History of the Iberian Peninsula: From Hominids to the Enlightenment

Posted on Oct 22, 2024 in History

1. The Iberian Peninsula: From Prehistory to the Roman Empire

1.1 The Process of Hominization in the Iberian Peninsula: New Findings

The hominization process began in Africa. From there, 1.5 million years ago, Homo ergaster (“working man”) spread through East Africa, Asia, and Europe. In Gran Dolina in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos), the oldest fossils in Europe (800,000 years ago) were found in 1994. These included skulls and jawbones of six individuals—two adults and four children—representing a new species of the genus Homo, Homo antecessor (“predecessor man”). They were tall and strong and practiced cannibalism.

In the Sima de los Huesos site in Atapuerca, complete skeletons of 32 individuals from 300,000 years ago were found, classified as pre-Neanderthals. Homo neanderthalensis inhabited the Peninsula during the Middle Paleolithic (100,000-35,000 BC). They were very strong, knew how to use fire, and buried their dead. They became extinct about 25,000 years ago, from unknown causes. Remains have recently been found in Santander (Cueva Morin), Granada, Malaga, and Gibraltar, which may be those of the last Neanderthals.

Homo sapiens sapiens, or Cro-Magnon, a new species of African origin with physical features similar to modern humans, reached the peninsula around 40,000 years ago and coexisted with Neanderthals. They made bows and arrows, stone tools, and cave paintings. Genetically modern humans are descended from them.

1.2 The Pre-Roman Peoples

Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC, the Iberian Peninsula was a mosaic of peoples living in the Iron Age or Protohistory. They were grouped into two major cultural groups:

a) Iberian Peoples (south and east) showed cultural influence from the Phoenicians and Greeks. They spoke the same language and knew writing. Their economy was based on agriculture, but they also engaged in commercial activities and used currency. They organized themselves politically in city-states ruled by kings (reguli) or assemblies. Their walled settlements were located in high places. Society was hierarchical, ranging from aristocrats to slaves, and they had personal relationships (such as “Iberian devotio”). Their art was important (e.g., the “Damas de Elche” and Baza ceramics).
b) Celtic Peoples (north, center, west) were of Indo-European origin and were less developed than the Iberians. The central and western peoples (Vacceos, Vettones, Carpetani, Lusitanians) had an agricultural or livestock-based economy, with little trade and no currency. Society was organized into tribes, grouped by kinship into clans, and ruled by a warrior aristocracy chosen according to personal prestige. The northern peoples (Galicians, Asturians, Cantabrians, Basques) were the most backward due to their geographic isolation. They were farmers and fishermen; their settlements (forts) were strongly walled. The Celtiberians of the central-eastern part of the plateau were Iberians who had assimilated Celtic culture.

1.3 The Historic Settlements: Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians

In the first millennium BC, these three colonizing peoples reached the Peninsula. They sought to trade with the native population for metals (copper, gold, silver, tin) and other products, bringing new ways of life. The Phoenicians established trading enclaves in Gadir (Cadiz)—founded around 800 BC—Malaka (Malaga), Sexi (Almuñécar), and Abdera (Adra). They introduced the vine, pork, purple fabric, the potter’s wheel, salt, salted fish, and the alphabet.

The Greeks, their commercial rivals, arrived in the 6th century BC from Massilia (Marseilles) and founded colonies: Rhode (Roses) and Emporion (Ampurias); Menace (in Malaga) and Hemeroskopeion (Denia). They brought the olive tree, the donkey, chicken, currency, works of art, and vowels to the alphabet. They traded with the mysterious Tartessos.

The Carthaginians, from the Phoenician colony in North Africa, arrived in the 6th century BC. After expelling the Greeks, they faced the Romans in the Punic Wars for control of the western Mediterranean. They wanted to obtain metals, land bases, and mercenaries for their army. They founded Ebusus (Ibiza) and Carthago Nova (Cartagena), their capital.

1.4 Stages of the Conquest of the Peninsula by Rome

In the 3rd century BC, Rome and Carthage fought for control of the Western Mediterranean. In 219 BC, Hannibal, a Carthaginian military leader, attacked Sagunto (an ally of Rome). The Romans considered this a violation of the Ebro Treaty, beginning the Second Punic War (218-206 BC) and the Roman occupation of the peninsula. Stages:

Occupation of the Mediterranean coast and the valleys of the Guadalquivir and Ebro (218-170 BC). In 218 BC, they landed in Ampurias. In 209 BC, Scipio took New Carthage, and in 206 BC, Gades. Tax abuses caused indigenous revolts, which were severely suppressed by Consul Cato.
Penetration into the Plateau (154-133 BC). They encountered strong indigenous resistance: the Lusitanian Wars, led by Viriathus using guerrilla tactics (he was killed on the orders of Rome), and the Celtiberian Wars, with the heroic resistance of Numancia, besieged by Scipio Aemilianus until its surrender in 133 BC. Except for the conquest of the Balearic Islands in 123 BC, Rome’s civil wars slowed the advance.
Asturian-Cantabrian Wars (29-19 BC): The resistance of these peoples was so strong that it forced Augustus to appear in person. Eventually, they were enslaved in the mines.

