Uncertain times in the third millennium
← Older revision
Revision as of 02:22, 15 September 2016
(One intermediate revision by the same user not shown)
Line 98:
Line 98:
The earliest inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula we have any profound knowledge of were Iberians, Celts (related to the Gaulish, Britannic and Central European Celts in language and culture) and Basques. As most of these groups had little to no written records we only know of them due to the descriptions of the Greek, Punic and later Roman settlers and conquerors, who colonized Spain from the South starting in the 3rd century BC. Roman culture lasted on the peninsula for roughly half a millennium, when in the age of migrations the Visigoths conquered the Roman province of ''Hispania''.
The earliest inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula we have any profound knowledge of were Iberians, Celts (related to the Gaulish, Britannic and Central European Celts in language and culture) and Basques. As most of these groups had little to no written records we only know of them due to the descriptions of the Greek, Punic and later Roman settlers and conquerors, who colonized Spain from the South starting in the 3rd century BC. Roman culture lasted on the peninsula for roughly half a millennium, when in the age of migrations the Visigoths conquered the Roman province of ''Hispania''.
====Visigoth Spain====
====Visigoth Spain====
−
Interestingly enough most inhabitants of the area kept speaking Latin or rather Latin-derived languages/dialects and only a handful of Germanic words entered the Spanish language (''"ganso"'' being the most commonplace). Soon after their conquest, the Visigoths formed a number of rival "kingdoms" and petty noble states in almost constant in ever-shifting shaky alliances with or against one another, giving rise to constant wars.
+
Interestingly enough most inhabitants of the area kept speaking Latin or rather Latin-derived languages/dialects and only a handful of Germanic words entered the Spanish language (''"ganso"'' being the most commonplace). Soon after their conquest, the Visigoths formed a number of rival "kingdoms" and petty noble states in almost constant
conflict
in ever-shifting shaky alliances with or against one another, giving rise to constant wars.
====Muslim conquest and "al-Andalus"====
====Muslim conquest and "al-Andalus"====
Line 121:
Line 121:
====Uncertain times in the third millennium====
====Uncertain times in the third millennium====
−
The 2000's saw more economic expansion as well as a housing price boom that subsequently collapsed, leaving Spain with high unemployment and economic difficulties. As a member of U.S. President G.W. Bush's "coalition of the willing" in the "war on terror", Spain was hit by a terrorist attack on a couple of suburban trains in Madrid on 11 March 2004 (now known in Spain as 11M) just a few days before a general election. Prime minister Aznar's (Popular Party, conservative) insistence, that the perpetrators were Basque terrorists whom the social democratic oppositional PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) wanted to negotiate with led to an upset win for Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of the center-left PSOE. His government, however broke down in late 2011 as an early result of the economic crisis that hit Spain particularly hard. Currently Spain is led by a rather unpopular conservative government under Mariano Rajoy, who lost the elections of late 2015, which resulted in a hung parliament and
no
new
government
as
of
April
2016
. The economically important Catalan region is also increasing in its demands for independence from Spain.
+
The 2000's saw more economic expansion as well as a housing price boom that subsequently collapsed, leaving Spain with high unemployment and economic difficulties. As a member of U.S. President G.W. Bush's "coalition of the willing" in the "war on terror", Spain was hit by a terrorist attack on a couple of suburban trains in Madrid on 11 March 2004 (now known in Spain as 11M) just a few days before a general election. Prime minister Aznar's (Popular Party, conservative) insistence, that the perpetrators were Basque terrorists whom the social democratic oppositional PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) wanted to negotiate with led to an upset win for Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of the center-left PSOE. His government, however broke down in late 2011 as an early result of the economic crisis that hit Spain particularly hard. Currently Spain is led by a rather unpopular
caretaker
conservative government under Mariano Rajoy, who lost the elections of late 2015, which resulted in a hung parliament and
another
round
of
elections
resulting
in
yet another hung parliament
.
The economically important Catalan region is also increasing in its demands for independence from Spain.
====Migration====
====Migration====