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Spain and Portugal Timeline

By: John Ross 2008.06.30

This timeline of Spanish and Portuguese history is a work-in-progress. Contributions, corrections and additions are very welcome - please use the Comments box at the bottom of the page.

THE BEGINNINGS
Dinosaurs		230 million years ago to 65 million years ago		La Rioja Teruel
The Pyrenees are formed.		150 million years ago		Pyrenees
Messinian Salinity Crisis. The Mediterranean basin is closed off from the Atlantic and consequently evaporates away.		6 million years ago
The water from the Mediterranean falls as rain into the rest of the world's oceans, causing sea level to rise. The Atlantic rises until it begins to pour into the Mediterranean. The tremendous waterfall which results creates the breach which is the Strait of Gibraltar.		Late Miocene (5.5 million years ago)		Gibraltar
PREHISTORIC IBERIA
Hominids		350,000 years ago (Pleistocene), Possible million-year old found (27/03/08)		Atapuerca
Cro-Magnon Man arrives from north		35,000 years ago
Stone age		18,500-14,000 years ago (Paleolithic)		Altamira
ANCIENT IBERIA
City and civilization of Tartessos on the mouth of the River Guadalquivir, which separates the modern provinces of Huelva and Cádiz in Andalusia.		pre-1100 BC
Ancient Mediterranean civilizations – Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians establish trading contacts with peoples of Iberia.
A Phoenician trading post exists in what is now the centre of Lisbon		1200 BC		Lisbon
The Phoenicians found Gadir, present-day Cadiz (the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe). .		1100 BC		Cádiz
The Carthaginians found the city of Cartago Nova, modern Cartagena		230 BC		Cartagena, Murcia
The Celtiberians are the peoples living in the centre of Spain resulting from the mixture between the Iberians (south-west Iberian Peninsula to north-east) and the Celts (north and north-west).
Spain is the setting for some of the main actions fought in the Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome, particularly the Carthaginian attack on Saguntum which begins the Second Punic War.		246 – 146 BC		Sagunto, Valencia Cartagena, Murcia
The Romans conquer Spain. It takes them two centuries.		218 BC – 17 BC
The most difficult part of the Roman conquest of Spain is the Celtiberian War or wars. The Lusitanian War is also a stumbling block for the Romans.		181 – 133 BC 155 – 139 BC		Numantia, Soria Citânia de Briteiros, Portugal
The Roman occupation of Spain lasts until the end of the fourth century. Many Spanish and Portuguese towns and cities are founded during this time of growth and prosperity, and the influx of Roman traders and the Romanization of the native population lead to it becoming “Iberoroman”		17 BC – 395 AD		Tarragona Mérida, Badajoz Aqueduct, Segovia
MEDIAEVAL IBERIA
Following the decline of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes move into the vacuum left. The Suebi and the Visigoths divide up the Iberian Peninsula, the former in what is now the region of Galicia and the north of Portugal, the latter in the rest of the Peninsula.		410 – 585 AD
The Visigoths conquer the Suebi and rule over the entire peninsula thereafter. They do not mix with the Iberoromans.		585 – 711
Arabic Spain and Portugal and the Reconquista		8^th-11^th centuries
The Moors enter the Iberian Peninsula at Gibraltar and have conquered it almost in its entirety in not much more than a decade, their expansion being stopped at the Battle of Covadonga, Asturias.		711 – 722	720 740	Gibraltar Covadonga
The height of power of Al-Andalus, Moorish Spain and Portugal, the most civilized country in mediaeval Europe. The Emirate of Cordoba became the Caliphate in 929. Emirs, Caliphs and the Moorish courts were great patrons of the arts and sciences, and relatively tolerant of non-Islamic faiths, both Christianity and Judaism. Above all, Al-Andalus was prosperous, being productive and a great trading power.		756 – 1031	760 780 800 820 840 860	Great Mosque, Córdoba
Meanwhile, however, the Christian Kingdom of Asturias expands to occupy the whole north-west of the peninsula and become the Kingdom of León, from which the county of Castile emerged and would later become a kingdom in its own right, while the Basque Kingdom of Pamplona occupies the eastern Cantabrian and the western Pyrenees and the Catalan counties are established as a buffer between the Moors and the Kingdom of the Franks to the north. These northern Christian kingdoms begin a sporadic crusade, the Reconquista. One result is the establishment of the county of Portugal in 888 – it occupies much of the north of present-day Portugal.			880 900 920 940 960 980	León Burgos Pamplona Barcelona
