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Introduction to Hispanic Studies
Iberia: from the Romans to the Renaissance
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The Romans defeat the Carthaginians and gradually consolidate their control over Hispania. They establish six provinces: Gallaecia (in the northwest), Tarraconensis (north/northeast), Lusitania (west south of the River Duero), Carthaginensis (centre/east), Baetica (south) y Balearica (Islas Baleares). |
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409 AD |
Invasions by Germanic peoples: Swabians, Vandals y Alans. In order to combat these invasions, the Romans ally themselves with another Germanic tribe, the Visigoths, who end up controlling most of the Peninsula, with their capital in Toledo. The Visigothic kingdom converts definitively to Christianity in 587. |
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711 |
Invasion by Islamic forces from north Africa: Arabs y Berbers. They swiftly conquer most of the Peninsula and reach as far north as Poitiers in 732. The territory of Al-Andalus is governed from Damascus (716-56). A few Christian enclaves in the north remain outside Muslim control, where small kingdoms grow up. |
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718 |
The first signs of organized resistance by the Christian kingdoms: the battle of Covadonga (in Asturias). By the middle of the 11th century, almost all of the territory to the north of the Duero is under Christian control. |
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756-1031 |
Al-Andalus is a powerful independent Emirate (and a Caliphate after 929) with its capital in Córdoba. Internal divisions intensify and in 1031 the Caliphate splits into several smaller kingdoms (taifas). |
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1031-1492 |
The Christian Reconquest gradually advances southwards (Alfonso VI of Castilla and León occupies Toledo in 1085). Between 1090 and 1212, Al-Andalus is ruled by the Almorávides and later the Almohades, Berber groups who invade from Africa. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the territory under Islamic rule has been reduced to the Nazarí kingdom of Granada, which is finally taken by the joint forces of Castilla and Aragón in 1492. |
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The Medieval Kingdoms |
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One of the first centres of resistance against the Arabs. Alfonso I (739) establishes a kingdom including Galicia and León. The capital is moved to León at the beginning of the 10th century. |
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Navarra |
One of the most powerful of the Christian kingdoms in the early 11th century, extending north and south of the Pyrenees and including Castilla, Aragón, Vasconia and la Rioja. Castilla and Aragón both become independent in 1035, and Vasconia is ceded to Castilla in 1200. In 1512, Fernando of Aragón takes control of the Spanish part of Navarra. |
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Castilla |
A county that secedes from the kingdom of León at the beginning of the 10th century, and is later ruled by Navarra. Fernando I becomes king of Castilla and of León in 1037, and the two kingdoms are definitively united in 1230 (under Fernando III). Castilian-Leonese forces conquer Toledo, Córdoba, Sevilla and Jaén, eventually making Castilla the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula. |
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Cataluña/Aragón |
In the 9th century the northeastern corner of the Peninsula is part of the Carolingian empire (following the conquest of Barcelona in 801 by Charlemagne’s son), but later forms an independent group of counties owing allegiance to the Counts of Barcelona. With the marriage in 1137 of Ramón Berenguer IV to the heir to the crown of Aragón (which has been independent from Navarra since 1035), Catalonia becomes the leading partner in the combined kingdom of Aragón. Aragonese/Catalan forces advance southwards as far as Murcia (ceded to Castilla in 1244), and also occupy the Balearic Islands and Sicily (1282). |
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Portugal |
The county of Portugal belongs to the kingdom of León until 1095, when it is given as a dowry by Alfonso VI on his daughter’s marriage to Henry of Burgundy. It becomes an independent kingdom in 1139, and extends southwards. It also occupies various groups of islands in the Atlantic, although the Canaries are ceded to Castilla in 1479. It is ruled by Spain between 1580 and 1640. |
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Marriage of Isabel de Castilla and Fernando de Aragón. |
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1474 |
Isabel inherits the throne of Castilla y León. |
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1479 |
Fernando inherits the throne of Aragón. The Reyes Católicos (Catholic Monarchs) thus preside over an alliance of kingdoms covering the whole Peninsula except for Portugal, Granada (taken in 1492) and Navarra (annexed in 1512), but this still does not constitute a completely unified realm: Castilla and Aragón retain their separate Cortes (parliaments) and monetary systems. |
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1492 |
Columbus’s first transatlantic voyage, which begins the colonization of America in the name of the crown of Castilla. The expulsion of Jews from Castilla and Aragón is decreed. Antonio de Nebrija publishes the first Castilian grammar. |
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1497-1515 |
Castilla and Aragón gain control of Melilla, Roussillon, Sardinia and Naples. |
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1504 |
Death of Isabel la Católica. She is succeeded as Queen of Castilla by her daughter Juana, who is married to Philip of Austria (known in Spain as Felipe el Hermoso), but he dies in 1506. Fernando of Aragón rules Castilla until his death in 1516. |
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1516 |
Carlos I, the son of Juana and Felipe, inherits Castilla and Aragón together with their American and Italian territories (he has already inherited his father’s possessions in Flanders, the Low Countries and Luxembourg). In 1519 Carlos inherits from his grandfather (the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian) large territories in Austria, Germany and the Tyrol, and is himself elected Emperor (Charles V). |
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1519-33 |
Conquest of Mexico (by Hernán Cortés) and Peru (by Francisco Pizarro). |
Sí Spain history pages |
(in English) |
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~ Presencia de
Roma |
Roman
Presence |
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M.P. Thompson |