire. London, George Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2003. с. passim. - ↑ Estadística de personal militar de complemento, militar profesional de tropa y marinería y reservista voluntario, 2008 - ↑ Presupuestos del Ministerio de Defensa para el año 2010 - ↑ В "eu4journalists" - ↑ Spain's Economy: Closing the Gap, in the OECD Observer, May 2005. свалено на 8 юли 2007. - ↑ OECD figures - ↑ Economic statistics - ↑ Official report on Spanish recent Macroeconomics, including tables and graphics - ↑ Bank of Spain economic report. - ↑ Spain to Put 1 million Electric Cars on the Road. // Triplepundit.com, 30 July 2008. Посетен на 19 November 2008. - ↑ The Need for Speed–High Speed Rail in Europe: Do You Speak Spanish? Europe on Track. // Blog.raileurope.com. - ↑ Spain has developed Europe's largest high-speed rail network | Olive Press Newspaper | News. // Theolivepress.es. - ↑ El AVE español, el más veloz del mundo y el segundo en puntualidad. // www.elmundo.es, 10 November 2010. Посетен на 5 June 2011. - ↑ Spain powers ahead with high-speed rail. // www.railpro.co.uk, January 2010. Посетен на 5 June 2011. - ↑ http://www.ine.es/prensa/np457.pdf - ↑ Elpais.com - ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadística - Австрия - Азербайджан5 - Албания - Андора - Беларус - Белгия - Босна и Херцеговина - България - Ватикан6 - Германия - Грузия5 - Гърция - Дания - Естония - Испания2 - Ирландия - Исландия - Италия2 - Казахстан1 - Кипър5, 6 - Латвия - Литва - Лихтенщайн6 - Люксембург - Малта - Молдова - Монако - Нидерландия4 - Норвегия - Обединено кралство - Полша - Португалия2 - Република Македония - Румъния - Русия1 - Сан Марино - Сърбия - Словакия6 - Словения - Суверенен Малтийски орден - Турция1 - Украйна - Унгария - Финландия - Франция2, 3, 4 - Хърватия - Черна гора - Чехия6 - Швейцария - Швеция
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History of Spain The history of Spain involves all the other peoples and nations within the Iberian peninsula formerly known as Hispania, and includes still today the nations of Andorra, Portugal and Spain, and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It spans from prehistoric Iberia, through the rise and decline of a global empire, to the recent history of Spain as a member of the European Union. Modern humans entered the Iberian Peninsula about 32,000 years ago. Different populations and cultures followed over the millennia, including the Iberians, the Tartessians, Celts and Celtiberians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Suebi and Visigoths. In 711, the Moors, a Berber and Arab army, invaded and conquered nearly the entire peninsula. During the next 750 years, independent Muslim states were established, and the entire area of Muslim control became known as Al-Andalus. Meanwhile the Christian kingdoms in the north began the long and slow recovery of the peninsula, a process called the Reconquista, which was concluded in 1492 with the fall of Granada. Over time, various petty kingdoms and other states[clarification needed] on the peninsula began to coalesce into larger states.[1] Three kingdoms came to dominate Iberia by the 15th century, those being the Kingdom of Portugal, Kingdom of Castile, and Kingdom of Aragon. The dynastic union of the crowns of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon in 1492 is seen frequently as the starting pont of the unification of the modern kingdom of Spain.[2] Although colloquially and literarily the expression "King of Spain" or "King of the Spains" was already widespread,[3] and the two crowns were ruled by the same monarch, they retained their individual institutions and identity until 1812, with the enactment of the Spanish Constitution of 1812.[4] Portugal was briefly also ruled by the House of Habsburg with Castile and Aragon in the Iberian Union, but this short-lived arrangement was never popular in Portugal; Portugal after 60 years refused to be ruled by the Habsburg king. The first voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World took place in 1492 as well, beginning the development of the Spanish Empire. The Inquisition was established and Jews and Muslims who refused to convert were expelled from the country. For the next century and a half, Spain was the most powerful state[clarification needed] in Europe and the largest overseas empire in the world for three centuries. Spanish literature and fine arts, scholarship and philosophy flourished during the 16th and 17th centuries. Spain established a vast empire in the Americas, stretching from California to Patagonia, and colonies in the western Pacific. Financed in part by the riches pouring in from its colonies, Spain became embroiled in the religiously charged wars and intrigues of Europe, including, for example, through its possessions in western Europe, engaging in wars with France, England, Sweden, and the Ottomans and in the Mediterranean and northern Africa. Spain's European wars led to economic damage, and the latter part of the 17th century saw a gradual decline of power under an increasingly neglectful and inept Habsburg regime. The decline culminated in the War of Spanish Succession, which ended with the relegation of Spain to the status of a second rate western power, although it remained, with Russia, the leading colonial power of the 18th century. The 18th century saw a new dynasty, the Bourbons, which directed considerable efforts towards the renewal of state institutions, with some success, finishing in a successful involvement in the American War of Independence. However, as the century ended, a reaction set in with the accession of a new monarch. The end of the 18th and the start of the 19th centuries saw turmoil unleashed throughout Europe by the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, which led to French occupation of much of the continent, including Spain. This triggered a successful but devastating war for Spanish independence that shattered the country and created an opening for what would ultimately be the successful independence of Spain's mainland American colonies. Fragmented by the war, Spain was destabilised as different political parties representing "liberal", "reactionary" and "moderate" groups throughout the remainder of the century fought for and won short-lived control without any being sufficiently strong to bring about lasting stability. Nationalist movements emerged in the last significant remnants of the old empire (Cuba and the Philippines) which led to a brief war with the United States (1898) and the loss of the remaining old colonies at the end of the century. It was only in the constitution of 1812 that the name "Españas" for the Spanish kingdom and the use of the title of "King of the Spains" were officially adopted .[5] The constitution of 1876 adopted for the first time the name "España" ("Spain") for the Spanish nation, and from then on monarchs used the title of "King of Spain".[6] Following a period of growing political instability in the early 20th century, in 1936 Spain was plunged into a bloody civil war. The war ended in a nationalist dictatorship, led by Francisco Franco, which controlled the Spanish government until 1975. Spain was officially neutral during World War II (1939-1945), although many Spanish volunteers fought on both sides. 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. The death of Franco in 1975 resulted in the return of the Bourbon monarchy headed by Prince Juan Carlos. While tensions remain (for example, with Muslim immigrants and in the Basque region), modern Spain has seen the development of a robust, modern democracy as a constitutional monarchy with popular King Juan Carlos, one of the fastest-growing standards of living in Europe, entry into the European Community, and the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1982 World Cup. [edit] Early history The earliest record of hominids living in Europe has been found in the Spanish cave of Atapuerca; fossils found there date to roughly 1.2 million years ago.[7] 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 instances of cave art.[8] Furthermore, archeological evidence in places like Los Millares and El Argar, both in the province of Almería, suggests developed cultures existed in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula during the late Neolithic and the Bronze Age.