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Orihuela Costa Web Guide - History of Spain
History of Spain

Starting in May and continuing over the next months, we will take a casual look at the history of Spain from pre-history to the present times. Hopefully by its completion, you and I will know a lot more about our adoptive country and of the people and events which shaped it to what it is today.

I hope you get as much enjoyment reading this as I did in researching it.

-> Thanks to the editor of the Dream Scene, Mick Clifford, who kindly gave the permission for publishing this serie on this website

 
A History of Spain - Part 1
Homo antecessor female
 
Model of a female Homo antecessor of Atapuerca practicing cannibalism (Ibeas Museum, Burgos, Spain) - Click the picture - Jose Luis Martinez Alvarez from Asturias, España - Homo antecessor hembra
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In March 2008, Spanish palaeontologists dug up the remains of a 1.2 million-year-old humanlike in northern Spain.
This was a significant find as previous discoveries in the peninsula were dated only to around 800,000 years ago – Homo antecessor, was one of our earliest relatives. The Neanderthals are thought to have entered Europe at around 200,000 BC and moved south during the various ice-ages to occupy Spain and Italy; some groups moving back north when the ice receded. Others remained in the Iberian peninsula and their fossils are being regularly discovered throughout Spain, the latest being two weeks ago in Torre Pacheco and dated as 50,000 years ago.

Our own species, Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa and entered Europe about 40,000 years ago – not via the Straits of Gibraltar as one would expect but the long way round through north eastern Africa and south Eastern Europe. The last ice-age pushed tribes south for about four thousand years when both Northern Europe and the British Isles were heavily glaciated and uninhabitable and sought refuge in the warmer climes of Southern Europe. Their arrival in Spain before the last ice-age (20,000 to 16,000 BC) lead to what is known as the Magdalenian Culture which flourished in Northern Spain – around the Altamira, Cantabria and Asturias areas, where rock and cave art flourished and many beautiful examples can still be seen today showing depictions of cold weather animals such as bison, mammoth and woolly rhinoceroses, dating from around 16,000 to 10,000 BC.

When the ice sheets receded the British Isles were unpopulated and one noted historian, Oppenheimer, believes that the principal ancestors of the British and Irish populations arrived from Spain at around 14,000 BC. At this stage both the English Channel and Irish Sea were dry land so they were easily traversed by foot.

Little constructive is known about developments in Spain until around 3,800 BC when a wave of megalithic building spread across Europe and which also ran along the Iberian Atlantic and southern coasts. Circa 2,600 BC there were copper-making cultures in Almeriá and the Agaric Culture which developed out of the successful mining in the area created a population density which was not matched until the 19th century. The more advanced people in the peninsula at this stage were given the name Iberians and found mainly along the Mediterranean and southern Atlantic coasts.

 

There has been some debate as to whether they were originally related to the Berbers of North Africa but the prevalent view today is that they were indigenous to the area. The western Pyrenees were already occupied by the Basques, arguably the oldest civilisation in Europe. Around 1,200 BC, the Celts drifting southwards through the Pyrenees and occupied the north western and northern areas of Iberia bringing the metal ‘iron’ with them. The Celt and Iberian population mixed harmoniously in the meseta plains becoming known as the Celtiberians.

Possibly around 1,100 BC the Phoenicians arrived in Iberia where they settled several sites along the south coast. They introduced a similar series of settlements in North Africa which will, we will see in time, bring long lasting consequences to the future Iberian and Roman populations. They choose sites at the mouths of rivers or on off-shore island which would not conflict with the native population.

The Phoenicians were of an advanced culture and were great traders who originated from what is now known at Lebanon. Naturally the local indigenous population adapted the ways of their more affluent visitors. However one must remember that the Phoenicians practised human sacrifice and depended heavily on slavery, as did most cultures at that time. The Phoenicians were most interested in the various valuable ores to be mined throughout the south of Iberia and cooperated with the native Iberians to produce massive amounts of precious metals. The Phoenicians were obliged to pay significant taxes to the Assyrians who conquered their homeland but they produced so much silver from the south of Iberia that when shipped abroad, it depressed the price of silver in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Phoenicians founded Cadiz (from the Phoenician for ‘fortified place’) together with large settlements in Malaca (Málaga), Sexi (Almuñecar) and Abdera (Adra). [Uploaded: 22 April 2016] Next month - Part 2, Hannibal & the Romans.

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Homo antecessor male
 
Model of a male Homo antecessor of Atapuerca mountains (Ibeas Museum, Burgos, Spain) - Click the picture - Jose Luis Martinez Alvarez from Asturias, España - Homo antecessor macho II
A History of Spain - Part 2 - Hannibal & the Romans

The peaceful settlements founded by the Phoenicians around the mouth of the Guadalquivir and along the south and south-eastern parts of the peninsula contributed greatly to the cultural and economic well-being of the areas and introduced a period of relative stability and cultural advancement. The Phoenicians are reputed to have also sailed around the peninsula, reaching the Devon/Cornwall areas no doubt attracted by the reports of tin and silver mining in those areas. Meanwhile the Greeks, also great seafarers and traders, founded Massalia (Marseille) in Gaul around 600 BC and several trading settlements down the eastern coastline of the Iberian Peninsula, notably Akra-Leuca (White Summit/Mountain, now Alicante), Aloni (Benidorm) and Emporion (Émpuries).

