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History of Spain

The largest country in Southern Europe, spanning the majority of the Iberian Peninsula. 7 eras, 476 CE to today.

Visigothic Kingdom, 476 CE–718 CE Draft, not yet reviewed

The Visigothic Kingdom occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th century. The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, and the Visigoths believed they had the right to take the territories that Rome had promised in Hispania. Most of the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by Umayyad troops from North Africa in 711 to 719, with only the northern reaches of Hispania remaining in Christian hands.

Seat of power: Toledo

Rulers

Caliphate of Córdoba, 929 CE–1031 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Emirate of Córdoba, and from 929, the Caliphate of Córdoba, was an Arab Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 756 to 1031. Its territory comprised most of the Iberian Peninsula, known to Muslims as al-Andalus, with its capital in Córdoba. In 1031, after years of infighting, the caliphate collapsed and fractured into a number of independent Muslim taifa (kingdoms).

Seat of power: Córdoba

Rulers

Kingdom of Castile, 1065–1833 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Kingdom of Castile was a polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It was not until 1065 that it was separated from the Kingdom of León and became a kingdom in its own right. Throughout that period, the Castilian kings made extensive conquests in southern Iberia at the expense of the Islamic principalities. The Kingdoms of Castile and of León, with their southern acquisitions, came to be known collectively as the Crown of Castile, a term that also came to encompass overseas expansion.

Seat of power: Burgos

Rulers

reign of Isabella II of Spain, 1833–1868 Draft, not yet reviewed

Isabella's reign spanned the death of Ferdinand VII in 1833 until the Spanish Glorious Revolution of 1868, which forced the Queen into exile and established a liberal state in Spain. After the death of Ferdinand VII on 29 September 1833, his wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies assumed the regency with the support of the liberals, on behalf of their daughter Isabella. Conflict with her brother-in-law, Carlos María Isidro de Borbón, who aspired to the throne, led the country into the First Carlist War. Isabella II was proclaimed of age at the age of thirteen by resolution of the Cortes Generales in 1843.

Seat of power: Madrid

Rulers

Spain under the Restoration, 1874–1931 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Restoration was the period in Spanish history between the First Spanish Republic and the Second Spanish Republic from 1874 to 1931. After nearly a century of political instability and several civil wars, the Restoration attempted to establish a new political system that ensured stability through the practice of turno, an intentional rotation of liberal and conservative parties in leadership, often achieved through electoral fraud. In 1898, Spain lost nearly all its remaining colonies in the Spanish-American War, including Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. It ended on 14 April 1931 with the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.

Seat of power: Madrid

Rulers

Francoist Spain, 1939–1975 Draft, not yet reviewed

Francoist Spain was a state established in Nationalist-held territories of Spain ruled by Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939 and then comprising the whole of Spain from 1939 until Franco's death in 1975. The regime emerged from the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War and developed into a dictatorship centred on Franco. After a period of postwar isolation and autarky, the regime shifted in the 1950s toward economic liberalization and technocratic government. Following Franco's death in 1975, Spain entered the Spanish transition to democracy.

Seat of power: Madrid

Spain, 1978 to today Draft, not yet reviewed

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state. A 1977 general election, the first free election in Spain since 1936, was followed by the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in a referendum which re-established a constitutional monarchy.

Seat of power: Madrid

Rulers

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.