Spain in the Reconquista Period - Essay Example

Spain in the Reconquista Period Introduction The Spanish reconquista refers to some eight centuries of conflict between Muslims and Christians in the Iberian Peninsula sparked by the toppling of the Spanish king by North African Muslims wand their eventual take over of the entire region with the exception of the mountainous part in the north. Reconquista is the sporadic, unconsolidated but inspired movement of the Christian Spanish to retake the region and oust the foreign invaders over a span of eight centuries. The period officially ended with the retaking of Granada in the southernmost portion of the Peninsula in the last part of the 15th century. The reconquista movement had been underpinned not only by the retaking of territorial prerogatives but also by the re-establishing of religious supremacy. History shows that where the reconquista period ended, the Spanish conquest of the New World suspiciously emerged on its heels. Is the conquest of the Americas or New World then influenced, to some extent, by the end of the reconquista? History of the Reconquista The Reconquista, the Spanish for “re-conquest”, refers to the 800 years, more or less, in which the Christian Spanish gradually retook the Iberian Peninsula, which consisted of Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar and Andorra, from the hands of the African Muslims which had earlier invaded it in the 8th century. In the early part of the said century, Muslims from North Africa rushed upwards to Spain, at the behest of King Rodrigo’s enemies, and helped topple him from the throne. 1 The Muslims, called Moors because they came from Mauritania (now Morocco), were led by Jebel al Tarik who, after defeating the king, stayed on and began his conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Soon thereafter, the Muslim forces took the entire peninsula with the exception of the mountainous northern portion where the Christians went to hide. 2 Eleven years after the Muslims had completely taken over the peninsula, Christian forces led by Pelayo, a Visigoth soldier, successfully ambushed a Muslim Army in Covadonga. This officially heralded the beginning of the reconquista. Inspired by this success, subsequent efforts to retake Iberia sporadically cropped up for 800 years, gradually pushing down south and culminating in 1492 when the Spanish forces recaptured Granada successfully. The success was underpinned particularly by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, a union which united the two most important Spanish kingdoms of Aragon and Castile (see Fig 1). Granada was the last frontier of the Moors and its recapture ended the rule of the African Muslims. 3 The Significance of the Reconquista to the Spanish Empire in the Americas The success in Granada meant several things: one, it concluded the Reconquista, and; second, it ended the convivencia, which is the Spanish for ‘co-existence’, as movement for religious unity was soon rigorously implemented fostering intolerance of non-Christian religions. The ideals of the reconquista, viz., territorial expansionism and religious conversion, were carried over even after its end and are evident in three different areas in Spanish activities subsequent to the Granada takeover: the North Africa expedition; the Spanish internal policy, and; the incursion into the New World. 4 Many historians believed that Spain’s invasion of the Americas resulted from the momentum of the reconquista and carried out under the same ideals. Claudio Sanchez-Albornoz believes that the invasion is “the most immense result of the peninsular activism created by Spain’s centuries-long struggle with Islam” and James Lang, for his part, refers to it as “The extension of royal power to the vast area of two continents was a monumental task. But it was not a new task or a new policy” 5 implying that the New World foray was just a mere continuation and extension of the reconquista conducted outside the Spanish territory. As author Majib said, the reconquista was largely “irreversible” and became Spain’s constant companion for much of its history. 6 The reconquista had spawned a social order built around “permanent military mobilization, continuous plunder and the task of incorporating and settling new lands inhabited by non-Christian populations”. The conclusion of the period implies that the militaristic structures of society that had existed for almost eight centuries are left with no war to fight and virtually without a place in the new order.7 As Spain turned its eyes outside of its frontiers for resolution, it necessarily exported these formidable machines to the Americas where they continued to operate in the same manner as they did in the last eight centuries, 8 an argument evinced by the practice of capitulaciones by the Spanish invaders in the New World where territories were seized, rebelling natives were enslaved and forced to convert religions 9 and the encomienda system over newly seized territories, both systems of which were the norms during the reconquista. 10 Indeed, the legacy of the reconquista shaped the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Imperial policies, like royal laws, reminiscent of the reconquista were brought in ordering Spanish soldiers to bring their wives and families to the New World so that the Spanish family can serve as the role model to the native families. This policy had its roots in reconquista where the bringing in of the military’s families to newly seized Iberian territories were employed to recreate a Christian homeland in that territory once dominated by the Moors. 11 IV Conclusion The conquest of the Americas by Spain arose from the momentum of and was based on the same ideology as the reconquista. This is evinced from the patterns of conquest employed in that region which were evidently reflections of the patterns used by Spanish military forces during the reconquista period. More importantly, the conquest of the New World was a necessary consequence of the conclusion of the reconquista which ended in the retaking of the last Muslim frontier which is Granada. The highly militaristic Spanish structures built over eight centuries had become institutionalised in the Spanish society that the end of the reconquista not only made them collectively a white elephant but worse, threatened the integrity of the Spanish nation. The discovery of the New World provided the new outlet for these structures that the end of the reconquista had taken away. The implication is that albeit the reconquista had officially ended in 1492, a new form of the movement had surfaced outside Spanish territory in the New World where patented reconquista systems continued to be practised. References: Francis JM & W Kaufman 2005, Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History : A Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia, Ed: illus, ABC-CLIO. Iberian Map, 1270-1492, Learn NC, http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/uploads/2007/09/1492spain.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/6279&h=455&w=620&sz=93&tbnid=1CuEWg15urrmsM::&tbnh=100&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmap%2Bof%2BIberian%2BPeninsula&hl=en&usg=__Cn8NQvhb5HYvKACzPdicaTnhdQ4=&ei=c0sMSvnPHNCIkQWq94i8BA&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image Jaffary, NE 2007, Gender, Race and Religion in the Colonization of the Americas, Ed: illustrated Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Majid, J 2004, Freedom and Orthodoxy: Islam and Difference in a Post-Andalusian Age, Stanford University Press. Marshall Cavendish Corporation 2005, Explorers and Exploration, Ed: illustrated, Marshall Cavendish Nicholson, H J 2004, The Crusades, Ed: illustrated, annotated, Greenwood Publishing Group Rosenberg, J 1994, The Empire of Civil Society: A Critique of the Realist Theory of International Relations, Verso. Thackeray, FW & J E Findling 2001, Events that Changed the World Through the Sixteenth Century, Ed: illustrated, annotated, Greenwood Publishing Group. . . Read More