Overview of Hispanic History and Exploration

Spanish History from an Anglo-Saxon Viewpoint

Much of the history of Spain is glorious. During the Roman Era, the Iberian Peninsula was home of several of the most stable and prosperous provinces in the Empire. During the height of the Moorish Empire, around the 10th century A.D. Cordoba was one of the largest and most cultured cities in the world. When the Umayyad Caliphate began to wane, the Christian Kingdoms of the region fought relentlessly against their Moslem foes, and after 700 years, finally drove the last of the Moors out of Spain.

Boabdil presenting the keys of Granada to Isabel and Ferdinand.

The Iberians proved themselves not only the fiercest warriors in Europe during the middle ages, but also the best sailors. The tremendous advances in ship-building and navigation that led to the discovery of the new world, as well as the opening of the trade routes of the east, were mostly attributable to the Iberians. While the Spaniards defeated the Moslems in the West of Europe, the Portuguese dealt a crippling blow to the Turkish Empire in the East, since it was the loss of Moslem control of the lucrative eastern trade routes, rather than a decisive military loss in the Balkans, that slowed Turkish advances in Eastern Europe. And in spite of the well-merited criticism of Spanish exploitation of the indigenous people of Latin America, the Catholic Church did, in fact, Christianize and incorporate the natives, rather than obliterate them, as the English did in North America.

In spite of the great achievements of the Spaniards, however, the glory days of the Spanish empire are so far distant, and its more recent history so checkered, that in contemporary histories Spain is typically presented as an obscurant, corrupt force of tyranny in stalwart opposition to "enlightened" modernism. From the earliest days of the Spanish empire, throughout age of revolution, the interests of Spain were largely in conflict with those of England and Northern Europe, and when entrusted to the pens of Anglo-Saxon protestants, the story of Spain does not always fare well.

It is inevitable therefore, that several of the books in our collection, take a critical view of Spain, and are anti-Catholic in tone. Nevertheless, they are valuable and interesting, and provide a worthwhile view of the English perspective of Spain and its dominions during the rise of modernism.

History of Spain and Latin America

The history of Spain prior to Roman domination is not well known, but it seems to have been settled by a variety of peoples, most predominantly Celt-iberians. The Roman Conquest of Hispania occurred over several hundred years, but eventually Spain became one of the most prosperous and civilized realms of the Roman Empire. By the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D., it was largely Christianized, and was governed by Visigoths for the following 200 years.

In 712 A.D. the Moorish Moslems crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, and conquered all of the Iberian Peninsula. As is typical in such dramatic changes of fortune, the Christian loss was due as much to internal divisions as to outside forces. Nevertheless, the Moors were irrepressible and within a generation were thoroughly established as a governing power in the region, and in a position to threaten all of Europe. Had they not been decisively defeated by the Franks at the battle of Tours in 732, it is hard to see how Christian Europe could have survived the onslaught.

For the following five hundred years, the history of Spain is predominantly that of the Moors, but the Christian presence never disappeared, particularly in Northern Spain. The Christian kingdoms continued to prosper, and in 1212 at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the Christian kingdoms pushed the Moors back to the southern regions. It was not until 1492 however, after Isabel and Ferdinand had united their kingdoms to form modern Spain, that the last of the Moors were driven from their stronghold at Granada.

The Christian reconquest of Spain, was only one of the achievements of the age. During this same period, Spanish explorers, sailing under Christopher Columbus, discovered the new world, and Portuguese sailors, rounded the cape of Africa and opened up trading routes to the East which bypassed the Moslem monopoly. These events immensely increased the wealth and influence of Spain and laid the foundation of the Spanish empire. Within only a few generations, a few poor but enormously courageous Christian Kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, had united to become the worlds wealthiest and most powerful empire.

The reception of Columbus at the court in Barcelona.

Shortly after Isabel and Ferdinand united Spain and laid the foundation of the Spanish empire, the crown fell to the Hapsburgs. The two most notable Hapsburg kings were Charles V, and Philip II, both important leaders during the Reformation Era. The sixteenth century was one of great dislocations as all of Europe was plunged into wars in Italy, the Netherlands, France and Germany. The wars of the Reformation period are often cast in juvenile histories as a fight for religious freedom, but political alliances and economic interests of the age were far more complicated than mere Catholic versus Protestant. Although Spain fought wars against Protestants in England, and the Netherlands, her greatest long-term antagonist was Catholic France. In truth, the wars of the Reformation were just as motivated by a scramble for wealth and power as they were by religious idealism, and Spain was hated more for its wealth and empire than for its religious loyalties.

Although Spain had a brief period of glory, and managed to hold on to much of her empire in the new world for over 200 years, the enormous infusion of gold and silver from America did a great deal to destroy her character, economy, and military from within. Enormous sums of unearned wealth invariably produce internal corruption and obscurant bureaucracies, and by the time the Bourbon's came to power in the early 1700's, Spain had degenerated into a decadent oligarchy living off the wealth of its colonies.

In spite of their deplorable government, the Spanish peasants furiously opposed modern republican reforms, and the confiscation of church property that had accompanied virtually every "reform" movement in Europe. They valiantly resisted the invasion of Spain during the Peninsular War, but were not competent to fend off the Frenchmen without a great deal of aid from the English. After the war, the Spaniards continued to oppose modernist efforts at reform, and the Carlist Wars, a series of civil wars between the modernist and traditionalist elements of France waged throughout the 19th century.

Spain lost much of its empire in the new world in the period following the Napoleonic War. The efforts to liberate South America were led by San Martin and Bolivar, and in 1813 Mexico declared its independence. The problem with all efforts to liberate Latin America, however, was the liberation armies were generally led by war lord rather than true patriots, (Bolivar and San Martin notwithstanding), and generally resulted in military dictatorships rather than true republics.

The final blow to the Spanish Empire came during the Spanish American War in 1898, when Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after a short but decisive war with America. After this disastrous loss the government of Spain continued to rule in a divided fashion, between liberal reformers and conservative traditionalists until the Spanish Civil War of in the mid 1930's. The traditionalists, under Francisco Franco eventually prevailed, and on the death of Franco in 1975 a constitutional monarchy was established.

The Scope of Hispanic History covered in these sections ranges from the Roman conquest of Spain, beginning in the third century B.C., to the Mexican Revolution, and the Spanish Civil War in the early 20th century. The history of Ancient Spain encompasses both the Roman and Visigoth eras, from about 250 B.C. to 712 A.D. The following 700 years, during which the Moorish Empire co-existed with Christian Kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula is covered in two separate eras, first focusing on the Moorish achievements in Spain, and secondly on the Christian reconquest. The exploits of the Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the New World and in the Far east is the subject of the fourth division. Although this era spans only 100 years, it is likely one of the most important periods in human history.

The rest of Spanish history is divided between the Hapsburg Era, encompassing the 16th and 17th centuries, and the Bourbon era encompassing the 18th and 19th centuries. The final two eras cover the histories of South America and Mexico.