Prehistory and Iberian peoples Archaeological research at
Atapuerca indicates the Iberian Peninsula was populated by
hominids 1.3 million years ago.
Modern humans first arrived in Iberia from the north about 35,000 years ago. The best-known artefacts of these prehistoric human settlements are the paintings in the
Altamira cave of Cantabria in northern Iberia, which were created from 35,600 to 13,500
BCE by
Cro-Magnon. Archaeological and genetic evidence suggests that the Iberian Peninsula acted as one of several major refugia from which northern Europe was repopulated following the end of the
last ice age. Before the
Roman conquest the major cultures along the Mediterranean coast were the
Iberians, the
Celts in the interior and north-west, the
Lusitanians in the west, and the
Tartessians in the southwest. The seafaring
Phoenicians,
Carthaginians, and
Greeks successively established trading settlements along the eastern and southern coast. The
development of writing in the peninsula took place after the arrival of early Phoenician settlers and traders (tentatively dated 9th century BC or later). The south of the peninsula was rich in archaic Phoenician colonies, unmatched by any other region in the central-western Mediterranean. They were small and densely packed settlements. The colony of
Gadir—which sustained strong links with its metropolis of
Tyre—stood out from the rest of the network of colonies, also featuring a more complex sociopolitical organization.
Archaic Greeks arrived on the Peninsula by the late 7th century BC. They founded
Greek colonies such as
Emporion (570 BC). After the defeat of
Carthage in the
First Punic War, the Carthaginian general
Hamilcar Barca led an expedition to Iberia, where he hoped to gain a new empire for Carthage to compensate for territorial losses. In eight years, by force of arms and diplomacy, Hamilcar secured an extensive territory, covering around half of the Iberian Peninsula. Hamilcar's premature death in battle (228 BC) prevented him from completing the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Roman Hispania and the Visigothic Kingdom in
Mérida During the
Second Punic War, roughly between 210 and 205 BCE, the expanding
Roman Republic captured Carthaginian trading colonies along the Mediterranean coast. It took the Romans nearly two centuries to complete the
conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. They retained control of it for over six centuries. Roman rule was bound together by law, language, and the
Roman road. The cultures of the pre-Roman populations were gradually
Romanised (Latinised) at different rates depending on what part of the peninsula they lived in, with local leaders being admitted into the Roman aristocratic class. Hispania, the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula, served as a granary for the Roman market, and its harbours exported gold,
wool,
olive oil, and wine. Agricultural production increased with the introduction of irrigation projects, some of which remain in use. Emperors
Hadrian,
Trajan,
Theodosius I, and the philosopher
Seneca were born in Hispania. Christianity was introduced into Hispania in the 1st century CE, and it became popular in the cities in the 2nd century. The
Germanic Suebi and
Vandals, together with the
Sarmatian Alans, entered the peninsula after 409, weakening the Western Roman Empire's jurisdiction over Hispania. The Suebi established a kingdom in north-western Iberia. The Vandals established themselves in the south of the peninsula by 420, before crossing over to North Africa in 429. As the western Roman empire disintegrated, the social and economic base became greatly simplified. The successor regimes maintained many of the institutions and laws of the late empire, including Christianity and assimilation into the evolving Roman culture. The
Byzantines established an occidental province,
Spania, in the south, with the intention of reviving Roman rule throughout Iberia. Eventually, however, Hispania was reunited under
Visigothic rule.