1.5 The Romanization Process: The Cultural Legacy

Romanization refers to the assimilation process of the economic, social, political, legal, and cultural aspects of the Roman Empire by conquered peoples. In Roman Hispania, it was intense in the east and south; the north was less and later Romanized. The main instruments of Romanization were the army, Latin (the official language), Roman institutions and law, and various religions, especially Christianity.

The cultural legacy of the Romans is enormous: the names of Hispania and Roman provinces, cities (such as Emerita Augusta, Tarraco, Legio, or Hispalis), which are filled with monuments such as the aqueduct of Segovia, the Arch of Bara, the theaters in Merida and Sagunto, the Amphitheater of Italica, the walls of Lugo, the Alcántara bridge, etc. Hispania was the birthplace of emperors (Hadrian, Trajan, Theodosius) and intellectuals (the philosopher Seneca, the writers Martial and Quintilian, the geographer Mela, the historian Lucan, and the agronomist Columella).

1.7 The Visigothic Monarchy: Institutions

The Visigoths were a Germanic people who arrived in 411 as Roman provinces to expel the Swabians, Vandals, and Alans who had invaded Hispania in 409. By the fall of the Roman Empire (476) and after being defeated by the Franks at Vouillé (507), they established a Visigothic kingdom in the Peninsula with its capital in Toledo. Leovigildo conquered the Swabian kingdom (585), and Suintila drove out the Byzantines, but failed to subdue the Basques. Recaredo achieved religious unification by converting to Catholicism at the Third Council of Toledo (589), and Recesvinto unified Visigothic and Roman law in the Visigothic Code or Jurisdiction Juzgo (654). The Visigothic kingdom was the first independent and unified political state of the Peninsula. The monarchy was weak because it was elective.

Among its institutions are:

The Aula Regia: a consultative assembly composed of the nobility and associates of the king.
The Officium Palatinum: the core of the Aula Regia, composed of people of the king’s confidence.
The Councils of Toledo: assemblies where religious and then political matters were decided, convened by the king, the Church, and the nobility.

2. The Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages

2.1 The Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages: The Muslim Conquest and the Invading Peoples

The conquest of the Iberian Peninsula was due to the rapid expansion of Islam from 634, which led them to North Africa, and the internal crisis of the Visigothic monarchy. In 711, the Arab governor Musa ibn-Nusair sent an expedition of 7,000 men, mostly North African Berbers, led by his deputy, Tariq, to aid the Witizanos at war against the supporters of Don Rodrigo, whom they defeated at the battle of Guadalete (711).

Musa joined Tariq in Toledo in 712 with Syrian and Arab fighters, and soon (712-714) conquered the entire peninsula except for the northern mountainous areas. Their advance was halted at Poitiers (732) by the Franks of Charles Martel. The rapidity of the conquest of Al-Andalus—the Muslim state in the Peninsula—can be explained not only by the weakness of the Visigoths but also because Muslims were fighting for booty and to spread their faith (holy war). There was almost no resistance from the population, with many converting to Islam to avoid paying taxes (Muladis). Muslims were tolerant of Christians and Jews (People of the Book). In addition, many Visigothic nobles signed capitulations or pacts with the invaders to maintain their properties.

2.3 The Crisis of the Eleventh Century: The Taifa Kingdoms

After the death of the dictator Mansur (1002), the Caliphate of Cordoba entered a period of decline, and civil war broke out until its disappearance in 1031. About 30 small Taifa kingdoms (factions) arose. They are classified into three groups according to their ethnic composition: Arab Taifa (Zaragoza, Seville, Cordoba, Toledo, Badajoz, among the most important), Berber (Granada, Malaga), and Slav (Murcia, Valencia). They were very weak politically and militarily and could not prevent the advance of the Christian kingdoms of the North, to whom they had to pay heavy tributes in gold (parias) to maintain their independence. Therefore, the kings raised taxes on their subjects. These kingdoms were culturally and artistically very bright.

