PAU History of Spain (Andalusia) key terms

Archaeological site in Burgos whose Sima de los Huesos and Gran Dolina deposits yielded some of Europe's oldest human fossils, including Homo antecessor, dating to over 800,000 years ago.

Extinct human species identified from fossils at Atapuerca, dated around 800,000 years ago; considered one of the earliest hominins known in Western Europe.

Earliest phase of the Stone Age, marked by core-and-flake stone tools and hunter-gatherer lifeways; in Iberia represented at sites such as Atapuerca and Orce.

Legendary and archaeologically attested polity of the lower Guadalquivir in the first millennium BCE, known for trade with Phoenician colonists and rich metal wealth.

Iron Age peoples of the Mediterranean and southern Iberian Peninsula, known for fortified settlements, writing systems and sculpture such as the Dama de Elche.

Iron Age peoples of the central Iberian plateau combining Celtic and Iberian cultural traits, organised in towns and known for resistance to Roman conquest at Numantia.

Process by which Iberian communities adopted Roman law, language, urban forms, religion and infrastructure after conquest, creating provinces such as Hispania Baetica.

Germanic monarchy ruling most of the Iberian Peninsula from Toledo between the fifth and early eighth centuries, converting to Catholicism and issuing law codes.

Visigothic royal city founded in the late sixth century near present-day Zorita de los Canes, showing state planning and Byzantine-influenced ceremonial architecture.

Muslim-ruled territory in the Iberian Peninsula between 711 and 1492, at times an emirate, caliphate or collection of taifa kingdoms, with Cordoba as its great centre.

Independent Muslim state established by Abd al-Rahman I in 756, breaking political ties with the Abbasid caliphate while remaining religiously subject to it.

Period from 929 when Abd al-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph, centralising power and presiding over a cultural and economic high point until its collapse after 1031.

Small successor states that emerged after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Cordoba in the eleventh century, frequently paying tribute to Christian rulers.

Historiographical label for the coexistence of Muslims, Christians and Jews in medieval Iberia, debated by scholars for overstating harmony and underplaying conflict.

Muslims living under Christian rule in medieval Iberia, and by extension the architectural style blending Islamic decorative forms with Christian building traditions.

Centuries-long expansion of Christian kingdoms southward against Muslim-ruled territory, culminating in the conquest of Granada in 1492.

Composite monarchy centred on Castile that absorbed the kingdoms of Leon, Toledo and Seville and directed most of the Atlantic expansion.

Composite monarchy comprising Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearics, with a Mediterranean empire and distinctive pactist institutions such as the Corts.

Local or regional charter of rights and privileges granted to towns or kingdoms in medieval and early modern Iberia, a foundation of legal particularism.

Regional legal privileges abolished by Philip V after the War of the Spanish Succession under the Nueva Planta decrees, ending Aragonese and Valencian institutional autonomy.

Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose dynastic union from 1469 underpinned the conquest of Granada, the Inquisition and overseas expansion.

Ecclesiastical tribunal established in 1478 under royal control to prosecute heresy, notably targeting converted Jews and later Muslims; abolished definitively in 1834.

Period from 1516 to 1700 when Spanish crowns were held by the Habsburg dynasty, characterised by imperial commitments, silver flows from America and recurring fiscal strain.

Overseas and European territories ruled from Castile and later Madrid, spanning the Americas, the Philippines and parts of Italy and the Low Countries.

Body founded in Seville in 1503 to regulate trade with the Indies, license voyages and collect colonial revenue, making Seville the monopoly port.

System of fleets and galleons carrying goods and silver between Seville or Cadiz and the Americas, designed to protect trade from privateers.

Favourite of Philip IV who pursued the Union of Arms, seeking shared military costs across the monarchy; his policies contributed to the revolts of 1640.

Uprising beginning in 1640 against Castilian military burdens and Olivares's policies, leading to a short-lived Catalan republic and French intervention.

Royal decrees issued from 1707 by Philip V abolishing the institutions and fueros of Aragon and Valencia and later Catalonia and Mallorca, imposing Castilian-style administration.

Eighteenth-century administrative, fiscal and commercial changes under the new dynasty, including intendentes, cadastral surveys and freer colonial trade.

Survey ordered by the Marquis of Ensenada in the mid-eighteenth century to record property and incomes as the basis for a single tax that was never implemented.

Conflict from 1808 to 1814 against Napoleonic occupation, combining popular resistance, sieges such as Cadiz and the political transformation begun at Cadiz.

Local and provincial committees formed in 1808 to govern in the name of Ferdinand VII during the French occupation, later coordinated by the Central Junta.

Liberal charter drafted by the Cortes of Cadiz, establishing national sovereignty, a single chamber and universal male suffrage with indirect voting.

Traditionalist movement backing Don Carlos and later claimants against the liberal succession, strong in parts of the Basque Country, Navarre and Aragon.

Reign of Isabella II from 1833 to 1868, spanning regencies, the building of the liberal state, the Carlist wars and growing military intervention in politics.

State seizure and sale of Church and municipal lands in the nineteenth century, notably under Mendizabal and Madoz, reshaping land ownership.

Six-year period from 1868 to 1874 following the Glorious Revolution, including a constitutional monarchy, the First Republic and cantonalist upheavals.

Regime from 1874 built around Alfonso XII and the turno pacifico, using electoral manipulation and caciquismo to alternate Liberal and Conservative governments.

Spain's defeat by the United States and loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, triggering national self-examination and the Generation of '98.

Spanish regime from 1931 to 1939 established after the fall of the monarchy, marked by reformist coalitions, social conflict and polarisation before the Civil War.

Conflict from 1936 to 1939 between Republican and Nationalist forces, shaped by foreign intervention and followed by a long dictatorship.

Dictatorship led by General Franco from 1939 to 1975, combining repression, autarky, later developmentalism and a rigidly centralist state.

Process from 1975 to 1978 through which Spain moved from dictatorship to a parliamentary monarchy, culminating in the 1978 Constitution.

Current Spanish charter establishing a parliamentary monarchy, territorial autonomy and a catalogue of rights, approved by referendum in December 1978.

Territorial model under the 1978 Constitution in which regions accede to self-government through statutes, with competences shared with the central state.

Organic law granting Andalusian self-government; the 1981 statute was replaced in 2007 by one expanding competences and recognising Andalusia as a nationality.

Predecessor of the European Union, joined by Spain in 1986 after accession negotiations, bringing economic modernisation and structural funding.

Historical evidence produced in the period under study, such as charters, chronicles, laws, letters or artefacts, analysed for provenance and purpose.

Later account or analysis that interprets primary evidence, such as a scholarly monograph or textbook, and must be assessed for argument and bias.

A scholarly explanation of the past shaped by available evidence and theoretical assumptions, which changes over time and can be compared across schools.