Pre-Roman, Roman, Visigoth, and Muslim Spain
Pre-Roman Peoples
In the 5th century BC, the Iberian Peninsula was divided into two distinct cultural areas: Celtic and Iberian. The Iberians, located on the coast, were a group of people that arose due to changes produced by colonizers’ industrial Mediterranean influence. Their economy relied on agriculture, livestock, ceramics, metallurgy, mining, and trade. They used currency, and their social structure was hierarchical, living in walled villages. They understood writing. The Celts, in the north and center of the Iberian Peninsula, where Indo-European influence was very clear, were less evolved than the Iberians. They had a poor farming economy and lived in tribal organizations. They did not know scripture.
Hispania Romana (3rd Century BC – 5th Century AD)
The Roman conquest was long and complicated, beginning in 218 BC at Empúries and not ending until 19 BC. The conquest of the Balearic Islands took place in 123 BC by Quintus Caecilius Metellus. There were three phases:
- Initial Phase (218-202 BC): Initiated within the framework of the Second Punic War, the Romans expelled the Carthaginians from the Mediterranean coast.
- Wars Against the Peoples of the Plateau (154-133 BC): Conflict over the resistance of Lusitania and the Celts.
- Occupation of the North (29-19 BC): Subjugation of the Astures during the time of Augustus.
From a political point of view, Hispania was organized into provinces. Economically, the agricultural economy was based on large estates, land ownership, and the use of slave labor. Trade favored the network of Roman roads. Romanization introduced cultural elements of the Roman language, law, religion, and art, with a slow introduction of Latin.
In the last century, the Roman Empire entered a crisis due to fiscal problems, the decline of the slave system, and the end of the great achievements. Invasions of Germanic peoples created strong ruralization. This meant that trade with the rest of the Roman world lapsed, and peasant revolts formed. Hispania returned to a regime of self-sufficiency, the monetary economy disappeared, and Christianity arose and developed.
Visigoth Kingdom (507-711)
During the crisis of the old regime (Rome fell in 476), Germanic peoples invaded the Iberian Peninsula during the 3rd and 4th centuries, plundering the peninsula and establishing areas of influence. To address this, the Roman state made pacts with the Visigoths (a Romanized Germanic people) from 416-476. The Visigoths expelled the Alans and Vandals from the Iberian Peninsula. In 507, the Visigoths founded the kingdom of Toulouse. They then moved south and progressively extended throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
From 507, the Visigoths imposed a monarchy in the Iberian Peninsula, with its capital in Toledo. They controlled much of the peninsula, conducting territorial, political, and juridical unification. The economy was based on agriculture and small trade, with lapsed mining. With Reccared, there was a conversion to Catholicism. Political instability existed, with the monarchy sometimes being hereditary. Liuvigild established equality between Hispano-Romans and Visigoths. Institutions included the Councils of Toledo. Society was hierarchical, with power and wealth in the hands of the nobility. Culture was marked by Roman influence and the use of Latin.
From the late 7th century, the Visigothic kingdom experienced a crisis due to the bubonic plague, culminating with the arrival of Muslims in the Battle of Guadalete, where the Muslims defeated the Visigoths and began the occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.
Muslim Spain (711-1492)
Due to internal conflicts of the Visigoths in 711, Muslims invaded the Iberian Peninsula, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and defeating the last Visigoth king. They easily conquered almost the entire peninsula by 718, thanks to the existing Roman roads and weak resistance. Stages:
- Dependent Emirate of Damascus (714-755)
- Independent Emirate (755-912)
- Caliphate of Cordoba (912-1036)
- Taifa Kingdoms (11th Century): The caliphate was divided into small kingdoms that experienced business development but suffered from cultural and political instability. They paid *parias* to Christian monarchs.
- Almoravids (1086-1140)
- Second Taifa Kingdoms, Almohads (1147-1195)
- Kingdom of Granada: Fell in 1492 with the conquest by the Catholic Monarchs.
Economy: Agricultural development and commercial craft, with abundant circulation of currency. There was ethnic diversity and remarkable religious tolerance. Other religions were tolerated, but conversion to Islam implied several tax advantages.