The death of the last Caliph of Córdoba. The Caliphate disintegrates into a number of taifas, minor or “petty” kingdoms. These will fight and conquer each other as readily as they will the emerging Christian kingdoms		1013 11^th-15^thcenturies	1000 1020 1040
The Frankish county of Aragón becomes a kingdom and merges with Pamplona and the no less important county of Barcelona. The Kingdom of Castile continues to expand and conquers Toledo (and with it New Castile) in 1085.		1085	1060 1080	Toledo
Muslim Spain is reunited twice in the 12^th century, first by the Almoravids and later by the Almohads. Both of these are fervent Islamic Berber dynasties and empires, originating in the south of present-day Morocco, and expanding first to occupy North Africa and thereafter to Al-Andalus. Though the Almoravids and Almohads have moments of supremacy, in the long-term the reconquista is unstoppable.		12^th century	1100 1120	Great cathedral cities of Spain and Portugal – Burgos…
Aragón takes Valencia and the Balearic Islands, while victory at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa brings a long period of expansion for Castile: Murcia, Caceres, Cordoba, Seville…	Alfonso Henriques proclaims himself King of Portugal after defeating the Almoravids at the Battle of Ourique in 1139, founding the Portuguese Burgundy dynasty. The Portuguese reconquista is completed when the Algarve is taken in 1249.	1139 1249	1140 1160 1180 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300	Alcobaça - Real Abadia de Santa Maria de Alcobaça, Portugal The Algarve, Portugal Batalha - Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória, Portugal Braga Cathedral
The Kingdom of Granada is the last remnant of Al-Andalus, though larger than the name suggests, originally occupying not only the present-day province of Granada, but also much of present-day Andalusia. it survives by being a tributary state to Castile, a vassal whose troops are used to fight against rebellious Muslims in other parts of Castile, and by being useful, the trading connection between the Christian north and the Arab world.		1228 – 1492	1320 1340 1360 1380 1400	Alhambra, Granada, Spain
	The Portuguese Empire. The first and longest-lasting of the great European colonial empires.	1415 – 1999
Spanish seamen discover the Canary Islands and it is colonized. The marriage of Queen Isabella of Castile and soon-to-be King Ferdinand of Aragón in 1469 joins the two kingdoms. Isabella and Ferdinand, the Catholic Monarchs are both powerful, intelligent, devout, energetic and ruthless, and the world will never be the same again. Granada, and with it Al-Andalús, finally falls in 1492. The Jews are expelled from Spain. The same year, with the voyage of Columbus to the New World – the “Discovery of America” – is often used to mark the beginning of Modern History. Columbus thinks he has discovered a new route to India, but colonization of the New World begins almost immediately.	Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), Henrique o Navegador in Portuguese, is not the heir to the throne, but has the ear of his father, King John or João I, founder of the Aviz dynasty. Henry persuades John to occupy Ceuta on the North African Mediterranean coast in 1415. Portuguese navigators are the crème de la crème of their profession, Portuguese naval technology is the best in the world, and Henry sends explorers out to chart the coasts of Africa, and west out into the Atlantic. As a result, Madeira is rediscovered (it was known to the Romans) in 1419, and settled over the coming decades. The Azores are found in 1427 and colonized on Henry’s instigation. The Portuguese find their way past and beyond Cape Bojador on the west coast of Africa, until then the southern-most limit to European movement in the world. By the time of Henry’s death, Portugal has passed the Senegal River and traded with Lagos, so bypassing the Arab-controlled trade routes across the Sahara. Portuguese seafaring momentum is unstoppable – Bartolomeu Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, and Vasco de Gama sails from Lisbon in 1497 to reach India in 1498.	The 15^th century 1492	1420 1440 1460 1480	Medinaceli
The Treaty of Tordesillas (1496) divides South America between Spain and Portugal, Portugal getting the eastern part (Brazil) and Spain the west.		1496	1500	Tordesillas, Valladolid
