Political Development. 351 



Spain awakened to civilization through the visits 

 of Phoenicians and Carthaginians followed by the 

 Romans. During the first centuries of the Christian 

 era there occurred one of the several periods of ex- 

 treme prosperity, when a supposed population of 40 

 million exploited the country. After the dark days 

 of the Gothic domination, a second period of pros- 

 perity was attained for the portion which came under 

 the sway of the industrious and intelligent Moors or 

 Saracens (711 to 1,000 A.D.) who made the desert 

 bloom, and whose irrigation works are still the main- 

 stay of agriculture at present. Centuries of warfare 

 and carnage to re-establish Christian kingdoms still 

 left the country rich, when, in 1479, the several king- 

 doms were united into one under Ferdinand and 

 Isabella, and the Moors were finally driven out alto- 

 gether (1492). This kingdom persisted in the same 

 form to the present time with only a short period as 

 a republic (1873). Spain was among the first coun- 

 tries to have a constitution. 



After the Conquest of the Moors, and with the dis- 

 covery of America, again a period of prosperity set in 

 for the then 20 million people, but, through oppression 

 by State and Church (Inquisition), which also led to 

 the expulsion of the Jews and large emigration to 

 America, the prosperity of the country was des- 

 troyed, the population reduced to 10 million in 1800, 

 and the conditions of character and government 

 created which are the cause of its present desolation, 

 Since the beginning of the century, the population has 

 increased to near 18 million, but financial bankruptcy 

 keeps the government inefficient and unable to 



