Spain historical timeline

Chronology

c. 1100 B.C. Phoenicians from Tyre found Gadir, now Cádiz, as a trading post — often regarded as the most ancient city still standing in western Europe, though no archaeological layer on the site is earlier than the 9th century B.C., which has led to the suggestion that it began as a small seasonal post. The Phoenicians established a port there in the 7th century B.C. The name meant wall or stronghold, and the same root gives Agadir in Morocco.
218 B.C. Rome begins the conquest of the peninsula and holds Hispania for more than 600 years, leaving the Latin from which Spanish descends along with the roads, aqueducts, theatres and city grids that underlie a large number of Spanish towns. This is the longest single period in the list and the one a visitor is least likely to notice, because most of it is underneath something else.
711 The Umayyad Caliphate conquers the Visigothic Kingdom. Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in early 711 with about 1,700 men, defeated King Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete in July, and was reinforced and continued north; by 715 Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa was the first governor of al-Andalus, with Seville as his capital. Only a small area in the mountainous north stayed outside the initial invasion, and for centuries the frontier ran along the Ebro and Douro valleys.
785 The Great Mosque of Córdoba is begun on the orders of Abd al-Rahman I, founder of the Emirate of Córdoba, and expanded repeatedly by his successors into the late 10th century — Abd al-Rahman III adding a minaret finished in 958, al-Hakam II a richly decorated mihrab. It is now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic diocese of Córdoba, which is why the building is known by both names.
1212 The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa on 16 July is an important turning point in the Reconquista, when the Christian kingdoms defeat the Almohad Caliphate, whose territory had included the southern half of the peninsula and Morocco. Alfonso VIII had been beaten by the Almohads at Alarcos in 1195; this reversed the balance, and the southward advance that followed produced the Andalusian cities as Christian conquests with Islamic bones.
1492 On 2 January Muhammad XI — Boabdil — surrenders the Emirate of Granada, the city and the Alhambra to the Castilian forces, ending the Granada War fought since 1482 and, in traditional Spanish historiography, the Reconquista itself. The fall of the Alhambra is still marked every year by the City Council of Granada.
1492 On 31 March the Catholic Monarchs issue the Alhambra Decree, expelling unconverted Jews from Spain. Of an estimated 300,000 people of Jewish origin, over 200,000 had already converted under the persecution and pogroms that began in 1391; between 40,000 and 100,000 remained Jewish and were expelled. By 1501 all of Granada's Muslims were required to convert, be enslaved or leave. The same year sent Christopher Columbus west: 1492 is the empire and the end of coexistence in one twelve-month span, and both halves are why it is the date every Spanish schoolchild knows.
1561 Philip II moves the court to Madrid, which is why a city with no river, no port and no Roman importance is the capital of Spain — chosen for being in the middle. The Habsburg and Bourbon capital built afterwards is what a visitor walks through, and the older Spanish cities are older than the capital by centuries.
1588 The Armada sails against England and fails. The empire it belonged to expanded across the Americas, the Indo-Pacific and Europe through exploration, conquest, royal marriage and inheritance, and its silver funded European wars for a century — which is the reason Spanish baroque churches are as gilded as they are and why so many of them are in towns that now look too small for them.
1808 The Peninsular War, fought from 1808 to 1814 and known in Spain as the War of Independence. Napoleon forced the abdications of Ferdinand VII and Charles IV, installed his brother Joseph on the throne and promulgated the Bayonne Constitution; Spain, Portugal and Britain fought the French occupation for six years. Goya's war paintings in the Prado are this entry, and so is the loss of central authority that let the American colonies break away.
1898 The Spanish-American War, from 21 April to 13 August 1898, ends Spain's empire: the United States acquires sovereignty over Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines and establishes a protectorate over Cuba. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbour. The loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam produced a moral, political and social crisis in Spain, and the group of writers who responded to it — novelists, poets, essayists and philosophers committed to cultural renewal — are known as the Generation of '98.
