Spain

Spain is a country located on the Iberian peninsula in southwestern Europe. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain was a world superpower, with its empire spanning large parts of Europe and the Americas. Today, Spain is a constitutional democracy with an estimated population in 2015 of 48 million. This entry reviews the history of Spain, including its rise and fall as a superpower, with a focus on the many conflicts and wars it was involved in through the centuries.

Roman Wars and Muslim Rule

It took the Roman armies 200 years to conquer the Iberian peninsula (218–219 BCE). As a comparison, Gaul (modern France) was conquered in just seven years. The new territories were called Hispania, a word possibly derived from a Phoenician or Punic word ...

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