[9] The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians successively settled along the Mediterranean Sea near Tartessos, modern day Cádiz. According to John Koch,[10] Cunliffe, Karl, Wodtko and other scholars, Celtic culture may have developed first in far Southern Portugal and Southwestern Spain, approximately 500 years prior to anything recorded in Central Europe.[11][12] The Tartessian language from the southwest of the Iberian peninsula, written in a version of the Phoenician script in use around 825 BC, which John T. Koch has claimed to be able to readily translate, has been accepted by a number of philologists and other linguists as the first attested Celtic language,[10][13][14] but the linguistic mainstream continues to treat Tartessian as an unclassified (Pre-Indo-European?) language,[15][16] and Koch's view of the evolution of Celtic is not generally accepted. In the 9th century BC, the first Greek colonies, such as Emporion (modern Empúries), were founded along the Mediterranean coast on the east, leaving the south coast to the Phoenicians. The Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia, apparently after the river Iber (Ebro in Spanish). In the 6th century BC, the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia, struggling first 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).[17] The native peoples whom the Romans met at the time of their invasion in what is now known as Spain were the Iberians, inhabiting an area stretching from the southwest part of the Peninsula through the northeast part of it, and then the Celts, mostly inhabiting the north and northwest part of the Peninsula. In the inner part of the Peninsula, where both groups were in contact, a mixed, distinctive, culture arose, called Celtiberian.[7] The Celtiberian Wars or Spanish Wars were fought between the advancing legions of the Roman Republic and the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior from 181 to 133 BC.[18][19] [edit] Roman Hispania Hispania was divided: Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior during the late Roman Republic; during the Roman Empire, Hispania Taraconensis in the northeast, Hispania Baetica in the south (roughly corresponding to Andalucia), and Lusitania in the southwest (corresponding to modern Portugal).[20] The base Celtiberian population remained in various stages of Romanisation,[21] and local leaders were admitted into the Roman aristocratic class.[22] The Romans improved existing cities, such as Tarragona (Tarraco), and established others like Zaragoza (Caesaraugusta), Mérida (Augusta Emerita), Valencia (Valentia), León ("Legio Septima"), Badajoz ("Pax Augusta"), and Palencia.[23] The peninsula's economy expanded under Roman tutelage. Hispania supplied Rome with food, olive oil, wine and metal. The emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Theodosius I, the philosopher Seneca, and the poets Martial, Quintilian, and Lucan were born in Spain. Spanish Bishops held the Council of Elvira around 306. 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 and Germania Inferior during the Dark Ages, although the institutions, infrastructure and economy did suffer considerable degradation. Spain's present languages, its religion, and the basis of its laws originate from this period. The centuries of uninterrupted Roman rule and settlement left a deep and enduring imprint upon the culture of Spain. [edit] Germanic Rule of Hispania (5th–8th centuries) The first Germanic tribes to invade Hispania arrived in the 5th century, as the Roman Empire decayed.[24] The Visigoths, Suebi, Vandals and Alans arrived in Spain by crossing the Pyrenees mountain range.[25] 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.[22][26] After the decline of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes invaded the former empire. Several turned sedentary and created successor-kingdoms to the Romans in various parts of Europe. Iberia was taken over by the Visigoths after 410.[27] In the Iberian peninsula, as elsewhere, the Empire fell not with a bang but with a whimper. Rather than there being any convenient date for the "fall of the Roman Empire" there was a progressive "de-Romanization" of the Western Roman Empire in Hispania and a weakening of central authority, throughout the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries.[28] At the same time, there was a process of "Romanization" of the Germanic and Hunnic tribes settled on both sides of the limes (the fortified frontier of the Empire along the Rhine and Danube rivers). The Visigoths, for example, were converted to Arian Christianity around 360, even before they were pushed into imperial territory by the expansion of the Huns.[29] In the winter of 406, taking advantage of the frozen Rhine, the (Germanic) Vandals and Sueves, and the (Sarmatian) Alans invaded the empire in force. Three years later they crossed the Pyrenees into Iberia and divided the Western parts, roughly corresponding to modern Portugal and western Spain as far as Madrid, between them.[30] The Visigoths meanwhile, 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 influence 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. Importantly, Spain never saw a decline in interest in classical culture to the degree observable in Britain, Gaul, Lombardy and Germany. The Visigoths 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. 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 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 Córdoba. Spanish catholic religion also coalesced during this time. The period of rule by the Visigothic Kingdom saw the spread of Arianism briefly in Spain.[31] 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. 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 Spain's Visigothic kings and legitimized their rule was responsible for raising the army, and only upon its consent was the king able to summon soldiers. The impact of Visigothic rule was not widely felt on society at large, and certainly not compared to the vast bureaucracy 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 benefit, 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 the Visigothic language left only the faintest mark on the modern languages of Iberia.[32] The most visible effect 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.[32] [edit] Islamic al-Andalus and the Christian Reconquista (8th–15th centuries) The Arab Islamic conquest dominated most of North Africa by 640 AD. In 711 an Islamic Berber and Arab raiding party, led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad, was sent to Iberia to intervene in a civil war in the Visigothic Kingdom. 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. Tariq's commander, Musa bin Nusair, quickly crossed with reinforcements, and by 718 the Muslims were in control of nearly the whole Iberian Peninsula. The advance into Western Europe was only stopped in what is now north-central France by the West Germanic Franks under Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732. A decisive victory for the Christian 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 Christians rebels in the northern mountains was defeated by Pelagius 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 first Arab dynasty of Al-Andalus). It was this tactic that supported the ultimate expansion to Spain. Caliph Al-Walid I's reign is considered as the apex of Islamic power[citation needed], though Islamic power in Spain specifically climaxed in the 10th century under Abd-ar-Rahman III.[33] The rulers of Al-Andalus were granted the rank of Emir by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I in Damascus. Emir Abd-ar-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 Córdoba an independent emirate. Al-Andalus was rife with internal conflict between the Islamic Umayyad rulers and people and the Christian Visigoth-Roman leaders and people. In the 10th century Abd-ar-rahman III – from Hejaz, Arabian peninsula, grandson of the last caliph of Damascus, Syria – declared the Caliphate of Córdoba, effectively breaking all ties with the Egyptian and Syrian caliphs. The Caliphate was mostly concerned with maintaining its power base in North Africa, but these possessions eventually dwindled to the Ceuta province. The first navy of the Caliph of Córdoba or Emir was built after the humiliating Viking ascent of the Guadalquivir in 844 when they sacked Seville.