Spanish History, Religion & Government
Spain never regained its former strength.
A. History of Spain
Number 1:
- The modern Kingdom of Spain is the
successor of Habsburg Spain, which unified a
number of disparate predecessor kingdoms in
1500; its modern form of a constitutional
monarchy was introduced in 1812, the current
democratic constitution dates to 1978.
- The Iberian Peninsula was first entered by
anatomically modern humans at about 32,000
years ago. Spanish prehistory extends to the
pre-Roman Iron Age cultures that controlled
most of Iberia: those of the Iberians,
Celtiberians, Tartessans, Lusitanians and
Vascones and trading settlements of
Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians on the
Mediterranean coast.
- Hispania was the name used for the peninsula
under Roman rule from the 2nd century BC.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in
the 5th century, parts of Hispania came under
the control of the Germanic tribes of Vandals,
Suebi and Visigoths. The Visigothic Kingdom
conquered all of Hispania and ruled it until the
early 8th century, when the peninsula fell to the
Muslim conquests.
- The Muslim state in Iberia came to be known
as Al-Andalus. After a period of Muslim
dominance, the medieval history of Spain is
dominated by the long Christian Reconquista
or "reconquest" of the Iberian Peninsula from
Muslim rule. The Reconquista gathered
momentum during the 12th century, leading to
the establishment of the Christian kingdoms of
Portugal, Aragon, Castile and Navarre and by
1250, had reduced Muslim control to the
Emirate of Granada in the south-east of the
peninsula. Muslim rule in Granada survived
until 1492, when it fell to the Catholic
Monarchs. Soon after the completion of the
Reconquista, the kingdoms of Spain were
united under Habsburg rule in 1506. At the
same time, the Spanish Empire began to
expand to the New World across the ocean,
marking the beginning of the Spanish Golden
Age of Spain, during which, from the early
1500s to the 1650s, Habsburg Spain was the
most powerful state in Europe.
- In this time, Spain was involved in all major
European wars, including the Italian Wars, the
Eighty Years' War, the Thirty Years' War and
the Franco- Spanish War. In the later 17th
century, however, Spanish power began to
decline, and after the death of the last
Habsburg ruler, the War of the Spanish
Succession ended with the relegation of Spain,
now under Bourbon rule to the status of a
second-rate power with a reduced influence in
European affairs. The so-called Bourbon
Reforms attempted the renewal of state
institutions, with some success, but as the
century ended, instability set in with the French
Revolution and the Peninsular War, so that
Number 2:
- Fragmented by the war, Spain at the beginning
of the 19th century was destabilized as
different political parties representing "liberal",
"reactionary" and "moderate" groups
throughout the remainder of the century fought
for and won short-lived control without any
being sufficiently strong to bring about lasting
stability
- The former Spanish empire overseas quickly
disintegrated with the Latin American wars of
independence and eventually the loss of what
old colonies remained in the Spanish–
American War of 1898. A tenuous balance
between liberal and conservative forces was
struck in the establishment of constitutional
monarchy during 1874–1931 but brought no
lasting solution, and Spain descended into Civil
War between the Republican and the
Nationalist factions. The war ended in a
nationalist dictatorship, led by Francisco
Franco, which controlled the Spanish
government until 1975.
- The post-war decades were relatively stable
(with the notable exception of an armed
independence movement in the Basque
Country), and the country experienced rapid
economic growth in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Only with the death of Franco in 1975 did
Spain return to Bourbon constitutional
monarchy headed by Prince Juan Carlos and
to democracy. Spain entered the European
Economic Community in 1986 (transformed
into the European Union with the Maastricht
Treaty of 1992), and the Eurozone in 1999.
The financial crisis of 2007–08 ended a decade
of economic boom and Spain entered a
recession and debt crisis and remains
plagued by very high unemployment and a
weak economy.
I - Early history
 Prehistoric Iberia
- A painting of bison dating from the Upper
Paleolithic era in the Altamira caves. The
earliest record of hominids living in Western
Europe has been found in the Spanish cave
of Atapuerca; a flint tool found there dates
from 1.4 million years ago, and early human
fossils date to roughly 1.2 million years ago.
- Modern humans in the form of Cro-
Magnons began arriving in the Iberian
Peninsula from north of the Pyrenees some
35,000 years ago. The most conspicuous
sign of prehistoric human settlements are
the famous paintings in the northern
Spanish cave of Altamira.
 Early history of the Iberian Peninsula/Pre-
Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
Roman conquest of Hispania
- In the time before the Roman conquest the
major cultures were the Iberians along the
 Mediterranean coast, the Celts in the
interior and north-west, the Lusitanians in
the west and the Tartesians in the south-
west. The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks
and Carthaginians successively established
trading settlements along the eastern and
southern coast.
- The first Greek colonies, such as Emporion
(modern Empúries), were founded along the
northeast coast in the 9th century BC,
leaving the south coast to the Phoenicians.
- The Greeks are responsible for the name
Iberia, apparently after the river Iber (Ebro).
In the 6th century BC, the Carthaginians
arrived in Iberia, struggling first with the
Greeks, and shortly after, with the newly
arriving Romans for control of the Western
Mediterranean. Their most important colony
was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern
day Cartagena).
- The native peoples whom the Romans met
at the time of their invasion in what is now
known as Spain were the Iberians,
inhabiting an area stretching from the
northeast part of the Iberian Peninsula
through the south-east. The Celts mostly
inhabited the inner and north-west part of
the peninsula. In the inner part of the
peninsula, where both groups were in
contact, a mixed culture arose, the
Celtiberian. The Celtiberian Wars or
Hispanic Wars were fought between the
advancing legions of the Roman Republic
and the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania
Citerior from 181 to 133 BC. The Roman
conquest of the peninsula was completed in
19 BC.
 Romanization of Hispania
- Romanization of Hispania Under Roman
rule the Iberian Peninsula was called
Hispania. The populations of the peninsula
were gradually culturally Romanized, and
local leaders were admitted into the Roman
aristocratic class. The Romans improved
existing cities, such as Tarragona (Tarraco),
and established others like Zaragoza
(Caesaraugusta), Mérida (Augusta
Emerita), Valencia (Valentia), León ("Legio
Septima"), Badajoz ("Pax Augusta"), and
Palencia. The peninsula's economy
expanded under Roman tutelage. Hispania
supplied Rome with food, olive oil, wine and
metal. The emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and
Theodosius I, the philosopher Seneca, and
the poets Martial, Quintilian, and Lucan
were born in Hispania. Hispanic bishops
held the Council of Elvira around 306.
- The collapse of the Western Roman Empire
did not lead to the same wholesale
destruction of Western classical society as
happened in areas like Roman Britain, Gaul
and Germania Inferior during the Dark
Ages, although the institutions and
infrastructure did decline. Spain's present
languages, its religion, and the basis of its
laws originate from this period. The
centuries of uninterrupted Roman rule and
settlement left a deep and enduring imprint
upon the culture of Spain.
 Gothic Hispania (5th–8th centuries)
- The greatest extent of the Visigothic
Kingdom of Toulouse, c. 500, showing
Territory lost after Vouillé in light orange.
- The first Germanic tribes to invade Hispania
arrived in the 5th century, as the Roman
Empire decayed. The Visigoths, Suebi,
Vandals and Alans arrived in Spain by
crossing the Pyrenees mountain range,
leading to the establishment of the Suebi
Kingdom in Gallaecia, in the northwest, the
Vandal Kingdom of Vandalusia (Andalusia),
and the Visigothic Kingdom in Toledo.
