Spain’s history begins with the colonization of the Phoenicians around the year 1000 before our time. The area was then dominated by Greece and Carthage. In 195 BCE Spain became a Roman province, Hispania. After the fall of the Roman Empire came a period when the country was ruled by Goths. In the Middle Ages, Spain was conquered by the Moors (Arab Muslims).
The royal couple Isabella and Ferdinand recaptured Spain from the Moors and united Spain into a Christian kingdom in 1492. Under Isabella and Ferdinand, Spain became a European great power and maritime nation with overseas colonies in both Africa, Asia and America. In the 19th century, the colonies demanded independence, and the recession began. Spain was a dictatorship for much of the 20th century. Most famous is Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship, which was introduced after the Spanish Civil War in 1939. Franco was dictator until 1975, when Spain became a democratic, constitutional monarchy.
- Countryaah: Check to see the location of Spain on the world map. Also covers major mountains, rivers and lakes in Spain.
Roman colonization
The Phoenician colonization of Spain began around the year 1000 BCE. In Gadir, (Gades, present Cadiz), the Greeks later built colonies and trading stations. Parts of Spain were under Carthaginian dominance from the 400s. The Second Punic War (218–201 BCE) began with the Carthaginian destruction of Saguntum, which was under Roman protection.
The area dominated by the Romans after the war was divided into two provinces in 195 BCE. After 200 years of ruthless defeat of Celtic tribes (Iberian Celts), the Romans had completed the conquest of the entire Iberian Peninsula, organized in three provinces, called Hispania, during August. Caesar and Augustus built many Roman settlements (Mérida, Zaragoza), and the country was eventually Romanized. To see more information other than history, please visit Abbreviationfinder to learn more about climate, population, government, and economy for the country of Spain.
Gold, silver, copper and tin were collected from Spain, as well as grain, wine and oil. From this came the emperors Trajan, Hadrian, Mark Aurel and Theodosius 1 and writers such as Seneca, Martial and Quintilian. Christianity gained an early foothold in Spain and from Constantine’s time was the leading religion.
Middle Ages – Arab rule
During the migrations, Germanic tribes invaded Spain in 409 AD. The Vandals became masters of southern Spain (after them called Andalucía), the hikers settled in the northwest and the Alans in the southwest (present-day Portugal). After these came the Visigoths as Roman allies, the vandals in 428–429 migrated to North Africa. In 584, the Visigoths became subservient to the kingdom of the Swedes.
The Byzantine Empire under Justinian (534–553) subdued the Spanish south coast, but when the Byzantine troops were withdrawn in 615, all of Spain was united under the Visigothic Kingdom. It lasted until 711, when the Arabs (Moors) won the decisive battle of Jerez de la Frontera. Spain became a province under the Baghdad Caliphate (Abbasids) until the Omayyad Abdurrahman in 756 took power and severed ties with the Caliphate. In 929, the emirate of Córdoba became its own caliphate.
As part of the Arab world, Spain became commercially linked to the Middle East and experienced strong economic progress (artificial irrigation, silver mining, arms and leather industry). Cordoba was one of Europe’s largest and most magnificent cities. Arab and Jewish scholars created in Spain a cultural center that became important for Christian Europe by disseminating Greek and Arabic science.
In northern Spain, however, small Christian kingdoms stood up to the Arabs; most important was around Austria about 900 (also called León), later Castilla and Aragón, which in 1162 were united with Barcelona. In 1139 Portugal became its own kingdom. Castile and Aragon gradually needed the Moors to the south; Toledo was captured in 1086.
After the decisive victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, Castile and Aragon divided southern Spain; the Moors retained only smaller areas, from 1248 only the Kingdom of Granada. Aragón was a major trade and sea power in the Mediterranean, it was conquered in 1282 Sicily, later Sardinia and ruled over Naples and the Duchy of Athens.
The Great Age of Spain 1479–1714
By the middle of the 14th century, Spain was divided into several states, and the economy was relatively primitive compared to many of its neighbors. There was nothing to indicate that the country was facing a great age. It has often been said that it was the income of the colonies in America that formed the basis of this superpower, but first and foremost, one must go to European conditions to find the explanation.
