Centre for Lifelong Learning Online Catalogue

From Roman times to the present day, Spain has occupied a significant place in the history of the world. The peninsula sits on a crossroads that links Western Europe to North Africa and connects the Mediterranean to the New World beyond. Over thousands of years it has attracted both colonists and conquerors, all of which left their cultural imprint on this rich land. This class will look at the history of Spain from its prehistoric origins, through its role as part of the Roman Empire to the conquests of the Visigoths and Muslims.  We will analyse the Christian Reconquista, and the unification of Aragon and Castile which created a unified nation for the first time, one that created and then lost a vast transatlantic empire. The class will end by looking at the turbulent years of the 20^th century, through civil war and the domination of Franco, and some of the challenges facing modern Spain today. Lecture style with question and answer time.