A Chronology of Spain:

From Homo erectus to the 20^th Century

▫M.D. Murphy▫

“España” or “Spain” is a toponym ultimately of Phoenecian origin which was Romanized as “Hispaniae.” This country was called “al-Andalus” by the Muslims.

A Brief Outline of the History of Spain
780,000 BC	· Recent excavations identify fossil and artefactual remains of Homo erectus in northern Spain (Burgos). The first Europeans?
500,000 BC		· Extensive indirect evidence of hominid occupation (mainly animal bones suggesting elephant hunting at Madrid, Soria, and Torralba) also identification of utensils, and tools
200,000 BC		· Neanderthal occupations at Gibraltar, Valencia and Gerona
40,000 BC		· Homo sapiens sapiens living in the Pyrenees (note use of this fact in contemporary Basque mythology)
25,000 BC to 10,000 BC		· Paleolithic cave paintings created. Among the greatest art treasures of the world, they are to be found at Pindal, Castillo, El Rendo, Altamira (Santander) and elsewhere. · Animals depicted in these paintings are cold weather beasts: reindeer, mamoths, seals, bison, bulls, horses, etc.
10,000 BC to 2,500 BC		· The Neolithic in Spain saw the development of basketry, agriculture, stock raising and evidence of more complex social organization than was previously the case.
3,000 BC		· The emergence of extensive townships characterized by fortified, buttressed wall-enclosed settlements surrounded by cultivated fields of cereals. · Stone burial chambers (called dolmens) of monumental proportions · ALTAMIRA Culture (of southern Spain) set the tone for Spanish cuisine. The Spanish Trinity makes its appearance: wheat, olives, grapes (and chic peas) complemented by swine, horses, oxen. · Metallurgy
1,700 BC to 1,000 BC		· EL ARGAR Culture metallurgy flourished: gold, silver, bronze...greatly increased trade... El Argar Culture was characterized by dwellings with rectangular floor plans. The dead were buried in urns beneath floors of the houses (not in collective vaults as previously). Villages were constructed on hilltops and were well fortified. The social organization established in this period would persist for millennia: Princes/kings...an aristocracy (based on ownership of land) ... the masses.
1,000 BC		· TARTESSUS The first written accounts of Spain refer to this bustling civilization. Indeed, this civilization is mentioned in the Bible (Tarshish) and in contemporary Greek and Roman texts. · Based in southern Spain, Tartessus was a far-ranging trading kingdom. The Tartessians plied trade along the Atlantic southward to Africa and northward to the British Isles looking for tin to add to the copper they found in Huelva to make bronze. They also traded extensively throughout the Mediterranean. · The Tartessians had a writing system (as yet untranslated) but nothing substantial of their literature remains. · Arganthonius, the king, supported the Greeks against the Carthaginians in their struggles, thus bringing ruin to Tartessus in the 6th century BC.
1,000 BC to 680 BC		· PHOENICIAN COLONIES were established in Spain at Cadiz (Gadir) as early as 1,100 BC. Phoenicia was attracted to trade in metals and the thriving agriculture of Andalusia and the fishing off that region’s coast. The Phoenician empire collapsed with the fall of Tyre to Assyrians and their colonies were taken over by the Carthaginians of North Africa (680 BC)
7th cent. BC		· GREEK COLONIES were established in close contact with Tartessus for the mutual benefits to be derived from trade. Their influence on the Peninsula was of short duration.
237 BC to 206 BC		· CARTHAGINIANS traded with Tartessus but did not move in until they were defeated by Rome in the 1st Punic War (264-241 BC). They invaded Spain to use it as a staging area in their conflicts with the Romans. Hamilcar landed in 237 BC, Hasdrubal established Carthago Novo (Cartagena). Hannibal launched his famous attack on Rome from there in 218 BC. Rome successfully counterattacked ending Carthaginian hegemony in Spain by conquering Cadiz in 206 BC.
3,000 BC to 2nd cent. BC		· IBERIANS...is the ethnonym given for the civilization that grew up in the south and east of the Peninsula in the 6th century B.C. Ultimately it provided the principal source for population of the country which has become known to some as “White Africa”. · A highly developed economy with cities, monarchical political organization, flourishing arts (music, dance), public buildings of monumental proportions. The Iberians developed an early system of writing with a 28 character alphabet with a few Greek and Phoenician derived forms. But mostly this language remains untranslated. No bilingual texts have been found. Eventually this writing system was replaced by Latin.
9th cent. BC to 8th cent. BC		· CELTS gradually “invaded” the Peninsula across the Pyrenees from Central Europe. This was a civilization of herdsmen, agriculturalists and ironworkers. Eventually they “merged” with the native Iberians to form the CELTIBERIANS in some areas. Others retained their identities in isolation. They had no writing, no coins, no sculpture or painting. Their pottery was excellent as was the craftsmanship of their jewelry and weaponry. · The influence of Celtic culture can still be seen today in Galicia, Asturias and the north of Portugal.
