Spain is a strategically located nation, a fact which has led to it being conquered by many empires throughout history. The Celts, Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Greeks all had a hand in the region in ancient times, but the Roman Empire was the first major empire to extend into the Iberian peninsula. Rome was part of Spain from the 2nd century BC through to its demise in the 5th century, when the Visigoths displaced them. Two centuries after that, the Moors stormed across from North Africa into Spain, extending their Islamic Empire.
The reconquest of Spain was a priority for the Christian kingdoms of Europe, who were gradually able to fight their way back into and across parts of Iberia. In the 15th century, Fernando of Aragón and Isabel of Castile married, leading to a unified Spain. It was around this time that Christopher Columbus sailed out to discover the New World, setting off a process of Spanish conquest in the American continent. Colonization created wealth for Spain. Wealth which was, in turn, used to fight wars in Europe and continue the very bloody inquisition in Spain and beyond its borders.
Spain mined so much gold and silver in the New World that it actually devalued the world price gold. Since its entire economy was valued on gold and silver, this hit its economy extremely hard. Whenever Spain entered into war with another European power, the gold and silver ships were also their main weakness, as their opponents would simply attack the slower and weaker gold and silver ships, sinking countless numbers of them. Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th century Spain's power declined even more rapidly, to the point where almost all of its New World colonial possessions were independent by 1811 and most of Spain was under the rule of Napoleon during a couple of years in the early 19th century. The humiliation continued in 1898, when Spain lost Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, Micronesia, Palau and the Philippines to the United States in the Spanish-American War.
The 20th century was an unstable period in Spain's history. Anarchy and fascism were both gaining prominence in the Spanish political landscape at the turn of the century. In 1931, the Second Spanish Republic was established - only to be destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, which ran from 1936-39. Francisco Franco took control of the country. He would rule Spain with an iron fist for close to four decades.
After Franco's death in 1975, it didn't take long for Spain to move towards democracy. Since 1978, Spain has been a democratic state, a process helped greatly by the attitude of the present King, Juan Carlos. Echoes of Franco's dictatorship rang through during the failed coup of 1981, a coup of which the physical bullet holes can still be seen in the ceiling of the congress building in Madrid. In 1986 Spain became a member of the European Union, and introduced the Euro (€) in 2002, replacing the peseta.