Muslim era and Reconquista From 711 to 718, as part of the expansion of the
Umayyad Caliphate which had
conquered North Africa from the
Byzantine Empire, nearly all of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Muslims from across the Strait of Gibraltar, resulting in the collapse of the Visigothic Kingdom. Only a small area in the mountainous north of the peninsula stood out of the territory seized during the initial invasion. The
Kingdom of Asturias-León consolidated upon this territory. Other Christian kingdoms, such as
Navarre and
Aragon in the mountainous north, eventually surged upon the consolidation of counties of the Carolingian
Marca Hispanica. For several centuries, the fluctuating frontier between the
Muslim and Christian-controlled areas of the peninsula was along the
Ebro and
Douro valleys. Conversion to
Islam proceeded at an increasing pace. The
muladíes (Muslims of ethnic Iberian origin) are believed to have formed the majority of the population of
Al-Andalus by the end of the 10th century. A series of
Viking incursions raided the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula in the 9th and 10th centuries. In the 11th century, the Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed, fracturing into a series of petty kingdoms (
Taifas), often subject to the payment of a form of
protection money (
Parias) to the Northern Christian kingdoms, which otherwise undertook a southward territorial expansion. The capture of the strategic city of
Toledo in 1085 marked a significant shift in the balance of power in favour of the Christian kingdoms. The arrival from North Africa of the Islamic ruling sects of the
Almoravids and the
Almohads achieved temporary unity upon the Muslim-ruled territory, with a stricter, less tolerant application of Islam, and partially reversed some Christian territorial gains. The
Kingdom of León was the strongest Christian kingdom for centuries. In 1188, the first form (restricted to the bishops, the magnates, and 'the elected citizens of each city') of modern parliamentary session in Europe was held in
León (
Cortes of León). The
Kingdom of Castile, formed from Leonese territory, was its successor as the strongest kingdom. The kings and the nobility fought for power and influence in this period. The example of the Roman emperors influenced the political objective of the Crown, while the nobles benefited from
feudalism. Muslim strongholds in the
Guadalquivir Valley such as Córdoba (1236) and
Seville (1248) fell to Castile in the 13th century. The
County of Barcelona and the
Kingdom of Aragon entered into a dynastic union and gained territory and power in the Mediterranean. In 1229,
Mallorca was conquered, as was
Valencia in 1238. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the North-African
Marinids established some enclaves around the Strait of Gibraltar. Upon the conclusion of the
Granada War, the
Nasrid Sultanate of Granada (the remaining Muslim-ruled polity in the Iberian Peninsula after 1246) capitulated in 1492 to the military strength of the
Catholic Monarchs, and it was integrated from then on in the Crown of Castile.
Spanish Empire In 1469, the crowns of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united by the marriage of their monarchs, Isabella I and Ferdinand II, respectively. In 1492, as part of the
Spanish Inquisition, Jews were forced to choose between conversion to Catholicism or expulsion; as many as 200,000 Jews were
expelled from Castile and Aragon. The year 1492 also marked the arrival of
Christopher Columbus in the
New World, during a voyage funded by Isabella. Columbus's first voyage crossed the Atlantic and reached the Caribbean Islands, beginning the European exploration and conquest of the Americas. The
Treaty of Granada guaranteed religious tolerance towards Muslims, for a few years before Islam was outlawed in 1502 in Castile and 1527 in Aragon, leading the remaining Muslim population to become nominally Christian
Moriscos. About four decades after the
War of the Alpujarras (1568–1571), over 300,000
moriscos were expelled, settling primarily in North Africa. The unification of the crowns of Aragon and Castile by the marriage of their sovereigns laid the basis for modern Spain and the Spanish Empire, although each kingdom of Spain remained a separate country socially, politically, legally, and in currency and language.
Habsburg Spain was one of the leading world powers throughout the 16th century and most of the 17th century, a position reinforced by trade and wealth from colonial possessions and became the world's leading
maritime power. It reached its apogee during the reigns of the first two Spanish Habsburgs—
Charles V/I (1516–1556) and
Philip II (1556–1598). This period saw the
Spanish conquest of the Aztec and
Inca empires, the
Italian Wars, the
Schmalkaldic War, the
Dutch Revolt, the
War of the Portuguese Succession, clashes with the
Ottomans, intervention in the
French Wars of Religion, and the
Anglo-Spanish War. Through exploration and conquest or royal marriage alliances and inheritance, the
Spanish Empire expanded across vast areas in the Americas, the Indo-Pacific, Africa as well as the European continent, including holdings in the Italian Peninsula, the
Low Countries and the
Franche-Comté. The so-called
Age of Discovery featured explorations by sea and by land, the opening-up of new
trade routes across oceans, conquests and the beginnings of European
colonialism.
