SPAIN

First free comunity of ex slaves

2009-02-28T13:44:00.000-08:00

If the only thing you know about Spain and about slaves is what was told in the movie Amistad, you will be more than surprised when you read the following story; true events, not a movie:
"Hidden away in the marshes of St. Augustine, Florida is one of the most important sites in American history: the first free community of ex-slaves, founded in 1738 and called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose or Fort Mose. More than a century before the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves from the British colonies were able to follow the original "Underground Railroad" which headed not to the north, but rather south, to the Spanish colony of Florida. There they were given freedom, if they declared their allegiance to the King of Spain and joined the Catholic Church.
Fort Mose was the northern defense of St.Augustine, the nation's second oldest city, after Santa Fe. The events that took place there should cause all American history textbooks to be rewritten.
Fort Mose Historical Overview
Established in 1738 by Colonial Spanish Florida's Governor Manuel Montiano, Fort Mose gave sanctuary to Africans challenging enslavement in the English Colony of Carolina. Approximately 100 Africans lived at Fort Mose, forming more than 20 households. Together they created a frontier community which drew on a range of African backgrounds blended with Spanish, Native American and English cultural traditions. A Maroon Fort Mose, a maroon community, was legally sanctioned by the Spanish Government making it the first free African settlement to legally exist in the United States.
Background and Historical Origins of Fort MoseUsually when we consider post contact discovery and development of North America we think about the English settling at Jamestown in 1607 or perhaps Plymouth in 1620; but it was the Spaniards who established the Oldest European City of the United States, St. Augustine in 1565. In contemplating experience of Africans within the post Columbian context we again think about Jamestown, Virginia and Charles Town, Carolina. However, the first Africans to accompany Europeans in coming to the New World arrived not as slaves in Jamestown in 1619. Aboard ships with Spanish Conquistadors and Adelantados, Africans arrived as artisans, seamen, navigators and adventurers, forever establishing their presence in North America. In early 1500's Juan Garrido took part in the expeditions of Ponce de Leon in Puerto Rico and Florida as well as with Hernando Cortez in Mexico. Esteban joined Panfilo de Narvaez traveling through the Gulf Coast and the Southwest.
St. Augustine, Florida founded in 1565 by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, is the Oldest European City in what became the United States. Africans helped in forming and maintaining the settlement as both slaves and free people. Skills and knowledge gained from Africa including blacksmithing, carpentry, cattleranching, and military techniques enabled African people to make important contributions to the St Augustine community. They formed 12% of the population, 1 of every 5 was a free person.
English Planters established Charles Town in 1670 along the southeastern coast of the North American Continent. This intensified regional intercolonial rivalry involving Spaniards, Native Americans, French Huguenots, and Africans. In Charles Town enslaved Africans soon outnumbered whites and many resisted bondage by running away. 1672 brought a Spanish response to the increasing regional tensions. Queen Regent Mariana of Spain and the Florida's Governor Cendoya commissioned the construction of a coquina fortress, the Castillo de San Marcos, a defensive move to fortify the settlement of St. Augustine. Spaniards worked with Native Americans and Africans building the structure."

From http://www.fortmose.org/

Sports

2008-12-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I should not post about our successes at sports, but it has really been a very good year for SPAIN, so, please forgive me for doing so.

- Tour de France 2008 Carlos Sastre

- Giro d´Italia 2008 Alberto Contador

- Euro champions (soccer in USA, football everywhere else) 2008

- Vuelta a España 2008 Alberto Contador

- Davis Cup 2008, defeating Argentina in Argentina

- Roland Garros Rafael Nadal

- Wimbledon Rafael Nadal

And so on ......