- The Romanized Visigoths entered Hispania
in 415. After the conversion of their
monarchy to Roman Catholicism and after
conquering the disordered Suebic territories
in the northwest and Byzantine territories in
the southeast, the Visigothic Kingdom
eventually encompassed a great part of the
Iberian Peninsula.
- As the Roman Empire declined, Germanic
tribes invaded the former empire. Some
were foederati, tribes enlisted to serve in
Roman armies, and given land within the
empire as payment, while others, such as
the Vandals, took advantage of the empire's
weakening defenses to seek plunder within
its borders. Those tribes that survived took
over existing Roman institutions, and
created successor-kingdoms to the Romans
in various parts of Europe. Iberia was taken
over by the Visigoths after 410.
- In the Iberian peninsula, as elsewhere, the
Empire fell not with a bang but with a
whimper. Rather than there being any
convenient date for the "fall of the Roman
Empire" there was a progressive "de-
Romanization" of the Western Roman
Empire in Hispania and a weakening of
central authority, throughout the 3rd, 4th
and 5th centuries.
- At the same time, there was a process of
"Romanization" of the Germanic and Hunnic
tribes settled on both sides of the limes (the
fortified frontier of the Empire along the
Rhine and Danube rivers). The Visigoths,
for example, were converted to Arian
Christianity around 360, even before they
were pushed into imperial territory by the
expansion of the Huns. In the winter of 406,
taking advantage of the frozen Rhine,
refugees from (Germanic) Vandals and
Sueves, and the (Sarmatian) Alans, fleeing
the advancing Huns, invaded the empire in
force. Three years later they crossed the
Pyrenees into Iberia and divided the
Western parts, roughly corresponding to
modern Portugal and western Spain as far
as Madrid, between them.
- The Visigoths, having sacked Rome two
years earlier, arrived in the region in 412,
founding the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse
(in the south of modern France) and
gradually expanded their influence into the
 Iberian peninsula at the expense of the - The most visible effect was the
Vandals and Alans, who moved on into depopulation of the cities as they moved to
North Africa without leaving much the countryside. Even while the country
permanent mark on Hispanic culture. The enjoyed a degree of prosperity when
Visigothic Kingdom shifted its capital to compared to the famines of France and
Toledo and reached a high point during the Germany in this period, the Visigoths felt
reign of Leovigild. little reason to contribute to the welfare,
permanency, and infrastructure of their
 Visigothic Rule people and state. This contributed to their
- Spain never saw a decline in interest in downfall, as they could not count on the
classical culture to the degree observable in loyalty of their subjects when the Moors
Britain, Gaul, Lombardy and Germany. The arrived in the 8th century.
Visigoths, having assimilated Roman culture
II- Medieval
during their tenure as foederati, tended to
maintain more of the old Roman institutions,  Kingdom of the Suebi
and they had a unique respect for legal  Visigothic Kingdom
codes that resulted in continuous  Spania
frameworks and historical records for most
 Umayyad conquest of Hispania Al-Andalus
of the period between 415, when Visigothic
Reconquista or Islamic al-Andalus and the
rule in Spain began, and 711, when it is
Christian Reconquista (8th–15th centuries)
traditionally said to end. However, during
- The Arab Islamic conquest dominated most
the Visigothic dominion the cultural efforts
of North Africa by 640 AD. In 711 an Islamic
made by the Franks and other Germanic
Berber and Arab raiding party, led by Tariq
tribes was not felt in the peninsula, and
ibn Ziyad, was sent to Iberia to intervene in
were not achieved in the lesser kingdoms
a civil war in the Visigothic Kingdom.
that emerged after the Muslim conquest.
Crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, they won a
- The proximity of the Visigothic kingdoms to
decisive victory in the summer of 711 when
the Mediterranean and the continuity of
the Visigothic King Roderic was defeated
western Mediterranean trade, though in
and killed on July 19 at the Battle of
reduced quantity, supported Visigothic
Guadalete.
culture. Arian Visigothic nobility kept apart
- Tariq's commander, Musa bin Nusayr,
from the local Catholic population. The
quickly crossed with reinforcements, and by
Visigothic ruling class looked to
718 the Muslims were in control of nearly
Constantinople for style and technology
the whole Iberian Peninsula. The advance
while the rivals of Visigothic power and
into Western Europe was only stopped in
culture were the Catholic bishops – and a
what is now north-central France by the
brief incursion of Byzantine power in
West Germanic Franks under Charles
Córdoba.
Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732.
- Spanish catholic religion also coalesced
- A decisive victory for the Christians took
during this time. The period of rule by the
place at Covadonga, in the north of the
Visigothic Kingdom saw the spread of
Iberian Peninsula, in the summer of 722. In
Arianism briefly in Spain. The Councils of
a minor battle known as the Battle of
Toledo debated creed and liturgy in
Covadonga, a Muslim force sent to put
orthodox Catholicism, and the Council of
down the Christians rebels in the northern
Lerida in 546 constrained the clergy and
mountains was defeated by Pelagius of
extended the power of law over them under
Asturias, who established the monarchy of
the blessings of Rome. In 587, the
the Christian Kingdom of Asturias. In 739, a
Visigothic king at Toledo, Reccared,
rebellion in Galicia, assisted by the
converted to Catholicism and launched a
Asturians, drove out Muslim forces and it
movement in Spain to unify the various
joined the Asturian kingdom.
religious doctrines that existed in the land.
- The Kingdom of Asturias became the main
This put an end to dissension on the
base for Christian resistance to Islamic rule
question of Arianism. For additional
in the Iberian Peninsula for several
information about this period, see the
centuries. Caliph Al-Walid had paid great
History of Roman Catholicism in Spain.
attention to the expansion of an organized
- The impact of Visigothic rule was not widely
military, building the strongest navy in the
felt on society at large, and certainly not
Umayyad Caliphate era (the second major
compared to the vast bureaucracy of the
Arab dynasty after Mohammad and the first
Roman Empire; they tended to rule as
Arab dynasty of Al-Andalus). It was this
barbarians of a mild sort, uninterested in the
tactic that supported the ultimate expansion
events of the nation and economy, working
to Spain. Caliph Al-Walid I's reign is
for personal benefit, and little literature
considered as the apex of Islamic power,
remains to us from the period. They did not,
though Islamic power in Spain specifically
until the period of Muslim rule, merge with
climaxed in the 10th century under Abd-ar-
the Spanish population, preferring to remain
Rahman III.
separate, and indeed the Visigothic
language left only the faintest mark on the
 Abbasids overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate
modern languages of Iberia.
 - The rulers of Al-Andalus were granted the
rank of Emir by the Umayyad Caliph Al-
Walid I in Damascus. Emir Abd al-Rahman I
challenged the Abbasids. The Umayyad
Caliphate, with origin in Hejaz, Arabian
peninsula or Emirate was overthrown by the
Abbasid Caliphate or Emirate (second Arab
dynasty), some of the remaining Umayyad
leaders escaped to Castile and declared
Córdoba an independent emirate. Al-
Andalus was rife with internal conflict
between the Islamic Umayyad rulers and
people and the Christian Visigoth-Roman
leaders and people.
- In the 10th century Abd-ar-Rahman III
declared the Caliphate of Córdoba,
effectively breaking all ties with the Egyptian
and Syrian caliphs. The Caliphate was
mostly concerned with maintaining its power
base in North Africa, but these possessions
eventually dwindled to the Ceuta province.
The first navy of the Caliph of Córdoba or
Emir was built after the humiliating Viking
ascent of the Guadalquivir in 844 when they
sacked Seville.
- In 942, pagan Magyars (present day
Hungary) raided across Europe as far west
as Al-Andalus. Meanwhile, a slow but
steady migration of Christian subjects to the
northern kingdoms in Christian Hispania
was slowly increasing the latter's power.
Even so, Al-Andalus remained vastly
superior to all the northern kingdoms
combined in population, economy and
military might; and internal conflict between
the Christian kingdoms contributed to keep
them relatively harmless.
 Warfare between Muslims and Christians
- Muslim interest in the peninsula returned in
force around the year 1000 when Al-Mansur
(also known as Almanzor) sacked
Barcelona in 985. Under his son, other
Christian cities were subjected to numerous
raids. After his son's death, the caliphate
plunged into a civil war and splintered into
the so-called "Taifa Kingdoms".
- The Taifa kings competed against each
other not only in war but also in the
protection of the arts, and culture enjoyed a
brief upswing. The Taifa kingdoms lost
ground to the Christian realms in the north.
After the loss of Toledo in 1085, the Muslim
rulers reluctantly invited the Almoravides,
who invaded Al-Andalus from North Africa
and established an empire. In the 12th
century the Almoravid empire broke up
again, only to be taken over by the Almohad
invasion, who were defeated by an alliance
of the Christian kingdoms in the decisive
battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. By
1250, nearly all of Iberia was back under
Christian rule with the exception of the small
Muslim kingdom of Granada.
- The Kings of Aragón ruled territories that
consisted of not only the present
administrative region of Aragon but also
Catalonia, and later the Balearic Islands,
Valencia, Sicily, Naples and Sardinia (see
Crown of Aragon).
- Considered by most to have been the first
mercenary company in Western Europe, the
Catalan Company proceeded to occupy the
Duchy of Athens, which they placed under
the protection of a prince of the House of
Aragon and ruled until 1379.
Early Modern Spain
 Dynastic Union
- In the 15th century, the most important
among all of the separate Christian
kingdoms that made up the old Hispania
were the Kingdom of Castile (occupying
northern and central portions of the Iberian
Peninsula) the Crown of Aragon (occupying
northeastern portions of the peninsula) and
the kingdom of Portugal occupying the far
western Iberian Peninsula. The rulers of the
kingdoms of Castille and Aragon were allied
with dynastic families in Portugal, France,
and other neighboring kingdoms.
- The death of King Henry IV of Castile in
1474 set off a struggle for power called the
War of the Castilian Succession (1475-
1479). Contenders for the throne of Castile
were Henry's one-time heir Joanna la
Beltraneja, supported by Portugal and
France, and Henry's half-sister Queen
Isabella I of Castile, supported by the
Kingdom of Aragon and by the Castilian
nobility.
III- Early modern Catholic Monarchs
 Habsburg Spain or Spanish Kingdoms under
the Habsburgs (16th–17th centuries)
- Spain's world empire reached its greatest
territorial extent in the late 18th century but
it was under the Habsburg dynasty in the
16th and 17th centuries it reached the peak
of its power and declined.
- When Spain's first Habsburg ruler Charles I
became king of Spain in 1516, Spain
became central to the dynastic struggles of
Europe. After he became king of Spain,
Charles also became Charles V, Holy
Roman Emperor and because of his widely
scattered domains was not often in Spain.
As he approached the end of his life he
made provision for the division of the
Habsburg inheritance into two parts. On the
one hand was Spain, its possessions in
Europe, North Africa, the Americas and the
Netherlands.
- In the 1560s, plans to consolidate control of
the Netherlands led to unrest, which
gradually led to the Calvinist leadership of
the revolt and the Eighty Years' War. This
conflict consumed much Spanish
expenditure during the later 16th century.
Conflicts included an attempt to conquer
England – a cautious supporter of the Dutch
– in the unsuccessful Spanish Armada, an
early battle in the Anglo-Spanish War
 (1585–1604), and war with France (1590–
1598).
- Despite these problems, the growing inflow
of American silver from mid- 16th century,
the justified military reputation of the
Spanish infantry and even the navy quickly
recovering from its Armada disaster, made
Spain the leading European power, a novel
situation of which its citizens were only just
becoming aware. The Iberian Union with
Portugal in 1580 not only unified the
peninsula, but added that country's
worldwide resources to the Spanish crown.
 Spanish Empire
- The Spanish Empire was one of the first
modern global empires.
- It was also one of the largest empires in
world history.
- In the 16th century, Spain and Portugal
were in the vanguard of European global
exploration and colonial expansion. The two
kingdoms on the conquest and Iberian
Peninsula competed with each other in
opening of trade routes across the oceans.
- Spanish imperial conquest and colonization
began with two Castilian expeditions.
- The first was an expedition of a Castilian
fleet led by a Genoese, Lanzarotto
Malocello. The second was another
expedition in 1502 led by French
adventurers, Jean de Bethancourt, Lord of
Grainville in Normandy and Gadifer de la
Salle of Poitou.
- Spain enjoyed a cultural golden age in the
16th and 17th centuries.
- For a time, the Spanish Empire dominated
the oceans with its experienced navy and
ruled the European battlefield with its
fearsome and well-trained infantry, the
famous tercios, in the words of the
prominent French historian Pierre Vilar,
"enacting the most extraordinary epic in
human history".
- The financial burden within the peninsula
was on the backs of the peasant class while
the nobility enjoyed an increasingly lavish
lifestyle. From the time beginning with the
incorporation of the Portuguese Empire in
1580 (lost in 1640) until the loss of its
American colonies in the 19th century,
Spain maintained the largest empire in the
world even though it suffered fluctuating
military and economic fortunes from the
1640s.
 Spanish Golden Age (Siglo de Oro)
- View of Toledo by El Greco, between 1596
and 1600.
- The Spanish Golden Age (in Spanish, Siglo
de Oro) was a period of flourishing arts and
letters in the Spanish Empire (now Spain
and the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin
America), coinciding with the political
decline and fall of the Habsburgs (Philip III,
Philip IV and Charles II).
- It is interesting to note how arts during the
Golden Age flourished despite the decline of
the empire in the 17th century. The last
great writer of the age, Sor Juana Inés de la
Cruz, died in New Spain in 1695.
- The Habsburgs, both in Spain and Austria,
were great patrons of art in their countries.
El Escorial, the great royal monastery built
by King Philip II, invited the attention of
some of Europe's greatest architects and
painters.
- Diego Velázquez, regarded as one of the
most influential painters of European history
and a greatly respected artist in his own
time, cultivated a relationship with King
Philip IV and his chief minister, the Count-
Duke of Olivares, leaving us several
portraits that demonstrate his style and skill.
- El Greco, a respected Greek artist from the
period, settled in Spain, and infused
Spanish art with the styles of the Italian
renaissance and helped create a uniquely
 Decline in the 17th century
- The Spanish "Golden Age" politically ends
no later than 1659, with the Treaty of the
Pyrenees, ratified between France and
Habsburg Spain.
- Spain had experienced severe difficulties in
the later 16th century, including military
defeats in Europe like the Spanish Armada
and a series of financial crises that had
caused the Spanish Crown to declare
bankruptcy four times in the late 1500s
(1557, 1560, 1576, 1596).
- Many different factors, including the
decentralized political nature of Spain,
inefficient taxation, a succession of weak
kings, power struggles in the Spanish court
and a tendency to focus on the American
colonies instead of Spain's domestic
economy, all contributed to the decline of
the Habsburg rule of Spain.
- During the long regency for Charles II, the
last of the Spanish Habsburgs, favouritism
milked Spain's treasury, and Spain's
government operated principally as a
dispenser of patronage. Plague, famine,
floods, drought, and renewed war with
France wasted the country. The Peace of
the Pyrenees (1659) had ended fifty years
of warfare with France, whose king, Louis
XIV, found the temptation to exploit
weakened Spain too great. Louis instigated
the War of Devolution (1667- 68) to acquire
the Spanish Netherlands.
 Enlightenment in Spain
o Spain under the Bourbons (18th
century) Main article: Enlightenment
Spain
- Charles II, having no direct heir, was
succeeded by his great-nephew Philip V, a
French prince, in 1700.
- sConcern among other European powers
that Spain and France united under a single
Bourbon monarch would upset the balance
of power led to the War of the Spanish
Succession between 1701 and 1714. It
pitted powerful France and fairly strong
 Spain against the Grand Alliance of
England, the Netherlands and Austria. After
many battles, especially in Spain, the Grand
Alliance finally won.
- Philip V signed the Decreto de Nueva
Planta in 1715. This new law revoked most
of the historical rights and privileges of the
different kingdoms that formed the Spanish
Crown, especially the Crown of Aragon,
unifying them under the laws of Castile,
where the Castillian Cortes Generales had
been more receptive to the royal wish.
- Spain became culturally and politically a
follower of absolutist France. Lynch says
Philip V advanced the government only
marginally over that of his predecessors and
was more of a liability than the incapacitated
Charles II; when a conflict came up between
the interests of Spain and France, he
usually favored France.
- Philip made reforms in government, and
strengthened the central authorities relative
to the provinces. Merit became more
important, although most senior positions
still went to the landed aristocracy. Below
the elite level, inefficiency and corruption
was as widespread as ever. The reforms
started by Philip V culminated in much more
important reforms of Charles III.
IV- Modern
 Kingdom of Spain (Napoleonic)
 Peninsular War Cádiz Cortes
 The 19th century
- War of Spanish Independence (1808–14)
Main article: Peninsular War
- The Second of May 1808 was the beginning
of the popular Spanish resistance against
Napoleon. Spain initially sided against
France in the Napoleonic Wars, but the
defeat of her army early in the war led to
Charles IV's pragmatic decision to align with
the revolutionary French.
- Spain was put under a British blockade, and
her colonies began to trade independently
with Britain but it was the defeat of the
British invasions of the Río de la Plata in
South America (1806 and 1807) that
emboldened independence and
revolutionary hopes in Spain's American
colonies.
- A major Franco-Spanish fleet was lost at the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, prompting the
vacillating king of Spain to reconsider his
difficult alliance with Napoleon. Spain
temporarily broke off from the Continental
System, and Napoleon – aggravated with
the Bourbon kings of Spain – invaded Spain
in 1808 and deposed Ferdinand VII, who
had been on the throne only forty-eight days
after his father's abdication in March 1808.
- On July 20, 1808, Joseph Bonaparte, eldest
brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, entered
Madrid and established a government by
which he became King of Spain, serving as
a surrogate for Napoleon.
- The former Spanish king was dethroned by
Napoleon who put his own brother on the
throne. Spaniards revolted. Thompson says
the Spanish revolt was, "a reaction against
new institutions and ideas, a movement for
loyalty to the old order: to the hereditary
crown of the Most Catholic kings, which
Napoleon, an excommunicated enemy of
the Pope, had put on the head of a
Frenchman; to the Catholic Church
persecuted by republicans who had
desecrated churches, murdered priests, and
enforced a "loi des cultes"; and to local and
provincial rights and privileges threatened
by an efficiently centralized government.
Juntas were formed all across Spain that
pronounced themselves in favor of
Ferdinand VII
 Spanish Constitution of 1812
 Spanish American wars of independence
History of Spain
 First Spanish Republic (1873–1874)
- Following the Hidalgo affair and an army
rebellion, Amadeus famously declared the
people of Spain to be ungovernable,
abdicated the throne, and left the country (11
February 1873).
- In his absence, a government of radicals and
Republicans was formed that declared Spain
a republic. The First Spanish Republic (1873–
1874) was immediately under siege from all
quarters. The Carlists were the most
immediate threat, launching a violent
insurrection after their poor showing in the
1872 elections.
- There were calls for socialist revolution from
the International Workingmen's Association,
revolts and unrest in the autonomous regions
of Navarre and Catalonia, and pressure from
the Catholic Church against the fledgling
republic.
 The Restoration (1874–1931)
- Although the former queen, Isabella II was
still alive, she recognized that she was too
divisive as a leader, and abdicated in 1870 in
favor of her son, Alfonso. Alfonso XII of Spain
was duly crowned on 28 December 1874
after returning from exile. After the tumult of
the First Spanish Republic, Spaniards were
willing to accept a return to stability under
Bourbon rule.
- The Republican armies in Spain — which
were resisting a Carlist insurrection —
pronounced their allegiance to Alfonso in the
winter of 1874–1875, led by Brigadier
General Martínez-Campos
- The Republic was dissolved and Antonio
Cánovas del Castillo, a trusted advisor to the
king, was named Prime Minister on New
Year's Eve, 1874. The Carlist insurrection
was put down vigorously by the new king,
who took an active role in the war and rapidly
gained the support of most of his countrymen.
- A system of turnos was established in Spain
in which the liberals, led by Práxedes Mateo
Sagasta and the conservatives, led by
 Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, alternated in
control of the government. A modicum of
stability and economic progress was restored
to Spain during Alfonso XII's rule (1874–
1885), although progress was cut short by his
sudden death at age 28.
 Disaster of 1898
- The "disaster" of 1898 created the Generation
of '98, a group of statesmen and intellectuals
who demanded liberal change from the new
government.
- However, both Anarchism on the left and
fascism on the right grew rapidly in Spain in
the early 20th century. A revolt in 1909 in
Catalonia was bloodily suppressed. Jensen
(1999) argues that the defeat of 1898 led
many military officers to abandon the
liberalism that had been strong in the officer
corps and turn to the right. They interpreted
the American victory in 1898 as well as the
Japanese victory against Russia in 1905 as
proof of the superior value of willpower and
moral values over technology. Over the next
three decades, Jensen argues, these values
shaped the outlook of Francisco Franco and
other Falangists
 The 20th Century (1914–31)
- Spain's neutrality in World War I allowed it
to become a supplier of material for both
sides to its great advantage, prompting an
economic boom in Spain.
- The outbreak of Spanish influenza in Spain
and elsewhere, along with a major
economic slowdown in the postwar period,
hit Spain particularly hard, and the country
went into debt.
- A major worker's strike was suppressed in
1919. Spanish colonial policies in Spanish
Morocco led to an uprising known as the
Rif War; rebels took control of most of the
area except for the enclaves of Ceuta and
Melilla in 1921.
- King Alfonso XIII decided to support the
dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de
Rivera in 1923. As Prime Minister Primo de
Rivera promised to reform the country
quickly and restore elections soon. He
deeply believed that it was the politicians
who had ruined Spain and that governing
without them he could regenerate the
nation. His slogan was "Country, Religion,
Monarchy."
 Second Spanish Republic (1931–39)
- Catholicism in the Second Spanish
Republic Political ideologies were intensely
polarized, as both right and left saw vast
evil conspiracies on the other side that had
to be stopped.
- The central issue was the role of the
Catholic Church, which the left saw as the
major enemy of modernity and the Spanish
people, and the right saw as the invaluable
protector of Spanish values.
- Power seesawed back and forth, 1931-36
as the monarchy was overthrown, and
complex coalitions formed and fell apart.
The end came in a devastating civil war,
1936–39, which was won by the
conservative, pro-church, Army-backed
“Nationalist” forces supported by Nazi
Germany and Italy. The Nationalists, led by
General Francisco Franco, defeated the
Republican coalition of liberals, socialists,
anarchists, and communists, which was
backed by the Soviet Union.
- Under the Second Spanish Republic,
women were allowed to vote in general
elections for the first time. The Republic
devolved substantial autonomy to the
Basque Country and to Catalonia.
- The first governments of the Republic were
center-left, headed by Niceto Alcalá-
Zamora and Manuel Azaña.
- Economic turmoil, substantial debt, and
fractious, rapidly changing governing
coalitions led to escalating political violence
and attempted coups by right and left. In
1933, the right-wing Spanish Confederation
of the Autonomous Right (CEDA), based
on the Catholic vote, won power. An armed
rising of workers in October 1934, which
reached its greatest intensity in Asturias
and Catalonia, was forcefully put down by
the CEDA government. This in turn
energized political movements across the
spectrum in Spain, including a revived
anarchist movement and new reactionary
and fascist groups, including the Falange
and a revived Carlist movement
 Spanish Civil War Francoist Spain
- The Spanish Civil War was marked by
numerous small battles and sieges, and
many atrocities, until the rebels (the
"Nationalists"), led by Francisco Franco,
won in 1939.
- There was military intervention as Italy sent
land forces, and Germany sent smaller elite
air force and armored units to the rebel side
(the Nationalists). The Soviet Union sold
armaments to the "Loyalists"
("Republicans"), while the Communist
parties in numerous countries sent soldiers
to the "International Brigades."
- The civil war did not escalate into a larger
conflict, but did become a worldwide
ideological battleground that pitted the left
and many liberals against Catholics and
conservatives. Britain, France and the U.S.
remained neutral and refused to sell military
supplies.
- Worldwide there was a decline in pacifism
and a growing sense that another world war
was imminent, and that it would be worth
fighting for.
 Political and Military balance
- In the 1930s, Spanish politics were
polarized at the left and right extremes of
the political spectrum. The left-wing favored
class struggle, land reform to overthrow the
land owners, autonomy to the regions, and
the destruction of the Catholic Church. The
 right-wing groups, the largest of which was
CEDA, a Catholic coalition, believed in
tradition, stability and hierarchy.
- Religion was the main dividing line between
right and left, but there were regional
variations.
- The Basques were devoutly Catholic but
they put a high priority on regional
autonomy. The Left offered a better deal so
in 1936-37 they fought for the Republicans.
In 1937 they pulled out of the war. The
Spanish Republican government moved to
Valencia, to escape Madrid, which was
under siege by the Nationalists. It had some
military strength in the Air Force and Navy,
but it had lost nearly all of the regular Army
- In 1936, the Left united in the Popular Front
and were elected to power. However, this
coalition, dominated by the centre-left, was
undermined both by the revolutionary
groups such as the anarchist Confederación
Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Federación
Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) and by anti-
democratic far-right groups such as the
Falange and the Carlists.
- The political violence of previous years
began to start again. There were gunfights
over strikes; landless labourers began to
seize land, church officials were killed and
churches burnt. On the other side, right
wing militias (such as the Falange) and
gunmen hired by employers assassinated
left wing activists.
- The Republican democracy never
generated the consensus or mutual trust
between the various political groups that it
needed to function peacefully. As a result,
the country slid into civil war. The right wing
of the country and high-ranking figures in
the army began to plan a coup, and when
Falangist politician José Calvo-Sotelo was
shot by Republican police, they used it as a
signal to act whilst the Republican
leadership was confused and inert
 Military operations
- The Nationalists under Franco won the war,
and historians continue to debate the
reasons. The Nationalists were much better
unified and led than the Republicans, who
squabbled and fought amongst themselves
endlessly and had no clear military strategy.
- The Army went over to the Nationalists, but
it was very poorly equipped—there were no
tanks or modern airplanes. The small navy
supported the Republicans, but their armies
were made up of raw recruits and they
lacked both equipment and skilled officers
and sergeants. Nationalist senior officers
were much better trained and more familiar
with modern tactics than the Republicans.
- On 17 July 1936, General Francisco Franco
brought the colonial army stationed in
Morocco to the mainland, while another
force from the north under General Sanjurjo
moved south from Navarre. Military units
were also mobilised elsewhere to take over
government institutions. Franco intended to
seize power immediately, but successful
resistance by Republicans in key the
centers of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, the
Basque country (and other points) meant
that Spain faced a prolonged civil war.
- By 1937 much of the south and west was
under the control of the Nationalists, whose
Army of Africa was the most professional
force available to either side. Both sides
received foreign military aid: the Nationalists
from Nazi Germany and Italy, while the
Republicans were supported by organised
far-left volunteers from the Soviet Union.
- The Siege of the Alcázar at Toledo early in
the war was a turning point, with the
Nationalists winning after a long siege. The
Republicans managed to hold out in Madrid,
despite a Nationalist assault in November
1936, and frustrated subsequent offensives
against the capital at Jarama and
Guadalajara in 1937. Soon, though, the
Nationalists began to erode their territory,
starving Madrid and making inroads into the
east. The North, including the Basque
country fell in late 1937 and the Aragon
front collapsed shortly afterwards. The
bombing of Guernica on the afternoon of 26
April 1937 – a mission used as a testing
ground for the German Luftwaffe's Condor
Legion – was probably the most infamous
event of the war and inspired Picasso's
painting.
- The Battle of the Ebro in July– November
1938 was the final desperate attempt by the
Republicans to turn the tide. When this
failed and Barcelona fell to the Nationalists
in early 1939, it was clear the war was over.
The remaining Republican fronts collapsed,
as civil war broke out inside the Left, as the
Republicans suppressed the Communists.
Madrid fell in March 1939.
V- Contemporary Spanish transition to democracy
 The dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1936–
75)
- Spain During Franco's rule, Spain was
officially neutral in World War II and
remained largely economically and culturally
isolated from the outside world.
- Under a military dictatorship, Spain saw its
political parties banned, except for the
official party (Falange). Labor unions were
banned and all political activity using
violence or intimidation to achieve its goals
was forbidden. Under Franco, Spain actively
sought the return of Gibraltar by the UK,
and gained some support for its cause at
the United Nations.
- During the 1960s, Spain began imposing
restrictions on Gibraltar, culminating in the
closure of the border in 1969. It was not fully
reopened until 1985.
- The latter years of Franco's rule saw some
economic and political liberalization, the
Spanish miracle, including the birth of a
tourism industry. Spain began to catch up
economically with its European neighbors.
 - Franco ruled until his death on 20
November 1975, when control was given to
King Juan Carlos. In the last few months
before Franco's death, the Spanish state
went into a paralysis. This was capitalized
upon by King Hassan II of Morocco, who
ordered the 'Green March' into Western
Sahara, Spain's last colonial possession.
 History of Spain (1975–present)
- The Spanish transition to democracy or new
Bourbon restoration was the era when
Spain moved from the dictatorship of
Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic
state. The transition is usually said to have
begun with Franco's death on 20 November
1975, while its completion is marked by the
electoral victory of the socialist PSOE on 28
October 1982. Under its current (1978)
constitution, Spain is a constitutional
monarchy. It comprises 17 autonomous
communities (Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias,
Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cantabria,
Castile and León, Castile–La Mancha,
Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja,
Community of Madrid, Region of Murcia,
Basque Country, Valencian Community,
Navarre) and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta
and Melilla).
- Between 1978 and 1982, Spain was led by
the Unión del Centro Democrático
governments. In 1981 the 23-F coup d'état
attempt took place.
- On 23 February Antonio Tejero, with
members of the Guardia Civil entered the
Congress of Deputies, and stopped the
session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was
about to be named prime minister of the
government. Officially, the coup d'état failed
thanks to the intervention of King Juan
Carlos.
- Spain joined NATO before Calvo-Sotelo left
office. Along with political change came
radical change in Spanish society. Spanish
society had been extremely conservative
under Franco, but the transition to
democracy also began a liberalization of
values and societal mores.
- From 1982 until 1996, the social democratic
PSOE governed the country, with Felipe
González as prime minister. In 1986, Spain
joined the European Economic Community
(EEC, now European Union), and the
country hosted the 1992 Barcelona
Olympics and Seville Expo '92.
 Spain within the European Union (1993 to
present)
- Spanish financial crisis and Eurozone crisis
- In 1996, the centre-right Partido Popular
government came to power, led by José
María Aznar.
- On 1 January 1999, Spain exchanged the
peseta for the new Euro currency. The
peseta continued to be used for cash
transactions until January 1, 2002. On 11
March 2004 a number of terrorist bombs
exploded on busy commuter trains in
Madrid by Islamic extremists linked to Al-
Qaeda, killing 191 persons and injuring
thousands. The election, held three days
after the attacks, was won by the PSOE,
and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero replaced
Aznar as prime minister. As José María
Aznar and his ministers at first accused ETA
of the atrocity, it has been argued that the
outcome of the election has been influenced
by this event.
- In the wake of its joining the EEC, Spain
experienced an economic boom during two
decades, cut painfully short by the financial
crisis of 2008.
- During the boom years, Spain attracted a
large number of immigrants, especially from
the United Kingdom, but also including
unknown but substantial illegal immigration,
mostly from Latin America, eastern Europe
and north Africa.
- Spain had the fourth largest economy in the
European Union, but after 2008 the global
economic recession hit Spain hard, with the
burst of the housing bubble, unemployment
reaching over 25%, and sharp budget
cutbacks needed to stay in the Euro zone.
The GDP shrank 1.2% in 2012.
- Losses were especially high in real estate,
banking, and construction. Economists
concluded in early 2013 that, "Where once
Spain's problems were acute, now they are
chronic: entrenched unemployment, a large
mass of small and medium-sized
enterprises with low productivity, and, above
all, a constriction in credit.
- With the financial crisis and high
unemployment, Spain is now suffering from
a combination of continued illegal
immigration paired with a massive
emigration of workers, forced to seek
employment elsewhere under the EU's
"Freedom of Movement", with an estimated
700,000, or 1.5% of total population, leaving
the country between 2008 and 2013.
RELIGION OF SPAIN
- Spain is nation-state born out of religion
struggle mainly between Catholicism and
Islamism.
- From the 18th century until the late 15th
century Muslims dominated most of the
Peninsula.
- The Jews were also expelled from Spain in
15th century.
- Catholicism was the official religion in the
country until 1931 and then between 1939 and
1978.
- During Franco’s years Catholicism was the
only religion to have legal status. After Franco’
death, up till now, there’s been religious
freedom in Spain.
1. Christianism
o Catholics
- 141 Catholic churches
- Founder: Apostle Peter
 - Sacred Text: The Holy Bible
- Symbol: Several ones
- Beliefs: The Catholic dogma is based on
the Bible and Apostolic Tradition (Saints
and Holy Spirit.
o Protestants
- 119 evangelical churches
- Founder: Martin Luther, Juan Hus,
William Tyndale , Juan Calvino, Thomas
Muntzer, Ulrico Zwinglio, John Wycliffe,
John Knox
- Sacred Text: Bible
- Beliefs: God
o Jehovah’s witnesses
- 18 Kingdom Hall
- Founder: Charles Taze Rusell
- Sacred text: Bible
- Symbol: Cross crowned (They reject the
cross)
- Beliefs: God
o Orthodox
- 8 orthodox communities
- Founder: 12 Apostles, unified by the
First Ecumenical Council at Nicea
presided by Emperor Constantine I
- Sacred text: Bible
- Beliefs: Jesus Christ, Holy Trinity
o Mormon
- 2 Churches of Jesus
- Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Founder: Jose Smith
- Sacred text: Bible, Book of Mormon,
Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of
Great Price
- Beliefs: God
o Seventh-Day Adventist
- 5 Seven Day-Adventist churches
- Founder: Ellen White, William Miller,
Joseph Bates
- Sacred text: Bible
- Symbol
- Beliefs: They believe in God and his
successor Jehovah, Holy Spirit and a
day to rest is called Sabbath.
2. Islam
- 16 Mosques
- Founder: Mahoma
- Sacred text: Quran
- Symbol:
- Beliefs: Oness of God Allah and his
Muhammad his succcessor, his angels, his
books, his prophets, predestination, and in
the next life.
3. Buddhism
- 15 Buddhist centers
- Founder: Gautama Buddha
- Sacred text: Pali Canon
- Symbol: Dharmacakra
- Beliefs: It’s a religion without God
4. Taoism
- 5 centres of Taoism
- Founder: Lao Tse
- Sacred Text: Tao Te King
- Symbol: El Yin Yang
- Beliefs: force positive, negative and third
conciliatory
5. Hinduism
- 3 centers of Hinduism
- Founder: Brahma
- Scared Text: Vedas
- Symbol: Om
- Beliefs: Polytheistic (main God: Brahma)
6. Judaism
- 7 synagogues
- Founder: Abraham
- Symbol: Star of David
- Sacred text: Tanakh or Old Testament
- Beliefs: God (Yavhe), they don’t accept Jesus
Christ
Key Takeaways: Spain Religion
•Though there is no official religion, Catholicism is
the dominant religion in Spain. It was the mandated
state religion of the country from 1939-1975, during
the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
• Only one third of Catholics are practicing; the
other two thirds consider themselves cultural
Catholics.
• After the end of the Franco regime, the ban on
irreligion was lifted; more than 26% of the
population in Spain now identifies as irreligious.
• Islam was once the dominant religion on the
Iberian Peninsula, but less than 2% of the
contemporary population is Muslim. Interestingly,
Islam is the second-largest religion in Spain.
• Other notable religions in Spain are Buddhism
and non-Catholic Christianity, including
Protestantism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter Day
Saints, and Evangelicalism.
After the end of the Franco regime, atheism,
agnosticism, and irreligion saw significant identity
increases that have continued into the 21st century.
Other religions in Spain include Islam, Buddhism,
and various denominations of non-Catholic
Christianity. In a 2019 census, 1.2% of the
population did not list any religious or irreligious
affiliation.
History of Spain Religion
- Before the arrival of Christianity, the Iberian
Peninsula was home to a multitude of animist
and polytheistic practices, including Celtic,
Greek, and Roman theologies. The Apostle
James brought the doctrine of Christianity to
the Iberian Peninsula, according to legend, and
he was later established as the patron saint of
Spain.
- Christianity, specifically Catholicism, spread
throughout the peninsula during the Roman
Empire and into the Visigoth occupation.
Though the Visigoths practiced Arian
Christianity, the Visigoth king converted to
Catholicism and established the religion as the
religion of the kingdom.
- As the Visigoth kingdom descended into social
and political turmoil, the Arabs—also known as
 the Moors—crossed from Africa into the Iberian
Peninsula, conquered the Visigoths and
claimed the territory. These Moors dominated
cities by force as well as by the proliferation of
knowledge and religion. Alongside Islam, they
taught astronomy, mathematics, and medicine.
- Early Moorish tolerance shifted over time to
forced conversion or execution, leading to the
Christian reconquest of Spain and the
expulsion of Jews and Muslims during the
Middle Ages. Since then, Spain has been a
predominantly Catholic country, spreading
Catholicism to Central and South America, as
well as the Philippines during colonialism.
- In 1851, Catholicism became the official state
religion, though it was renounced 80 years
later at the onset of the Spanish Civil War.
During the war, the anti-government
Republicans allegedly slaughtered thousands
of clergymen, stirring outrage from the pro-
government Francistas, the political affiliates of
General Francisco Franco, who would serve as
dictator from 1939 to 1975.
- During these oppressive years, Franco
established Catholicism as the state religion
and prohibited the practice of all other
religions. Franco banned divorce,
contraception, abortion, and homosexuality.
His government controlled all media and police
forces, and it mandated the teaching of
Catholicism in all schools, public and private.
- Franco’s regime ended with his death in the
1970s, and it was followed by a wave of
liberalism and secularism that continued into
the 21st century. In 2005, Spain was the third
country in Europe to legalize civil marriage
between same-sex couples.
Catholicism
- In Spain, approximately 71.1% of the
population identifies as Catholic, though
only about one-third of these people are
practicing.
- Numbers of practicing Catholics may be
low, but the presence of the Catholic
Church is evident throughout Spain in bank
holidays, hours of operation, schools, and
cultural events. Catholic churches are
present in every town, and every town and
autonomous community has a patron saint.
Most establishments are closed on
Sundays. Many schools in Spain are, at
least in part, affiliated with the church, either
through a patron saint or a local parish.
- Notably, most holidays in Spain recognize a
Catholic saint or significant religious figure,
and often these holidays are accompanied
by a parade. Three Kings Day, Semana
Santa (Holy Week) in Seville, and the
Running of the Bulls at the Festival of San
Fermin in Pamplona are all fundamentally
Catholic celebrations. Each year, more than
200,000 people walk the Camino de
Santiago, or the Way of Saint James, a
traditionally Catholic Pilgrimage.
Practicing Catholics
- Only about one-third, 34%, of Catholics in
Spain self-identify as practicing, meaning
they regularly attend mass and generally
follow the teachings of the Catholic Church.
This group tends to live in more rural areas
and smaller villages and profess more
conservative political views.
- Though the percentage of the devout has
steadily decreased since the end of the
Franco regime, recent academic studies
have found not only higher fertility rates but
higher rates of marital stability, economic
growth, and educational attainment for
practicing Catholics.
Non Practicing Catholics
- Non Practicing or cultural Catholics, who
make up about 66% of self-identifying
Catholics, are generally younger, born at or
after the end of the Franco regime, and
most live in urban areas. Cultural Catholics
are often baptized as Catholic, but few
complete confirmation by their teenage
years. Aside from occasional weddings,
funerals, and holidays, they do not attend
regular mass.
- Many cultural Catholics practice religion a la
carte, blending elements of different
religions to define their spiritual beliefs.
They most frequently disregard Catholic
moral doctrine, especially concerning
premarital sex, sexual orientation and
gender identity, and the use of
contraception.
Irreligion, Atheism, and Agnosticism
- During the Franco regime, non-religion was
prohibited; after Franco’s death, atheism,
agnosticism, and irreligion all saw dramatic
spikes that have continued to increase. Of
the 26.5% of the population that falls into
this religious grouping, 11.1% are atheist,
6.5% are agnostic, and 7.8% are irreligious.
- Atheists do not believe in a supreme being,
deity, or god, whereas agnostics may
believe in a god but not necessarily in a
doctrine. Those who identify as irreligious
can be undecided about spirituality, or they
may not believe in anything at all.
- Of these religious identities, more than half
are younger than 25 years old, and most
live in urban areas, particularly in and
around Spain’s capital, Madrid.
Other Religions in Spain
- Only about 2.3% of people in Spain identify
with a religion other than Catholicism or
irreligion. Of all other religions in Spain,
Islam is the largest. Though the Iberian
Peninsula was once almost entirely Muslim,
the majority of Muslims in Spain are now
immigrants or children of immigrants who
arrived in the country during the 1990s.
- Similarly, Buddhism arrived in Spain with a
wave of immigration during the 1980s and
 1990s. Very few Spaniards identify as
Buddhist, but many of the teachings of
Buddhism, including the doctrines of karma
and reincarnation, are perpetuated in the
sphere of popular or New Age religion,
blended with elements of Christianity and
agnosticism.
- Other Christian groups, including
Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
Evangelicals, and Latter Day Saints, are
present in Spain, but their numbers are
increasingly low. Like Italy, Spain is known
as a graveyard for Protestant missionaries.
Only the more urban communities have
Protestant churches.
Gobierno de España
- Spain is a democratic monarchy organized
under three branches of government:
executive, legislative and judicial.
- The legislative branch, called the Cortes
Generales (Parliament), is bicameral, with a
Congress of Deputies and a Senate. Bills
follow a process set up by the Spanish
Constitution; most commonly, bills are
initiated by the Congress of Deputies,
reviewed by the Senate, and promulgated
by the King. Bills may also be proposed by
the government, the Senate, autonomous
communities’ parliaments, or through
popular initiative.
- The 1978 Spanish Constitution (SC) sets up
the institutional and political organization of
the country. It was adopted as a result of a
consensus reached after decades of the
dictatorship of Francisco Franco. It was
approved in plenary sessions of the
Congress of Deputies and the Senate on
October 31, 1978, and ratified by the
Spanish people via referendum by a broad
majority of voters and electors on December
6, 1978.
- Under the SC, sovereignty is vested in the
Spanish people, from whom state powers
are derived
- Spain is a member of the European Union
(EU) and as such it has assigned certain
economic and political competences to EU
institutions. Under the SC, Spain is a
constitutional parliamentary monarchy.
- The King is the head of state, representing
the State at the national and international
level. The Prime Minister is the head of the
executive power and President of the
Government.
- Spain has a unitary form of government, in
that all powers ultimately vested in the
central government, although some powers
are delegated by it to lower levels of
government. There are three different levels
of government:
a. Central government
b. Autonomous communities’ governments
c. Provincial and municipal governments
- The central government is organized in
three branches: The executive power; a
bicameral Parliament known as the Cortes
Generales, which consists of the Congreso
de los Diputados (Congress of Deputies)
and the Senado (Senate); and the judiciary.
- The territorial organization of Spain includes
seventeen autonomous communities
(Andalucía; Aragón; Asturias (Principado
de); Balears (Illes); Canarias; Cantabria;
Castilla-La Mancha; Castilla y León;
Cataluña; Comunitat Valenciana;
Extremadura; Galicia; Madrid (Comunidad
de); Murcia (Región de); Navarra
(Comunidad Foral de); País Vasco; and
Rioja (La).
- In addition, there are 2 autonomous cities:
Ceuta and Melilla.
- In addition, there are fifty provinces, which
constitute electoral districts, spread out
through the autonomous communities.
II. Parliament
- Legislative power is entrusted to the Cortes
Generales, which is the official name of the
Spanish Parliament. Cortes is a traditional
name for a legislative body, which derives
from medieval assemblies of various
peninsular kingdoms; Generales denotes
the nationwide representation of the
Parliament.
- Members of Parliament are elected in
universal, free, equal, direct and secret
elections by the Spanish people in full
exercise of their political rights. They are
elected for a four-year period.
- All members of Parliament have immunity
for the opinions they express in the course
of their functions. No liability of any kind
may be derived from those opinions.
- The Congress of Deputies is the chamber of
popular representation, while the Senate
serves as the chamber of territorial
representation. Common functions of both
the Congress of Deputies and the Senate
include passing legislation; approving the
State budget, by passing the annual act
setting forth revenues and expenditures;
and Members in both chambers are
prohibited from belonging to both chambers
simultaneously.
- The Constitution provides that members of
both chambers enjoy the prohibition of
imperative mandate (mandato imperativo),
which means they are free to express
themselves and vote their conscience
without being subject to any instructions
from electors or political parties.
- Parliamentary sessions normally run from
February to June and from September to
December.
- Each chamber is governed by its own
internal rules and regulations.
- Each chamber has the following offices:
• President
• Board (Mesa), which is the formal
representative of each chamber as a
body, in charge of its organization and
internal work
• Bureau of Spokesmen (Junta de
Portavoces), which includes one
representative of each parliamentary
 group and meets to set the order of
business and agenda of the body.
- The Congress of Deputies and the Senate
and, when appropriate, both nouses jointly,
may appoint committees on investigation on
any matter of public interest. Their findings
are not binding on the courts, but their
conclusions may be referred to the Public
Prosecutor for further action when
appropriate. It is mandatory to appear when
summoned before Parliament, subject to
penalties in cases of non-compliance.
A. Congress of Deputies
- The Congress of Deputies has a minimum
of three hundred and a maximum of four
hundred members. Its members are
elected via proportional representation.
- The electoral district is the province.
- Each electoral province is allotted a
minimum initial representation and the
remainder is distributed in proportion to the
population; the autonomous cities of Ceuta
and Melilla are each assigned one deputy]
All Spanish nationals with political rights
have the right to vote and be elected.
Deputies are elected to serve four- year
terms.
- The last election to the Congress of
Deputies was on 26 June 2016. The current
XII Legislature (2016–present) includes the
following political parties:
o Parliamentary Group Popular (PP): 137
o Parliamentary Group Socialista (PSOE): 85
o Parliamentary Group Upodemos: 71
o Parliamentary Group Ciudadanos: 32
o Parliamentary Group Esquerra Republicana
(ERC): 9
o Parliamentary Group Basque (PNV): 5
Total number of senators: 266
o Parliamentary Group Mixed: 11
C. Legislative Process
B. Senate
- Senators are elected by universal, free,
equal, direct and secret suffrage. Senators
are elected through a majority system, in
which voters cast votes for individual
candidates.
- The requirements to stand as a candidate
and be elected senator are Spanish
nationality, legal age, and not having been
declared legally incapacitated.
- The presence of women in the Senate has
increased since the electoral reform of
2007, which imposes a balanced number of
men and women in the composition of
candidate lists. Currently ninety-seven
senators out of a total of 266 are female.
- The Senate has a territorial representation.
There are two ways to become a senator:
election by provincial constituencies or
appointment by regional parliaments.
1. Senators Elected by Provincial
Constituencies
- Each province elects four senators.
However, in the insular provinces, each
island or group of islands is classed as
an electoral constituency, with each of
the larger islands (Gran Canaria,
Mallorca and Tenerife) electing three
senators and the remaining islands
(Ibiza-Formentera, Menorca,
Fuerteventura, Gomera, Hierro,
Lanzarote and La Palma) electing one
senator. The populations of Ceuta and
Melilla each choose two senators.
2. Senators Appointed by Regional
Parliaments (Autonomous Community)
- The appointment of senators by regional
parliaments is carried out by means of
indirect election, in the sense that they are
not elected by the population but instead
are appointed by the elected
representatives of the population (the
members of said parliaments).
- There is one senator for each autonomous
community and another for every one
million inhabitants. Therefore, the number of
senators that make up this second group is
variable, and the number has recently
increased as a result of an increase in
population.
- Following the June 26, 2016, election, the
makeup of the Senate by party, including
senators appointed by regional parliaments,
was as follows:
o Parliamentary Group Popular (PP):
o Parliamentary Group Popular (PP): 149
o Parliamentary Group Socialista (PSOE): 62
o Parliamentary Group Upodemos: 20
o Parliamentary Group Ciudadanos: 6
o Parliamentary Group Esquerra Republicana
(ERC): 12
o Parliamentary Group Basque (PNV): 6
o Parliamentary Group Mixed: 11
- The legislative process in each chamber is
governed by its own internal rules of
procedure. The only occasions when there
is joint action is for the adoption of decisions
involving the Crown, such as the
proclamation of the King, his heir, the
provision of succession to the Crown when
all the rightful lines have ended, and the
appointment of the Regency.
- Legislation may be initiated by the
government, the Congress of Deputies, the
Senate, the assemblies of the autonomous
communities, or through popular initiative
- The government may present a bill, which
first must be reviewed by the Council of
Ministers (within the cabinet of the
Executive Power); the Council of Ministers
then submits the bill to the Congress of
Deputies, accompanied by a statement
setting out the necessary grounds and facts
to enable them to reach a decision.
- The Congress of Deputies and the Senate
submit bills pursuant to an approval process
regulated in the standing orders of the
houses.
 - The legislatures of the autonomous - In the case of total amendment, or where an
communities may request that the amendment affects fundamental rights and
government submit a bill before Congress. freedoms of the Spanish people, the
A popular initiative requires at least 500,000 revision must be approved by a two- thirds
authenticated signatures and cannot relate majority of the members of each chamber,
to certain matters, such as taxation, and the Cortes Generales is immediately
international affairs, or the prerogative of dissolved.
granting pardons. - The newly elected chambers must ratify the
- For ordinary laws, once a bill is proposed decision and examine the new constitutional
and accepted during a plenary session of text, which will only be approved with a two-
the Congress of Deputies, it is debated by thirds majority vote in both houses. Once
the members to determine whether it is the amendment is approved, it must be
accepted, rejected or amended. Once the submitted for ratification through
text of the bill is approved, it is submitted by referendum.
the President of the Congress of Deputies
to the Senate, which then follows a similar
procedure.
- With respect to organic laws—those that
implement fundamental rights and public
freedoms, approve the statutes of
autonomous communities, approve the
general electoral system, and other
legislation designated as such—the
approval, amendment and repeal of bills
require the vote of the majority of the
Congress and the Senate.
- The legislative process generally concludes
with the promulgation of the law by the King
within fifteen days after the bill was
approved by the Cortes Generales.
- A law becomes effective twenty days after
its publication in the Official Gazette, called
Boletin Oficial del Estado (BOE), unless
otherwise provided in the law.
- In general, international treaties and
agreements are negotiated and signed by
the government and ratified by the Cortes
Generales, which must be immediately
informed of the signature of all treaties. The
following treaties require prior authorization
of the Cortes Generales:
o Treaties of a Political Nature
o Treaties of a Military Nature
o Treaties affecting the territorial integrity
of the State or the fundamental rights
and duties guaranteed by the SC
o Treaties creating financial liabilities for
the Public Treasury
o Treaties involving amendments or
repeal of laws or requiring legislative
measures for their implementation

D. Constitutional Amendment
- The SC may be amended through two types
of procedure, depending on the nature of
the amendment. The ordinary procedure
may be used for a partial amendment not
affecting matters related to fundamental
rights and freedoms of the Spanish people.
- In this case, the amendment requires the
vote of the majority of three- fifths of the
members of each house. Once the
amendment is adopted by the Cortes
Generales, it must be ratified by
referendum.