The Northern Kingdoms and the Reconquest

The regions of the north were the only parts of Iberia not conquered by the Moors, and their identities were all formed in the difficult, centuries-long struggle to retake lands further south from Muslim rule. Political disunity among the Christian strongholds, their remote mountain locations, and a severe climate all made the effort to retake the lands that much harder. The main Christian states that took shape were Asturias, León, Castile, Navarra, Aragón and Catalonia. (1902) 12

INTRODUCING NORTHERN SPAIN 40 TIMELINE DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION

Through their marriage in 1469, the Catholic Monarchs – Fernando II of Aragón and Isabel I of Castile – united almost all the territories of the peninsula. The process was completed when Navarra was incorporated in 1512. When Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, this marked the beginning of Spain’s overseas expansion. Many of the ships and navigators came from the Basque Country and Cantabria. Among notable seamen were Juan Sebastián de Elcano – the first to circumnavigate the globe after Magellan died during his journey – and Juan Sebastián de la Cosa, who sailed with Columbus and mapped the new lands. In 1517 Carlos I, of the Habsburg dynasty, inherited the thrones of Spain, Austria and Burgundy, giving him huge territories across Europe. Under him, Spain acquired vast lands in the Americas, becoming the first world-wide empire. His successor, Felipe II, made Madrid the capital.

THE GOLDEN AGE

The discovery voyages led to growth in trade, which encouraged the development of north coast towns. Growth was somewhat limited by the king’s insistence that all large-scale trade with the American colonies go through Seville. The Spanish Empire also engaged in constant wars – in the colonies, against the French, Turks and Protestants. The Dutch wars started in the 1560s, and in 1588 part of the Spanish Armada set out from Vigo to attack England. In 1589, Francis Drake led attacks on Vigo and A Coruña, in response to the Armada. The north provided a lot of Spain’s soldiers. Related to this militarism was the founding of the Jesuits by the Basque Saint Ignatius, himself a soldier once. The constant wars exhausted the country, however, and by 1650 the process of inexorable imperial decline began, following defeats against the Dutch and French.

BOURBON SPAIN

In 1701 Carlos I died without an heir. In the subsequent War of the Spanish Succession, Castile and most of the north supported Felipe V (of the French Bourbon dynasty). Catalonia, Aragón and Valencia supported the Archduke Charles of Austria, who promised to restore their traditional rights. (2150) 13 Felipe V was victorious, and in 1715 made Spain into a unified state, abolishing the local rights of Catalonia, Aragón and other regions. In return for their loyalty, however, the Basque Country and Navarra were allowed to keep their local rights. The 18th-century Bourbon kings and ministers sought to reform Spain’s adminstration and halt the country’s decline. Most important was Carlos III (1759–88), who in his efforts to encourage economic expansion ended Seville’s monopoly on trade with Spanish America. This had an immediate effect in the north, which saw vigorous expansion in shipbuilding, trade and agriculture. The French Revolution was the start of a traumatic period. Initially Spain joined European monarchies in attacking Republican France, with heavy losses. Later, unpopular PM Godoy allied Spain with Napoleon. In 1808 Napoleon kidnapped the Spanish royal family and declared his brother, Joseph, king of Spain, triggering the Peninsular War, with Spain aided by Britain. During the war, a Cortes or parliament met in Cádiz and approved Spain’s first constitution in 1812. At the end of these wars in 1814 Spain’s institutions were severely weakened. The restless 19th century also saw the awakening of nationalist sentiments in the Basque Country. Galicia and Catalonia sought to rescue their languages and traditions from the dominance of the official Spanish-speaking culture.

CARLIST WARS

When Fernando VII died in 1833, a dispute arose over his successor – his brother Don Carlos or daughter Isabel – and civil conflict, the Carlist Wars, began. The Carlists had support in the northern provinces, particularly in the Basque Country, Navarra and north Catalonia, which opposed state centralization. The Carlists were defeated; the First Republic was proclaimed in 1873.

UNREST & THE SECOND REPUBLIC

In the first 30 years of the 20th century, during the reign of Alfonso XIII, the country was plagued by strikes and political crises. Successive governments were incompetent, and disorder grew. During World War I Spain remained neutral, which boosted the economy but also encouraged demands for reform, ith violent confrontations between the government and radical forces. (2193) 14 In 1923 General Miguel Primo de Rivera suspended the constitution and declared himself Dictator, with the support of the king. He ruled with an iron hand, curtailing civil liberties and banning regional languages. In 1930 Primo’s dictatorship collapsed, and the following year local elections showed huge support for Republican candidates. The king was forced to leave the country, and in 1931 Spain’s Second Republic was proclaimed, amid high hopes that it would deal with the country’s problems. Reforms proved ineffective, however, and the country was rocked by outbreaks of anticlericalism, and unemployment rose.

CIVIL WAR AND FRANCO

In 1936, when the general election was won by the left, the army rose in revolt, starting the Spanish Civil War. In much of southern Spain, Madrid, Catalonia, and part of the Basque Country, Cantabria and Asturias Republican forces defeated the initial revolt. The rest of the country was controlled by the Nationalists (the army and the right), led by General Francisco Franco. The war dragged on for three years, the Nationalists supported by Germany and Italy, and the Republicans, much less so, by the Soviet Union. The International Brigades fighting on the Republican side included volunteers from many other countries. In the north, the Basque Country, Cantabria and Asturias were cut off from the rest of the Republican- controlled zone, and were gradually overrun by Franco’s forces during 1937. One of the most notorious episodes of the war was the Nazi bombing of the Basque town of Gernika. The Nationalists ultimately triumphed. With the end of the war in 1939, Franco’s dictatorship began. Devastated and impoverished, the country stood in international isolation until the 1950s. Republicans suffered repression and many were forced into exile. In the centralized state, regional diversity was repressed. The use of the Catalan and Basque languages was prohibited, there was moral censorship, and political parties were banned. The 1960s saw the emergence of the violent campaign of the Basque separatist group, ETA. (2069) 15

MODERN SPAIN

Franco died in 1975, having named Juan Carlos I (grandson of Alfonso XIII) as his successor. The country’s transition to democracy was relatively peaceful. Political parties were legalized, and in 1978 a new constitution declared Spain a parliamentary monarchy. The constitution granted autonomous status to Spain’s regions, which enabled the Basque Country, Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria to set up local administrations from 1979 onwards. However, in the Basque Country this still did not satisfy ETA, and terrorism became one of Spain’s constant problems. In 1982 Spain elected its first Socialist government, led by Felipe González. In 1985 it joined NATO, and in 1986 became a member of the European Union. The Olympic Games were staged in Barcelona in 1992. The 1996 general election was won by the centre-right People’s Party, led by José María Aznar. Under his prime ministership Spain enjoyed further economic success, but his decision to send troops to Iraq was unpopular. In March 2004 Islamic extremists blew up four suburban trains in Madrid. Aznar’s government initially blamed ETA, but as the truth emerged this only increased the popularity of the Socialists (PSOE), led by José Rodríguez Zapatero, who were voted into power. In spring 2006, ETA announced a ceasefire, only to break it 15 months later. Despite continuing concern among Spaniards over terrorism, Zapatero’s Socialist government was re-elected in 2008. (1447) 16

Знака

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