[34] In 942, pagan Magyars (present day Hungary) raided across Europe as far west as Al-Andalus.[34] Meanwhile, a slow but steady migration of Christian subjects to the northern kingdoms in Christian Hispania was slowly increasing the latter's power. Even so, Al-Andalus remained vastly superior to all the northern kingdoms combined in population, economy and military might; and internal conflict between the Christian kingdoms contributed to keep them relatively harmless.[citation needed] 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-ar-Rahman III 912; the Granada massacre 1066).[35] 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.[36] After his son's 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. The Taifa kingdoms lost ground to the Christian realms in the north and, 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. In the 12th century the Almoravid empire broke up again, only to be taken over by the Almohad invasion, who were defeated by an alliance of the Christian kingdoms in the decisive battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. By 1250, nearly all of Iberia was back under Christian rule with the exception of the small Muslim kingdom of Granada. Medieval Spain was the scene of almost constant warfare between Muslims and Christians. The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids' Maghribi and al-Andalus territories by 1147, surpassed the Almoravides in fundamentalist Islamic outlook, and they treated the non-believer dhimmis harshly. Faced with the choice of death, conversion, or emigration, many Jews and Christians left.[37] The Christian kingdoms to the North had also, at times, treated Muslims harshly. The treatment towards Jews at this time in Iberia varied greatly between and within the different Muslim and Christian kingdoms. 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 effects exerted on the peninsula by Muslims in technology, culture, and society. The Kings of Aragón 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 first 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.[38] [edit] The Spanish language and universities In the 13th century, many languages were spoken in the Christian kingdoms of Iberia. These included 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) gained a growing prominence in the Kingdom of Castile as the language of culture and communication, at the expense of Leonese and of other close dialects. One example of this is the epic song ('cantar') written after the military leader El Cid. In the last years of the reign of Ferdinand III of Castile, Castilian began to be used for certain types of documents, and it was during the reign of Alfonso X that it became the official language. Henceforth all public documents were written in Castilian; likewise all translations were made into Castilian instead of Latin. 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,[39] and Catalan from the 12th to the 18th century in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia, where it was known as Valencian. Both languages were later substituted in its official status by Castillian Spanish, till the 20th century. In the 13th century many universities were founded in León 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 first edition of the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija was published. [edit] Early Modern Spain [edit] Dynastic Union In the 15th century, the most important among all of the separate Christian kingdoms that made up the old Hispania were the Kingdom of Castile (occupying northern and central portions of the Iberian Peninsula) the Crown of Aragon (occupying northeastern portions of the peninsula) and the kingdom of Portugal occupying western iberian peninsula. The rulers of the kingdoms of Castille and Aragon were allied with dynastic families in Portugal, France, and other neighboring kingdoms. The death of King Henry IV of Castile in 1474 set off a struggle for power called the War of the Castilian Succession (1475-1479). Contenders for the throne of Castile were Henry's one-time heir Joanna La Beltraneja, supported by Portugal and France, and Henry's half-sister Queen Isabella I of Castile, supported by the Kingdom of Aragon and by the Castilian nobility. Isabella retained the throne and ruled jointly with her husband, King Ferdinand II. Isabella and Ferdinand had married in 1469[40] 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, and even today Spain remains internally divided. Pursuant to an agreement signed by Isabella and Ferdinand on January 15, 1474,[41] Isabella held more authority over the newly unified Spain than her husband, although their rule was shared.[41] Together, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon were known as the "Catholic Monarchs" (Spanish: los Reyes Católicos), a title bestowed on them by Pope Alexander VI. The monarchs oversaw the final stages of the Reconquista of Iberian territory from the Moors with the conquest of Granada, conquered the Canary Islands, and expelled the Jews and Muslims 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 Ávila. Over the next century, half of the estimated 200,000 Spanish Jews converted to Christianity (becoming "conversos"). The final 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 is estimated to be anywhere from 40,000 to 120,000 people. 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, sufficient numbers of moriscos stayed that Muslim culture remained influential in Spain. Jews and Muslims were not the only people to be persecuted during this time period. All Roma (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 first known European to reach the New World since Leif Ericson. This and subsequent expeditions led to an influx 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 five children. Her firstborn, 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, Isabella's second daughter, married into the Habsburg dynasty when she wed Philip the Handsome, the son of Maximilian I, King of Bohemia (Austria) and entitled to the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. This ensured an alliance with the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire, a powerful, far-reaching territory that assured Spain's future political security. Isabella's only son, Juan, married Margaret of Austria, further maintaining ties with the Habsburg dynasty. Isabella's fourth child, Maria, married Manuel I of Portugal, strengthening the link forged by her older sister's marriage. Her fifth child, Catherine, married King Henry VIII of England and was mother to Queen Mary I of England. [edit] Imperial Spain The Spanish Empire was one of the first 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 first was an expedition of a Castilian fleet led by a Genoese, Lanzarotto Malocello. The second was another expedition in 1402 led by French adventurers, Jean de Bethancourt, Lord of Grainville in Normandy and Gadifer de la Salle of Poitou.[42] In the 15th and 16th centuries, trade flourished across the Atlantic between Spain and the Americas and across the Pacific between East Asia and Mexico via the Philippines. 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. This American empire was at first 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.[43] In the 1520s, large-scale extraction of silver from the rich deposits of Mexico's Guanajuato began to be greatly augmented by the silver mines in Mexico's Zacatecas and Bolivia's Potosí from 1546. These silver shipments re-oriented the Spanish economy, leading to the importation of luxuries and grain. They also became indispensable in financing the military capability of Habsburg Spain in its long series of European and North African wars, though, with the exception of a few years in the 17th century, Spain itself (Castile in particular) was by far the most important source of revenue. 