206 BC to 5th cent AD		· ROMANS arrived during the 2nd Punic War and succeeded in expelling the Carthaginians in 206 BC. It took 2 centuries to wear down Iberian resistance to their occupation, but eventually the Romans dominated the entire Peninsula. Rome put its technological and organizational superiority, its vast resources, and its very efficient armies to work. Their successful conclusion of the Cantabrian War (29 - 19 BC) ended all effective opposition. · Key to the Romanization of Spain was the extension of Roman citizenship to selected natives (there were only a total of 60,000 Roman colonists in sensu strictu) . In 74 AD all Spaniards were made Roman citizens. · By the end of the 1st cent. BC the Iberian, Celtic, Greek and Phoenician languages had all but vanished. Only the Basque language remains fundamentally unaltered by the Latin Vulgatge. · The Romans also brought their religions to Spain. Roman gods and goddesses were quickly paired off with Hispanic deities, the most prominent of which appear to be the goddesses Isis and Magna Mater. · Christianity entered Spain, probably by way of Andalusia, in the 2nd century, although it is possible that St. Paul visited sometime between 63 and 67 AD. By the 2nd & 3rd centuries Christian communities were spread throughout the peninsula. (importance of St. James)
5th cent AD to 711AD		· VISGOTHIC presence in Spain begins when the Suevi, Alans and Vandals crossed the Pyrenees in 409. A relatively brief struggle with Rome...which of course was busy with the process of “falling”...led to treaties which allowed the free flow of Germanic tribes into Spain. Eventually the one of these tribes, the Visigoths, took over Spanish society as the influence of Rome waned, establishing Toledo as their capital and their leader as king. At no time, however, did the Germanic peoples figure prominently in demographic terms (only 250,000 at most compared to millions of Hispano-Romans). · Visigoths introduced laws, customs and Arian Christianity (“Jesus is not a God”) which were quite alien to Hispano-Roman culture. They constituted a kind of segregated noble caste, which reproduced itself with laws of endogamy. · Byzantine intrigues invigorated Catholicism in Visigothic Spain, especially at Seville. By the 7th century Catholicism had won out
711AD to 1492 AD		· MUSLIM SPAIN was made possible principally because the Visigothic kingdom experienced considerable civil strife throughout the 7th century. By 705 Muslims had conquered western North Africa and were poised to move into Europe. In 710 a relatively small Muslim force reconnoitered Spain. A year later a larger force invaded. They quickly swept through a Spain in political disarray, finding little resistance from a vast native populace that felt little loyalty to their Visigothic overlords. The wonderful Roman road system made quick movement through the Peninsula relatively easy. The Muslim army that conquered Spain so easily numbered no more than 20,000 troops. · The Muslims established their capital at Cordoba, but they spread throughout the Peninsula even spilling across the Pyrenees into Gaul (modern day France) until their defeat at Poitiers in 732 by Charles Martel. · The first waves of Africans into peninsular Europe were mainly Berber tribesmen led by Arab nobles. Although Arabs were to exert an enormous influence on Spain for the next 8 centuries, it is worth noting that no more than 50,000 Arab immigrants moved to Iberia during their long reign there. This relative handful, however, was to successfully dominate the 4,000,000 or so native Spaniards. · The Arabs and Berbers were joined in Islam by converts from Christianity known as Muwallads (collectively all Muslims were known as Mudejars). But, especially at first, many Christians retained their religion, even after they adopted Arabic as their language. Arabic speaking Christians were known as Mozarabs. · At first the Muslims offered religious freedom and certain civil rights to Christians and Jews who typically lived in separate quarters in the cities that thrived under Muslim rule. · The political history of Muslim Spain is exceedingly complex, informed not only by the efforts of Christians to regain their lands, but also by the interplay between Arabs and Berbers and Andalusian Arabs and their Near Eastern and North African brethren. · The zenith of Muslim civilization in Spain was attained by the Caliphate of Cordoba (929-1031). The Caliphate was at the center of a far-flung trade network stretching to reach England in the north and India to the south. A vigorous hybrid of Persian, Byzantine and Syrian cultures flourished in a magnificent city graced with beautiful baths, gardens, parks, mosques, and public buildings. A vast library was assembled by al-Hakam II (961-976) and his scholars translated many works of Greek philosophy and science into Arabic. Only in this way were they preserved for later use by Western Europeans. Therefore, Muslim scholarship was crucial for the European Renaissance. Spanish Muslims made many important discoveries in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, optics and philosophy (e.g., Maimonides of Cordoba)
718 to 1492		· The Reconquest truly began with Pelayo’s defeat of the Muslims at Covadonga in 718. The Christian recovery of Spain waxed and waned until the mid-13th century when all that remained in Muslim hands was the kingdom of Grenada, which was finally overcome in 1492. Mozarabs: Arabic speaking Christians Mudejars: Muslims in Christian lands Conversos: Jewish converts to Christianity Muwallads: Christian converts to Islam and their descendents ·Ferdinand III of Castile defeats Cordoba and Seville (1217-1252) · Ferdinand and Isabella marry (1469), uniting Aragon and Castile. In 1480 they establish the Inquisition to investigate the loyalty of Jews, beginning their official persecution
1492		· Muslim Grenada falls to the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella, thus creating the nation of Spain. · Columbus discovers the New World · The Jews are expelled from Spain In 1497 Ferdinand Ferdinand’s armies invaded Italy. In 1512 Ferdinand acquired all of Navarre south of the Pyrenees. Spain was on a roll, clearly, not only on the continent but in the rest of the world as well.