Miguel Servet, burnt by his religious ideas

2008-06-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

If you have only read normal “anglosaxon” history, you will think only the catholic spanish inquisition existed, maybe then, you will be very surprised reading this:
MIGUEL SERVET (1511-1553)
This spanish doctor, theologist, mathematician, astronomer and geographer, was born around 1511 in Villanueva de Sijena (Aragon, Spain) and burnt alive to death by calvinists in Geneva (Switzerland) in a dampened wood pyre to add to the suffering of his agony, on the Champel hill, where a small engraving tries, to repair what was done to him.
His father was a notary. He made him learn Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He went to Toulouse, in 1528, to study for a long time. Later, he was appointed as a secretary by Quintana, just apppointed the confesor of Carlos I (of Spain V of Germany) and this social promotion allowed him to travel around Italy and Germany, between 1529 and 1530, before his thirties. In Basel (Switzerland) he published his famous "De erroribus Trinitatis". (1531), becoming the enemy of Zwinglio. He had to leave the city and flee to France, where he became a quest to the Treschsel family, important printers from Lyon. There he quoted and published the Geography of Ptolomeo, in a work of great quality that, according to some scholars, makes him the forefather of compared geography.
In Lyon he met doctor Champier, who introduced him to his science: in order to extend the knowledge in medicine, he went to Paris, where he received the ranks of master in Arts and Medicine doctor. He discovered the lung circulation (he published with his discoveries the famous "Christianismi restitutio", of 1553) and spent eleven years of semi-concealed life in Vienne with the false name of Michael of Villanueva.
Meanwhile, maintained a furious written discussion with Calvin, the great reformer, whose wrath ignited when Servet published thirty of the letters they have sent each other. Calvin accused him of herexy. On 16 February 1553, Servetus, while in Vienne, was denounced as a heretic by Guillaume Trie, a rich merchant who had taken refuge in Geneva and was a very good friend of Calvin, in a letter sent to a cousin, Antoine Arneys, living in Lyon. On behalf of the French inquisitor Matthieu Ory, Servetus as well as Arnollet, the printer of Christianismi Restitutio, were questioned, but they denied all charges and were released for lack of evidence. Arneys was asked by Ory to write back to Trie, demanding proof. On March 26, 1553, the letters sent by Servetus to Calvin and some manuscript pages of Christianismi Restitutio were forwarded to Lyon by Trie. On April 4, 1553 Servetus was arrested by the Roman Catholic authorities, and imprisoned in Vienne. He escaped from prison three days later. On June 17, he was convicted of heresy by the French inquisition, "thanks to the 17 letters sent by Jehan Calvin, preacher in Geneva" and sentenced to be burned with his books. An effigy and his books were burned in his absence. Meaning to flee to Italy, Servetus stopped in at Geneva, where Calvin and his Reformers had denounced him. On August 13, he attended a sermon by Calvin at Geneva. He was immediately recognized and arrested after the service and was again imprisoned and had all his property confiscated. Unfortunately for Servetus, at this time Calvin was fighting to maintain his weakening power in Geneva. Calvin's opponents used Servetus as a pretext for attacking the Geneva Reformer's theocratic government, so any mercy would have been taken as a sign of weakness. Also, the French Inquisitors asked that Servetus be extradited to them for execution, and Calvin wanted to show himself as firm in defense of Christian orthodoxy as his usual opponents. "He was forced to push the condemnation of Servetus with all the means at his command." Calvin's delicate health and usefulness to the state meant he did not personally appear against Servetus. Nicholas de la Fontaine played the more active role in Servetus's prosecution and the listing of points that condemned him. At his trial, Servetus was condemned on two counts, for spreading and preaching Nontrinitarianism and anti-paedobaptism (anti-infant baptism). Of paedobaptism Michael Servetus had said, "It is an invention of the devil, an infernal falsity for the destruction of all Christianity" Whatever the cause of them, be it irritation or mistreatment, his statements that common Christian traditions were "of the devil" severely harmed his ability to make allies. In the case the Procureur General, who was not Nicholas, added some curious sounding accusations, in the form of inquiries, the most odd sounding perhaps being, "whether he has married, and if he answers that he has not, he shall be asked why, in consideration of his age, he could refrain so long from marriage." To this oblique imputation of unchastity Servetus replied that rupture had long since made him incapable of that particular