The Spanish empire became a great power because of its expanse. In the 15th century, the Iberian Peninsula consisted of the kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Portugal and Navarre. Aragon also included Catalonia, Valencia, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples and the Balearic Islands. In 1469, Isabella of Castilla and Ferdinand of Aragón married, which led to the two kingdoms being united in a personal union in 1479. But both states retained their own governing bodies.
In 1492 Granada was recaptured and in 1512 Navarra was placed under Castile. Thus, Spain was established as a state. After Kristoffer Columbus ‘ voyages to America, most of South America, Central America and the West Indies were also placed under Castile. But initially, Spain was not the base area of the Spanish great power.
Between 1493 and 1519 Maximilian of Habsburg was Duke of Austria and German-Roman Emperor. His son Philip the beautiful became Duke of Burgundy (the present Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of Northern France) in 1482. Filip married Johanna the crazy, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. They had the son Karl, who became Duke of Burgundy after his father in 1506. Isabella died in 1504, and Ferdinand became regent in Castile. When he died in 1516, Karl inherited both kingdoms.
In 1519, Emperor Maximilian, Charles’s grandfather, died. After bribing the electoral college in time, Karl was elected emperor under the name Karl 5 (as Spanish King Karl 1). His brother Ferdinand was elected Duke of Austria and in 1526 King of Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Spain had become part of a world empire.
Karl 5
By virtue of the size of kingdoms, Charles 5 became the dominant prince in Europe, but his kingdom was not initially Spanish. He was raised in Flanders, and lived there for almost his entire life. Burgundy, because of its trade and textile industry, was the most prosperous part of the empire, and because of its political constellations, the easiest part to tax.
The kingdom gradually became more Spanish, and the royal power strengthened its position in Spain. The increasing use of Spanish nobility in lucrative royal positions throughout the empire led Karl to constantly strengthen his position at the expense of the nobility. It also meant a lot that Karl got control of the Spanish church.
Parallel to this, he had problems with the trading towns of Flanders, which had previously been his main economic base. The reason was that Karl’s expansive foreign policy was in conflict with their interests. However, the revenue he missed for that reason could be offset by increased revenues from Castilla. This was primarily due to better royal control, which made increased taxation possible. America’s revenues mattered very little during Charles’s reign.
In line with Spain’s increased economic importance within the empire, Charles’s advisers, officers and soldiers were also increasingly recruited from Spain, so that from the 1540s onwards a genuine Spanish world empire could be spoken of.
The size of Charles’s kingdom made him Europe’s most powerful man. Europe feared Spanish domination, and Karl was constantly at war with his neighbors, especially France. At the same time, he was pressured by the Ottoman expansion and by the German local princes’ attempts to break free from the empire. This caused him to abdicate from all his titles in the mid-1550s. The kingdom was divided. The brother, Duke Ferdinand, became emperor, while his son, Philip 2 (1556-1598), received the Spanish and Burgundian parts.
Financial crisis and riots
Philip’s kingdom was definitely Spanish. He was raised in Spain and established his court there, and his financial base was entirely Spain. Under Philip, the income from America meant a good deal. What characterizes Philip’s reign is the financial crisis. The Spanish krone was forced to borrow large loans from Italian, German and Dutch financiers. The Spanish state went bankrupt four times and suspended the loan repayment.
Philip’s big problem was holding the kingdom together; Particularly problematic was the situation in Karl’s old core area, the Netherlands. The Dutch liberation struggle was partly due to increasing Spanish influence in the area, partly to economic policy and foreign policy little aimed at the Netherlands’ main industries, crafts and trade, and partly religious contradictions.
The rebellion led to costly acts of war from 1572 to 1609, when an agreement was signed which meant that the northernmost provinces broke free from Spain. The Netherlands got help from England, which led to war between England and Spain. Much of the Spanish and Portuguese fleet was destroyed when the Spanish armada in 1588 attempted to conquer England.
At the same time there was an uproar in Spain itself, which was due to the fact that the Moors in Granada had been allowed to stay. They had been forced to formally transition to Christianity, but still practiced their old religion. From Philip’s point of view, this was especially dangerous because they represented a potential ally for the Ottomans, who during this period pressured Spain. Philip banned all Muslim religious practices and any use of Arabic. This led to the rebellion of the “inverted” Moors, the Moors, in 1567.