HAPSBURG SPAIN AND PORTUGAL		1516-1700
On the death of Ferdinand the Catholic, the crowns of Aragón and Castile pass to Charles I of Spain, soon to be Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Formally, Spain does not yet exist as a single kingdom and will not until the Bourbons come to power, but its ruler is the most powerful man in the Christian world. Though not India, the New World brings immense wealth to the new Spanish Empire.	The new trade routes to the Indies bring Portugal tremendous wealth. The Portuguese reach Brazil in 1500 and establish trading posts, later colonies. The real wealth for Portugal comes from its African possessions, however, particularly in the form of slaves.		1520 1540
1556 Charles abdicates and Philip II, his son, inherits the Spanish Crown (he later inherits the Portuguese crown, as well). Spain’s wealth continues to improve thanks to the Americas. The 16^th and 17^th centuries are a golden age for Spanish literature and art. A Protestant separatist movement emerges in the Netherlands in the 1560s. Felipe II keeps control thanks to the tercios, the fearsome Spanish troops.	The dynasty founded by John I, the House of Aviz, rules Portugal until the crown passes to the Spanish Hapsburg King Philip II (Philip I of Portugal).	1556	1560
Philip II also inherits the Portuguese crown (as Philip I) in 1581. He sends a large fleet (the Spanish Armada) to invade England. It is destroyed by the English navy and bad weather.		1581 1588	1580
Philip III becomes king of Spain. The morisco population is expelled in one of history's first examples of ethnic-cleansing. The Mediterranean area is mostly affected. Spain begins losing economic power. The Netherlands becomes independent, although its status will not be officially recognised until the Treaty of Westphalia (1648).		1598 1609	1600 1620
Philip III dies and Philip IV becomes king of Spain. Spain tries to suffocate the newly independent kingdom of Portugal.	The Duke of Bragança becomes John IV of Portugal, once again independent from Spain. While Portugal defends itself from Spain, Holland seizes most of its territory in Angola. It is recovered with help from Brazil. In general, however, Portuguese wealth is in decline.	1621 1640	1640
Charles II reigns from 1665-1700. He has no children and wills the crown to his closest relative, Philip V, the Bourbon grandson of Louis XIV, king of France. Philip also inherits the French crown.	Spain finally recognises Portuguese independence. Peter II becomes the first absolutist Portuguese monarch. Brazil has become an economic powerhouse, fuelled by slave labour and large numbers of Portuguese immigrants. Some of its governors call themselves Viceroy.	1668 1683	1660 1680 1700
BOURBON SPAIN		1701 – Present
Philip V is the first of the Spanish Bourbon Dynasty and technically the first King of Spain as such. The immensely complicated War of the Spanish Succession against England, Portugal, the fledgling Holland and even the Holy Roman Empire is a drain on the country. Spain loses its European dominions and Gibraltar by the Treaty of Utrecht.	John V prohibits emigration in 1709.	1700 1701-14 1713
Philp is an absolutist. His Decreto de Nueva Planta, New Foundation Decree, eliminates the regional privileges of the old kingdoms and regions of Spain. The state is modernized and centralized. Regional institutions are abolished (except for the Basque region).	Sebastião de Melo restructures Portuguese society and its economics, abolishing slavery (not in Brazil) and regulating and modernizing its economy.	1714-46 1715	1720 1740
Ferdinand VI reigns.	The Great Earthquake of 1755 destroys Lisbon and much of the Algarve. Both are speedily and elegantly rebuilt. De Melo uses the Távora affair, an assassination intent on King Joseph I, to break the power of both the aristocracy and the Jesuits.	1746-59 1755 1758		Royal Palace, Madrid Lisbon city centre
Charles III reigns. He is an enlightened despot, a great patron of the arts and science, and turns Madrid into a great European capital.	Sebastião de Melo is now the Marquis of Pombal and effective dictator of Portugal. He falls from royal favour when Queen Maria I comes to the throne in 1779.	1759-88 1770	1760	Prado Museum, Madrid