When King Alfonso VI of Castile conquered Toledo (1085), the Taifa of Seville, frightened, sought help from the Almoravids of North Africa, who invaded the peninsula, uniting Al-Andalus and ending the Taifa kingdoms.

2.5 Al-Andalus: The Economic and Social Organization

The principal source of wealth of Al-Andalus, the Muslim state in the Peninsula during the Middle Ages, was agriculture, based on the Mediterranean trilogy (wheat, vine, and olive), which were grown on large estates. Muslims incorporated new crops (cotton, rice, sugar cane, citrus fruits) and advanced irrigation techniques (wells and irrigation ditches). The cities were part of the textile industry (silk and linen), and specialized crafts and trade were also very important.

Foreign trade benefited from the use of money and the privileged position of Al-Andalus between Europe and Africa. It exported oil, weapons, fabrics, etc., and imported luxury goods from the East, spices, and slaves. Internal trade was done around the souk or market.

Al-Andalus society was divided into different ethnic, religious, and economic groups:

The Arab aristocracy owned large estates in the best land and occupied key positions in the administration.
The Berbers were peasants or artisans who were poor and marginalized. Both were Muslims.
The Hispano-Muslims, living under Muslim rule and forming the majority of the population, were divided into two groups: the Muladis, who converted to Islam, and the Mozarabic Christian minority, who could keep their religion in exchange for paying taxes.
The Jews, engaged in commercial business, resided in different neighborhoods (ghettos) and enjoyed consideration for their commercial and cultural role.
Other minority groups were slaves: the Slavs, who were part of a mercenary army and reached high positions and possessed wealth once freed, and blacks.

2.6 Al-Andalus: Thought and Letters

Al-Andalus experienced great cultural splendor in the 10th century (the Caliphate of Cordoba), during the reigns of Abd al-Rahman III and Al-Hakam II. Cordoba became an attractive cultural center where sciences such as mathematics, astronomy, botany, medicine, history, and literature, especially poetry, singing love, and courtly life, flourished. The scholars, who expressed themselves in Arabic, translated works of Greek, Persian, and Indian science, which were disseminated to the West through Muslim Spain.

The period of the Taifa kingdoms in the 11th century was the golden age of Andalusian culture, despite the political decline. The main kings vied as artistic patrons in a climate of great intellectual freedom. The court of Seville was famous for its poets, such as Ibn Zaydun and Almotamid, and the king himself. The Cordovan poet and scholar Ibn Hazm wrote The Ring of the Dove, a leading treatise on love.

The invasions of the North African Almoravids and Almohads, with their fanaticism and religious intolerance, led to the exile of many intellectuals, such as the three masters of philosophy and medicine of the 12th century: Avempace, Averroes, and the Jew Maimonides, who sought to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with their respective beliefs and exerted enormous influence in Europe.

The Nasrid kingdom of Granada experienced major cultural splendor during the 14th and 15th centuries. Highlights include the historian Ibn Khaldun and the poet Ibn Zamrak, whose poems decorate the Alhambra.

3. The Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages: The Christian Kingdoms

3.1 The Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages: Early Christian Pockets of Resistance

After the Muslim invasion (711), the mountainous north of the peninsula, populated by Asturians, Cantabrians, and Basques, began the resistance against Al-Andalus. Some Visigothic nobles took refuge among the Asturians and, led by Pelayo, defeated the Muslims at Covadonga (722). Thus arose the kingdom of Asturias, which Alfonso III (866-909) extended over Galicia and the Douro Valley, the so-called no man’s land. In 910, the capital was moved from Oviedo to Leon, and it was renamed the kingdom of Leon.

The eastern border area, fortified with a series of castles against the Muslims, became the county of Castile in the 10th century, becoming independent under Fernán González. In the western Pyrenees, the Basques defeated Charlemagne at Roncesvalles (778), and in the 9th century, the kingdom of Pamplona emerged. In the 10th century, Sancho I arrived in the central Pyrenees, and small counties were formed (Aragon, Sobrarbe, Ribagorza) under Carolingian influence. The county of Aragon became independent in the 9th century. In the eastern Pyrenees, small counties that made up the Hispanic March of the Carolingian Empire organized resistance. The county of Barcelona, under Wilfred the Hairy, unified and achieved independence in the 10th century.

3.4 The Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages: A Pluralistic Culture (Christians, Muslims, and Jews)

The Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures coexisted in the Peninsula during the Middle Ages. In the High Middle Ages (8th-10th centuries), only the monasteries (Ripoll, Sahagún) preserved and transmitted culture through the copying and preservation of books. Islamic Spain was culturally far superior.

