[Music] spain or the kingdom of spain is located on the iberian peninsula in the southwest corner of europe spanning an area of 505 990 square kilometers with a population of over 47.4 million its territories also include the canary islands in the atlantic ocean the balearic islands in the mediterranean sea and the autonomous cities of suda and malila and africa early history the iberians and the celts were the largest groups inhabiting the iberian peninsula before the roman conquests by 19 bc the whole liberian peninsula was occupied by the romans who referred to the entire peninsula as
hispania from where the modern name of spain originates the romans restored the remaining cities and established new municipalities bringing a period of economic flourishing to the peninsula following the collapse of the west roman empire spain was subject to numerous invasions of germanic tribes resulting in the loss of roman rule and the establishment of germanic kingdoms in the early 8th century as part of the expansion of the umad caliphate nearly all of the iberian peninsula was conquered by muslim armies resulting in the collapse of the vici gothic kingdom the region became known as al-andalus in the
15th century several christian kingdoms emerged in northern iberia whereas the southwestern part developed into the kingdom of portugal spanish empire the crowns of castile and aragon under the catholic monarchs were united by the wedding ceremony between king fernando ii and queen isabella the first in 1492 the united kingdoms of castile and argon conquered the last muslim emory of granada ending 781 years of the islamic rule in iberia the year 1492 also marked the arrival of christopher columbus in the new world sparking the beginning of the spanish empire the first global empire through voyages of spanish
conquistadors beyond europe to the americas oceana africa and asia during the subsequent decades in 1516 the empire was ruled by the kings from the house of habsburgs led by the holy roman emperor charles v giving it the name habsburg spain it was under the rule of king philip ii of spain that spain enjoyed a cultural golden age and reached its territorial and economic peak in 1571 spain gained victory over the ottomans at lopento the late 16th century marked the incorporation of the portuguese empire into the so-called iberian union which lasted until the portuguese restoration war
marking the separation of portugal and the cessation of suta from portugal to spain during the middle decades of the 17th century the spanish empire failed to suppress the revolt of the dutch republic in the 80 years war which resulted in the continued decline of habsburg power in the later part of the century spain went into a gradual decline during which it surrendered several small territories to france and england in 1700 following the death of charles ii the last habsburg monarch the war of the spanish succession broke out over control of the spanish empire between francis
philip v and austria's charles vi philip v then succeeded the throne of spain during the war a new dynasty called the house of bourbon was installed in the 18th century the ideas of the enlightenment came to spain bringing a period of economic recovery and political reforms in the country liberalism in spain in 1793 spain went to war against napoleonic france as a member of the first coalition which ended with the peace of basal in which spain lost control over two-thirds of the island of hispaniola in 1808 napoleon bonaparte invaded spain dethroned king ferdinand vii and
installed his brother joseph bonaparte as the king of spain turning it into a french puppet state a series of revolts broke out across the country against the french occupation marking the beginning of a devastating war of independence against the napoleonic regime during the war the first constitution of spain was declared by a revolutionary body called the cortez of cottas the war ended in 1814 with the retreat of french imperial armies from the iberian peninsula and the restoration of ferdinand vii who then dissolved the cortez and abrogated the constitution re-establishing absolute monarchy during the same period
the spanish-american wars of independence resulted in the loss of most of spain's territory in the americas following the death of ferdinand isabella ii succeeded as queen of spain sparking the first car list war between the liberals supported of isabella ii and the carlist supported of prince carlos de bourbon the glorious revolution started in 1868 which put an end to isabella's reign italian prince amadeus of savoy was duly crowned king of spain early the following year however amadeus soon abdicted the throne declaring the people of spain ungovernable and went back to italy leading to the proclamation
of the first spanish republic an 1874 coup led by spanish general manuel pavella gave way to unitary praetorian republic rule by general serrano contributing to the restoration of spain's bourbon dynasty by arsenio martinez campos later that year by the end of the late 19th century after the spanish-american war spain lost cuba puerto rico guam and the philippines to the united states reducing spanish colonial possessions to spanish morocco spanish sahara and spanish guinea in africa spain under franco in 1931 after the deposition of king alfonso xiii the second spanish republic was formed five years later following
a military coup d'etat the spanish civil war broke out between the republicans and the nationalists the country was split in half with one zone controlled by the republicans or the government with support from the soviet union and mexico and to the other by the nationalists or the rebels supported by nazi germany and fascist italy three years of bloody fighting ended with the victory of the rebel side bringing general francisco franco to power and imposing a dictatorship across spain during franco's rule spain was officially neutral in world war ii at the same time it became a
single party regime under phalange or the fifth a de las johns during the latter part of the francoise regime spain witnessed a period of exceptionally rapid growth in the economy called the spanish miracle including the birth of the tourism industry in 1967 morocco gained independence from spanish rule the following year spanish guinea was granted independence as equatorial guinea then the moroccan enclave of ifn was ceded to morocco two cities in africa suda and palila remain under spanish rule and sovereignty in 1975 the last spanish colonial possession western sahara was occupied by morocco several months later
franco died bringing king juan carlos to power democratic spain after the death of franco king juan carlos the first got rid of francoism and gave the power back to the people beginning the transition to democracy in spain in 1978 the current spanish constitution was passed in 2002 spain fully adopted the euro and spain experienced strong economic growth well above the eu average during the early 2000s following king juan carlos's abdication in 2014 his son felipe vi descended to the throne to become king of spain until now today spain is a high income country an advanced
economy and a world's leader in organ transplants and organ donation spain is a member of many international organizations including the united nations the european union the eurozone the council of europe the north atlantic treaty organization the organization for economic cooperation and development and the world trade organization thanks for watching if you find this information useful please give us a thumbs up and share it with your friends don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more videos of history