Charles IV reigns . The unpopular Manuel de Godoy is royal favourite, occasional prime minister and effective dictator. He invades Portugal in 1801, unsuccessfully except for minor territorial concessions. French troops occupy much of Spain in 1807. Carlos IV abdicates in favour of his son, Ferdinand, but Napoleon forces him to return the crown to Charles. He is forced to surrender the Spanish crown to Napoleon who places his Brother Joseph (1808-13) on the Spanish throne. Popular uprisings take place in 1808, beginning with the “mutiny” in Aranjuez in March which obliges Godoy to resign, and the Dos de Mayo revolt in Madrid.	In 1807, Portugal refuses to join the Continental Blockade ordered by Napoleon against Great Britain. A Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal takes place and the Portuguese royal family and court flee to Rio de Janeiro. Napoleon appoints General Junot Governor of Portugal	1788-1808 1807 1808	1780 1800
Encouraged by the resistance to Napoleon in Spain and Portugal, Britain sends an army under Arthur Wellesley to Lisbon, beginning the Peninsula War.		1808
Spanish War of Independence. Popular uprising against the invading French army. Spain was largely ungoverned, making Spanish armies ineffective, but cities like Saragossa withstood heavy sieges and guerrilla warfare against the French greatly weakened their supply lines.	Wellesley’s victory at Vimeiro is partly wasted because of the Convention of Sintra, but the French leave Portugal temporarily. In 1809-1810, Wellesley builds the defensive Lines of Torres Vedras which stop a major French offensive.and oblige the French to retreat to Spain.	1808-14
Cádiz Constitution of 1812. First constitution in Spanish history. Liberal.	Anglo-Portuguese armies inflict successive defeats on the French who are expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1813. Napoleon is forced to abdicate the following year.	1812
Ferdinand VII returns to the throne as a side effect of the Congress of Vienna. Abolishes the constitution but a coup d’état (1820) forces him to accept it. After three years, he is restored to the throne with the help of the (post-Imperial) French army. His rule is absolutist and reactionary.	With the Portuguese court still in Brazil, it is declared a kingdom. María’s son is declared King John VI of Portugal and Brazil on her death in 1816. He returns reluctantly to Portugal in 1821 and the Portuguese Assembly tries to abolish the Kingdom of Brazil, instead of which Brazil declares independence in 1822, and declares itself an empire with John’s son Peter as Emperor a few weeks later.	1814 1822	1820
Ferdinand VII dies in 1833. His daughter Isabella II (three years old) becomes the Queen of Spain and her mother the Regent. Charles, Ferdinand’s brother, does not recognise Isabella and begins the Carlist War of 1833-1839. In the background, liberals support Isabella and conservatives support Charles.	Peter I briefly becomes King of Portugal on the death of his father in 1826. He abdicates in order to return to Brazil, but not before imposing important constitutional reforms which were unpopular with the absolutist land-owning class and the church. They declared Peter’s brother Miguel king, leading to the Liberal Wars which ended in Miguel’s defeat and forced abdication in 1834.	1826 1833 1834
Prime Minister Mendizábal decrees large-scale confiscation of church property, the *Desamortización Eclesiástica*.		1836
The First Carlist War ends.		1839	1840
Period of turmoil with various coups d'etat and changes of government (liberal-moderates) at the Queen’s request.		1834-1854	1860
The Glorious Revolution, led by General Juan Prim. Inspired by Cádiz 1812 principles.		1868
New, liberal constitution. Universal suffrage and a system of freedoms. The Queen goes into exile. Leaders of the revolution begin looking for a new king. Amadeo I of the Italian House of Savoy, becomes King of Spain. He is unable to stabilise the country.		1869 1870
Amadeo leaves the country and the First Republic is proclaimed. It lasts a year and has four presidents.		1873
Bourbon restoration, established by a coup d’état. Alfonso XII is put on the throne.		1874
1876 New constitution mixing liberal and conservative principles. Limited suffrage and system of freedoms. Turnismo, system whereby two parties (conservative and liberal) alternate in power.		1876	1880
Alfonso XII dies and his son Alfonso XIII becomes king.		1885
Universal suffrage for men.		1890
Spain loses the Spanish-American war against the US. Its last colonies (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Philippines) gain independence. Referred to as ‘the great disaster’.		1898	1900
