History of Catalonia. The territory that now constitutes the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain was first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic. Like the rest of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, it was colonized by Ancient Greeks and Carthaginians and participated in the pre-Roman Iberian culture. As with the rest of Hispania, the area that is now Catalonia was part of the Roman Empire, it then came under Visigothic rule after collapse of the western part of the empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Moors and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus. The Frankish Empire conquered the area from the Muslims, beginning with the conquest of Roussillon in 760 and ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801, as part of the creation of a larger buffer zone of Christian counties known as the Marca Hispanica.
The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 laid the foundations for a unified Crown of Spain. In the years after the civil war life was difficult. History of Spain: Primary Documents. History of Catalonia. History of Spain: Primary Documents. History. History of Spain. 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 Iron Age, during which there were settlements of Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians on the Mediterranean coast, alongside "indigenous" cultures such as Tartessos, Iberians, Celtiberians, Lusitanians and Vascones. 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 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. Prehistory[edit] Roman Hispania[edit] Spain. Spain ( i/ˈspeɪn/; Spanish: España [esˈpaɲa] ( )), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España),[c][7] is a sovereign state and a member state of the European Union.
It is located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of three countries (Morocco, France) to have both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco, plus Alborán, Chafarinas Islands, Alhucemas, Vélez de la Gomera and other small islets including Perejil.
Etymology Treasure of Villena, a Bronze Age treasure hoard. History.