1519 to 1580		· The Spanish exploration, colonization and exploitation of the New World flourishes · The opening of the New World made Spain the richest and most powerful European state of the 16th century. Through conquest and exploration the Spanish colonies came to include the West Indies and Cuba, Mexico, all Central America, the greater part of South America, Florida, and the Philippine Islands. · Cortes takes Mexico (1519-1521); Pizarro conquers Peru (1531) · But Spain enters into disastrous intrigues and wars on the European continent and its century, the 16th century, was to see it rise and fall from great heights. During this crucial century Spain’s power extended to parts of Italy (including Naples, Milan and Sicily), the Netherlands and Burgundy. This required almost constant warfare, which was both expensive and distracting. Spain has never recovered the position that it occupied in its Siglo de Oro
1588		· The great Spanish Armada that sought to invade England is destroyed and with it Spanish hegemony in Europe. With the dramatic destruction of the fleet in the English Channel, Spain began a precipitous decline. Military defeat was compounded by high rates of taxation and the religious persecution of the Inquisition.
1609-10		To compound a worsening situation king Philip III ejected the Moriscos (Christianized Moors) from the country, thus depriving the nation of its intelligentsia.
1640		Portugal asserts its independence from Spain
18th Century		The Bourbons of France acquire the Spanish throne after the War of Spanish Succession. Generally allied with France against Britain, Spain entered into a series of exhausting wars. At the end of the century the Spanish Bourbons allied itself with Britain against the French Revolution. As a result of the losing bid to contribute to the defeat of the revolution, Spain fell under the political thralldom of France.
1808-14		The Peninsular War After Napoleon seized power in France in 1804 he initiated political intrigues in Spain. After becoming Emperor himself, He forced the return of the Bourbon crown to France, naming his own brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain. The Spanish people, although more or less abandoned by their own political leadership, resented these developments and began to organize resistance against the French. Indeed, the term guerilla warfare (“little war”) was coined to describe their hit-and-run strategy based on constant harassment. The Spaniards acquired the support of the English, most notably led by Lord Wellington. i Among other things the struggle to regain independence led to the abolishment of the Inquisition with the establishment of a liberal constitution in 1812. Indeed, the political label “liberal” was also of Spanish coinage. i The Spanish Empire also began to unravel definitively. By 1826 all mainland colonies in the New World had fought for and won their independence.
Home Grown Turmoil		Ferdinand VII was restored to the monarchy in 1814 and he immediately abolished the constitution, put the Inquisition back into effect and swept aside the parliament, the Cortes. The liberals responded with a successful revolution in 1820, which restored the parliament and the constitution. But once again France intervened and the monarchy was again restored in 1823. iThe Carlist War was set into motion in 1831 when Ferdinand, bereft of male heirs, named his one year old daughter, Isabella, as his successor. His brother, Don Carlos, rallied opposition to this move, which included politically conservative, anti-liberals who entertained extreme views about the monarchy and the church. When Isabella became queen in 1833 her mother, Maria Cristina, assumed the role of regent. She turned to the liberals for support against the conservatives and granted them concessions. The Carlists revolted but were defeated in 1839, yet Maria Cristina’s victory was short lived. After a military revolt she fled the country in the following year. Isabella was declared of age in 1843.
Queen Isabella II		The reign of Queen Isabella was marked by an ongoing struggle between two bitterly opposed political philosophies and forces: the liberals who were opposed to the Catholic Church and advocated a parliamentary government and a modern capitalist economy and the conservatives who wanted to restore an absolute monarchy and the power of the church.
The First Republic 1873		In 1868 liberal military leaders seized power. Political anarchy reigned for a number of years as liberals and monarchists struggled with one another. In 1873 the most liberal elements of the Cortes declared the establishment of a Republic. But the victorious republicans fought amongst themselves and conservative generals proclaimed Alfonso XII, the son of Isabella II, as the king of Spain. He took over in 1875 reestablishing the Bourbons in Spain. A Carlist revolt was suppressed the following year and Spanish policy became increasingly conservative and pro-clerical. Conservative and Liberal political parties supported a constitutional monarchy. Both republicans and Carlists were marginalized.
The Spanish American War, 1898		The Spanish American War was a devastating blow to the nation of Spain because it marked the definitive end of its Empire. Yet, this defeat sparked a protracted period of reflection on the nature of Spain by a distinguished assortment of scholars, artists and intellectuals, known as the Generation of ‘98