In the Central Middle Ages (11th-13th centuries), epics and Romance languages arrived through the Way of St. James. In the 13th century, universities appeared (Salamanca, Valladolid). The cultural bridge between the Islamic world and Christendom was the prestigious School of Translators of Toledo, which reached its apogee under Alfonso X the Wise (13th century). Christians, Muslims, and Jews collaborated, translating from Arabic into Latin and then directly into Castilian. The literary use of the “vulgar” language progressed.

In the Late Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries), Muslim cultural influence waned. Castilian displaced Galician as the poetic language. Highlights include the Archpriest of Hita and the Marquis of Santillana.

4. The Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages

4.2 Political Organization and Institutions in the Middle Ages: The Crown of Aragon

The Crown of Aragon was formed by the kingdom of Aragon and the Principality of Catalonia (united since 1137, by the marriage of Petronilla and Ramon Berenguer IV), to which were later added the Kingdom of Valencia (1238), Mallorca (definitely in 1343), and the Italian possessions (Sicily, Sardinia, Naples). The Crown of Aragon was a confederation of territories with the same monarch, but each maintained its own laws and institutions, language, and customs, enjoying great autonomy. In each territory, there were deputies or viceroys of the king, acting on his behalf.

The roots of feudalism and the need for economic and military aid led the monarch to yield to the demands of the nobility, developing pactism: the king accepted a tacit agreement with his subjects through the courts, undertaking to respect the laws and customs of the country. Royal power was limited by moral and legal standards. Each realm of the Crown of Aragon had its own Cortes, born in the 13th century, although sometimes they met broadly. They consisted of representatives of the three estates (nobility, Church, and urban gentry) and had legislative and economic power. In Catalonia, there was a permanent body of the Courts, the General Council or Government, composed of six members renewed every three years. In Aragon, the Justice of Aragon oversaw compliance with the laws. The organs of local power were the councils or municipalities, which were controlled by urban oligarchies. In Barcelona, local power was held by the Consell de Cent (Council of One Hundred).

4.3 The Middle Ages: Demographic, Economic, and Political Crisis

The 14th century was one of deep crisis.

Demographic Crisis: Poor harvests brought food crises, famine, and increased mortality. In 1348, the Black Death affected most of Catalonia, where 50% of the population died, as in other kingdoms, large areas were depopulated.
Economic Crisis: The Black Death led to uncultivated land, lack of manpower, declining production, and rising prices. Catalan trade, highly developed, sank in the late 14th century. In Castile, sheep farming, favored by increasing the cost of derelict land and requiring little labor, increased.
Political Crisis: Civil wars ravaged the kingdom. Castile went through a monarchic crisis during the minorities of Ferdinand IV and Alfonso XI and a civil war between Pedro I and his half-brother Henry II of Trastamara, who ascended the throne. The monarchy made great concessions to the nobility that were detrimental to the state, and social conflicts erupted. In the Crown of Aragon, Pedro IV faced the nobility of Aragon and Valencia. When he died childless, Martin I was elected, followed by Ferdinand I of Castile in the Compromise of Caspe (1412).

4.4 The Middle Ages: The Expansion of the Crown of Aragon in the Mediterranean

The Catalan-Aragonese expansion in the Mediterranean began in the 13th century with the conquest of the Balearic Islands by James I the Conqueror, who bequeathed the kingdom of Majorca to his youngest son James. King Peter III the Great conquered the island of Sicily (1282). James II annexed the island of Sardinia (1324). The duchies of Athens (1311) and Neopatria (1318) were conquered by the Almogávares, Catalan mercenaries, who had been hired by the Emperor of Constantinople to fight the Turks. They were placed under the sovereignty of the Crown of Aragon under Peter IV the Ceremonious, who also incorporated the kingdom of Mallorca. Finally, Alfonso V conquered the kingdom of Naples in 1442.

The political expansion led to significant trade with Italy, the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Orient. Catalan merchants imported spices, perfumes, and silks from the East through the port of Barcelona, cereals from Sicily, hides and leather from Barbary, and exported textiles and iron. They were the first to use bills of exchange, trading companies, and auctions. They had a court, the Consulate of the Sea, a local bank (Taula de Canvi), and consuls in major Mediterranean ports. The commercial decline began with the crisis of the 14th century and accelerated with the capture of Constantinople (1453) by the Turks.