There has been much written about a mythical/actual Tartessian civilisation which reportedly flourished in the southern peninsular area for a few hundred years between 2,000 & 1,000 BC and then inexplicably disappeared. Some say that it was the original ‘Atlantis’ but in any event there remains very little to confirm that this ‘lost civilisation’ actually existed and to what extent it contributed to Iberian civilisation.

Whereas the peaceful interaction between all these different races and the native population in the peninsula did not signify political unity or cohesion - as the Iberian’s first loyalty was to their individual tribes, it nevertheless greatly improved the economic well-being of these areas and provided a stimulus for the enhancement of native culture, particularly sculpture. This can be seen in the spectacular funerary statues, the Dama de Baza and the Dama de Elche, which date from the high period of Iberian culture, around 500 BC. The Phoenicians also brought literacy to the peninsula by introducing an alphabet. With the cooperation of the Iberians, silver-mining around the south coast produced massive amount of the metal and it was not long before foreign-eyes would view the peninsula as an easy source of glory and wealth.

Ironically the first major hostile and predatory invasion of the peninsula came from the city state of Carthage - descendants of the Phoenicians, who under Hamilcar Barca invaded in 237 BC. It was the first of a succession of foreign invaders who would occupy most of the peninsula for a continuous period of more than 1,700 years!

Smarting from their defeat by the Romans in the First Punic War, the Carthaginians invaded Iberia, not the least because the wealthy Iberian mines would allow them to finance their territorial ambitions and fund mercenary armies.

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Hannibal
 
By © 1932 by Phaidon Verlag (Wien-Leipzig) ("Römische Geschichte", gekürzte Ausgabe (1932)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
 

Although Carthage had signed a peace treaty with Rome agreeing that they would not go beyond the Ebro River in Iberia, the Carthaginians – particularly the warrior Carthage family of the Barcas or Barcids, had no intention of ‘knuckling-under’ the Romans. Hamilcar Barca made his sons, Hasdrubal, Mago and Hannibal swear that they would ‘never be a friend of Rome’ and the defeat of Rome remained the principal goal of the Barcids. While building up a war-chest and armies, Hasdrubal founded the port and city of Qart Hadast (Cartagena) - Punic for ‘new city’ in 228 BC and later Barcino (Barcelona) named after the family name - Barcid. One could not describe the rule of the Barcids as benign or humane. One native ruler was tortured, blinded and crucified following a difference with the family. However many of the Carthaginian elite, including Hasdrubal and Hannibal, married local Iberian princesses in an effort to stabilise relations with the local tribes and maintain some form of harmony. The silver mine at Cartagena produced about 140 kilos of silver per day and at its peak employed up to 40,000 men.

Following a dispute with the Romans over the town of Saguntum (Sagunto) – a Roman protectorate south of the Ebro, Rome declared war on Carthage. Hannibal was now the leader of the Carthaginians in Iberia. In the spring of 218 BC, after leaving three armies to guard Iberia, he gathered an army of 62,000, 12,000 horsemen with 37 war elephants. Adapting a plan devised by his brother-in-law he set off on his famous march over the Pyrenees and the Alps to try and conquer Rome. While travelling through Iberia and Gaul, Hannibal was constantly harassed by the native tribes who depleted his forces. He had to leave 22,000 troops in northern Iberia, half to garrison the area and the remainder at the Pyrenees because they did not want to leave Iberia.

The Romans also launched an invasion of Iberia in 218 BC hoping to cut-off Hannibal’s advance. They landed at Empuries with two legions – about 10,000 soldiers (not counting auxiliaries) and 15,000 allied troops, but Hannibal was gone. When Hannibal reached Italy, he had less than half the soldiers he started out with and only a few elephants - who quickly succumbed after crossing the Alps. [Uploaded: 05 June 2016] Next month - Part 3, The Romans.

 
A History of Spain - Part 3 - The Visigoths.

It was around 409 AD that the barbarian tribes, the Alans, the Sueves and the Vandals, invaded the peninsula. There were few Roman troops remaining due to commitments in an extended empire which was already crumbling. Within a short time these barbarian tribes took possession of most of the peninsula, the Sueve storming across the Pyrenees into Galicia and the Vandals invading by boat in the south.

In 410 AD, the Visigoths (West Goths), a Germanic tribe sacked Rome and installed a puppet Roman ruler. The new ruler, anxious to recapture the peninsula, commissioned the Visigoths to eject the other tribes in 415 AD. The Visigoths defeated the Vandals in the south, who moved on to and settled in North Africa. The Suevi were also defeated and moved to the northwest of the peninsula, where they remained and ruled in a much smaller area for a further 180 years. The Visigoths were then called to Gaul (France) to settle matters there, where they established their kingdom north of the Pyrenees in Toulouse, which became, for a brief period, the largest in Europe.

