Historical overview

206BC Romans beat Hannibal. Roman Empire controlled Hispania.

410. Visigoths sacked Rome. Later took over Hispania.

632 Muhammad died.

711 Umayyad conquest of Maghreb (including Morocco) and Iberia, driving out the Visigoths.

The Moors (Muslims) ruled most of Spain and Portugal from 711 to 1492, nearly 800 years. 

Islam’s entry into Spain. Islamic forces — North African Berbers with Arab commanders — first entered Spain from North Africa in 711. In only three years, they had gained control of nearly all of the Iberian peninsula. The newly-won territories were named Al-Andalus.

750 Umayyad caliphate falls in Damascus. In 750, an event occurred that transformed the Islamic world: the Umayyad caliphate — which had ruled since 661 from its capital in Damascus, Syria — was overthrown by Abbasid rivals. The Abbasids massacred all (but one) of the Umayyad leadership, assumed control, and promptly established their new capital in Baghdad. Sole Umayyad survivor seeks refuge in Spain. The only survivor from the Umayyad royal family lineage — the grandson of the last presiding caliph — escaped to Spain for safety and soon established a new Umayyad stronghold in Córdoba.

929, Spanish Umayyad ruler Abd al-Rahman III (ruled 912-961) established an independent caliphate in opposition to that of the Abbasids and reasserting exclusive claim to leadership of the Islamic world. The Umayyad caliphate survived until 1031, presiding over the culturally richest period in the 800-year history of Al-Andalus.

1031. In the wake of the instability that followed the fall of the Spanish Umayyads in 1031, two Islamic Berber dynasties ventured forth from their Moroccan homeland and won control over what remained of Al-Andalus: 

1088 The Almoravids (ruled Spain from 1088-1146)

1146 The Almohads (ruled Spain from 1146-1232).

1290 Dom Dinis of Portugal founded universities in Lisbon and later Coimbra.

1389 Battle of Aljubarrota establishes Portuguese independence from Castille.

1394. Prince Henry the Navigator born. He initiated the Age of Discovery. His ships explored the African coast.

1469 Fernando of Aragon married Isabel of Castilla. Their daughter Catherine of Aragon was the English King Henry VIII's first wife.

1478. Isabel and Fernando started the Spanish Inquisition to purge Spain of Jews and Muslims. 150,000 Jews fled to Portugal.

1492. Isabel and Fernando completed the Reconquista in the fall of Granada in 1492. Santiago (St James) was the symbol of the Christian fight against the Moors (Muslims). His tomb was in Santiago de Compostela. He remains the patron saint of Spain.

1492. Isabel and Fernando funded Christopher Columbus' voyage to America.

1494. The Pope divided the world between Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Portugal got the slice on the east, including Brazil, in 1500.

1497 Vasco da Gama left Lisbon to discover sea route to India. Gold and slaves from Africa, and spices from the East lead to a boom in Portugal. Major building projects by Manuel I.

1519. The Spanish conquistadores Hernan Cortés and Francisco Pizarro conquered huge areas of Central and South America, sending vast amounts of silver and gold back to Spain. Seville was the centre of this trade.

Overview of Spanish conquest of America.

Isabel and Fernando married their five children into the royal families of Portugal, England and the Holy Roman Empire. 

1519. Their grandson Carlos I (aka Charles V of the Holy Roman Emperor) became ruler of all Spain, the Low Countries, Austria, several Italian States, parts of France and Germany, and the Spanish colonies in America.

1519. Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (acting for Spain) circumnavigated the world.

1556. Carlos died. His sons Felipe II (Phillip II) and Fernando inherited the Spanish empire. Phillip blew it all in wars.

1578.  Major defeat of Portugal in the Battle of Three Kings in Morocco.

1580. Felipe II of Spain took over Portugal.

1588 The Spanish Armada was routed by England.

(Golden Age of Spain and Portugal was brief: 1492 - 1588.)

1668. Portugal independent again.

1702-1713. War of the Spanish Succession

1755. Lisbon earthquake. Rebuilt by Marquis de Pombal.

1789. French Revolution.

1793. Napoleonic Wars.

1805. Admiral Nelson defeated a Spanish-French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar.

1807-14. Napoleon occupied Spain in Peninsular War. The Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil. The Duke of Wellington led the successful expulsion of the French from Spain. Context explained here.

1926. Salazar became Portuguese finance minister, later Prime Minister. Authoritarian right-wing government.

1936. Mutiny of the Spanish army against the elected left-wing Republican government starts the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalists under General Franco, assisted by the Nazis and Italian Fascists, represented the army and the Catholic Church. Many atrocities by both sides. Read 'Homage to Catalonia' and 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'.

1937. German planes bombed Guernica.

1939. Franco won the civil war and became a dictator.

A summary of some of the atrocities committed during the Civil War, which remain potent memories for many on the Republican side.

From the 1930s to the 1970s Spain and Portugal had right wing Catholic dictatorships.

1970. Salazar died.

1974 Revolution of the Carnations; a coup by liberal Portuguese army officers. Decolonization of Angola, Mozambique, East Timor, etc.

1975 Franco died. Prince Juan Carlos chosen as his successor. He appointed Adolfo Suarez as Prime Minister. Political parties legalised. Democratic constitution.