It took Philip several years to turn down this rebellion. He forced the Moors into different parts of Castile without particularly pacifying them. Therefore, in 1609 they were forced to move to North Africa. Both the rebellion in the Netherlands, with a Protestant undertone, and the problem of morality demonstrate the practical and political role of religion for Philip. Religious unity, that is, Catholicism, became a political goal, which also explains the significance of the Spanish Inquisition and the Jesuits. But it cost huge sums to knock down revolts and wage war at the same time, and the revenue failed.
Recession
Spain was an agricultural country with relatively scarce land. Farming and sheep farming were important. The earth was owned by nobility, church and royal power, with the peasants as dwellers. Business flourished in the early 16th century, partly because of the need for goods for America, partly because America’s income provided greater purchasing power to the Spanish population. A market for agricultural products opened up, which led to agriculture being transformed in a more capitalist direction. But more important was the rapid growth of the urban industries. In a few years, a large and apparently viable textile industry based on domestic wool was built up.
From the middle of the 16th century, Spain had major financial problems. The population declined, both because of emigration to America and because of the forced relocation of Moorish and Jews, but primarily because of high death rates. The result was a labor shortage. The price increase in Spain was stronger than in other European countries, probably due to imports of precious metals from America.
This led to the Spanish business being outperformed by the Dutch both domestically and especially in America. Here, too, it meant that the colonists were deliberately aiming to become self-sufficient. The decline was compounded by the fact that the bourgeoisie, which was relatively new in Spain, turned away from civilian industries when the decline began. This was because there was an alternative in royal or ecclesiastical service, both of which benefited well during the Spanish heyday.
Towards the end of the 16th century, income from America also declined, as the mines began to be emptied of precious metal, and because an increasing share of trade in America went outside Spain. The result of all this was an economic collapse for the Spanish kingdom, which soon had consequences for Spain’s position of great power based on expensive military power.
In the 1600s, Spain was reduced to a second-ranking state in Europe. Important here is the Thirty Years War, which for Spain lasted until 1659. Then the country lost Portugal, which had been conquered in 1580. By 1578 the region of Franche-Comté had been lost. During the Spanish succession war, Spain had to give up the rest of the non-Spanish, European parts of the empire, the Spanish Netherlands and southern Italy. Gibraltar was delivered to the United Kingdom.
Spain during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
During the Revolutionary Wars, Spain joined the European coalition in 1793, but allied in 1796 with France. At the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the British destroyed Spain’s fleet, which was united with the French. In 1807 the French moved into Spain, and the following year 100,000 Frenchmen went to Madrid. Napoleon forced the Spanish royal family to renounce all claims to the throne and made his brother Joseph Bonaparte (king of Naples) king of Spain.
Napoleon tried to incorporate the Pyrenees Peninsula into the mainland system, and Spain was increasingly under French influence. The country lacked a bourgeoisie that could positively oppose the revolutionary liberal idea, and the church stirred the broad masses to resist the godless strangers. The mainland system caused financial problems because trade with the United Kingdom and the colonies stagnated.
All of this triggered a public uprising and, supported by British troops, the Spaniards revolted (guerrillas) against the French. In 1812, Joseph had to flee the country, and the French troops were beaten by General Wellington at Toulouse in April 1814.
Violence and reaction
A people-elected assembly, Cortes, had given the country a liberal constitution in 1812. In 1814, King Ferdinand 7 returned, defeated the liberal currents, and ruled dictatorially in the years 1814-1820. First, an armed uprising in 1820 forced Ferdinand to abolish the Inquisition and hard governance and to promise to respect the free-spirited constitution of 1812. But the new constitutional government of March 1820 all fell in October 1823 when Ferdinand with the help of French intervention troops again got unanimous power. It was not until 1827 that the King’s last French troops left Spain.
Ferdinand had no sons, and his brother Don Carlos was the heir to the throne. In 1830, Ferdinand implemented female inheritance to the throne. At Ferdinand’s death in 1833, a civil war broke out, which lasted from 1833 to 1840. Don Carlos objected to the new inheritance law, but his followers, the charters, were beaten. Ferdinand’s widow Christina took over the board of her daughter Isabella, who in 1843 was declared Cortes. In 1846 she married her cousin, Don Francisco d’Assisi.
