A REALLY Brief History of Spain

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A REALLY Brief History of Spain
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Geography
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• Note the geographic boundaries
• East--Mediterranean Sea
• West--Portugal
• South--Africa (Strait of Gibraltar)
• Northeast--France

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• The two largest cities in Spain are Madrid and
  Barcelona. Madrid is the capital, and Barcelona
  is the best place to study abroad.

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Spain is made up of 17 autonomous communities
(previously called regions). Three of them
havetheir own languages The Basque
CountryBasque GaliciaGalician CataloniaCatalan
Dialects of Catalan are also spoken in Valencia
and Mallorca.
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Important Dates in Spanish History
Important Dates in Spanish History
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• 206 B.C. The Romans invade Spain their
  language, Latin, became the dominant language.
  Spanish developed from Latin.
• 711 A.D. The Moors (peoples of North Africa)
  invade Spain. Catholic Spain fights back against
  the Islamic Moors, who speak Arabic. (Spanish
  words that begin with allike álgebracome
  from Arabic.)

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• 1492 Not only did Isabel and Fernando sponsor
  Columbus but also succeeded in expelling the last
  of the Moors from Spain. The Alhambra, a Moorish
  palace in a city called Granada, was the last
  stronghold.
• Youll notice that Granada (which means
  pomegranate) is in the south, close to Africa,
  so it makes sense that the Moors could hold onto
  it longer than other cities.

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Pictures of the Moorish palace, the Alhambra
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• Incidentally, Washington Irving loved the
  Alhambra and wrote stories in it and about it.

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• 1492 Were still not done with that date.
  Isabel and Fernando succeeded in expelling not
  only the Moors that year but also the Jews. The
  Moors and the Jews made up most of the middle
  class, so what the king and queen actually did
  was throw out all their workers thereby ruining
  the countrys economy.

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• 1936-1939 These are the dates of the (most
  recent) Spanish civil war. In 1931, the popular
  vote made it obvious that people wanted a
  republic, not a monarchy, and King Alfonso XIII
  abdicated. There were so many political factions
  violently opposed to each other that civil war
  seemed inevitable. It broke out in 1936, and
  Francisco Franco gained control of the government
  and became dictator.
• Incidentally, Ernest Hemingway fought in the
  Spanish civil war.

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Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist.
Catholicism was the state religion. The Catalan
and Basque languages were suppressed. Franco
was totally opposed to a republican form of
government. However, he wasnt opposed to a
monarchy, so he had Juan Carlos, grandson of
Alfonso XIII, the monarch who fled before the
civil war, brought to Spain and groomed to be his
successor.
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• 1975 -- Franco died. Juan Carlos became king,
  but, knowing which way the wind blew, immediately
  went about establishing a republic. A president
  was elected, and the real power resides with that
  office.

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Culture
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• Spain is known for flamenco dancing. Its the
  traditional dance you see on TV and in movies
  with the castanets.

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• The most famous Spanish literary work is Don
  Quixote. The book was written by Miguel de
  Cervantes.

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• The dish for which Spain is most famous is
  paella. Its a rice dish seasoned with saffron
  and contains seafood and chicken and a few
  vegetables.

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• These sweets are called turrones (singular,
  turrón) and are a specialty of Catalonia, where
  Barcelona is located. The translation is
  nougat, but theyre nothing like the inside of
  a Three Musketeers bar.

crushed almonds and honey
toasted almonds
almond-filled chocolate
chocolate-covered custard
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• And if you go to Barcelona with us, you can see
  and/or taste these things yourself!