Nation+Building+-+Spain

Nation Building - Spain The Reconquest of Spain (La Reconquista) [] In 711 A.D., Spain was overtaken by the Moors and became centrally Islamic. The Umayyad Dynasty was in charge until 750 A.D., when it was overthrown by the Abbasids, who went on to kill every Umayyad leader, except for one: **Abd Al-Rahman I**, the 19-year-old grandson of the tenth Umayyad Caliph, who managed to escape. He fled Spain and hid in disguise for five years before returning, where he eventually put the Umayyad Dynasty in charge once again. The Umayyad Dynasty began to fall apart. The Christians, who had slowly been making cultural and military progress toward the recapture of Spain, recaptured much of central Castile, and began constructing the Romanesque cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, which marked the beginning of many Christian building projects to oppose the mosques and palaces built by the Muslims. There was much fighting, most notably by **Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar**, a military leader who fought for a Christian Spain. However, it wasn’t until the 13th century that this Christian reconquest began to pick up speed. The Islamic Moors and the Christian Spanish struggled in fighting each other and therefore the Moors brought the Almoravids into Spain to help them defend their territories from the Christians. The Almoravids had different beliefs than the Moors did, and turned against them, defeating the Moors in the end. However, the Almoravids were soon defeated themselves by a radical Islamic movement that originated in North Africa: **the Almohads.** When the Almohads arrived in Spain, they violently forced many Jews and Christians to convert to Islam. Soon, Ibn Mardanis, known as “El Rey Lobo” (The Wolf King) stepped up and led a resistance movement against the Almohads. He allied many kingdoms of Castile, which made his army more powerful, and lead to many successes in battle against the Almohads. By the time Idn Mardanis died, the Christian Spanish were untied enough to force the Almohads out of Spain entirely during the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, which is viewed as the turning point of the reconquest. The combined armies of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre, as well as some volunteers from Léon and France, defeated the Almohads. Only a small Islamic Kingdom, near Granada, survived. After this, Spain entered the beginning of a Golden Age, where many Christian kingdoms began to merge, and the forces of **Kind Ferdinand and Queen Isabella** conquered the last Islamic Kingdom in 1492, finally ending the 700 years of Islamic rule in Spain. All Jews were required to convert to Christianity soon afterwards, to avoid deportation. At last, Spain was united by Christianity and began to expand into new territories. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (“El Cid Campeador”) (1040-1099) [] Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (Vivar) was born in 1040. He was a famous military man and served as the commander of the troops of Sancho II, ruler of Castile. In 711 A.D., the Islamic Moors invaded Spain and remained there until 1492. To free themselves from the control of the Muslims, the Christians fought with them for almost eight centuries. In the 11th century, Vivar, a central figure in Islamic Spain and a Christian himself, became known for his heroism and victories against the Moorish people, as well as against Sancho’s Brother, Alfonso VI, ruler of Léon. Because of his honor for his country, the Moors gave him the title “el Cid,” which translates as “lord” from Arabic. Because of his bravery in battle, the Christians called him “Campeador,” which translates as “champion” from Spanish. After a twenty-month struggle, he conquered Valencia, a region of Spain, and became //de facto// ruler, officially making it a Christian city. Eventually, Alfonso became paranoid that El Cid was plotting against him and exiled him in 1081. This grand warrior status made him very popular in mythical folktales later on. Without El Cid, Spain might still be a Muslim country today.

Abd Al-Rahman I [] In 750 A.D, there was an Abbasid Revolution that wiped out Umayyad power but Abd al-Rahman (Rahman) and his younger brother managed to escape and fled to Spain. However, his brother was later caught and murdered. Once Rahman reached Spain, he created the Spanish Umayyad dynasty, which lasted for three hundred years (755-1031). He also toughened Cordoba, making it a significant city in the European, as well as the Islamic, world. He made the Great Mosque in 785 A.D as an outstanding example of the Islamic legacy in Spain. However, because Rahman’s claim to rule was challenged, he only ruled for a brief twenty years. Thus, Cordoba really came into power when his successors, starting with Abd al-Rahman II, ruled. Charlemagne [] Charlemagne, which stood for “Charles the Great,” was the ruler of the Franks, an empire that spread throughout present France, Germany and Italy. Born in 742 A.D, and of German descent, Charlemagne became the one and only king at the age of twenty nine. He attempted to create a united Christian empire. Charlemagne wanted to capture Zaragosa (located in Northern Spain) from the Muslims, so he attacked in 778 A.D. In the end, however, he was not successful in obtaining Zaragoza, and had merely raided the Basque lands to get to Spain. Although he didn’t accomplish his goal, he is, in fact, an important figure, in the sense that he tried to put the Christian Spanish people in control of Spain

