Spanish history timeline
This chart puts 16 Spanish kingdoms and states on one timeline in order, from Roman Hispania (218 BCE to 472 CE) to Kingdom of Spain (1975 CE to the present). On these dates, Crown of Aragon lasted longest, about 354 years.
See it on the interactive chart
- Roman Hispania218 BCE to 472 CE
- Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo507 to 711 CE
- Emirate of Cordoba756 to 929 CE
- Caliphate of Cordoba929 to 1031 CE
- Kingdom of Castilec. 931 to 1230 CE
- Almoravid al-Andalus1086 to 1147 CE
- Almohad al-Andalus1147 to 1238 CE
- Crown of Aragon1162 to 1516 CE
- Crown of Castile1230 to 1516 CE
- Emirate of Granada1238 to 1492 CE
- Spanish Empire (Habsburg Spain)1516 to 1700 CE
- Bourbon Spain1700 to 1808 CE
- Kingdom of Spain (1814 to 1931)1814 to 1931 CE
- Second Spanish Republic1931 to 1939 CE
- Francoist Spain1939 to 1975 CE
- Kingdom of Spain1975 CE to the present
- Latin and Romance
- Germanic
- Arabic
- Berber
In order
Roman Hispania
Rome landed at Emporion in 218 BCE and took two centuries to conquer the whole peninsula, finishing in 19 BCE. Hispania gave Rome the emperors Trajan, Hadrian and Theodosius I. The Visigoths took the last Roman province in 472.
Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo
After losing most of Gaul in 507 the Visigoths ruled Hispania, later from Toledo. Reccared I renounced Arianism in 589, and Isidore of Seville compiled his Etymologiae. Umayyad armies conquered most of the kingdom from 711.
Emirate of Cordoba
Abd al-Rahman I, an Umayyad prince who escaped the Abbasid massacre, set up an independent emirate and began the Great Mosque of Cordoba.
Caliphate of Cordoba
Abd al-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph in 929 and built the palace city of Madinat al-Zahra. Cordoba, probably over 100,000 people, was Europe's largest city alongside Constantinople before civil war broke the state into taifas.
Kingdom of Castile
A frontier county of Leon that won autonomy under Fernan Gonzalez in 931 and became a kingdom in 1065. Alfonso VI took Toledo in 1085, and Alfonso VIII led the victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212.
Almoravid al-Andalus
Berber Almoravids from Morocco crossed in 1086, beat Alfonso VI at Sagrajas and annexed the taifas. The Almohads displaced them.
Almohad al-Andalus
The Almohad caliphs from Morocco moved the capital of Muslim Iberia to Seville, where their great mosque's tower, the Giralda, still stands. Defeat at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 began their decline in al-Andalus.
Crown of Aragon
A union of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and Majorca that built a Mediterranean empire in Sicily, Sardinia and Naples. Ferdinand II's marriage to Isabella I of Castile joined the two crowns, which passed together to Charles I in 1516.
Crown of Castile
The union of Castile and Leon under Ferdinand III, who took Cordoba and Seville. Isabella I married Ferdinand of Aragon, finished the Reconquista and backed Columbus in 1492.
Emirate of Granada
The last Muslim state in Iberia, ruled by the Nasrids, who built the Alhambra. Boabdil surrendered Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella on 2 January 1492.
Spanish Empire (Habsburg Spain)
Charles V and Philip II ruled Castile, Aragon, the Netherlands, much of Italy and the Americas, and fought long wars with France, the Dutch and England. The line ended with the death of Charles II in 1700.
Bourbon Spain
Philip V kept the throne after the War of the Spanish Succession and centralised the kingdom with the Nueva Planta decrees. Charles III's reforms brought renewed prosperity before Napoleon forced the royal family to abdicate in 1808.
Kingdom of Spain (1814 to 1931)
Restored after the Peninsular War, the monarchy lost most of its mainland American empire in the 1810s and 1820s and Cuba and the Philippines in 1898, amid Carlist civil wars and a short-lived republic in 1873 to 1874.
Second Spanish Republic
Proclaimed in April 1931 as Alfonso XIII went into exile, it adopted a new constitution and a moderate agrarian reform. A military revolt in 1936 began a civil war that Franco's Nationalists won in 1939.
Francoist Spain
Francisco Franco's dictatorship stayed formally neutral in the Second World War while aiding the Axis, then allied with the United States in the Cold War. Its economy boomed after 1959 in the Spanish Miracle. In 1969 Franco named Juan Carlos his successor.
Kingdom of Spain
Juan Carlos I steered the transition to democracy and the 1978 constitution. Spain joined the EEC in 1986, while Catalan and Basque nationalism shaped its politics.
Major events
- Spanish Inquisition established. Pope Sixtus IV authorizes the tribunal in 1478, and Ferdinand and Isabella appoint its first inquisitors in 1480. Over its existence it is estimated to have prosecuted 150,000 people and sent 3,000 to 5,000 to execution.
- Fall of Granada and Columbus's voyage. Ferdinand and Isabella take Granada, the last Muslim state in Iberia, and send Columbus west across the Atlantic.
- Treaty of Tordesillas. Portugal and Castile divide the newly discovered lands outside Europe along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, with lands to the east going to Portugal and lands to the west to Castile.
- First circumnavigation completed. The Victoria, the only ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition to finish, reaches Spain on 6 September under Juan Sebastián Elcano. About 40 men complete the first voyage around the Earth; Magellan died in the Philippines in 1521.
- Spanish Armada. A Spanish fleet sent to escort an invasion of England and overthrow Elizabeth I is scattered by English fire ships off Calais and attacked at Gravelines. It returns home around Scotland and Ireland, where storms wreck many of its ships.
- Spanish Civil War begins. Nationalist rebels, aided by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, fight Republicans loyal to the Second Spanish Republic, who are supported by the Soviet Union. The Nationalists win in early 1939 and rule Spain until Franco's death in 1975.
Questions
What is the order of Spanish kingdoms and states?
By start date: Roman Hispania, Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo, Emirate of Cordoba, Caliphate of Cordoba, Kingdom of Castile, Almoravid al-Andalus, Almohad al-Andalus, Crown of Aragon, Crown of Castile, Emirate of Granada, Spanish Empire (Habsburg Spain), Bourbon Spain, Kingdom of Spain (1814 to 1931), Second Spanish Republic, Francoist Spain and Kingdom of Spain.
Which of the Spanish kingdoms and states lasted longest?
On this timeline, Crown of Aragon, at about 354 years (1162 to 1516 CE).
How many Spanish kingdoms and states were there?
This timeline shows 16. Other lists count differently, depending on how they treat rival states and periods of division.
Which came first?
Roman Hispania, 218 BCE to 472 CE, is the earliest on this timeline.
Where do these dates come from?
Each row's dates were checked against the sources listed on that row's own page, mostly English Wikipedia articles, which cite the underlying scholarship. Dates that are uncertain are marked c.