Precious metals, spices, luxuries, and previously unknown plants brought to the metropole played a leading part in transforming the European understanding of the globe. The cultural efflorescence witnessed during this period is now referred to as the
Spanish Golden Age. The expansion of the empire caused immense upheaval in the Americas as the collapse of societies and empires and new diseases from Europe devastated American indigenous populations. The rise of
humanism, the
Counter-Reformation and new geographical discoveries and conquests raised issues that were addressed by the intellectual movement now known as the
School of Salamanca, which developed the first modern theories of what are now known as
international law and human rights. Spain's 16th-century maritime supremacy was demonstrated by the victory over the
Ottoman Empire at the
Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and over Portugal at the
Battle of Ponta Delgada in 1582, and then after the setback of the
Spanish Armada in 1588, in a series of victories against
England in the
Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604. In the middle decades of the 17th century, Spain's maritime power went into a long decline with mounting defeats against the
Dutch Republic (
Battle of the Downs) and then England in the
Anglo-Spanish War of 1654–1660. By the 1660s, Spain was struggling to defend its overseas possessions from pirates and privateers. The
Protestant Reformation increased Spain's involvement in religiously charged wars, forcing ever-expanding military efforts across Europe and in the Mediterranean. By the middle decades of a war- and
plague-ridden 17th-century Europe, the Spanish Habsburgs had enmeshed Spain in continent-wide religious-political conflicts. These conflicts drained Spain of resources and undermined the economy generally. Spain managed to hold on to most of the scattered Habsburg empire, and help the imperial forces of the
Holy Roman Empire reverse a large part of the advances made by Protestant forces. Spain was finally forced to recognise the
separation of Portugal and the United Provinces (Dutch Republic), and eventually suffered some serious military reverses to France in the latter stages of the immensely destructive, Europe-wide
Thirty Years' War. During this war, a new dynasty originating in France, the
Bourbons, was installed. The Crowns of Castile and Aragon had been long united only by the Monarchy and the common institution of the Inquisition's
Holy Office. A number of reform policies, the so-called
Bourbon Reforms, were pursued by the Monarchy with the overarching goal of centralised authority and administrative uniformity. They included the abolishment of many of the old regional privileges and laws, as well as the customs barrier between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile in 1717, followed by the introduction of new property taxes in the Aragonese kingdoms. The 18th century saw a gradual recovery and an increase in prosperity through much of the Spanish empire. The predominant economic policy was interventionist, with the State driving infrastructure development, abolishing internal customs, and reducing export tariffs. Projects of agricultural colonisation with new settlements took place in the south of mainland Spain.
Enlightenment ideas began to gain ground among some of the kingdom's elite and monarchy.
Liberalism and nation state in
Cádiz in 1831,
Málaga. Ferdinand VII took
repressive measures against the liberal forces in his country. in 1933, after
women's suffrage was approved. Deputy
Clara Campoamor was a key figure for the right to be granted. In 1793, Spain went to war against the revolutionary new
French Republic as a member of
the first Coalition. The subsequent
War of the Pyrenees polarised the country in a reaction against the
gallicised elites and following defeat in the field, peace was made with France in 1795 at the
Peace of Basel in which Spain lost control over two-thirds of the island of
Hispaniola. In 1807, a secret treaty between
Napoleon and the unpopular prime minister led to a new declaration of war against Britain and Portugal. French troops entered the country to invade Portugal but instead occupied Spain's major fortresses. The Spanish king abdicated and a puppet kingdom satellite to the French Empire was installed with
Joseph Bonaparte as king. The
2 May 1808 revolt was one of many uprisings across the country against the French occupation. These revolts marked the beginning of a devastating
war of independence against the Napoleonic regime, which resulted in an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Spanish dead. Further military action by Spanish armies,
guerrilla warfare and an Anglo-Portuguese allied army, combined with
Napoleon's failure on the Russian front, led to the retreat of French imperial armies from the Iberian Peninsula in 1814, and the return of
King Ferdinand VII. During the war, in 1810, a revolutionary body, the
Cortes of Cádiz, was assembled to coordinate the effort against the Bonapartist regime and to prepare a constitution. It met as one body, and its members represented the entire Spanish empire. In 1812, a
constitution for universal representation under a constitutional monarchy was declared, but after the fall of the Bonapartist regime, the Spanish king dismissed the Cortes Generales, set on ruling as an
absolute monarch. The French occupation of mainland Spain created an opportunity for overseas
criollo elites who resented the privilege towards
Peninsular elites and demanded
retroversion of the sovereignty to the people. Starting in 1809 the American colonies began a series of revolutions and declared independence, leading to the
Spanish American wars of independence that put an end to the metropole's grip over the
Spanish Main.