King Ferdinand II (Fernando de Aragon) [] King Ferdinand II (Ferdinand II) was born on March 10, 1452 and died on January 23, 1516. He was a Roman Catholic from Spain. He was the king of Spain who bankrolled Columbus, best known for sharing an established royal authority in all of Spain. He also expelled the Moors from Granada in 1502, forwarding voyages of Christopher Columbus and fighting France for absolute rule in Italy. He was a full politician who did not have any attractive qualities. His father, John II of Aragon, gave Ferdinand II Sicily in 1468. However, after he died in 1479, Ferdinand II was given all of Aragon, and therefore he ruled Sicily and Argon. After he married his cousin, Isabella in 1469, he also got joint rule of Castile. Isabella and Ferdinand II, together, were known as the “Catholic Kings”. Their married life was honorable and peaceful with their views in government, agreeable. Ferdinand II was selfish and did not care for anything except ruling and political power. He had a bad mannered life and it showed throughout his life. He was known to make treaties and then imply meanings that were favorable to himself, which the other side did not necessarily agree on. His opinions and beliefs became more heinous once his first wife died in 1504. In 1492 the “Catholic Kings” went to expel their kingdoms of all Jews who refused to accept Christianity. An affect that took place was that Spain’s important cultural and economic community was taken away because of this. After Isabella died, Ferdinand II kept hold of control over Castile as an assistant for his daughter, Joanna. Joanna’s husband was Philip I, who became king of Castile in 1506, but died that same year. So Ferdinand continued his rule of Castile. At first he ruled Castile for Joanna, who became crazy, and then, for his grandson, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. After Ferdinand died he left his grandson in charge of Spain, Naples Sicily, Sardinia and overseas empires.

Queen Isabella (La Cotolica) http://renaissancebcs6.wikispaces.com/queen+isabella Queen Isabella (Isabella) was born on April 22, 1451 in Madrigal, and died on November 26, 1504 in a castle of La Mota. She was the daughter of John II. When Isabella was three, her father died, which made her older brother, King Henry IV (Henry IV), king. However, Spanish nobles did not like Henry IV being king. They felt he was not smart enough and would not make a good leader. They hoped to make Isabella’s brother, Alfonso, their king. However, before they could do anything about it, Alfonso died on July 5, 1468. Some people thought he was poisoned so he wouldn’t be able to become king. <span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The nobles were now considering Isabella as Queen. She was only 17 at that time and refused to take the throne while her brother was still alive. Her brother, Henry IV said that he would make her Queen despite the fact he had a daughter. People say he only did this to create peace with the nobles and continue his rule. <span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Henry IV wanted Isabella to marry several different men, but at the end of all the arranged marriages he planned, she decided to marry Ferdinand II. She sent out a nobleman to find Ferdinand II and found him in Sicily where he became king. <span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">When Isabella and Ferdinand co-ruled, Isabella was known as the better ruler. She had the skill to transform and guide Spain to be a great, united country. She died on November 26, 1504. In her will, she asked that her successors be protected and that the people of the Americas be treated the same way as were the Spanish. Ferdinand II continued to rule for 12 more years after and then his grandson took over. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Almohads [] <span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Around the 12th century, the Almoravids had been replaced by the Almohads. Around 1100 A.D., the Almohads had enough power to rule and conquer what was left of North Africa, modern Spain and Portugal. In 1148 B.C., the Almohads took over Cordoba and forced all of the Jewish people out of Cordoba. Shortly after, the Almohads made their city capital Seville, Spain. The Almohads also tried to purify Islam. <span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">However, the Almohads couldn’t keep their massive empire together for very long. After 1200 B.C., a group of rebels and their fights demolished the Almohads and their empire. Some Christian kingdoms in Northern Spain took an advantage and went and conquered Southern Spain. The Almohads did, however, leave behind a legacy. The Almohads actually helped to halt the Christian expansion.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Bibliography
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