8. The 18th Century: The Enlightenment and the End of the Habsburg Dynasty

8.1 The War of Succession and the Treaty of Utrecht

Charles II, the last king of the House of Austria, died in 1700 without issue. In his will, he appointed Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, the Bourbon, as his heir. However, the Archduke Charles of Austria, a Habsburg and candidate for the Spanish throne, was not accepted, and the War of the Spanish Succession broke out (1700-1714). It was both a European conflict (between the Franco-Spanish side and the side of England, Holland, Portugal, and Savoy) and a civil war (the Crown of Aragon supported the Archduke Charles, while Castile supported Philip).

The war proved long and uncertain because Philip V’s troops achieved victories (Almansa, 1707), while the British won through naval supremacy. In 1713, the Archduke Charles was crowned Emperor of Germany after his brother’s death. England and Holland were not interested in a possible union of Spain and Germany as in the time of Charles I. The war ended with the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). Philip V was recognized as king of Spain. England, the big winner, received Gibraltar and Minorca, the Asiento (monopoly of the slave trade), and the ship’s leave. Spain, the big loser, lost all its European territories: Austria received the Netherlands, Milan, Naples, and Sardinia; Sicily was given to Savoy (later exchanged for Sardinia). But the war continued in Catalonia. Barcelona was besieged until Philip V’s troops entered on September 11, 1714, after a heroic resistance. As punishment for supporting the Austrians, Philip V promulgated the New Plant Decrees, repealing the charters and self-governing institutions of the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon (Valencia and Aragon, 1707; Mallorca, 1715; and the Principality of Catalonia, 1716).

8.3 The Practice of Enlightened Despotism

Enlightened despotism is a form of absolutism characteristic of the 18th century, characterized by kings undertaking economic, social, and cultural reforms to adapt to new conditions, following the doctrines of the Enlightenment, but without changing the structures of society or the system of absolute monarchy. Its motto was “Everything for the people, but without the people.”

The best representative in Spain was Charles III (1759-1788), king of the House of Bourbon, son of Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese. King of Naples from 1735 to 1759, he succeeded his brother Ferdinand VI on the Spanish throne. Supported by enlightened ministers (Aranda, Campomanes, and Floridablanca), he undertook many reforms. He defended free trade, expelled the Jesuits, stimulated the economy (colonization of the Sierra Morena, creation of economic societies, free trade of grains and with America, dignity of manual labor, etc.). He cleaned and embellished Madrid with monuments and squares (the best mayor). His Atlanticist foreign policy included participation in the Seven Years’ War with France (Third Family Pact) against the British and supporting the American separatists in their war. He recovered Minorca and Florida (Peace of Versailles, 1783).

8.4 The Evolution of Spanish Foreign Policy in Europe During the Eighteenth Century

The Treaty of Utrecht, after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714), ended French hegemony and led to a new international order based on the balance of power between the great powers (France, Austria, and Great Britain). Spain lost all its European possessions and was relegated to a second-rate power.

Philip V (1700-1746), driven by his second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, who wanted Italian thrones for their children, attempted to regain the lost territories in Italy. His revisionism meant breaking the international balance and confronting Great Britain, the greatest naval and trading power of the century.

A military expedition sent in 1717 to invade Sardinia and Sicily ended in failure. In 1731, he obtained the Duchy of Parma for his son Charles through an agreement with Great Britain and France. He sought an alliance with France, with which he had dynastic links, and in 1733 signed the First Family Pact, involving Spain in the War of the Polish Succession with France against Austria in exchange for recognition of Charles as King of the Two Sicilies (Naples and Sicily) in 1735. In 1743, the Second Family Compact was signed, by which Spain participated in the War of the Austrian Succession in exchange for the Duchy of Parma for Philip, another son of Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese (1748).

Ferdinand VI (1746-1759) maintained a policy of neutrality, keeping Spain out of international armed conflicts, allowing it to rearm. He died without issue.

With Charles III (1759-1788), Spain was involved in several European wars as an ally of France against Great Britain, with the objective of halting their advance into the Atlantic routes and regaining Gibraltar and Minorca. Through the Third Family Compact (1761), Spain entered the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) alongside France. Both were defeated by Great Britain. France lost its possessions in Canada and India, and Spain had to cede the Florida peninsula; France gave Louisiana in compensation. Spain helped the colonists in the American War of Independence (1776-1783) and recovered Florida, Minorca, and the colony of Sacramento in the Treaty of Versailles (1783).

Charles IV (1788-1808) continued his policy of friendship with France, except for a parenthesis in the war against the Convention (1793-1795), the radical phase of the French Revolution, which ended in failure. Spain returned to the French orbit with the Treaty of San Ildefonso (1796) signed with Napoleon, which involved a clash with England, which proved disastrous for Spain. At Trafalgar (1805), the Spanish navy was destroyed by the English.