Attempts to re-assert control proved futile with opposition not only in the colonies but also in the Iberian peninsula and army revolts followed. By the end of 1826, the only American colonies Spain held were
Cuba and
Puerto Rico. The Napoleonic War left Spain economically ruined, deeply divided and politically unstable. In the 1830s and 1840s,
Carlism (a reactionary legitimist movement supportive of an alternative Bourbon branch), fought against the government forces supportive of Queen
Isabella II's dynastic rights in the
Carlist Wars. Government forces prevailed, but the conflict between
progressives and
moderates ended in a weak early constitutional period. The 1868
Glorious Revolution was followed by the 1868–1874 progressive
Sexenio Democrático (including the short-lived
First Spanish Republic), which yielded to a stable monarchic period, the
Restoration (1875–1931). In the late 19th century nationalist movements arose in the Philippines and Cuba. In 1895 and 1896 the
Cuban War of Independence and the
Philippine Revolution broke out and eventually the United States became involved. The
Spanish–American War was fought from April to August 1898 and resulted in Spain losing the last of its once vast colonial empire outside of North Africa.
El Desastre (the Disaster), as the war became known in Spain, gave added impetus to the
Generation of '98. Although the period around the turn of the century was one of increasing prosperity, the 20th century brought little social peace. Spain played a minor part in the
scramble for Africa. It remained neutral
during World War I. The heavy losses suffered by the colonial troops in conflicts in northern Morocco against Riffians forces brought discredit to the government and undermined the monarchy. Industrialisation, the development of railways and incipient capitalism developed in several areas of the country, particularly in
Barcelona, as well as
labour movement and socialist and anarchist ideas. The
1870 Barcelona Workers' Congress and the
1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition are good examples of this. In 1879, the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party was founded. A trade union linked to this party,
Unión General de Trabajadores, was founded in 1888. In the anarcho-syndicalist trend of the labour movement in Spain,
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo was founded in 1910 and
Federación Anarquista Ibérica in 1927. Catalanism and Vasquism, alongside other nationalisms and regionalisms in Spain, arose in that period: the
Basque Nationalist Party formed in 1895 and
Regionalist League of Catalonia in 1901. Political corruption and repression weakened the democratic system of the constitutional monarchy of a two-parties system. The July 1909
Tragic Week events and repression exemplified the social instability of the time. The
La Canadiense strike in 1919 led to the first law limiting the working day to eight hours. After a period of Crown-supported dictatorship from 1923 to 1931, the first elections since 1923, largely understood as a plebiscite on Monarchy, took place: the
12 April 1931 municipal elections. These gave a resounding victory to the Republican-Socialist candidacies in large cities and provincial capitals, with a majority of monarchist councilors in rural areas. The king left the country and the proclamation of the Republic on 14 April ensued, with the formation of a provisional government. A
constitution for the country was passed in October 1931 following the
June 1931 Constituent general election, and a series of cabinets presided by
Manuel Azaña supported by republican parties and the
PSOE followed. In the election held in 1933 the right triumphed and in 1936, the left. During the
Second Republic there was a great political and social upheaval, marked by a sharp radicalisation of the left and the right. Instances of political violence during this period included the burning of churches, the
1932 failed coup d'état led by José Sanjurjo, the
Revolution of 1934 and numerous attacks against rival political leaders. On the other hand, it is also during the Second Republic when important reforms to modernise the country were initiated: a democratic constitution, agrarian reform, restructuring of the army, political decentralisation and
women's right to vote.