However, when the Roman Empire finally collapsed in 476 AD, the Franks threw out the Visigoths from Gaul, who then returned to Hispania and choose Toledo in the meseta as the centre of their new kingdom. This was the first time that a conqueror or leader choose a central inland location as their base - a practise which continues to this day, previous leaders preferring to establish their bases near the coastline.

 
Gutthiuda, the country of Visigoths
Gutthiuda, the country of Visigoths
E. A. Thompson, The Visigoths in the time of Ulfila, Duckworth, 2008, p. 9
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The new blond and hairy barbarian rulers probably numbered no more than 200,000 whereas there were several million Hispano-Romans. Except for taxation, the Visigoths initially left the indigenous population to their own laws and customs, in what was already - thanks to the Romans, a stable and well established society.

When they first arrived, the Visigoths did not have a written language and were somewhat in awe of the legacy left by the Romans. The Visigoths practised a form of Christianity called Arianism (which denied the Trinity) rather than the Roman variety which was, aside from Paganism, the main religion in the peninsula. Visigoth law was notoriously harsh. For example, the punishment for homosexuality was castration, for tampering with public documents you would get 200 lashes, a shaved head and amputation of your right thumb. Rape was punished less severely - with public circumcision, and magicians, makers of spells, anyone invoking storms or who inquired into the future or offer sacrifices by night, were executed.

One curious custom they introduced was the ‘ordeal of hot water’; here, those accused of theft were questioned while being submerged in boiling water. Needless to say confessions were fast and furious. Intermarriage between the Visigothsand the Hispano-Romans was also a capital offence.

 

In 554, the Byzantines invaded the south coast and held on to part of the coastal regions, which they called Spania, before being defeated after decades of skirmishes in 624 AD. The Visigoths, then under the rule of King Leovigild, also removed the remaining Suevi from the northwest and, except for the Basque lands, now controlled the whole of the peninsula under one ruler. Leovigild was the greatest of the Visigoth kings and although at one time a rabid persecutor of the Catholics, he now converted to Catholicism and forced the remainder of the Visigoths and their bishops to do likewise.

Leovigild also cancelled the ban on intermarriage and moved the bishops to Toledo, making the city not only the regal court but also the religious centre. Unfortunately, following the first anti-Jewish treatise in the West (written by a Spaniard - St. Isidore) and with the encouragement of the bishops, Jews had to either convert to Catholicism or leave. The Jewish population probably outnumbered the Visigoths at this stage, having built up an industrious and successful society since around 100 BC.

Naturally these persecutions were deeply resented and those who refused to convert moved to North Africa. In 675 AD, the Moors made a half-hearted attempt to invade the peninsula, but were turned back before they could disembark. A plot was ‘discovered’ where leading Jews invited the Moors to invade the peninsula and subsequently many Jews were slaughtered with the approval of the then Gothic king, Wamba. Wamba then made another mistake by calling up all the priests for military service. The priests joined a hostile band of nobles led by Ervigius who drugged and kidnapped Wamba, shaved his head and dressed him as a monk. When the king awoke he was so embarrassed he did not dispute this power grab and Ervigius became king. Later, Ervigius tried to pass the throne on to his own son but the nobles had other ideas and after a civil war, installed their own man Roderick.

 

Of 34 Visigoth kings only 15 died of natural causes. Between 531 and 555, four successive kings were murdered. One notorious womanising monarch was dining in company one evening when the lights were suddenly dimmed and his life was similarly quenched by a dozen sword thrusts from outraged husbands and fathers. Few people felt any allegiance to the various kings and there were numerous revolts by generals, bishops, popular local uprisings, economic disruption and general mayhem. There were also massive numbers of escaped slaves roaming the kingdom, the Catholic church was then the largest slaveholder, and this all added to the chaos. King Roderick’s reign would be a short one. He failed to unite any of the warring factions behind the throne. But ultimately it was Roderick’s heart or probably groin area that brought about the demise of Gothic Spain.

Legend has it that Roderick fell madly in love with a beautiful aristocratic girl called Florinda and overcome with lust ‘took’ the beautiful maiden on a river bank after she bathed in the Tajo. Florinda’s father, Count Julian, the governer of Septum (Cueta) collected his daughter. Roderick, unaware that his crime was known, asked Julian to send him a certain breed of African hawk. The count promised to send ‘hawks’ such as the king never dreamed of! These ‘hawks’ would stay for more than 700 years! [Uploaded: 02 July 2016] Next month - Part 4 - The Moors.

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Migrations of the main column of the Visigoths
Migrations of the main column of the Visigoths
History of Spain
[Part 1 to 3] [Part 4 to 6] [Part 7 to 9]
 
 
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