Valencian Community PAU History of Spain key terms

The Muslim-ruled territory on the Iberian Peninsula between 711 and 1492, initially an emirate dependent on Damascus, later an independent caliphate, and finally fragmented into taifa kingdoms.

One of the small independent Muslim kingdoms that emerged after the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031, frequently paying tribute to Christian rulers and later absorbed by the Almoravids and Almohads.

The long, uneven process by which Christian kingdoms expanded southward across the Iberian Peninsula from the eighth to the fifteenth century, ending with the conquest of Granada in 1492.

The charter of rights and privileges granted to the Kingdom of Valencia, first by James I in 1238 and later expanded, which regulated its laws, taxation and institutions until 1707.

A composite monarchy formed from the Kingdom of Aragon, the County of Barcelona and later the Kingdom of Valencia and Majorca, whose ruler governed each territory under its own laws and institutions.

The institution of self-government of the Valencian Community, established by the Statute of Autonomy of 1982 and comprising the Valencian Parliament, the President and the Council.

A Muslim living under Christian rule in medieval Iberia, permitted to keep religion and customs in exchange for tribute, and often employed as skilled builders in brick and tile architecture.

A descendant of Muslims who converted to Christianity, mostly after 1502 in Castile and 1526 in Aragon, and who were expelled from Spain between 1609 and 1614.

Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose dynastic union in 1469 laid the basis of the Spanish monarchy, completed the conquest of Granada and sponsored Columbus in 1492.

The period from 1516 to 1700 when Spanish crowns were held by the Habsburg dynasty, marked by imperial commitments in Europe, American silver and the revolt of the Communities and Germanías.

A revolt between 1519 and 1523 by guildsmen and artisans in Valencia and Majorca against noble and urban oligarchies, initially loyal to Charles I but later crushed by royal troops.

Favourite and chief minister of Philip IV from 1621 to 1643, promoter of the Union of Arms and of a more centralised monarchy, whose policies triggered the Catalan and Portuguese revolts of 1640.

Favourite of Philip III between 1598 and 1618, who governed through a client network, moved the court to Valladolid and oversaw the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609.

Decrees issued by Philip V between 1707 and 1716 abolishing the laws and institutions of the Crown of Aragon, including the Valencian Furs, and imposing Castilian law and centralised government.

Administrative, fiscal and economic changes promoted by the Spanish Bourbons in the eighteenth century, such as intendancies, the cadastre of Patiño and freer colonial trade, aimed at increasing royal control and revenue.

A style of rule in which monarchs adopted Enlightenment ideas of reform and efficiency while keeping absolute power, exemplified in Spain by Charles III and his ministers.

The assembly convened in 1810 during the War of Independence which, in 1812, approved Spain's first constitution, establishing national sovereignty, a single chamber and equality before the law.

The liberal text known as La Pepa, which proclaimed national sovereignty, universal male suffrage through indirect elections, freedom of the press and Catholicism as the state religion.

A legitimist movement supporting Don Carlos and his successors against liberal succession rules, strong in rural and northern Spain, defending Catholicism, local fueros and traditional monarchy.

Queen of Spain from 1833 to 1868, whose minority saw the First Carlist War and whose reign alternated liberal constitutions with military interventions, ending in her exile in 1868.

The forced sale of lands held by the Church and municipalities, especially under Mendizábal in 1836 and Madoz in 1855, intended to reduce public debt and create a class of small landowners.

The military uprising of September 1868 led by generals Prim and Serrano which overthrew Isabella II and opened the six-year Democratic Sexennium of liberal and democratic experimentation.

The period from 1868 to 1874 including the provisional government, the Constitution of 1869, the brief reign of Amadeo I and the First Republic, ending with the Bourbon Restoration.

The political regime from 1874 to 1923 built by Cánovas del Castillo, resting on the 1876 Constitution, the alternation of two dynastic parties through electoral fraud and the cacique network.

The agreed rotation in office between the Conservative and Liberal parties under the Restoration, ensured by royal appointment and manipulated elections rather than genuine voter choice.

A system of local political control in which powerful notables, or caciques, delivered votes and favours in exchange for state jobs and services, sustaining the Restoration's electoral machinery.

A movement from the late nineteenth century claiming Valencian identity, language and self-government, expressed through newspapers, cultural societies and early political parties such as the Regionalist Union.

Spain's defeat by the United States in 1898, losing Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, which triggered a crisis of national identity and the regenerationist critique of the Restoration.

An intellectual and political current around 1900, associated with figures such as Joaquín Costa, demanding reform of the oligarchic state, education and the economy after the colonial defeat.

The authoritarian regime from 1923 to 1930 established after a military coup, which suspended the constitution, banned parties, created a single state party and promoted public works before losing support.

King of Spain from 1902 to 1931, who supported the coup of Primo de Rivera and whose departure into exile accompanied the proclamation of the Second Republic in April 1931.

The democratic regime from 1931 to 1939, marked by the 1931 Constitution, secularisation, agrarian reform and sharp polarisation between left and right until the Civil War.

The Republican constitution establishing a secular state, universal suffrage including women, extensive civil rights, regional autonomy and strong parliamentary control over the government.

The armed conflict from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican government and a military rebellion supported by Germany and Italy, ending with Franco's victory and a long dictatorship.

The dictatorship led by Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, combining repression, a single party, autarkic economics and later developmental policies, with no constitution and limited civil rights.

An economic policy of national self-sufficiency pursued in the 1940s and 1950s, based on import restrictions, state intervention and rationing, which produced stagnation and shortages.

The growth-oriented policy of the late Franco regime from 1959, following the Stabilisation Plan, which opened the economy, attracted foreign investment and tourism and drove industrialisation and urban migration.

The process from 1975 to 1982 in which Spain moved from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy through negotiated reform, political amnesty, free elections in 1977 and consensus constitutions.

The current Spanish constitution, approved by referendum in December 1978, defining a parliamentary monarchy, national sovereignty, fundamental rights and the right to regional autonomy.

Spain's territorial model under the 1978 Constitution, in which provinces and historic nationalities exercise self-government through statutes of autonomy within a single state.

The fundamental law of the Valencian Community, first approved in 1982 and reformed in 2006, defining its institutions, competences, symbols and recognition of Valencian language and identity.

A political doctrine defending individual rights, constitutional government, property and free markets, which shaped Spanish nineteenth-century revolutions, constitutions and party politics.

The conflict from 1808 to 1814 against Napoleon's occupation of Spain, combining regular armies, guerrilla warfare and juntas that claimed sovereignty in the absence of the Bourbon king.