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 battlefield 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 financial 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 American colonies in the 19th century, Spain maintained the largest empire in the world even though it suffered fluctuating military and economic fortunes from the 1640s. Confronted by the new experiences, difficulties and suffering created by empire-building, Spanish thinkers formulated some of the first 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 Spain's empire.[citation needed] [edit] Spanish Kingdoms under the Habsburgs (16th–17th centuries) Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries reached its height and declined under the Habsburgs. The Spanish Empire reached its maximum extent in Europe under Charles I of Spain, as he was also Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Charles V became king in 1516, and the history of Spain became even more firmly enmeshed with the dynastic struggles in Europe. The king was not often in Spain, and 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 the Mediterranean and overseas, and the Habsburg possessions in the Netherlands; on the other hand was the Holy Roman Empire itself. This was to prove a difficulty for his successor Philip II of Spain. Philip II became king on Charles V's abdication in 1556. Spain largely escaped the religious conflicts that were raging throughout the rest of Europe, and remained firmly Roman Catholic. Philip saw himself as a champion of Catholicism, both against the Ottoman Turks and the 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 conflict consumed much Spanish expenditure during the later 16th century. Conflicts 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 (1585–1604), and war with France (1590–1598). Despite these problems, the growing inflow of American silver from mid-16th century, the justified 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 unified the peninsula, but added that country's worldwide resources to the Spanish crown. However, economic and administrative problems multiplied in Castile, and the weakness of the native economy became evident in the following century. Rising inflation, financially draining wars in Europe, the ongoing aftermath of the expulsion of the Jews and Moors from Spain, and Spain's 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. 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 left 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").[45] 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 afflict the country even in the next century.[45] The great plague of 1596–1602 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.[46] Economically, the plague destroyed the labor force as well as creating a psychological blow to an already problematic Spain.[47] Philip II died in 1598, and was succeeded by his son Philip III. In his reign (1598–1621) a ten year truce with the Dutch was overshadowed in 1618 by Spain's involvement in the European-wide Thirty Years' War. Government policy was dominated by favorites, but it was also the reign in which the geniuses of Cervantes and El Greco flourished. Philip III was succeeded in 1621 by his son Philip IV of Spain (reigned 1621–1665). Much of the policy was conducted by the minister Gaspar de Guzmán, 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 Catalonia's independence was suppressed In the reign of Philip's developmentally disabled son and successor Charles II (1665–1700), Spain was essentially left leaderless and was gradually being reduced to a second-rank power. The Habsburg dynasty became extinct in Spain with Charles II's 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 "won" the War of Spanish Succession, and control of Spain passed 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 Spain's European empire. [edit] The Golden Age (Siglo de Oro) The Spanish Golden Age (in Spanish, Siglo de Oro) was a period of flourishing 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 II). It is interesting to note how arts during the Golden Age flourished despite the decline of the empire in the 17th century. The last great writer of the age, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, died in New Spain in 1695.[48] 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 Europe's greatest architects and painters. Diego Velázquez, regarded as one of the most influential painters of European history and a greatly respected artist in his own time, cultivated a relationship with King Philip IV and his chief minister, 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 Spain's greatest music is regarded as having been written in the period. Such composers as Tomás Luis de Victoria, Luis de Milán and Alonso Lobo helped to shape Renaissance music and the styles of counterpoint and polychoral music, and their influence 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. Spain's most prolific playwright, Lope de Vega, wrote possibly as many as one thousand plays over his lifetime, over four hundred of which survive to the present day. [edit] Enlightenment: Spain under the Bourbons (18th century) Charles II, having no direct heir, was succeeded by his great-nephew Philip V, 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 Spanish Succession between 1701 and 1714. It pitted powerful France and weak Spain against the Grand Alliance of England, the Netherlands and Austria. After many battles, especially in Spain, the Grand Alliance finally won.[49] Philip V signed the Decreto de Nueva Planta in 1715. This new law revoked most of the historical rights and privileges of the different 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.[50] 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 conflict came up between the interests of Spain and France, he usually favored France.[51] Philip made reforms in government, and strengthened the central authorities relative to the provinces. Merit became more important, although most senior positions still went to the landed aristocracy. Below the elite level, inefficiency and corruption was as widespread as ever. The reforms started by Philip V culminated in much more important reforms of Charles III.[51] The economy, on the whole, improved over the depressed 1650–1700 era, with greater productivity and fewer famines and epidemics.[52] The rule of the Spanish Bourbons continued under Ferdinand VI (1746–1759) and Charles III (1759–1788). Elisabeth of Parma, Philip V's widow, exerted great influence on Spain's foreign policy. Her principal aim was to have Spain's lost territories in Italy restored. She eventually received Franco-British support for this after the Congress of Soissons (1728–1729).[53] Under the rule of Charles III and his ministers – Leopoldo de Gregorio, Marquis of Esquilache and José Moñino, Count of Floridablanca – Spain embarked on a program of enlightened despotism that brought Spain a new prosperity in the middle of the 18th century. Fearing that Britain's victory over France in the Seven Years War (1756–1763) threatened the European balance of power, Spain allied themselves to France but suffered a series of military defeats and ended up having to cede Florida to the British at the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Spain later recouped most of those territorial losses with the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and gained an improved international standing. However, the reforming spirit of Charles III was extinguished in the reign of his son, Charles IV (1788 to abdication in 1808), seen by some as mentally handicapped. Dominated by his wife's lover, Manuel de Godoy, Charles IV embarked on policies that overturned much of Charles III's reforms. After briefly 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 IV's 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 Spain's War of Independence. 