1936 The Spanish Civil War is fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans — socialists, anarchists, communists and separatists loyal to the Popular Front government, supported by the Soviet Union — and the Nationalist rebels, an alliance of Falangists, monarchists, conservatives, traditionalists and fascists supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Franco was appointed the Nationalists' supreme leader on 1 October 1936.
1939 The Nationalists win in early 1939 and Franco leads Spain from then until his death. The dictatorship lasted 36 years, kept Spain out of the Second World War and out of the post-war European settlement, and is the reason Spanish democracy, Spanish motorways and Spanish mass tourism are all younger than they look.
1975 Franco dies on 20 November 1975, aged 82, and is entombed in the Valley of the Fallen. The transition to democracy begins two days later. The political elite left over from Francoism first tried to reform the institutions of the dictatorship from within; social and political pressure produced a democratic parliament at the 1977 general election instead.
1978 The Constitution is approved by referendum, sanctioned by King Juan Carlos I on 27 December and published on 29 December, the date it took effect. It was drafted and debated by the assembly that emerged from the 1977 election, and it created the system of autonomous communities — which is why Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia have their own parliaments, police and language policy, and why regional identity is a constitutional question here rather than a folk tradition.
1986 Spain joins the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union, eleven years after the dictatorship ended; the Socialist Workers Party came to power the same year, the first left-wing government in 43 years, and Spain had joined NATO in May 1982, confirmed by referendum in 1986 after strong social opposition. Accession did more to change daily Spanish life than any event since the constitution — the roads, the universities, the airports and the agricultural economy a visitor sees are substantially European-funded — and it is the reason the country's self-image is emphatically European.
1992 Barcelona hosts the Olympic Games and Seville the Expo, the year Spain presented itself to the world as a modern European state. Spain's first high-speed line, the 476-kilometre AVE from Madrid to Seville, entered commercial service on 21 April 1992, the day after the Expo opened, and in the first weeks carried over 23,000 passengers at 81 per cent occupancy. The Games received universal acclaim and some media rank them among the best ever held.
2007 The Historical Memory Law and the exhumations, reburials and removals of Francoist symbols that followed it make the civil war and the dictatorship current affairs rather than history. Anyone who thinks 1936 is a settled subject in Spain will be corrected in the first serious conversation they have about it.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — Cadiz was founded by the Phoenicians from Tyre as Gadir or Agadir, is often regarded as the most ancient city still standing in Western Europe and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe; the name meant wall, compound or stronghold and was borrowed into the Berber languages, giving the Moroccan city name Agadir; the traditional foundation date is around 1100 BC although no archaeological strata on the site can be dated earlier than the 9th century BC, and the Phoenicians established a port in the 7th century BC, The Umayyad Caliphate conquered the Visigothic Kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century, ending Christian rule throughout most of Iberia and establishing Muslim rule in the territory known as al-Andalus; Tariq ibn Ziyad departed from North Africa in early 711 to cross the Straits of Gibraltar with a force of about 1,700 men, defeated King Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete in July that year and continued northward, and in 715 Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa was named the first governor of al-Andalus, naming Seville as his capital, Only a small area in the mountainous north of the Iberian Peninsula stood outside the territory seized during the initial Muslim invasion, and for several centuries the fluctuating frontier between the Muslim and Christian-controlled areas ran along the Ebro and Douro valleys, The Great Mosque of Cordoba was constructed in 785 on the orders of Abd al-Rahman I, founder of the Islamic Emirate of Cordoba, and expanded multiple times under his successors up to the late 10th century, with Abd al-Rahman III adding a minaret finished in 958 and al-Hakam II adding a richly decorated new mihrab and maqsurah; it is now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cordoba, The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and the history of medieval Spain; the Muslim army was led by the Almohad caliph al-Nasir, whose caliphate included the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, and in 1195 the Almohads had defeated Alfonso VIII of Castile at the Battle of Alarcos, On 2 January 1492 Muhammad XI of Granada, King Boabdil, surrendered the Emirate of Granada, the city of Granada and the Alhambra palace to the Castilian forces, ending the Granada War fought between 1482 and 1492 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs; the fall of the Alhambra is still celebrated every year by the City Council of Granada and the