Civil War and Francoist dictatorship , 1936 and
Adolf Hitler at the
Meeting at Hendaye, 1940 The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936: on 17 and 18 July, part of the military
carried out a coup d'état that triumphed in only part of the country. The situation led to a civil war, in which the territory was divided into two zones: one
under the authority of the Republican government, that counted on outside support from the
Soviet Union and
Mexico (and from
International Brigades), and the other controlled by the putschists (the
Nationalist or rebel faction), most critically supported by
Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy. The Republic was not supported by the Western powers due to the British-led policy of
non-intervention. General
Francisco Franco was sworn in as the supreme leader of the rebels on 1 October 1936. An uneasy relationship between the Republican government and the grassroots anarchists who had initiated a partial
social revolution also ensued. The civil war was viciously fought and there were
many atrocities committed by all sides. The
war claimed the lives of over 500,000 people and caused the flight of up to a half-million citizens from the country. On 1 April 1939, five months before the beginning of
World War II, the rebel side led by Franco emerged victorious, imposing a dictatorship over the whole country. Thousands were imprisoned after the civil war in
Francoist concentration camps. The regime remained nominally "
neutral" for much of the Second World War, although it was
sympathetic to
the Axis and provided the Nazi
Wehrmacht with
Spanish volunteers in the Eastern Front. The only legal party under Franco's dictatorship was the
Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (FET y de las JONS), formed in 1937 upon the merging of the Fascist
Falange Española de las JONS and the Carlist traditionalists and to which the rest of right-wing groups supporting the rebels also added. The name of "
Movimiento Nacional", sometimes understood as a wider structure than the FET y de las JONS proper, largely imposed over the latter's name in official documents along the 1950s. After the war Spain was politically and economically isolated, and was kept out of the United Nations. This changed in 1955, during the
Cold War period, when it became strategically important for the US to establish a military presence on the Iberian Peninsula as a counter to any possible move by the Soviet Union into the Mediterranean basin. US Cold War strategic priorities included the dissemination of American educational ideas to foster modernisation and expansion. In the 1960s, Spain registered an
unprecedented rate of economic growth which was propelled by
industrialisation, a mass internal migration from rural areas to
Madrid,
Barcelona and the
Basque Country and the creation of a mass tourism industry. Franco's rule was also characterised by
authoritarianism,
promotion of a unitary national identity,
National Catholicism, and
discriminatory language policies.
Restoration of democracy signing the treaty of accession to the
European Economic Community on 12 June 1985 In 1962, a group of politicians involved in the opposition to Franco's regime inside the country and in exile met in the congress of the
European Movement in Munich, where they made a resolution in favour of democracy. With Franco's death in November 1975,
Juan Carlos succeeded to the position of
King of Spain and
head of state in accordance with the Francoist law. With the approval of the new
Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the
restoration of democracy, the State
devolved much authority to the regions and created an internal organisation based on
autonomous communities. The
Spanish 1977 Amnesty Law let people of Franco's regime continue inside institutions without consequences, even perpetrators of some crimes during transition to democracy like the
Massacre of 3 March 1976 in Vitoria or
1977 Massacre of Atocha. In the Basque Country, moderate
Basque nationalism coexisted with a
radical nationalist movement led by the armed organisation
ETA until the latter's dissolution in May 2018. The group was formed in 1959 during Franco's rule but had continued to wage its violent campaign even after the restoration of democracy and the return of a large measure of regional autonomy. On 23 February 1981, rebel elements among the security forces seized the Cortes in an attempt to impose
a military-backed government. King Juan Carlos took personal command of the military and successfully ordered the coup plotters, via national television, to surrender. During the 1980s the democratic restoration made possible a growing open society. New cultural movements based on freedom appeared, like
La Movida Madrileña. In May 1982 Spain joined
NATO, followed by
a referendum after a strong social opposition. That year the
Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) came to power, the first left-wing government in 43 years. In 1986 Spain joined the
European Economic Community, which later became the
European Union. The PSOE was replaced in government by the
Partido Popular (PP) in 1996 after scandals around participation of the government of
Felipe González in the
Dirty war against ETA.