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 Napoleonic intervention would cause this gap to widen greatly. [edit] The 19th century [edit] War of Spanish Independence (1808–1814) Spain initially sided against French in the Napoleonic 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 – for the first time separated from their colonial rulers – began to trade independently with Britain. The defeat of the British invasions of the Río de la Plata in South America (1806 and 1807) emboldened an independent attitude in Spain's American colonies. A major Franco-Spanish fleet was annihilated at the decisive Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, prompting the vacillating king of Spain to reconsider his alliance with France. Spain temporarily broke off 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 father's abdication in March 1808. On July 20, 1808, Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, entered Madrid and established a government by which he became King of Spain, serving as a surrogate for Napoleon.[54] The Spanish monarchy may have been destroyed but the people of Spain vigorously resisted Napoleon's attempt to conquer his former ally.[55] 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.[56] Initially, the Central Junta declared support for Ferdinand VII, and convened a "General and Extraordinary Cortes" for all the kingdoms of the Spanish Monarchy. On February 22 and 23, 1809, a popular insurrection against the French occupation broke out all over Spain.[57] The Cortes assembled on September 24, 1810, on the Isle of Leon.[58] The Cortes removed itself to Cádiz on February 20, 1811.[59] On March 19, 1812, the Cádiz Cortes created the first modern Spanish constitution, the Constitution of 1812 (informally named La Pepa). This constitution provided for a separation of the powers of the executive and the legislative branches of government. The Cortes was to be elected by universal suffrage, albeit by an indirect method. Each member of the Cortes was to represent 70,000 people.[60] Members of the Cortes were to meet in annual sessions. King was prevented from either convening or proroguing the Cortes. Members of the Cortes were to serve single two-year terms. They could not serve consecutive terms; a member could serve a second term only by allowing someone else to serve a single intervening term in office. This attempt at the development of a modern constitutional government lasted from 1808 until 1814, and became known as the first bourgeois revolution in Spain.[61] Leaders of the liberals or reformist forces during this revolution were Jose Menino, Count of Floridablanca, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos and Pedro Rodriguez, Conde de Campomanes.[62] 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;[63] now he served as President of the Central Junta.[64] However, he tended to be suspicious of the popular spontaneity.[65] Consequently, Floridablanca tended to prevent development of the revolution.[66] 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 under King Charles IV of Spain.[67] Now, Jovellanos commanded a substantial and influential group within the Central Junta.[68] However, Jovellanos had been imprisoned by Manuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcudia, who had served as Prime Minister of Spain and virtually ran the country as a dictator from 1792 until 1798 and from 1801 until 1808.[69] Accordingly, even Jovellanos tended to be somewhat overly cautious in his approach to the revolutionary upsurge that was sweeping Spain in 1808. The Spanish Army tried to fight the French invasion in the traditional "set-piece" style of warfare. They lost every battle they fought with the French. After the disastrous battle of Ocana, fought on November 19, 1809, the Spanish Army confined itself to guerrilla warfare against the French.[70] However, it was the Spanish people, themselves, who really led the fight in guerrilla war against the French. In this war, Spain was aided by the British and Portuguese, led by the Duke of Wellington. The Duke of Wellington fought Napoleon's forces in the Peninsular War, with Joseph Bonaparte ruling as Napoleon's surrogate king at Madrid. The brutal war was one of the first guerrilla wars in modern Western history. French supply lines stretching across Spain were mauled repeatedly by Spanish guerrillas. The war in the Iberian Peninsula fluctuated repeatedly, with Wellington spending several years behind his fortresses in Portugal while launching occasional campaigns into Spain. The French were decisively defeated at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, and the following year, Ferdinand VII was restored as King of Spain. [edit] Reaction and change (1814–1873) Although the juntas, that had forced the French to leave Spain, had sworn by the liberal Constitution of 1812, Ferdinand VII openly believed that it was too liberal for the country. On his return to Spain on April 16, 1814,[71] he refused to swear by the constitution himself, and he continued to rule in the authoritarian fashion of his forebears.[72] Thus, the first bourgeois revolution ended in 1814.[61] This rejection of the Constitution had far-reaching consequences. The Constitution of 1812 had eliminated all discrimination in the American colonies between Spaniards who were born in Spain and Spanish citizens who happened to be born in the colonies of New Spain. Consequently, although Spain itself accepted the rejection of the Constitution, the rejection of the Constitution was not as calmly accepted in Spain's empire in the New World. Revolution broke out in the colonies of "New Spain" in the Americas in 1820. Spain, nearly bankrupt from the war with France and the reconstruction of the country, was unable to pay her soldiers, and in 1819 was forced to sell Florida to the United States for 5 million dollars. In 1820, an expedition intended for the colonies (which, at the time, were on the verge of being lost themselves, to rebels and the Monroe Doctrine) 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.[73] Once again in the revolution of 1820, it was the independent towns that led the drive for constitutional change in Spain.[74] Ferdinand himself was placed under effective house arrest for the duration of the liberal experiment. The tumultuous three years of liberal rule that followed (1820–1823) 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. In the American colonies of New Spain, however, revolutions led to independence. In 1824, the last Spanish army on the American mainland was defeated at the Battle of Ayacucho in southern Peru. Only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained. 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 Carlos's 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, fled to Portugal. Ferdinand's death in 1833 and the accession of Isabella II as Queen of Spain sparked the First Carlist War (1833–1839). 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 Cristina's forces suddenly drove the Carlist armies from most of the Basque country. Carlos then appointed the Basque general Tomás de Zumalacárregui as his commander-in-chief. Zumalacárregui 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. Zumalacárregui's 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 first Carlist insurrection. The period of time from 1834 until 1843 is known as Spain's third bourgeois revolution.[75] Espartero, operating on his popularity as a war hero and his sobriquet "Pacifier 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. Espartero's liberal reforms were then opposed by moderates, and the former general's heavy-handedness caused a series of sporadic uprisings throughout the country from various quarters, all of which were bloodily suppressed. He was overthrown as regent in 1843 by Ramón María Narváez, 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 (1833–1868). 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 a fourth bourgeois revolutionary insurrection in 1854.[76] This uprising began in the spring of 1854 as expressions of dissatisfaction on the part of the people against the government.[77] The people were protesting the growing economic hardship under which they had been suffering. On June 28, 1854, a military coup occurred in Madrid,[77] 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.[78] In 1856, Isabella attempted to form the Union Liberal Party, a pan-national coalition under the leadership of Leopoldo O'Donnell, who had already marched on Madrid that year and deposed another Espartero ministry. Isabella's 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 (1864–1866) proved disastrous and Spain suffered 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. 