Minister Ramón María Narváez was the country’s true leader until 1851. From then on, Spain had a number of short-lived, reactionary governments.
Charists and Alphonsists
The opposition to Queen Isabella and her reactionary ministers’ unconstitutional rule led to several revolts. The most serious was the revolution of 1868, one of the most important events in recent Spanish history. Isabella fled to France, junta was established in several provinces and cities, and a provisional government was established. In 1870 Cortes adopted a new constitution.
But the confusion and turmoil continued. In 1873, Cortes declared Spain a federal republic. The dynastic contradictions between the charts and followers of Isabella and her descendants the Alphonsists were interwoven with social, confessional and national contradictions, between landowners and the liberal bourgeoisie, the church and anti-clerical currents.
Characteristic of Spain were the major regional contradictions. In Catalonia, Catalan nationalism arose, and similar currents also arose in the Basque and other provinces. In 1874, the republic was overthrown by the Alphonsists, and Isabella’s son became king as Alfons 12. After his death, Alfons 13 ruled with his mother María Christina as regent. Thus, the controversy over state form and dynasty subsided, but regional and social tensions remained.
Spain remained outside industrial development in Western Europe from the end of the 19th century. Spain was still primarily an agricultural country, and central parts of the country were dominated by large noble estates and a proletariat of agricultural workers and lessees. Here too, there were regional differences, and an industry grew in Catalonia (textile industry) and the Basque regions (iron industry). This provided the basis for a Spanish labor movement, which however was divided in different directions. In addition to socialist groups based on Marxism, anarchism found its roots in Spain. After 1900 a trade union movement emerged characterized by French syndicalism.
The Spanish colonial world is lost
The Spanish overseas colonial empire in America and Asia was lost in the 19th century. In the years 1808–1824, the Spanish colonies in South America broke loose. After Spain sold Florida to the United States in 1819, colonial territory shrank to the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and some smaller areas. In the periods 1868-1878 and 1895-1898 Spain fought against rebels in Cuba. The United States intervened in 1898. Spain lost almost the entire fleet, losing all its American and Asian colonies. The loss of these protected colonial markets disrupted Spain’s industry, especially in Catalonia, and social and political unrest was the result. Spain sought to replace the losses in Africa. In 1904, the country came to an understanding with France, and parts of it Morocco became a Spanish area of interest.
In 1910-1912 several internal reforms were adopted, including some religious freedom. During World War I, Spain was neutral. The aristocracy, the affluent classes and a military clique sympathized with the central powers, while the king, the intellectuals and the majority of the people held the entente. The charters were Protean and the Republicans were allies. Only with great effort did they succeed in preventing the political turmoil in the uprising, but after the war they broke out. Catalonia with the capital of Barcelona demanded autonomy, a demand that was followed by insurrections, general strke and syndicalist actions in Barcelona and other cities. In addition, Spain suffered heavy losses in the war against the rebellious cabals in Morocco in 1920 and 1921.
Dictatorship and unrest 1923-1936
These conditions and Benito Mussolini’s progress in Italy paved the way for Miguel Primo de Rivera’s military dictatorship in 1923. Cortes was dissolved, trial with jury abolished, and de Rivera ruled as president of a military directorate until 1925, when the king appointed him prime minister. His power was strengthened by French and Spanish troops winning decisive victories over the Moroccans in 1925–1926. Primo de Rivera was displaced in January 1930.
The king’s close relationship with de Rivera also contributed to his own downfall. At the April 1931 municipal elections, Republicans dominated. King Alfons left Spain immediately, but without formal abdication. Niceto Alcalá-Zamora took over as President and First Minister of the Provisional Government. Anti-church demonstrations took place in several places, and churches, monasteries and religious institutions with their precious art treasures were looted and burned. In 1931 elections were held, with the left parties gaining a large majority. The new National Assembly passed a new constitution. According to this, Spain was to be “a democratic republic of workers of all classes”.
Politically, there was opposition between supporters of the monarchy and the republic, and there was disagreement over the forms of possible democratic rule. Economically and socially, the problems revolved around property conditions in the countryside and the working class conditions. Furthermore, there were contradictions of a regional nature between centralist tendencies and forces that wanted different forms of regional autonomy. Furthermore, there were questions about the place of the church in the community.
On December 10, 1931, the new constitution was adopted and Niceto Alcalá-Zamora elected president. From December 1931 to November 1933, Manuel Azaña led a government coalition of socialists and left-Republicans. Separatist tendencies created problems for the government, but the land issue was still its most difficult task. In September 1932, a law was passed that confiscated about 200 million acres of land from royal domains, and in addition, much of the land of the aristocrats was revoked and made into state property, mostly without compensation to the owners. Other attempts to improve the economic conditions were also made, but the world crisis from around 1930, all such attempts counteracted. Spain at that time had around one million unemployed out of a population of 23 million. The Catholic opposition to the government grew.
In November 1933, the first elections to Cortes were held under the new constitution. The Left parties declined sharply, and the Conservatives remained in power for the next 14 months, with the Catholics (Acción Popular) as the strongest single party. The new government set aside many of Cortes’ previous constitutional decisions. Land reforms were postponed, religious orders were re-taught in schools, and the Jesuits returned. The socialists objected to these attempts to reintroduce the former social order. They said it was a step towards fascism, and on October 5, 1935, they declared a general strike. The government struck down the strike with a hard hand, arresting more than 25,000.
President Alcalá-Zamora disbanded Cortes and made a new election on February 16, 1936. Former President Azaña, who had been arrested for some time, was able to bring the left-wing groups – Republicans, Socialists, Marxists, Syndicalists, Anarchists and Communists – into the public front against the right-wing groups. the old regime (clerical, monarchists, officers and others). The national front gained a majority in Cortes with 256 seats against the center parties 52 and the right parties 165.
The leftist assembly was not communist, with the Socialists having 87 and Azaña’s left-Republicans 81. Azaña was given the difficult task of forming government; President Alcalá-Zamora was put on trial and removed, and Azaña became the new president. The political turmoil increased rapidly and the violence of the fascists (Falangens) was met with harsh counter-measures from the left groups. Strikes, burning and looting of churches and political murders often occurred. The country’s economic life seemed to be paralyzed. Reactionary officers were removed or banished, for example, General Franco was sent to the Canary Islands.
The government became increasingly helpless in this battle between the extremist parties, a battle that reached climax with the assassination of José Calvo Sotelo, one of the most accomplished leaders of the right-wing parties in Cortes, July 13, 1936. The right-wing parties then withdrew from Cortes. Opponents of the government within the army now decided to take action. 17.-18. July 1936 the forces in Morocco and the Canary Islands revolted.
The Civil War 1936–1939
A long civil war followed, from July 1936 to March 1939. The government troops, loyalists, lacked leaders and discipline, while the rebel troops were well organized and equipped. On July 17, General Francisco Franco arrived from Morocco, and on October 1 was proclaimed leader of the rebel troops, the “nationalists”, the government of Burgos. From the first moment he received support from Germany, Italy and Portugal, while the Western powers advocated a non-interference policy (Non-Intervention Agreement).
Only the Soviet Union supported the Spanish government materially. The ideological struggles in Spain and the interference of the great powers forced people in many countries to take a stand. From all over the world it flowed to volunteers who fought on the Republic’s side in the so-called international brigades, which became an important issue for the international labor movement. The brigades, which included about 300 Norwegians, played an important military role in 1936-1937. Franco was supported by up to 70,000 Italian ” black shirts “, while Germany in particular provided fighter and bomber aircraft with crews available to the rebels. German aircraft terror bombing of the small town of Guernica April 27, 1937 shook the entire democratic world. Nevertheless, the Western superpowers maintained their non-intervention policy and failed to participate in the fighting.
On November 19, 1936, Germany and Italy officially approved Franco’s government. Thanks to steady supplies of troops, weapons and ammunition from Italy, Germany and Portugal, Franco managed to capture virtually all of southern and western Spain before the fall of 1937. The support the loyalists received from the Soviet Union in the form of weapons and ammunition was significantly less scope.
