Spain: history to 1492

The city walls of San Segundo, Avila, Spain, built by Moorish prisoners for King Alfonso VI between 1090 and 1099. The Moors, Muslim invaders, entered Spain from North Africa in 711, conquering much of it, and it was not until 1492 that they were finally driven out.

Spain is rich in prehistoric remains. Some of the finest examples of Upper Palaeolithic art, dating from between 15,000 and 10,000 BC, are found in the caves at Altamira in northwest Spain, and elsewhere in the Iberian Peninsula. There are also rock shelters in Cantabria with drawings depicting humans as well as animals, similar in style to Palaeolithic rock drawings in North Africa. The most important sites are Cogul near Lleida, Valltorta, and Albarracim.

The Neolithic and Bronze Ages Rock-shelter art is also found in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age in megalithic tombs. The distribution and significance of megaliths in Spain have an important bearing on the Neolithic culture of Western Europe. The settlement of the Peninsula by the Iberians (a Neolithic people who also settled in southern France, the Canary Islands, Corsica, and part of North Africa) may have started around 3000 BC. The first bronze-workers, called the Millaran culture after the fort of Los Millares, were dominant in the south until ousted by the attacks of the Beaker people, who in around 2200 BC spread over Spain, and later into most of northern Europe.

Late in the Bronze Age the Tartesians settled on the shores of the River Guadalquivir in southwest Spain, spread to the southeast, and either absorbed or drove out the Iberians, and to the north of Alicante. About 600 BC the Celts entered Spain via the Pyrenees and arrived at the West Atlantic coast, eventually fusing with the Iberians to form the so-called Celtiberian peoples. The Basques, a pre-Indo-European people, remained in north central Spain.

Greek and Carthaginian colonies The Phoenicians began to establish coastal colonies from the 8th century BC, as did the Greeks from the 7th century BC, Ampurias being one of their most notable settlements. From the 4th century the Phoenician colonies in the south came under the influence of Carthage, the former Phoenician colony in North Africa.

From 238 BC the Carthaginian generals Hamilcar Barca and Hasdrubal conquered most of the southeast as far as the River Iberus (Ebro), and Carthago Nova (Cartagena) was founded in 228. These successes aroused the jealousy of Rome, and in 226 a treaty was concluded between the two peoples by which the Carthaginians guaranteed the independence of Saguntum (Sagunto, near Valencia) and promised not to cross the River Ebro. The capture of Saguntum by Hannibal in 219 precipitated the Second Punic War.

Roman rule The Romans drove the Carthaginians from Spain, and at the end of the Second Punic War (201 BC) they organized it into two provinces: Hispania Citerior, east of the Ebro, and Hispania Ulterior, west of that river; but it was only gradually that parts of the latter came under Roman rule, and nearly two centuries elapsed before the whole country was fully Romanized.

The Roman conquest of Spain was completed during the reign of the Emperor Augustus (31 BC-AD 14). Augustus redivided the country into three provinces: Tarraconensis, including the whole of the northwest and centre; Baetica in the south; and Lusitania, corresponding roughly to modern Portugal. Henceforward Spain was thoroughly Romanized. The emperors Trajan and Hadrian were born at Italica in Baetica, while Seneca, Lucan, Martial, and Quintilian - notable writers of the early Empire - were all of Spanish origin.

The Visigothic kingdom With the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic Visigoths (see Goths) entered the Peninsula in AD 409 at the invitation of Rome and set up a kingdom in Spain under Euric (Ewaric). They established their supremacy and remained rulers of Spain until the beginning of the 8th century. However, the Roman law and Roman system of administration were too firmly ingrained to be swept away by the Visigoths, whose administration was modelled directly on that of the Roman system. The early Visigothic kings were Arians (see Arianism), but in the reign of Reccared (586-601) orthodox Catholicism was adopted.

The Moorish conquest The invasion of the Iberian Peninsula by Muslim Moors from North Africa began in 711. Tarik, the Moorish general, crossed the straits, landed in the south of Spain, and immediately defeated the last Visigothic king, Roderic. Reinforcements arrived from Africa, and by 718 the Moors had reached the Pyrenees. They rapidly overran the south of France and penetrated to the Loire Valley, but were beaten back there by the Frankish leader Charles Martel at Tours (732).

The ease with which the Peninsula had been conquered illustrates the anarchy that had existed in the country before the invasion. The indigenous inhabitants of Spain regarded the Moors simply as the successors of their previous masters, and to them it was a matter of indifference whether they were ruled by Muslims or Visigoths. They retained their religion, they paid their customary dues, and they were far better governed by the representatives of the caliph (ruler of the Arab Empire) than they had been by the Visigoths.

Muslim disunity The Moors who conquered Spain were themselves a mixture of Arabs and Berbers, who often fell out with each other and fought out their quarrels in Spain. The struggles between the Umayyad and the Abbasid dynasties also led to disruption, and soon the early anarchy of the Visigothic days returned. Although the Umayyads were overthrown as rulers of the Arab Empire in 750, they established themselves as emirs of Córdoba from 756. Shortly after this, in 777, the emir of Zaragoza requested the help of the Frankish king, Charlemagne, in his struggle with the emir of Córdoba. Charlemagne led an army across the Pyrenees in 778, but was later forced to turn back. It was during this retreat that Roland died in a rearguard action at Roncesvalles.

The lack of unity among the Muslims enabled the Christian states in the north to keep their identity. Native Christians and those who fled to the mountainous northern region, successfully resisted, defeating the Moors in 722 and founding the kingdom of Asturias, which was later to become united with León and Castile. Gradually Castile was to become the leading Christian power, and played the greatest part in the reconquest of the country from the Moors.