Economic prosperity and crash On 1 January 2002, Spain fully adopted the
euro, and Spain experienced strong economic growth, well above the EU average during the early 2000s. However, well-publicised concerns issued by many economic commentators at the height of the boom warned that extraordinary property prices and a high foreign trade deficit were likely to lead to a painful economic collapse. In 2002, the
Prestige oil spill occurred with big ecological consequences along Spain's Atlantic coastline. In 2003
José María Aznar supported US president
George W. Bush in the
Iraq War, and a strong movement against war rose in Spanish society. In March 2004 a local
Islamist terrorist group inspired by
Al-Qaeda carried out the largest terrorist attack in Western European history when they killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 others by
bombing commuter trains in Madrid. Though initial suspicions focused on the Basque terrorist group
ETA, evidence of Islamist involvement soon emerged. Because of the proximity of the
2004 Spanish general election, the issue of responsibility quickly became a political controversy, with the main competing parties, the
PP (People's Party) and
PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' party) exchanging accusations over the handling of the incident. The PSOE won the election, led by
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. In the early 2000s, the proportion of
Spain's foreign born population increased rapidly during its economic boom but then declined due to the
2008 financial crisis. In 2005, the Spanish government legalised
same sex marriage, becoming the third country worldwide to do so. Decentralisation was supported with much resistance of Constitutional Court and conservative opposition, so did gender politics like quotas or the law against gender violence. Government talks with ETA happened, and the group announced its permanent cease of violence in 2010. The bursting of the
Spanish property bubble in 2008 led to the
2008–2014 Spanish financial crisis. High levels of unemployment, cuts in government spending and corruption within the
Royal family and the People's Party served as a backdrop to the
2011–12 Spanish protests. The
Catalan independence movement also gained traction. In 2011,
Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's Party won the election with 44.6% of votes. As prime minister, he implemented austerity measures for the EU bailout, the EU Stability and Growth Pact. On 19 June 2014, the monarch, Juan Carlos, abdicated in favour of his son, who became
Felipe VI.
Constitutional issues during the
2017 Catalan independence referendum In October 2017 a
Catalan independence referendum was held and the
Parliament of Catalonia voted to unilaterally declare
independence from Spain to form a Catalan Republic on the day the
Spanish Senate was discussing approving direct rule over Catalonia as called for by the Spanish Prime Minister. On the same day the Senate granted the power to impose direct rule and Mariano Rajoy dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a new election. No country recognised Catalonia as a separate state. In June 2018, the
Congress of Deputies passed a
motion of no-confidence against Rajoy and replaced him with the PSOE leader
Pedro Sánchez. In 2019, the first ever coalition government in Spain was formed, between PSOE and
Unidas Podemos (now Sumar). Between 2018 and 2024, Spain faced an
institutional crisis surrounding the mandate of the
General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), until finally the mandate got renovated. In January 2020, the
COVID-19 virus was confirmed to have
spread to Spain, causing life expectancy to drop by more than a year. The European Commission economic recovery package
Next Generation EU was created to support the EU member states to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and will be in use in the period 2021–2026. In March 2021, Spain became the sixth nation in the world to make
active euthanasia legal. Following the
general election on 23 July 2023, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez once again formed a coalition government, this time with
Sumar (the successor of
Unidas Podemos). In 2024, the first non-independentist Catalan regional president in over a decade,
Salvador Illa, was elected, normalising the constitutional and institutional relations between the national and the regional administrations. According to latest polls, only 17.3% of Catalans feel themselves as "only Catalan". 46% of Catalans would answer "as Spanish as Catalan", while 21.8% "more Catalan than Spanish". == Geography ==