A deep thrust along the Ebro Valley divided the loyalists’ troops in two. In April 1938, more than 2 / 3 of Spain in Franco’s hands. The international brigades were dissolved in an attempt to get all foreign forces out of Spain, but the Nazi and fascist aid continued. Loyalist troops were on the decline, and in December 1938 – February 1939, their defenses completely collapsed. In February 1939, the United Kingdom and France recognized de jure Franco’s government, and on March 24, 1939, the loyalist support point, Madrid, fell. Valencia also fell, and the civil war was over.
Despite perhaps half a million fallen, the war did not solve any of Spain’s basic problems. Franco and the Grand Council of Falangen met in Burgos and declared that the government would be organized according to a fascist pattern. In a statement dated August 4, 1939, Franco was proclaimed “the supreme leader, responsible only to God and history”. His power as a dictator was further strengthened by Falangen becoming the only allowed party.
After the Civil War, Franco tried hard to rebuild the country and rebuild it financially. However, the Second World War put an end to many measures. However, Franco pursued a cautious foreign policy. Despite his sympathy for the Axis powers, Spain was so war-torn that he was unable to help Germany. However, some Spanish volunteers fought on the German side on the eastern front.
Spain under Franco
In 1945, Spain was politically isolated. The great powers denied Spain membership in the UN, but towards the end of the 1940s the country established relations with, among others, Argentina and the countries of the Middle East. The Western powers’ negative attitude towards Franco-Spain also lost out as the Cold War progressed. Britain changed its attitude after the Conservative electoral victory in 1951, in 1953 Spain and the United States signed an agreement that gave the United States the right to set up military facilities in Spain. In 1955 Spain joined the UN, and in July 1959 the country joined the OEEC.
Spain had major problems with its former possessions in North Africa after the war. Foreign policy in the 1950s and 1960s was characterized by conflict over the status of the Moroccan areas and with the United Kingdom on Gibraltar. The border with Gibraltar was closed between 1969 and 1982.
After the Phalangist takeover, all opposition was suppressed, and a large number of those who had defended the republic were imprisoned or executed. Soon Franco’s regime began to be characterized by the many factional struggles within the phalangist movement, the defense and the church. But above all, it was the relationship with the monarchists that dominated domestic politics. In 1947, Franco declared his goal of reintroducing the monarchy in Spain, and he recognized Deputy Prosecutor Don Juan, Alfons 13’s third son. But Franco intervened several times against the monarchists’ agitation, demanding, among other things, that he himself should point out the monarch. Negotiations with Don Juan led to the agreement that Don Juan Carlos, son of the Deputy Deputy, should receive his education in Spain. In a reorganization in 1951, the monarchists joined.
In 1953, a concordate was signed between the Vatican and Spain. The privileged position of the church was confirmed, and the agreement marked the end of the Pope’s somewhat reserved line to Franco. Catholicism was established as a state religion, and it was affirmed that the church’s property should be exempt from tax. After the war, the powerful secular Catholic organization Opus Dei had increased influence in all areas of domestic politics.
Until the 1950s, the Spanish economy was under strict state control. The economic and military approach to the Western powers led to economic liberalization. The government facilitated foreign investment and eased state control to foster economic growth. The large tourist traffic in the 1960s also helped to strengthen the country’s economy.
Opposition to the regime increased. At the factories, the so-called workers’ commissions first arose next to the fascist controlled CNS (Confederación Nacional de Sindicatos), in which both employers and workers were members. At the same time, regional contradictions flared up again. From the 1960s, the militant ETA became dominant in the Basque nationalist movement, and assassinations and assassinations took place in the Basque areas. The social unrest was met with both attempts at repression and certain forms of political liberalization. There were several occasions for clashes between police and demonstrating students and workers.
A constitutional amendment in 1966 introduced direct elections to Cortes, without political parties being allowed. The trade union movement was formally given new status, which should make it independent of state influence and control. The reform was implemented at a time when economic progress was particularly marked. In 1969, General Franco appointed Prince Juan Carlos as his successor as head of state. This caused discontent among anti-monarchist phalangists and among the charists.
In June 1973, Franco appointed a new head of government, having been Presidente del Gobierno himself since taking office in 1939. Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, who had been a member of the government for more than 20 years, now became its head. However, he was killed by ETA in an attack in December of that year.
