A REALLY Brief
History of Spain
Geography
Note the geographic boundaries:
East--Mediterranean Sea
West--Portugal
South--Africa (Strait of Gibraltar)
Northeast--France
The two largest cities in Spain are Madrid
and Barcelona. Madrid is the capital, and
Barcelona is the best place to study
abroad.
Spain is made up of 17 autonomous communities
(previously called “regions”). Three of them have
their own languages:
The Basque Country—Basque
Galicia—Galician
Catalonia—Catalan
Dialects of Catalan are also spoken in Valencia and Mallorca.
Important Dates in Spanish History
• 206 B.C. – The Romans invade Spain;
their language, Latin, became the
dominant language. Spanish developed
from Latin.
• 711 A.D. – The Moors (peoples of North
Africa) invade Spain. Catholic Spain fights
back against the Islamic Moors, who
speak Arabic. (Spanish words that begin
with “al”—like “álgebra”—come from
Arabic.)
• 1492 – Not only did Isabel and Fernando sponsor Columbus
but also succeeded in expelling the last of the Moors from
Spain. The Alhambra, a Moorish palace in a city called
Granada, was the last stronghold.
You’ll notice that Granada (which means “pomegranate”) is
in the south, close to Africa, so it makes sense that the
Moors could hold onto it longer than other cities.
Pictures of the Moorish palace, the
Alhambra
Incidentally, Washington
Irving loved the Alhambra
and wrote stories in it and
about it.
• 1492 – We’re still not done with that date.
Isabel and Fernando succeeded in
expelling not only the Moors that year but
also the Jews. The Moors and the Jews
made up most of the middle class, so what
the king and queen actually did was throw
out all their workers thereby ruining the
country’s economy.
• 1936-1939 – These are the dates of the (most
recent) Spanish civil war. In 1931, the popular
vote made it obvious that people wanted a
republic, not a monarchy, and King Alfonso XIII
abdicated. There were so many political factions
violently opposed to each other that civil war
seemed inevitable. It broke out in 1936, and
Francisco Franco gained control of the
government and became dictator.
Incidentally, Ernest Hemingway fought in the
Spanish civil war.
Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist. Catholicism
was the state religion. The Catalan and Basque
languages were suppressed. Franco was totally
opposed to a republican form of government.
However, he wasn’t opposed to a monarchy, so
he had Juan Carlos, grandson of Alfonso XIII, the
monarch who fled before the civil war, brought to
Spain and groomed to be his successor.
• 1975 -- Franco died. Juan Carlos
became king, but, knowing which
way the wind blew, immediately
went about establishing a republic.
A president was elected, and the
real power resides with that office.
Culture
Spain is known
for flamenco
dancing. It’s
the traditional
dance you see
on TV and in
movies with the
castanets.
The most
famous
Spanish literary
work is Don
Quixote. The
book was
written by
Miguel de
Cervantes.
The dish for which Spain is most famous is
paella. It’s a rice dish seasoned with
saffron and contains seafood and chicken
and a few vegetables.
toasted almonds
chocolate-covered
custard
These sweets are
called turrones
(singular, turrón)
and are a specialty
of Catalonia, where
Barcelona is
located. The
translation is
“nougat,” but they’re
nothing like the
inside of a Three
Musketeers bar.
crushed almonds
and honey
almond-filled
chocolate
And if you go to
Barcelona with us, you
can see and/or taste
these things yourself!