A Brief Introduction to the Roots of Spain

In order to contextualise the rest of the content in this blog I thought it would be appropriate idea to start with a very brief introduction and overview to the history of Spain, from its discovery to the present day.

Isabelle I queen of Castille and León

The Iberian Peninsula has held host to a multitude of cultures and people, from when it was first discovered almost 32,000 years ago. From the very beginning of its discovery, Spain has been the home of the Iberians, Tartessians, Celts, Celtiberians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and this was all before Caesar Augustus’ Roman conquest in 19 BC. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Hispania was inhabited by the Suebi, and then the Visigoths, up until the invasion of the Moors in 711. General Tariq ibn Ziyad and his Arab army landed along the southern coast, wreaking havoc on the inhabitants of the region and soon capturing the entire expanse. Throughout the course of the next 750 years independent Muslim states were established throughout Iberia and the region became known as Al-Andalus. After the Region of Castille's unification with the kingdom of Leon, the northern states began a process of Reconquista, the re-conquest of all the Muslim states, which was concluded with the fall of Granada in 1492. After the fall of Granada there was the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabelle I Queen of Castille, this marriage brought the two dynasties together and led to the unification of the Kingdom of Spain in 1492. Now a united country, Spain endeavoured upon 3 centuries of Colonial expansion, wars of independence (against its colonies), and European conflicts including the Peninsula War (1807-1814) with Napoleon. 

General Franco giving the fascist salute

Even with a change of monarchy from Habsburg to Bourbon, Spain's decline into a 2nd rate power could not be halted, and consequently it descended into a civil war, eventually won by Franco's fascists. Spain continued under Franco's leadership from 1939 until his death in 1975. With the death of their dictator Spain underwent a period of extensive liberalisation, marked most evidently by the electoral victory of the Socialist PSOE party, and the return to the Bourbon monarchy (Which had been in exile since Alfonso XIII had fled in 1931). Spain joined the EEC (now EU) in 1986, from this point Spain experienced two centuries of an economic boom, cut short by the economic crisis of 2008, since then Spain has endured 5 years of mass unemployment, and a two year recession, with the country in turmoil. However, from the end of October 2013, Spain officially came out its recession with its economy growing 0.1 percent from the previous third. Now in 2014, it is beginning a process of gradual recovery in an attempt to return to the prosperity it had obtained before the economic crisis.