19th Century of 1873 had a very important activity in all Andalusia '' by
José Casado del Alisal depicts the
Battle of Bailén in 1808 In 1805 the alliance between
Charles IV and
Napoleon provoked the Spanish participation in the
naval war against England, which was decided in the
Battle of Trafalgar, which took place in the waters off the coast of Cadiz and resulted in the defeat of the Franco-Spanish squadron against the English fleet. In 1808,
Napoleon troops entered the Iberian Peninsula under the pretext of invading
Portugal together with the Spanish army. However, Napoleon took the opportunity to treacherously overthrow the Spanish rulers and take over the country. This led to a popular insurrection and the consequent
War of Independence, in which Andalusia played a decisive role in the resistance against the invader, with the
Battle of Bailén, which was the first Spanish victory over the French, with the
movimiento juntero and with the
Cortes de Cádiz, which on 19 March 1812 proclaimed the first liberal constitution of Spain, popularly called
la Pepa. The constitution was sworn by King
Ferdinand VII on his return to Spain but the monarch soon annulled it and restoring absolutism. Andalusia was characterized by its defense of
liberalism against Ferdinand's absolutism, being Cadiz the main bastion, with the proximity to Gibraltar as a base of meeting of the liberals and favorable place for circumstantial escapes. In 1820, after the failed pronunciamiento of
Riego in
Las Cabezas de San Juan,
Arcos de la Frontera and other Andalusian cities, the events in
Galicia caused Ferdinand VII to retake the Constitution, giving way to the so-called
Liberal Triennium, during which the king continued conspiring to reestablish absolutism. In 1823 the French army (called "the
Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis") invaded Spain and the liberals took refuge in Cadiz with Ferdinand VII as hostage. The city resisted a long siege that was ended by a pact: the square would be surrendered and the King would be released but he would accept the Constitution of 1812. This was done but, as soon as he was freed, King Ferdinand returned to absolutism, giving way to the
Ominous Decade. With the death of Ferdinand VII and the emergence of
Carlism, liberal Andalusia reacted in 1835 by creating provincial liberal boards, which federated to form the
Junta Suprema de Andalucía, based in
Andújar, whose objective was the progressive reforms, pursuing the replacement of
conde de Toreno by
Mendizábal and the
Royal Statute by a
new liberal constitution. With the reign of
Isabel II, the
constitution of 1845 again gave more power to the monarchy and
caciquismo was a constant in national politics, with exceptions such as the
liberal bourgeoisie of Malaga that promoted the industrialization of the city and the province, making Malaga a leader in sectors such as iron and steel or textile manufacturing, that would quickly go into decline due to the poor articulation of the country, the very deficient means of transport in southern Spain and the tariff barriers on the import of English coal, to protect Asturian mining. The discontent led to the
Revolution of 1868, called
la Gloriosa ("the glorious"), started in Cadiz and spread throughout the rest of the country, leading to the
Sexenio Democrático, the proclamation of the
First Republic in 1873 and the
Cantonal Revolution, of
federalist character, with a very strong activity in Andalusia, whose most significant examples were the
Cadiz Canton or the
Malaga Canton, the second longest lasting after the
Cartagena. The
Monarchist Restoration, led by
Antonio Cánovas del Castillo from Málaga, brought with it the new
Constitution of 1876, as well as a great political immobility favored by the
bipartisanship, which further aggravated the serious situation of caciquismo reigning. The 19th century in Andalusia was a century of contrasts, but expansive from the economic point of view, since the Andalusian industry had an important weight in the Spanish economy during the 19th century. In 1856, Andalusia was the second Spanish region in terms of degree of industrialization, between 1856 and 1900 Andalusia had a rate of industrialization above the national average in the branches of food, metallurgy, chemistry and ceramics, from 1915 this supremacy was reduced to the branches of food and chemistry. The municipal elections of 1931, in Andalusia as in the rest of Spain, were a clear victory for the Republican party, whose representation in the city councils led to the proclamation of the
Second Spanish Republic that same year. The Republic was a period of great political instability, in which the great problems of Andalusia were not solved, among them the
Agrarian reform and
illiteracy. The
Casas Viejas incident is an example of the Andalusian discontent with the government of the Republic. Despite some minority attempts, Andalusia did not accede in this period to have the political autonomy made possible by the
constitution of 1931. The outbreak of the
Civil War in Andalusia had unequal consequences. While most of
Western Andalusia fell immediately into the hands of the
rebel side,
Eastern Andalusia remained under Republican rule for most of the war. On the strictly warlike level, the civil war in Andalusia was reduced to minor battles, however the shootings and repression were abundant. The
Franco's bombing of the Malaga coast and the
German bombing of Almeria were especially dramatic. During the post-war period and the establishment of
Francoism until the beginning of the
fifties, Andalusia suffered the consequences of
rationing derived from the
autarky of a military, repressive, dictatorial and centralist state. These were years of
hunger and total lack of liberties. From the 1950s onwards, slight changes took place in the Franco regime. The country was opening up to foreigners thanks to the development of tourism, initiated with the
tourist boom of the
Costa del Sol, and also by the departure of
emigrants, who went both abroad and to other areas of the most industrialized Spain, especially to
Germany and the region of
Catalonia. Industry was also promoted through development plans, which included
Sevilla and
Huelva in a first phase and
Córdoba and
Granada in a second phase. Road transport was improved and some highways and reservoirs were built. This opening to the exterior and the reactivation of the economy were accompanied by a growing opposition movement to the regime, which, however, did not achieve the
democratic transition in Spain until the death of the dictator
Francisco Franco in 1975.
Autonomous Community of Andalusia The democratic transition, through the formula of the
parliamentary monarchy, was widely supported in Andalusia. On 4 December 1977, nearly two million Andalusians demonstrated throughout the country in favor of political autonomy for the region. During the demonstration in Malaga, nineteen-year-old demonstrator Manuel José García Caparrós was killed by the police. In 1978 a provisional autonomous government led by
Plácido Fernández Viagas and that same year the
new Spanish constitution was enacted, which established the ways for the creation of a decentralized state through the
autonomous communities. The autonomic process began in Andalusia with discrepancies between the Pre-autonomic Board and the
government of the nation, in the hands of the
UCD. The central government wanted to grant Andalusia the reduced autonomy contained in article 143 of the constitution. This article allowed fast-track access to autonomy to the regions of Spain that had not approved
statute of Autonomy during the Second Republic and that, therefore, were not considered "
historical communities". However, the Junta Preautonómica de Andalucía pursued full autonomy and therefore opted for the path of Article 151, which had been introduced in the constitutional text mainly by the intervention of
Manuel Clavero Arévalo. In the
referendum of 28 February 1980, and despite the campaigns of the central government to hinder its approval, the majority of Andalusians decided that Andalusia should have full autonomy, through the restrictive procedure expressed in article 151, which makes it the only Spanish autonomous community that acceded to autonomy through that procedure. Finally in 1981, the
Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia, known by the nickname of "Estatuto de Carmona", was approved by referendum, by which the region was constituted as an autonomous community under the provisions of the second article of the
Spanish Constitution of 1978, which recognizes and guarantees the right to autonomy of the Spanish nationalities and regions. , seat of the
Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Andalucía, in Granada After the autonomous process and the entry of Spain in 1986 into the
European Economic Community, later
European Union, Andalusia entered a period of slow recovery, benefiting extensively from the
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the
Plan de Empleo Rural (PER). Since its creation, the government of the
Junta de Andalucía has been led by the
PSOE, with
Rafael Escuredo,
José Rodríguez de la Borbolla,
Manuel Chaves,
José Antonio Griñán and
Susana Díaz as
presidents. During this period, public services and basic infrastructures have been expanded. In 1992 a
high speed railroad line was inaugurated between Seville and
Madrid, on the occasion of the
Universal Exposition of Seville, which was a milestone in the improvement of communications in that province. Tourism has also been boosted, and other events of international importance have been held, such as the
Mediterranean Games in Almería or the
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 in
Sierra Nevada.
21st Century In 2007, the Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia was reformed, the preamble of which states, firstly, that in the 1919 Andalusian Manifesto
Andalusia was described as a national reality, to continue stating its current status as a
nationality within the indissoluble unity of
Spanish nation. Subsequently, in its articles, it defines itself, more specifically, as
historical nationality, unlike the previous statute (1981) where it was defined, simply, as
nationality. This new statute opens the way to greater levels of autonomy. Despite the millions in economic aid, via subsidies, granted by the
EU in recent decades, Andalusia's
per capita income is still well below the Spanish and European average. Although its
economic growth in certain years has been higher than the national average, it has remained far from convergence with the rest of Spain and Europe; even after the
economic crisis of 2008-2013, income per capita indexes have worsened, since the destruction of wealth in Andalusia has been greater than in other regions of Spain. The Andalusian economy has hardly diversified, since the
primary sector has too much weight and, although the
secondary sector is underdeveloped, there has been a strong
tertiarization. There have also been serious cases of
political and urban corruption in town halls and governmental institutions, such as the
Malaya case, the
Operation Malaya or the
ERE affair. After the 2008-2013 economic crisis, Andalusia topped the unemployment ranking of the entire European Union, reaching a figure close to 36% in 2012. == Notes ==