Granada War is considered in traditional Spanish historiography as the final war of the Reconquista, The Alhambra Decree was issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs ordering the expulsion of unconverted Jews; of Spain's estimated 300,000 population of Jewish origin, over 200,000 had converted to Catholicism in order to remain, following the religious persecution and pogroms of 1391, and between 40,000 and 100,000 remained Jewish and were expelled; by 1501 all of Granada's Muslims were obliged to convert to Christianity, become slaves or be exiled, The development of Madrid as an administrative centre was fostered after 1561 as it became the permanent seat of the court of the Hispanic Monarchy, Philip II having set his court in Madrid in June 1561; Madrid had held the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile from 1188, and the Courts of Castile convened at Madrid for the first time in 1309, The Spanish Armada was a fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588 and was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War; commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, appointed by Philip II, its orders were to sail up the English Channel, join the army of the Duke of Parma in Flanders and escort an invasion force that would land in England and overthrow Elizabeth I, with the purpose of reinstating Catholicism in England, ending English support for the Dutch Republic and preventing privateer attacks on Spanish interests in the Americas, Through exploration and conquest or royal marriage alliances and inheritance, the Spanish Empire expanded across vast areas in the Americas and the Indo-Pacific, The Peninsular War of 1808 to 1814 was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain and Portugal with the United Kingdom against the invading forces of the First French Empire, and in Spain is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence; Napoleon forced the abdications of Ferdinand VII and his father Charles IV, installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne and promulgated the Bayonne Constitution, The Spanish-American War was fought from 21 April to 13 August 1898, began with the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbour in Cuba, and resulted in the United States acquiring sovereignty over Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines and establishing a protectorate over Cuba, The Generation of '98 was a group of novelists, poets, essayists and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish-American War, committed to cultural and aesthetic renewal; the name alludes to the moral, political and social crisis in Spain produced by the loss of the colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam after defeat, The Spanish Civil War was fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans — socialists, anarchists, communists and separatists loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic, supported by the Soviet Union — and the Nationalist rebels, an alliance of Falangists, monarchists, conservatives, traditionalists, syndicalists and fascists supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy; the Nationalists were initially led by a military junta until Franco was appointed supreme leader on 1 October 1936, and they won the war in early 1939, Francisco Franco was the leader of Spain from 1939 until his death on 20 November 1975, aged 82, and was entombed in the Valley of the Fallen; he led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the civil war from 1936 to 1939, The Spanish transition to democracy began two days after the death of Francisco Franco in November 1975; the political elites left over from Francoism initially attempted reform of the institutions of dictatorship through existing legal means, but social and political pressure saw the formation of a democratic parliament in the 1977 general election, The Spanish Constitution was approved in a constitutional referendum in 1978, three years after the death of Franco, was sanctioned by King Juan Carlos I on 27 December and published on 29 December, the date on which it became effective, and was drafted, debated and approved by the constituent assembly that emerged from the 1977 general election, In 1986 Spain joined the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union; the Spanish Socialist Workers Party came to power the same year, the first left-wing government in 43 years, and Spain had joined NATO in May 1982, followed by a 1986 referendum after strong social opposition, The first Spanish high-speed rail connection, the 476-kilometre Madrid-Seville route, began commercial service on 21 April 1992 in time for the Seville Expo which opened on 20 April, running S-100 trains capable of 300 km/h, and in the first weeks over 23,000 passengers used the new trains at an occupancy rate of 81 per cent, The 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona received universal acclaim, with the organisation, volunteers, sportsmanship and Spanish public lauded in the international media, and some media describe the Barcelona Games as one of the best Olympics ever, Law 52/2007, the Historical Memory Law, recognises and broadens the rights of those who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and the dictatorship, recognises victims on both sides, formally condemns the Francoist State, prohibits political events at the Valley of the Fallen, and provides for the removal of objects which exalt the July 1936 coup (September 2026).