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. This selection of the King of Spain turned out to play an important role in European and world history, since France opposed a German prince's candidacy to the Spanish throne, and this served as the immediate motive for the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). 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. [edit] First Spanish Republic (1873–1874) Following the Hidalgo affair and an army rebellion, Amadeus famously declared the people of Spain to be ungovernable, abdicated the throne, and left the country (11 February 1873). In his absence, a government of radicals and Republicans was formed that declared Spain a republic. The First Spanish Republic (1873–1874) 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 Workingmen's Association, revolts and unrest in the autonomous regions of Navarre and Catalonia, and pressure from the Catholic Church against the fledgling republic.[79] [edit] The Restoration (1874–1931) 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 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 1874–1875, led by Brigadier General Martínez-Campos. The Republic was dissolved and Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, a trusted advisor to the king, was named Prime Minister on New Year's 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.[80] A system of turnos was established in Spain in which the liberals, led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta and the conservatives, led by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, alternated in control of the government. A modicum of stability and economic progress was restored to Spain during Alfonso XII's rule (1874–1885), although progress was cut short by his sudden death at age 28. Constitutional monarchy continued under King Alfonso XIII.[81] Alfonso XIII was born after his father's death and was proclaimed king upon his birth. However, the government had become destabilized by Alfonso XII's unexpected death in 1885, followed by the assassination of prime minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo in 1897. The reign of Alfonso XIII (1886–1931) saw the Spanish-American War of 1898, culminating in the loss of the Philippines plus Spain's last colonies in the Americas, Cuba and Puerto Rico; the "Great War" in Europe (now known as World War I, 1914–1918), although Spain maintained neutrality throughout the conflict; the influenza pandemic nicknamed the Spanish Flu (1918–1919); and the Rif War in Morocco (1920–1926). His reign also saw the rise to dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, who seized control of the government by military coup in 1923 and ruled as a dictator – with the monarch's support – for seven years (1923–1930). The world-wide recession, marked first by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, caused deepening economic hardships in Spain and the resignation of Primo de Rivera's government in 1930. General elections were held in 1931 to replace the government, with Republican and anticlerical candidates winning the majority of votes. Alfonso XIII left the country in response to the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, although he never abdicated. [edit] Disaster of 1898 Cuba rebelled against Spain in the Ten Years' War beginning in 1868, resulting in the abolition of slavery in Spain's colonies in the New World. American 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 Spanish-American 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 the United States for 20 million dollars. In 1899, Spain sold its remaining Pacific 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.[82] 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.[83] Jensen (1999) argues that the defeat of 1898 led many military officers to abandon the liberalism that had been strong in the officer corps and turn to the right. They interpreted the American victory in 1898 as well as the Japanese victory against Russia in 1905 as proof of the superior value of willpower and moral values over technology. Over the next three decades, Jensen argues, these values shaped the outlook of Francisco Franco and other Falangists.[84] [edit] The 20th century [edit] World War I Spain's neutrality in World War I allowed it to become a supplier of material for both sides to its great advantage, prompting an economic boom in Spain. The outbreak of Spanish influenza in Spain and elsewhere, along with a major economic slowdown in the postwar period, hit Spain particularly hard, and the country went into debt. A major worker's strike was suppressed in 1919. Mistreatment of the indigenous population in Spanish Morocco led to an uprising and the loss of this North African possession except for the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in 1921. (See Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, Annual). In order to avoid accountability, King Alfonso XIII decided to support the dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, ending the period of constitutional monarchy in Spain. In joint action with France, the Moroccan territory was recovered (1925–1927), but in 1930 bankruptcy and massive unpopularity left the king no option but to force Primo de Rivera to resign. Disgusted with the king's involvement in his dictatorship, the urban population voted for republican parties in the municipal elections of April 1931. The king fled the country without abdicating and a republic was established. [edit] Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939) Under the Second Spanish Republic, women were allowed to vote in general elections for the first time. The Republic devolved substantial autonomy to the Basque Country and to Catalonia. The first governments of the Republic were center-left, headed by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora and Manuel Azaña. Economic turmoil, substantial debt inherited from the Primo de Rivera regime, and fractious, rapidly changing governing coalitions led to serious political unrest. In 1933, the right-wing Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) won power, An armed rising of workers in October 1934, which reached its greatest intensity in Asturias and 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. [edit] Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) In the 1930s, Spanish politics were polarized at the left and right of the political spectrum. The left-wing favored class struggle, land reform, autonomy to the regions and reduction in church and monarchist power. The right-wing groups, the largest of which was CEDA, a right wing Roman Catholic coalition, held opposing views on most issues. In 1936, the left united in the Popular Front and was elected to power. However, this coalition, dominated by the centre-left, was undermined both by the revolutionary groups such as the anarchist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Federación Anarquista Ibérica (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 gunfights over strikes, landless labourers began to seize land, church officials 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 figures in the army began to plan a coup, and when Falangist politician José Calvo-Sotelo was shot by Republican police, they used it as a signal to act.[85] On 17 July 1936, General Francisco Franco led the colonial army from Morocco to attack the mainland, while another force from the north under General Sanjurjo moved south from Navarre. Military units were also mobilised elsewhere to take over government institutions. Franco's move was intended to seize power immediately, but successful resistance by Republicans in places such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, the Basque country and elsewhere meant that Spain faced a prolonged civil war. Before long, much of the south and west was under the control of the Nationalists, whose regular Army of Africa was the most professional force available to either side. Both sides received foreign military aid: the Nationalists from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Portugal, while the Republic was supported by organised far-left volunteers in the International Brigades. The Siege of the Alcázar 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 offensives 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 Luftwaffe's Condor Legion – was probably the most infamous event of the war and inspired Picasso's painting. The Battle of the Ebro in July–November 1938 was the final 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 and Madrid fell in March 1939.