![]() The Crown of Spain, through the Spanish Inquisition, forced the Jewish and Muslim minorities to choose between conversion to Catholicism or expulsion, and eventually most of the converts were expelled from Iberia through different royal decrees.Ī major country of the Age of Discovery, Spain began the conquest of the New World in 1492, giving rise to the Spanish Empire. The dynastic union of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in 1479, often considered the formation of Spain as a country, was followed by the annexation of Navarre and the incorporation of Portugal during the Iberian Union. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in Northern Iberia, chief among them León, Castile, Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre made an intermittent southward military expansion, known as the Reconquista, repelling Islamic rule in Iberia, which culminated with the Christian seizure of the Emirate of Granada in 1492. In the early eighth century, most of the peninsula was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate, and during early Islamic rule, Al-Andalus became a dominant peninsular power centered in Córdoba. Receding of Western Roman imperial authority ushered in the invasion into Iberia of tribes from Central and Northern Europe, with the Visigoths as the dominant power in the peninsula by the fifth century. The Roman conquest and colonization of the peninsula ( Hispania) ensued, bringing about the Romanization of the population. The ancient Iberian and Celtic tribes, along with other local pre-Roman peoples, inhabited the territory, maintaining contacts with foreign Mediterranean cultures. Spain's capital and largest city is Madrid other major urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Seville, Málaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Bilbao.Īnatomically modern humans first arrived on the Iberian Peninsula around 42,000 years ago. It is the largest country in Southern Europe and the second-largest and fourth-most populous in the European Union. ![]() The country's mainland is bordered to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay to the east and south by the Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar and to the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. The largest part of Spain is situated on the Iberian Peninsula its territory also includes the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla in Africa. Spain (Spanish: España, ( listen)), or the Kingdom of Spain ( Reino de España), is a country primarily located in Southwestern Europe, with parts of its territory in the Atlantic Ocean and across the Mediterranean Sea. Note: most of Spain observes CET/CEST, except the Canary Islands which observe WET/WEST.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |