Spain Timeline
1000s BC Phoenicians began to establish colonies along the east and south coasts of Spain.
900 BC Celtic people moved into Spain.
600 BC More Celtic people moved into Spain. They settled in northern Spain.
600 BC Greeks landed in Spain and set up trading posts.
400s BC Carthage, an African city, conquered most of Spain.
200s BC Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, attacked Italy from Spain.
218-201 BC The Second Punic war took place between the Romans and the Carthaginians led by Hannibal. The Romans drove all the Carthaginian forces from Spain.
Late 300s AD Christianity became the official religion of the Spain province.
Late 300s AD The Roman Empire split in two. Spain became a part of the West Roman Empire.
400s AD Germanic tribes attacked the West Roman Empire.
476 The West Roman Empire collapsed.
573 The Visigoths invaded Spain and conquered the entire peninsula.
711 Muslims from northern Africa invaded Spain.
718 The Muslims conquered all of the Visigoths. Many Spanish converted to islam.
1000s The Muslim government collapsed. The country split into many small Muslim states and independent cities.
1094 El Cid, a Castilian Christian, conquered Valencia
1100s Many Spanish kings set up parliaments.
1100s Portugal gained its independence.
1200s The Muslim territory had been reduced to the Kingdom of Granada. The kingdoms of Aragon, Navarre, and Castile, controlled the rest of what is now Spain. The three kingdoms were Christian.
1469 Prince Ferdinand of Aragon married Princess Isabella of Castille.
1474 Isabella became queen of Castile.
1479 Ferdinand became king of Aragon.
1480 Ferdinand and Isabella established the Spanish Inquisition. It imprisoned or killed Christians who were suspected of not following the church's teachings.
1480 Isabella and Ferdinand began to drive the Muslims from Granada.
1492 The Muslims of Granada were defeated.
1492 Spanish Jews who would not convert to Christianity were driven from the country.
1492 Ferdinand and Isabella sent Christopher Columbus on a voyage, which took him to America.
1494 In the Treaty of Tordesillas Portugal and Spain agreed on a line that would divide the new world between them.
7 June 1494 Spain and Portugal divided the new lands they had discovered between themselves.
1512 Ferdinand seized the kingdom of Navarre, uniting Spain.
1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed Central America. He became the first European to see the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean.
1516 Charles I became the king. He brought the lands of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg into the Spanish Empire.
1519 Charles became the Holy Roman Emperor. He then became known as Charles V.
1521 Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztec nation in Mexico.
1533 Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incan empire in South America.
1550 Spain controlled Mexico, Central America, most of the West Indies, part of the southwestern United States, and much of western South America.
1556 Philip II became the King.
1560s The Netherlands rebelled against Spain.
1580 Philip invaded and conquered Portugal.
1588 Philip launched the Spanish Armada. English ships defeated the Armada.
Late 1500s Spain gained control of the Philippine Islands.
1618-1648 Spain financed the Thirty Years' War.
6 June 1641 Spain lost Portugal.
1700 Philip of Anjou, a French duke, became the heir to the Spanish throne. He became known as King Philip V. He was the first Spanish ruler from the French Bourbon family.
1701 The War of the Spanish Succession began.
1714 The War of the Spanish Succession ended. Philip remained king, but Spain lost all of its European territory.
1763 Spain lost Florida to the United Kingdom.
1779 Spanish troops invaded Florida.
1782 The American Revolutionary War ended with the treaty of Paris. The treaty returned Florida to Spanish control. It also recognized the Spanish control of Minorca.
1798 British troops captured Minorca.
1802 Spain recaptured Minorca.
1808 French forces led by Napoleon invaded Spain and gained control fo the government. Napoleon made his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, king of Spain.
1808 The Peninsular war began to drive French forces out of Spain and Portugal.
1814 The French were driven out of the Peninsula. Ferdinand VII returned to the throne.
1820 Cadiz was ordered by Ferdinand to leave on an expedition to reconquer the American colonies. He refused and mutiny spread quickly throughout the country.
17 July 1821 Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1823 With the help of French troops, Ferdinand put down the uprising.
1825 Spain had lost all of its overseas possessions except, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and some outposts in Africa.
1833 Isabella II became queen.
1868 A group of army officers led a revolt which forced Isabella and her family to flee from the country.
1873 A republican government was established.
1873 Civil war broke out between the Carlists and the liberals.
1874 The army overthrew the new government.
1875 Isabella's son, Alfonso, was brought back to rule the country.
1890s Cuba and the Philippines rebelled.
1898 The United Statesdeclared war on Spain in favor of Cuba.
August 1898 The Spanish were defeated as the Spanish-American War ended. Cuba was given its independence. Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico were given to the United States.
1912 Parts of Morocco came under Spanish rule.
1914-1918 Spain remained neutral during World War I.
1921 The Moroccans revolted killing 10,000 Spanish troops.
1923 General Miguel Primo de Rivera led a military revolt against the Spanish government. Primo became the Prime Minister, but he held the power of a dictator. He restored order in Morocco and Spain.
1930 The army turned against Primo after he had failed to reestablish constitutional government in Spain. He was forced to resign.
16 December 1930 In Spain, a general strike was called in support of the revolution.
April 1931 The Spaniards voted for a republican form of government.
June 1931 A parliamentary election was held.
December 1931 Parliament approved a democratic constitution.
December 1931 Niceto Alcala Zamora became the first president of the republic.
1932 The Cortes, or Parliament, gave into the demands from nationalists in Catalonia and granted them limited self-government.
1933 The government called for a parliamentary election. The Conservative party emerged as the most powerful political force in Spain. The party was called Confederacion Espanola de Derechas Autonomas (CEDA).
1934 The socialists and the nationalists of Catalonia led an uprising against the government. The government put down the revolt.
February 1936 The Cortes was dissolved.
July 1936 The Spanish Army stationed in Morocco declared a revolution against the Spanish Government.
September 1936 General Francisco Franco became the commander in chief of the rebels. The revolt had developed into a civil war.
1937 Nationalists had the upper hand in the Civil War.
1938 The Soviet Union ended its large-scale aid to the Republicans.
28 March 1939 Franco entered Madrid.
1 April 1939 Franco announced that the Civil War had ended Franco became the dictator of pain.
1939-1945 Spain remained officially neutral during World War II, however, Franco drew close to which ever side was winning.
1945 The Soviet Union called for a campaign of international opposition to overthrow Franco. Many Western nations supported the campaign.
1945-1946 All major countries broke off relations with Spain.
1947 Franco announced that a king would replace him after his death or retirement.
1953 Due to the effects of the Cold War, the United States sought Francos help to strengthen Western Europe. They signed a 10-year military and economic agreement. The United States began to build Air Force and Navy bases in Spain.
1966 The government relaxed its censorship of the press.
1968 Protests against the government erupted at the Universities in Barcelona and Madrid.
1969 Franco declared that Prince Juan Carlos would become the next king of Spain
1975 Franco's government executed five terrorists.
November 1975 Franco died. Juan Carlos became king.
1976 Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez was made the prime minister by Juan Carols.
1976 The ban on political parties ended.
1977 Parliamentary elections were held.
1978 Spanish voters approved a new democratic constitution.
1980 Basque and Catalonia elected regional parliaments.
1986 Spain joined the European Community (EC).
1992 U.S. air bases were closed.
1993 Spain and other EC countries formed the European Union.
1998 The Basque separatist movement declared a cease-fire.
2000 The Basque separatist resumed their terrorist attacks.
Works Cited
James W. Brodman. "The Cid." Worldbookonline.com.
Carla Rahn Phillips and William D. Phillips. "Spain." Worldbookonline.com.
Ratnikas, Algis. Today in History. Online. http://timelines.ws/TODAY.HTML.