	King Carlos I is assassinated in Lisbon in 1908. His son Manuel dismisses the dictatorial prime minister João Franco but without strengthening the position of the monarchy. Republicans and socialists win free elections and the impossibility of a government being formed leads to the 5 October 1910 Revolution and the proclamation of the First Republic.	1908 1910
The coup d’état of 1923 makes General Primo de Rivera president of the government with the connivance of Alfonso XIII.	1926 Coup d’etat leads to the military dictatorship called the Ditadura Nacional.	1923 1926	1920
1930 Primo de Rivera resigns and the government calls for local elections for April 1931. Second Republic 1931 Republican parties win and the Second Republic is proclaimed. The king leaves the country. The provisional government calls for national elections and the new parliament issues a new leftist, anti-clerical, constitution. The new constitution grants autonomy to regions claiming it.	1933, prominent politician António de Oliveira Salazar, currently Prime Minister, imposes a single-party constitution and the Ditadura Nacional gives way to the fascist Estado Novo which was to last until nineteen-seventies, the most enduring European fascist dictatorship	1931 1933
Miners’ uprising in Asturias against the conservative government. Growing discontent and division.		1934
Spaniards give the majority of votes to the leftist Popular Front. Intense conflicts. Army officers head a coup d’état that leads to the Spanish Civil War.		1936
Civil War between the Nacionales or rebeldes (Franco supporters) and the loyalist Republicans (also known as ‘reds’ by Franco’s supporters). The Nacionales are aided by Germany and Italy. The Republicans are defeated.		1936-39
Franco establishes a dictatorship which would last for forty years.		1939
Spain is officially neutral in the Second World War.	Portugal is officially neutral in the Second World War.	1939-45	1940
The Catholic Church’s privileged position is formalised in a concordat with the Vatican, and the Pact of Madrid with the United States establishes US bases in Spain. The Pact provides military and other aid and brings to an end Spain’s period of isolation.	Though its regime is fascist. Portugal has not had the same relationship with the World War II Axis as Spain. It is a founder member of NATO and the OECD, and does not suffer Spain’s international ostracism.	1953
	1968 - Salazar suffers a stroke and Marcelo Caetano replaces him. Caetano is not fascist enough for the right wing, but fails too win support anywhere else.		1960
1973 ETA assassinates Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, the prime minister, who was expected to continue the regime after Franco.	1974 – the Revolução dos Cravos, Carnation Revolution brings an end to the regime of Caetano and the New State, and the declaration of the Third Republic.	1973 1974	1970
Franco dies in 1975. King Juan Carlos succeeds him as head of State.	Portugal grants its overseas possessions independence, especially Mozambique and Angola. East Timor is seized by Indonesia.	1975
Transition and Democracy
King Juan Carlos appoints Adolfo Suárez, a former minister under the Franco regime, prime minister. He begins the task of liberalization and transition to democracy. He legalises political parties and calls for open and competitive elections.		1976
The constitution is passed by parliament and later ratified by referendum. Spain is now a constitutional monarchy. The government calls for new general elections.		1978
Army officers and members of the Civil Guard fail in their attempt at a new coup d’état. Spain enters NATO.		1981	1980
1986 Spain enters the European Economic Community (now European Union).	Portugal enters the European Economic Community.	1986
Spain is one of the founder members of European Monetary Union.	Portugal is one of the founder members of European Monetary Union.	1999	1990
Bomb blasts on commuter trains by an Islamist group kill 191 people and injure over 1,800.		March 11, 2004	2000	Atocha Station, Madrid
Spain wins European footbal championship competition - Euro 2008.		June 29, 2008		Innsbruck, Austria

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Author	Comment
John Ross	Subject: Please Help! posted: Apr 02, 2008
registered: Apr 22, 2004	As you can see, there are gaps in this timeline, particularly on the Portuguese side, simply because I am less familiar with Portuguese history. All help is welcome. I am also very interested in seeing the last column filled with places people can visit to see where all this history actually happened - again, your contributions are very welcome.

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