Spain travel guide

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The peninsula’s most influential invasion occurred in 711, when the Muslims arrived to create the mighty territory of Al-Andalus, encompassing virtually all of Spain and Portugal. While most of Europe endured the Dark Ages, Al-Andalus enjoyed universities and bazaars, science and libraries, mosques and palaces, baths and exotic gardens. The Alcazar, Alhambra and Mezquita are fine examples. Following the Spanish Inquisiton, the Moors’ final outpost of Granada finally fell in 1492. This was a fortuitous year for the new kingdom of Spain, as Colombus set sail for the New World, and discovered the gold-and silver-rich lands that would soon make Spain one of the richest countries in the world.

By the early 1900s, Spain was becoming polarised between fascists and socialists, nationalists and republicans, workers’ unions and the military. Widespread violence escalated in 1936, General Franco led fascist uprisings, and the Spanish Civil War began.

With support from both Hitler and Mussolini, Franco seized control of the country in 1939. Up to half a million people were killed or “disappeared” on both sides, with many thousands more murdered during the brutal fascist rule. Catholicism was compulsory and strikes were illegal. Spain was an economic mess, and many fled the country. But with an influx of foreign aid, Franco began a plan to develop tourism in the late 1950s, and the country’s most beautiful coastlines began to be paved over to make way for millions of tourists per year.

Franco died in 1975, and the transition to democracy under the new King Juan Carlos I was surprisingly smooth. Finally the country began to catch up with its European neighbours. Spain today appears to be a modern democracy, but look deeper and cracks show. Older generations are still scarred by the decades of dictatorship – and even the events of the civil war. Corruption and nepotism have slowed the country’s progress and deepened the economic crisis, creating a lost generation of unemployed youth. Spain’s past was rerouted many times; the future looks like it will contain yet more unexpected turns for the Spanish to once again find themselves on the right track.