On Franco’s death on November 20, 1975, Juan Carlos was appointed king. The new king, liberal-minded politicians and various opposition groups gradually implemented a series of democratic reforms. A new constitution was approved by a referendum in 1978. It made Spain a democratic monarchy and recognized the principle of regional autonomy.
History of Chronological overview of Spain’s
A brief historical overview
| Before our time bill | |
| 200 000 | Oldest finds of people |
| 25,000–10,000 | Paleolithic cave paintings (including Altamira) |
| After 6000 | Farming along the coast |
| 4000 | Oldest megalithic tombs |
| 2500 | Metal Age. Beaker Culture |
| After 1000 | Phoenician colonization |
| After 900 | Celtic immigration |
| After 700 | Greek colonization |
| 400s | Carthage conquers parts of Spain |
| 218-ca. year 0 | Roman conquest |
| By our time | |
| 409 | The Germanic migrations reach Spain |
| 711 | The kingdom of the Visigoths falls to the Arabs (Moors). A period of strong economic and cultural progress begins |
| 700s | Christian small states in the north form the starting point for the long-standing reconquista |
| 1000’s | Castile and Aragon become the leading Christian states |
| 1139 | Portugal becomes its own kingdom |
| 1200s | The Christians gain control of most of Spain |
| 1400s | Spain congregates and the ants are defeated |
| 1492 | Granada is conquered |
| 1516 | The Habsburg family comes to the throne |
| 1519-1556 | Karl 5’s reign begins Spain’s heyday. Colonial Empire in South and Central America. Economic growth, especially in cities |
| 1540 | The Jesuit order is founded |
| 1556 | The Netherlands and Italy come under Spain in the division of the Habsburg Empire. Spain’s downturn begins; strong inflation, and gradually declining income from the colonies |
| 1565 | Spanish conquest of the Philippines |
| 1580 | Portugal becomes part of Spain |
| 1588 | Failed naval attack on England (the Spanish armada) |
| 1640 | Uprising in Portugal |
| 1701-1714 | Spanish succession war causes further land disputes |
| 1793-1814 | Spain involved in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Spain was French sound in 1808-1814 |
| 1808-1824 | Most of the colonial kingdom in America is lost |
| 1812 | Liberal constitution has little effect |
| 1830 | Female succession is determined |
| 1833-1840 | Civil War |
| 1840-1860-years | Reactionary rule under Queen Isabella |
| 1868 | Revolution |
| 1873-1874 | Federal Republic |
| 1898 | Spain loses Cuba and the Philippines at war with the United States |
| 1910-1912 | Reforms weaken the monopoly position of the Catholic Church |
| 1914-1918 | Spain neutral during World War I |
| 1923-1930 | The military dictatorship of Primo de Rivera |
| 1930-1931 | The kingdom is falling |
| 1931 | Left victory at the elections. Spain becomes a democratic republic |
| 1933-1934 | Conservative government. Reform decisions are set aside |
| 1935-1936 | Strong social unrest |
| 1936 | People’s Front victory at the elections. Military uprising in Morocco and the Canary Islands begins the Spanish civil war |
| 1939 | The Civil War ends with victory for the rebels (Phalangists), and Francisco Franco’s dictatorship begins |
| 1939-1945 | Spain neutral, but German-friendly, during World War II |
| 1953 | Military agreement with the United States. Concorded with the Vatican |
| 1955 | Spain joins the UN |
| 1960 | Economic progress and liberalization. Rapidly increasing tourist traffic. Careful political liberalization. Increasing regional contradictions and opposition to the regime |
| 1975 | Franco dies. Juan Carlos becomes king |
| 1975-1976 | Democracy is reintroduced |
| 1978 | New Constitution |
| 1979-1980 | Internal autonomy for Cataluña and the Basque Country |
| 1981 | Spain joins NATO |
| 1982 | The Socialist Party gains government power in the elections |
| 1986 | Spain becomes a member of EF |
| 1990 | Financial stagnation |
| 1996-2004 | Conservative government under José María Aznar |
| 1997 | The Basque separatist organization ETA is stepping up its activities |
| 2004 | Spain is hit by a serious terrorist attack in Madrid. The socialists win the election |
| 2005 | The government starts peace talks with ETA |
| 2006 | A referendum in Cataluña provides an overwhelming majority for increased internal self-government |