[86] The war, which cost between 300,000 to 1,000,000 lives, ended with the destruction 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.[87] 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 151,000 were executed between 1939 and 1943. Many other Republicans remained in exile for the entire Franco period. [edit] The dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1936–1975) During Franco's rule, Spain was officially neutral in World War II and remained largely economically and culturally isolated from the outside world. Under a fascist military dictatorship, Spain saw its political parties banned, except for the official party (Falange). Labor unions were banned and all political activity using violence or intimidation to achieve its goals was forbidden. Under Franco, Spain actively sought the return of Gibraltar by the UK, and gained some support for its cause at the United Nations. During the 1960s, Spain began imposing restrictions on Gibraltar, culminating in the closure of the border in 1969. It was not fully reopened until 1985. Spanish rule in Morocco ended in 1967. Though militarily victorious in the 1957–1958 Moroccan invasion of Spanish West Africa, Spain gradually relinquished its remaining African colonies. Spanish Guinea was granted independence as Equatorial Guinea in 1968, while the Moroccan enclave of Ifni had been ceded to Morocco in 1969. The latter years of Franco's rule saw some economic and political liberalization, the Spanish Miracle, including the birth of a tourism industry. Spain began to catch up economically with its European neighbors.[88] Franco ruled until his death on 20 November 1975, when control was given to King Juan Carlos.[89] In the last few months before Franco's 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, Spain's last colonial possession. [edit] Spain since 1975 [edit] 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 Franco's death on 20 November 1975, while its completion is marked by the electoral victory of the socialist PSOE on 28 October 1982. Between 1978 and 1982, Spain was led by the Unión del Centro Democrático governments. In 1981 the 23-F coup d'état attempt took place. On 23 February Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil entered the Congress of Deputies, and stopped the session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was about to be named prime minister of the government. Officially, the coup d'état failed thanks to the intervention of King Juan Carlos. Spain joined NATO before Calvo-Sotelo left office. Along with political change came radical change in Spanish society. Spanish society had been extremely conservative under Franco, but the transition to democracy also began a liberalization of values and societal mores. [edit] Modern Spain From 1982 until 1996, the social democratic PSOE governed the country, with Felipe González as prime minister. In 1986, Spain joined the European Economic Community (EEC, now European Union), and the country hosted the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and Seville Expo '92. In 1996, the centre-right Partido Popular government came to power, led by José María 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 during the morning rush-hour days before the general election, killing 191 persons and injuring thousands. [citation required] Although José María Aznar and his ministers were quick to accuse ETA of the atrocity, soon afterwards it became apparent that the bombing was the work of an extremist Islamic group linked to Al-Qaeda. Many people believe that the fact that qualified commentators abroad were beginning to doubt the official Spanish version the very same day of the attacks while the government insisted on ETA's implication directly influenced the results of the election. Opinion polls at the time show that the difference between the two main contenders had been too close to make any accurate prediction as to the outcome of the elections. The election, held three days after the attacks, was won by the PSOE, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero replaced Aznar as prime minister. On 3 July 2005, the country became the first country in the world to give full marriage and adoption rights to homosexual couples (Belgium has allowed same-sex marriage since 2003 and co-parenting since April 2006, and the Netherlands has allowed same-sex marriage since 2001 and now has a law in preparation to provide full adoption rights in equal conditions to opposite-sex marriages). At present, Spain is a constitutional monarchy. It comprises 17 autonomous communities (Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile and León, Castile–La Mancha, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Community of Madrid, Region of Murcia, Basque Country, Valencian Community, Navarre) and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta and Melilla). [edit] See also - Black Legend - Economic history of Spain - Global Empire - History of Europe - History of European Union - History of France - History of Morocco - History of Portugal - List of Prime Ministers of Spain - List of heads of state of Spain - List of Spanish wars - Ottoman-Habsburg wars - Politics of Spain - Spanish architecture - Spanish Empire - Spanish Armada in Ireland - Timeline of the Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula [edit] Notes - ^ [http://books.google.com/books?id=DteXifpgh_UC&pg=PA1&dq=the+spains&hl=en&ei=DTarTePwA4ip8APmpeC4Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=the%20spains&f=false Spain's centuries of crisis: your fucked 1300-1474 pg2] - ^ European Voyages of Exploration: Imperial Spain - ^ Felipe IV: el hombre y el reinado pg 137 - ^ Peña,Lorenzo. Un puente jurídico entre Iberoamérica y Europa:la Constitución española de 1812. Instituto de Filosofía del CSIC The first thing there is to understand is that in a good measure, the Courts of Cadiz created a new state, the Spanish state.[...]there had never been a proclamation of a Kingdom of Spain, so that difficulties always arose upon the legal value of the very frequent references to 'Spain' in the legal texts of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth 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 proclaime 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 designations ‘Galia’, ‘Germania’[...] - ^ Constitución política de la Monarquía Española Promulgada en Cádiz a 19 de Marzo de 1812 - ^ Estado y territorio en España, 1820-1930: la formación del paisaje nacional pg 25-26 - ^ a b "Spain". Encarta Online Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5kwqnGivb. See also: "'First west Europe tooth' found". BBC. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5kwqnGivb. - ^ "Spain - History - Pre-Roman Spain - Prehistory". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/557573/Spain/214578/History#toc=toc70344. - ^ Robert Chapman, Emerging Complexity: The Later Prehistory of South-East Spain, Iberia and the West Mediterranean (2009) - ^ a b Koch, John (2009). Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 (2009). Palaeohispanica. http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/54/26koch.pdf. - ^ Cunliffe, Karl, Guerra, McEvoy, Bradley; Oppenheimer, Rrvik, Isaac, Parsons, Koch, Freeman and Wodtko (2010). Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature. Oxbow Books and Celtic Studies Publications. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298//Location/DBBC. - ^ "Rethinking the Bronze Age and the Arrival of Indo-European in Atlantic Europe". University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies and Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/pdfs/books/Celtic%20West%20conf.pdf. Retrieved 24 May 2010. - ^ "O'Donnell Lecture 2008 Appendix". http://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/ODonnell.pdf. - ^ http://www.aber.ac.uk/aberonline/en/archive/2008/05/au7608/ - ^ Broderick, George (2010). "Die vorrömischen Sprachen auf der iberischen Halbinsel". In Hinrichs, Uwe (in German). Das Handbuch der Eurolinguistik (1st ed.). Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=3VDH7oKtViYC&pg=PA305. - ^ http://multitree.org/codes/txr - ^ "Spain - History - Pre-Roman Spain - Phoenicians". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/557573/Spain/70346/Phoenicians#toc=toc70346. - ^ Grout, James (2007). "The Celtiberian War". Encyclopaedia Romana. University of Chicago. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/hispania/celtiberianwar.html. - ^ "Major Phases in Roman History". Rome in the Mediterranean World. University of Toronto. http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~corbett/clab42/RomChron.htm. - ^ J. S. Richardson, The Romans in Spain (1998) - ^ The latifundia (sing., latifundium), large estates controlled by the aristocracy, were superimposed on the existing Iberian landholding system. - ^ a b Rinehart, Robert; Seeley, Jo Ann Browning (1998). "A Country Study: Spain - Hispania". Library of Congress Country Series. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/estoc.html. - ^ The Roman provinces of Hispania included Provincia Hispania Ulterior Baetica (Hispania Baetica), whose capital was Corduba, presently Córdoba, Provincia Hispania Ulterior Lusitania (Hispania Lusitania), whose capital was Emerita Augusta (now Mérida), Provincia Hispania Citerior, whose capital was Tarraco (Tarragona), Provincia Hispania Nova, whose capital was Tingis (Tánger in present Morocco), Provincia Hispania Nova Citerior and Asturiae-Calleciae (these latter two provinces were created and then dissolved in the 3rd century AD). - ^ Payne, Stanley G. (1973). "A History of Spain and Portugal; Ch. 1 Ancient Hispania". The Library of Iberian Resources Online. http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/spainport1.htm. - ^ This led to the establishment of the Suebi Kingdom in Gallaecia, in the northwest, the Vandal Kingdom of Vandalusia (Andalusia) and the Visigothic Kingdom in Toledo. - ^ Roger Collins, Visigothic Spain 409–711 (2006) - ^ Karen Eva Carr, Vandals to Visigoths: Rural Settlement Patterns in Early Medieval Spain (2002) - ^ Rhea Marsh Smith, Spain: A Modern History (University of Michigan: Ann Arbor, 1965) p. 20. - ^ Rhea Marsh Smith, Spain: A Modern History, p. 25. - ^ Rhea Marsh Smith, Spain: A Modern History, p. 14. - ^ Rhea Marsh Smith, Spain: A Modern History, pp. 16-17. - ^ a b Collins, Visigothic Spain 409–711 (2006) - ^ Fletcher, Richard (2006). Moorish Spain. Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. - ^ a b Timelines - Vikings, Saracens, Magyars - ^ Granada by Richard Gottheil, Meyer Kayserling, Jewish Encyclopedia. - ^ Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced on the Christian-Islamic Frontier - ^ The Almohads - ^ Catalan Company (1302-1388 AD) - ^ Mariño Paz, Ramón (1998). Historia da lingua galega (2. Santiago de Compostela: Sotelo Blanco. - ^ Hugh Thomas, Rivers of Gold (Random House: New York, 2003) p. 18. - ^ a b Hugh Thomas, Rivers of Gold, p. 21. - ^ Hugh Thomas, Rivers of Gold, p. 58. - ^ 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 American indigenous peoples. - ^ Patrick, James (2007). Renaissance and Reformation. Marshall Cavendish. http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA207&dq=charles+V+was+the+most+powerful+monarch+of+his+day&id=i6ZJlLHLPY8C&output=html. - ^ a b When Europeans were slaves: Research suggests white slavery was much more common than previously believed - ^ The Seventeenth-Century Decline - ^ J.H. Elliott, "Imperial Spain: 1469–1716", Penguin Books, 1970, p.298 - ^ Hugh Thomas. The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V (2010) - ^ John B. Wolf, The Emergence of the Great Powers: 1685–1715 (1962) - ^ Henry Kamen, Philip V of Spain (2001) - ^ a b John Lynch, Bourbon Spain: 1700–1808 (1989) pp 67- 115 - ^ Earl J. Hamilton, "Money and Economic Recovery in Spain under the First Bourbon, 1701–1746", Journal of Modern History Vol. - ^ Simms p.211 - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 406. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, pp. 396-399. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 408. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 417. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 424. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 424. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 425. - ^ a b Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 391. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, pp. 409 and 432. - ^ Karl Marx, Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 409. - ^ See biographical note contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 734. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, - ^ See biographical note contained in the Collected works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 734. - ^ See biographical note contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 738. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutinary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 410. - ^ See biographical note contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 735. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 420. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, 436. - ^ Charles S. Esdaile, Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808–1939 (2000) - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 442. - ^ Karl Marx, "An Unpublished Abstract from a Series of Articles called Revolutionary Spain" contained in the "Preparatory Materials" section of the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 657. - ^ Karl Marx, "Revolutionary Spain" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 391 - ^ Karl Marx, "The Insurrection at Madrid--The Austro-Turkish Treaty--Moldavia and Wallachia" contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 267 - ^ a b See note 193 contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, p. 694. - ^ See note 193 contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 13, 694. - ^ Joseph A. Brandt, Toward the New Spain: The Spanish Revolution of 1868 and the First Republic (1977) - ^ Earl Ray Beck, Time of Triumph & Sorrow: Spanish Politics during the Reign of Alfonso XII, 1874–1885 (1979) - ^ Beck, Time of Triumph & Sorrow: Spanish Politics during the Reign of Alfonso XII, 1874–1885 (1979) - ^ John L. Offner, Unwanted War: The Diplomacy of the United States & Spain over Cuba, 1895–1898 (1992) - ^ H. Ramsden, "The Spanish 'Generation of 1898': The History of a Concept", Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 1974, Vol. - ^ Geoffrey 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 - ^ Antony Beevor, The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 (2006) - ^ Paul Preston, The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge (2nd ed. - ^ Preston, The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge (2007) pp 301-318 - ^ Stanley G. Payne, Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II (2009) - ^ Jean Grugel and Tim Rees, Franco's Spain (1997) [edit] Bibliography - Barton, Simon. A History of Spain (2009) excerpt and text search - 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 1474–1520 (2001) excerpt and text search - Esdaile, Charles J. Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808–1939 (2000) excerpt and text search - Gerli, E. Michael, ed. Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia. New York 2005. - Kamen, Henry. Spain. A Society of Conflict (3rd ed.) London and New York: Pearson Longman 2005. ISBN - Lynch, John. The Hispanic World in Crisis and Change: 1598–1700 (1994) excerpt and text search - O'Callaghan, Joseph F. A History of Medieval Spain (1983) excerpt and text search - Payne, Stanley G. Spain: A Unique History (University of Wisconsin Press; 2011) 304 pages; history since the Visigothic era. - Philips, William D., Jr., and Carla Rahn Phillips. A Concise History of Spain (2010) - Pierson, Peter. The History of Spain (2nd ed. 2008) excerpt and text search - 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 [edit] 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 España. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company 2003. ISBN