Timeline of Spanish History: Prehistory to Present

Posted on Jan 24, 2025 in History

Timeline of Spanish History

Prehistory and Ancient History

  • Paleolithic: 800,000 – 5,000 BCE
    • Homo Antecessor: up to 100,000 BCE
    • Neanderthal: 100,000 – 35,000 BCE
    • Cro-Magnon: 35,000 – 8,000 BCE
  • Neolithic: 5,000 – 3,000 BCE
  • Copper Age: 2,400 – 1,700 BCE
  • Bronze Age: 1,700 – 1,200 BCE
  • Iron Age: Around 1,200 BCE
  • Phoenicians: 10th Century BCE
  • Greeks: 800 BCE
  • Carthaginians: 6th – 5th Century BCE
  • Pre-Roman Period: 6th Century BCE
  • Iberians and Celts: 5th – 5th Century BCE

Roman Hispania and the Visigothic Kingdom

  • Conquest of Hispania: 218 – 19 BCE
  • End of Roman Rule: 476 CE
  • Germanic Tribes and Byzantines: 476 – 507 CE
  • United Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo: 507 – 711 CE

Al-Andalus and the Christian Kingdoms

  • Al-Andalus: 711 – 1492 CE
    • Dependent Emirate: 711 – 756 CE
    • Independent Emirate: 756 – 929 CE
    • Caliphate: 929 – 1031 CE
    • First Taifa Kingdoms: 1031 – 1086 CE
    • Almoravids: 1086 – 1140 CE
    • Almohads: 1147 – 1212 CE
    • Second Taifa Kingdoms and Granada: 1212 – 1492 CE
  • Christian Kingdoms
    • Asturian Nucleus
    • Kingdom of Asturias: 722 – 914 CE
    • United Kingdom of León: 914 – 1230 CE
    • Origins of Castile: 927 CE
    • Kingdom of Castile: 1037 CE
    • Independence of Portugal: 12th Century CE
    • United Kingdom of Castile and León: 1230 CE
    • Isabella I of Castile: 1479 CE
    • Battle of Roncesvalles: 778 CE
    • United Kingdom of Pamplona: 905 CE
    • Autonomous Catalan Counties: 987 CE
    • Aragon becomes independent of Navarre: 1035 CE
    • Union of Aragon and Catalonia: 1137 CE
    • Ferdinand V of Aragon: 1479 CE

Reconquista and the Rise of the Spanish Empire

  • Christian Kingdoms up to the Duero River and Northern Pyrenees: Until the 10th Century CE
  • Castile to the Tagus River: 11th Century CE
  • Aragon to the Ebro River: 12th Century CE
  • Castile to the Guadalquivir River and the Crown of Aragon incorporates the Balearic Islands and Valencia: 13th Century CE
  • Reconquista Stalls: 14th Century CE
  • End of the Reconquista: 1492 CE

Early Modern Spain

  • Death of Queen Isabella I, Joanna I succeeds: 1504 CE
  • Death of Philip the Handsome, Joanna deemed incapable: 1506 CE
  • Regency of King Ferdinand and Cardinal Cisneros: 1506 – 1516 CE
  • Ferdinand conquers Navarre: 1512 CE
  • Charles I becomes King: 1516 CE
  • Reign of Philip II, Charles V elected Holy Roman Emperor: 1519 CE
  • United under Philip III, Philip IV, and Charles II: 17th Century CE
  • Peace of Westphalia: 1648 CE
  • Peace of the Pyrenees: 1659 CE
  • War of Succession and Treaty of Utrecht: 1700 – 1713 CE
  • United under Philip V, Louis I, Ferdinand VI, Charles III, and Charles IV: 18th Century CE

19th and 20th Centuries

  • Reign of Charles IV: 1788 – 1808 CE
  • Peninsular War: 1808 – 1814 CE
  • Constitution of Cádiz: 1812 CE (restored in 1836, new constitutions in 1837, 1845, 1869, 1876, 1931, and current constitution enacted in 1978)
  • Charter of Bayonne: 1808 CE
  • Independence of American Colonies: 1810 CE
  • Ferdinand VII becomes King: 1814 – 1833 CE
    • Absolutist Sexennium: 1814 – 1820 CE
    • Liberal Triennium: 1820 – 1823 CE
    • Absolutist Decade: 1823 – 1833 CE
    • Loss of American Colonies: 1824 CE
  • Death of Ferdinand VII: 1833 CE
  • Regency of Maria Christina: 1833 – 1840 CE
  • Royal Statute: 1834 CE
  • First Carlist War: 1833 – 1839 CE
  • Regency of Espartero: 1840 – 1843 CE
  • Isabella II becomes Queen: 1844 – 1868 CE
    • Moderate Decade: 1844 – 1854 CE
    • Progressive Biennium: 1854 – 1856 CE
    • Last Period of Isabella’s Reign: 1856 – 1868 CE
  • Revolutionary Sexennium: 1868 – 1874 CE
    • Interim Government: 1868 – 1870 CE
    • Reign of Amadeo I: 1870 – 1872 CE
    • First Republic: 1873 – 1874 CE
    • Dictatorship of Serrano: 1874 CE
  • Reign of Alfonso XII: 1875 – 1885 CE
  • Regency of Maria Christina: 1885 – 1902 CE
  • Loss of the Last Colonies: 1898 CE
  • Alfonso XIII becomes King: 1902 – 1931 CE
    • First Period: 1902 – 1923 CE
    • Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera: 1923 – 1929 CE
    • Governments of Berenguer and Aznar: 1930 – 1931 CE
  • Second Republic: 1931 – 1936 CE
    • Provisional Government: 1931 CE
    • Reformist Biennium: 1931 – 1933 CE
    • Biennium of the Right: 1933 – 1936 CE
    • Popular Front Government: 1936 CE
  • Civil War: 1936 – 1939 CE
  • Francoist Spain: 1939 – 1975 CE
    • Blue Period: 1939 – 1943 CE
    • Autarky: 1943 – 1953 CE
    • End of International Boycott: 1953 – 1959 CE
    • Treaty with the US and Concordat with the Vatican: 1953 CE
    • Spain enters the UN: 1955 CE
    • Development Period: 1959 – 1973 CE
    • Stabilization Plan: 1959 CE
    • Juan Carlos I designated as successor: 1969 CE
    • ETA assassinates Carrero Blanco: 1973 CE
    • Franco dies, end of the regime, Juan Carlos I becomes King: 1973 – 1975 CE

Contemporary Spain

  • Transition to Democracy: 1975 – 1978 CE
  • Legalization of political parties and elections: 1977 CE
  • Current Constitution promulgated: 1978 CE
  • UCD Government: 1977 – 1982 CE
  • PSOE Government: 1982 – 1996 CE
  • PP Government: 1996 – 2004 CE
  • PSOE Government: 2004 – Present