Moorish revival and decline From the middle of the 8th to the middle of the 9th century, the rule of the Moors had been a failure; it had been strong or weak according to the character of the emir. The 10th and the beginning of the 11th centuries, however, saw the revival of the power of the Moors, a rise that corresponded with a decline in the power of the Christians, due to their own internal quarrels.

The reign of Abd-er-Rahman III (ruled 912-961) saw the peak of Moorish prosperity. He reestablished law and order, reduced even the Christian states to his vassalage, and, by 932 (with the capture of Toledo), completed the reunification of Muslim Spain. His effective administration was continued during the reign of his son al-Hakam II (961-76), but after this adventurers and puppets were placed on the throne, and the Moorish Empire seemed on the verge of collapse. It was broken up into small states, and the Christian states began to reassert their identity.

The beginnings of the Reconquista When the kingdom of Castile was founded in 1037 it had traditions and laws, and had already granted many of its serfs emancipation, and many of its towns charters. The great model charter of the city of León had been granted by Alfonso V in 1020. Sancho the Great of Navarra and his son Ferdinand (I) the Great (ruled 1035-65) did much to unite the kingdoms of the north. Castile, León, and Galicia were by this time united as one kingdom, while the other kingdoms of the north were regarded as dependencies of this larger one.

Under Ferdinand I the Reconquista - the reconquest of Spain from the Moors - began. He advanced as far as the River Tagus, threatened Andalusia, entered Valencia, and reached as far as Seville. Ferdinand died in 1065, and his possessions were divided among his three sons, with the greatest share of power going to his second son, Alfonso VI. Alfonso successfully continued the work of his father, and, by his marriage with a Burgundian princess, made Castile a power in Western Europe. His success against the Moors was immediate, and he overran the whole of Muslim Spain, taking Toledo in 1085.

Almoravids and Almohads The fall of Toledo provoked the invasion of the Berber Almoravids, who ruled Morocco and parts of what is now Algeria. The Almoravids defeated Alfonso at the Battle of Zalaca (1086). Alfonso had to give up some of his conquests, but he kept Toledo, and he had shown that it was possible to defeat the Moors. It was shortly after this that El Cid, a vassal of Alfonso, died defending Valencia from the Moors. The Almoravids were more fanatical than the Spanish Moors, and did much to alienate their Christian subjects, and also their Muslim predecessors.

The Almoravids were themselves displaced in the 12th century by another Berber dynasty from northwest Africa, the Almohads, who were similarly intolerant, and were defeated by the Christian kingdoms in 1212.

Aragón and Castile divide Spain The Christian reconquest of Spain continued in the 13th century. In 1230 the crowns of León and Castile were finally united, and already the various spheres of expansion had been marked out for Castile and Aragón respectively. The kingdom of Aragón in northeast Spain had been founded in 1035, and by the 13th century all the other Christian kingdoms - with the exception of Navarre, which straddled the Pyrenees - had been absorbed by either Aragón or Castile. At the end of the 13th century Aragon also acquired Sicily and Naples.

Aragón and Castile now agreed that Castile was to develop to the south, and was to gain Murcia and Andalusia, while Aragón was to expand by conquering Valencia and the Balearic Islands. By 1248, under Ferdinand III of Castile, the Moorish possessions in Spain were confined to the far south - to Granada and the ports and hinterland of Almería, Adra, Motril, and Málaga.

The kings of Castile in the 13th-15th centuries Alfonso (X) the Wise of Castile (ruled 1252-84) was succeeded by his son Sancho IV, whose reign (1284-95) was occupied in putting down the revolts of rivals, and was followed by the confusion of two long minorities during the reigns of Ferdinand IV (1295-1312) and Alfonso XI (1312-50).

There was civil war during the reign of Pedro the Cruel (1350-69) between Pedro and Henry of Trastámara, the illegitimate son of Alfonso XI. On Pedro's murder Henry was elected king as Henry II. During his reign (1369-79) the power of the Cortes (parliament) was great, but it could not check the absolute power of the king.

Henry was succeeded by John I (ruled 1379-90), who claimed the succession to the throne of Portugal, but, defeated in battle, had to give up that claim. His son, Henry III (ruled 1390-1406), was physically weak, but was nevertheless able to restore order to Castile, and was succeeded by his son John II (1406-54). In 1410, during the minority of John II, Ferdinand, his uncle, was elected king of Aragón, although by strict hereditary rule the crown should have passed to John.

The union of Castile and Aragón The separation between the two kingdoms, however, did not last much longer. In 1416 Ferdinand, the uncle of John of Castile, had died and was succeeded on the throne of Aragón by Alfonso V (ruled 1416-58). Alfonso became immersed in Italian affairs, and his Spanish possessions were ruled for him by his brother John, who finally succeeded to the throne of Aragón as John II (ruled 1458-79).

In 1469 John II's son Ferdinand married Isabella of Castile. In 1474, on the death of her brother Henry IV, Isabella succeeded to the throne of Castile, and, after a brief war of succession, she and Ferdinand ruled Castile as joint monarchs (he as Ferdinand V of Castile). John II of Aragón died in 1479, leaving the throne of Aragón to Ferdinand. The unification of Spain was finally completed by the conquest of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold, in 1492, and by Ferdinand's annexation of Spanish Navarre in 1512. The reign of Ferdinand and Isabella also saw the assertion of Castilian control in the Canary Islands.

For subsequent developments see Spain: history 1492-1936 and Spain: history 1936-45. For Spanish history since 1945 see Spain.