SPAIN 



5477 



SPAIN 



The first real conquest of the peninsula was 

 made by the Romans, when in the Second 

 Punic War they defeated the Carthaginians 

 and made Spain a Roman province. It became 

 one of the most flourishing provinces of the em- 

 pire and a center of Roman culture, producing 

 many of Rome's greatest writers, including 

 Seneca, Martial and Quintilian. During the 

 reign of Const'antine the Great, Christianity be- 

 came the dominant religion. 



With the fall of the Roman Empire, Spain 

 fell under the power of the three Gothic tribes ; 

 the Vandals conquered the south, naming it 

 Vandalusia (now Andalusia), and the Suevi and 

 Alans settled in Galicia and Portugal. By 585 

 the Visigoths had subjected these invaders and 

 had conquered the whole peninsula. 



After a mastery of nearly two hundred years, 

 they in turn were subjugated by the Moors in 

 712. The language and customs of the Arabs 

 were introduced. Gorgeous palaces and for- 

 tresses, such as the Alhambra at Granada, and 

 the magnificent Moorish cities of Cordova, 

 Toledo and Valencia were built. The country 

 prospered and industries advanced. 



The Visigoths, driven into the north, had es- 

 tablished the small, independent kingdoms of 

 Leon, Navarre and Castile. Charlemagne, in 

 the ninth century, conquered Navarre and ex- 

 tended his empire to the Ebro. The kingdoms 

 of Galicia, Aragon, Murcia and Portugal had 

 been established as the result of the division of 

 the small kingdoms among the sons of the kings. 

 In the thirteenth century all of these Christian 

 principalities united against the Moors, and the 

 Moorish princes were subjugated by Castile, 

 one of the most powerful of the small king- 

 doms. The other predominant principality was 

 Aragon, which was the first Christian state in 

 which the people were given representation in 

 the government. 



The Union of the Independent Kingdoms. 

 Aragon and Castile continued to develop, and 

 in 1469, when Ferdinand V of Aragon married 

 Isabella of Castile, these two kingdoms were 

 united, and the fusing of the many independ- 

 ent states into one political unity was begun. 

 The history of the next hundred years, during 

 the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V 

 and Philip II, is one of continued successes and 

 added glories. Ferdinand, called "The Catho- 

 lic," extended Christianity throughout the pen- 

 insula; the Moors lost their last stronghold at 

 Granada; the discovery of America, under the 

 patronage of Isabella, extended the kingdom 

 abroad; Mexico, Central America, Peru, Vene- 



zuela, Chile, Cuba, Jamaica and Santo Domingo 

 were acquired; conquests extended to Africa 

 and to Malacca and the Spice Islands in Asia, 

 and with the acquisition of the Philippines, the 

 Spanish Empire girdled the globe. The Euro- 

 pean conquests included Navarre, Roussillon, 

 Portugal, the Netherlands, Naples, Sicily, Sar- 

 dinia, the Canaries and the Balearic Islands. 

 Spain had become "the mistress of the world 

 and queen of the ocean." 



The Decline of Power. Spain's glory did not 

 last long. In 1588 the naval supremacy of the 

 kingdom was lost to England, when the famous 

 Armada was shattered. In the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, under Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II, 

 insurrection, religious persecution and civil war 

 weakened the kingdom. The Netherlands were 

 lost (see NETHERLANDS, THE, subtitle History). 

 At the close of the War of the Spanish Suc- 

 cession Spain had to give up Naples, Parma, 

 Sardinia and Milan to Austria, Sicily to Savoy, 

 and Gibraltar and Minorca to England. 



Relations with England and France. A short 

 period of prosperity followed, but at the close 

 of the eighteenth century Spain unfortunately 

 entered the war against the French republic, 



THE ROYAL PALACE 

 As it appears to-day. 



losing Santo Domingo to France. An alliance 

 was then made with France against England, 

 but the British victory at Trafalgar, October, 

 1805, permanently destroyed the Spanish naval 

 power. Napoleon later conferred the Spanish 

 throne upon his brother Joseph, and war with 

 France followed. Napoleon victoriously entered 

 Madrid, December 4, 1808. Not until 1813 

 were the French forces defeated and driven 

 out of Spain by Wellington's army. 



The Spanish king was restored, but the loss 

 of the South American colonies and Mexico 

 and oppression at home resulted in a revolu- 

 tion. Another revolt began in 1868, when Fer- 

 dinand's successor, Isabella II, was driven from 

 Spain- and a provisional government was estab- 

 lished. In 1873 a republic was organized, but 

 two years later Alfonso XII, the eon of Isabella, 



