A Brief History of Spain (part one)

Since I will soon be traveling to Spain, I thought that I would provide my readers with some historical background on that country... plus it will help me brush up on the history prior to playing "tour guide" there.

Spain's story goes far back into the mists of time.  Evidence has been found of human inhabitation going back to the Old Stone Age, more than 18,000 years ago.  The most famous prehistoric site is the Cave of Altamira in northern Spain.  The walls and ceilings of this cave are decorated with paintings of animals.  It was discovered in the late 1800s, and at the time it was thought impossible that prehistoric humans could have created such artistic images.  However, the skeptics were proven wrong when other examples of similar paleolithic art were discovered. The cave is now closed to visitors because the carbon dioxide from human breath was damaging the paintings.  But there is a replica of the cave at the Archaeological Museum in Madrid.

(image taken from the web)



 

The earliest inhabitants of Spain in historic times were a group known as the Iberians.  (From them comes the name by which we know Spain and Portugal... the Iberian Peninsula.)  The Iberans were a tribe who spoke a non Indo European language.  They arrived in southern and eastern Spain perhaps as early as the New Stone Age.  Their origin is unknown, but some think they might have come from northern Africa or from as far away as Asia Minor. Through contact with other Mediterranean civilizations they eventually developed a sophisticated culture.  They left behind many artifacts, the most famous being a sculpture know as "La Dama de Elche" (the Lady of Elche).  This highly realistic and detailed bust shows Greek influence.

(image from the web)

Between 900 and 300 B.C. the Celts moved into northern Spain.  They were a pastoral people and left little behind other than the ruins of their round, stone houses which are similar to those found in Celtic areas such as Scotland and Ireland.  It's interesting to note that in the northwestern region of Galicia, the bagpipe is the major instrument in the folk music.

The coast of Spain was visited and colonized by many of the civilzations of the ancient Mediterranean world.  The earliest colonizers were the Phoenicians who built the trading post of Gadir around 1000 B.C.  Gadir is the present day city of Cádiz, and is considered by some to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe.  After the Phoenicians came the Greeks, and they were followed by the Carthaginians.

Of all the ancient peoples that came to Spain, the Romans were to have the most lasting effect.  Around 200 B.C., as a result of the Punic Wars, the Romans took over the Carthaginian colonies.  They then pushed inland to conquer the rest of the peninsula.  But because of fierce resistance from the Iberian and Celtic tribes, it took nearly two centuries for the Romans to control all of Spain.  Once the conquest was complete, the population gradually became Romanized... its people became Roman citizens, spoke Latin (which was to evolve into the Spanish language of today), followed Roman law, lived in cities built in the Roman style, and worshiped Roman gods.  Eventually many were attracted to a new religion that was spreading throughout the empire... Christianity.  For four centuries Spain was the Roman province of Hispania, one of the most important provinces of the empire.  It was a rich source of grain, wine, oil, wool and minerals.  Several Roman emperors, including Trajan and Hadrian, were born in Hispania.  Numerous writers, including the great philosopher Seneca, were born there.

But by the fourth century the empire was weakening, and Spain was to enter a new chapter of its history.

(image from the web)

The ruins of the Roman theater in Mérida, Spain (formerly the Roman city of Augusta Emerita)