What is this place called Spain?
Spain has been home to many for thousands of years. Paleolithic cultural sites, like Altamira, are painted cave-wall evidence. A gateway between continents Europe and Africa, Spain's Iberian Peninsula, has seen its share of confrontation and foray. Europe’s oldest surviving people, the Basques, have called Spain home.
Once Upon a Time, in the Kingdom of Spain
In about 200 B.C. Romans moved in; they are recognized for deriving the basis of Spain’s dialect. The North African Moors took the region about 711 A.D. and reigned for nearly 800 years. In this time of advancement, new agriculture techniques were implemented and science came to the forefront. The landscape became decorated with artounding mosques, palaces, schools, gardens and public baths. Poetry and art advanced.
Christians, from the north, came next and led an effort to drive out the Moors called the Reconquista or Reconquest. In 1469 Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand II, of Castile and Aragon, respectively, united themeselves and Spain through marriag It was under their reign that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and discovered America. That same year the Spanish Inquisition, not of Monty Python’s sort, exiled those who did not convert to Catholicism.During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain was Europe’s leading power.
Recent History
Nevertheless, supremacy is often short-lived and Spain now only rules the North African territories of Ceuta and Melilla. King Juan Carlos I, reigning king of Spain, came to power 22 November 1975. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has been then President of the Government since 17 April 2004. Spain’s current flag came under the reign of Charles III.