sin. More offensive to modern ears might be the question "whether he did not know that his doctrine was pernicious, considering that he favors Jews and Turks, by making excuses for them, and if he has not studied the Koran in order to disprove and controvert the doctrine and religion that the Christian churches hold, together with other profane books, from which people ought to abstain in matters of religion, according to the doctrine of St. Paul." Although Calvin believed Servetus deserving of death on account of his "execrable blasphemies", he nevertheless hoped that it would not be by fire, as he was inclined toward clemency. Calvin expressed these sentiments in a letter to Farel, written about a week after Servetus’ arrest, in which he also mentions an exchange between himself and Servetus. Calvin writes: …after he [Servetus] had been recognized, I thought he should be detained. My friend Nicolas summoned him on a capital charge, offering himself as a security according to the lex talionis. On the following day he adduced against him forty written charges. He at first sought to evade them. Accordingly we were summoned. He impudently reviled me, just as if he regarded me as obnoxious to him. I answered him as he deserved… of the man’s effrontery I will say nothing; but such was his madness that he did not hesitate to say that devils possessed divinity; yea, that many gods were in individual devils, inasmuch as a deity had been substantially communicated to those equally with wood and stone. I hope that sentence of death will at least be passed on him; but I desired that the severity of the punishment be mitigated. As Servetus was not a citizen of Geneva, and legally could at worst be banished, the government had consulted with other Swiss Reformed cantons (Zurich, Bern, Basel, Schaffhausen), which universally favored his condemnation and the suppression of his doctrine, but without saying how that should be accomplished. Martin Luther had condemned his writing in strong terms. Servetus and Philip Melanchthon had strongly hostile views of each other. Most Protestant Reformers saw Servetus as a dangerous radical, and the concept of religious freedom did not really exist yet. The Catholic world had also imprisoned him and condemned him to death, which apparently spurred Calvin to equal their rigor. Those who went against the idea of his execution, the party called "Libertines", drew the ire of much of Christendom. On 24 October Servetus was sentenced to death by burning for denying the Trinity and infant baptism. When Calvin requested that Servetus be executed by decapitation rather than fire, Farel, in a letter of September 8, chided him for undue lenity, and the Geneva Council refused his request. On 27 October 1553 Servetus was burned at the stake just outside Geneva with what was believed to be the last copy of his book chained to his leg. Historians record his last words as: "Jesus, Son of the Eternal God, have mercy on me." The common view of the age, that heretics like Servetus should be subject to punishment, was explained by Calvin as follows: Whoever shall maintain that wrong is done to heretics and blasphemers in punishing them makes himself an accomplice in their crime and guilty as they are. There is no question here of man's authority; it is God who speaks, and clear it is what law he will have kept in the church, even to the end of the world. Wherefore does he demand of us a so extreme severity, if not to show us that due honor is not paid him, so long as we set not his service above every human consideration, so that we spare not kin, nor blood of any, and forget all humanity when the matter is to combat for His glory. Nevertheless, Sebastian Castellio denounced his execution and became a harsh critic of Calvin due to the whole affair.
Modern relevance
Due to his rejection of the Trinity and eventual execution by burning for heresy, Servetus is often regarded as the first (modern) Unitarian martyr by Unitarians. Other modern non-trinitarian groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses[citation needed], Christadelphians and Oneness Pentecostalism, also claim Servetus as a spiritual ancestor. Servetus' influence on the beginnings of the Unitarian movement in Poland and Transylvania has been confirmed by scholars, and two Unitarian Universalist congregations are named after him, in Minnesota and Washington. A church window is also dedicated to Servetus at the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn, NY. Oneness Pentecostalism identifies with Servetus' teaching on the divinity of Jesus Christ and his insistence on the one God, rather than a Trinity of three distinct persons: "And because His Spirit was wholly God He is called God, just as from His flesh He is called man" The theology of Servetus also has many affinities with that of Swedenborg. Servetus was the first European to describe the function of pulmonary circulation, although it was not widely recognized at the time, for a few reasons. One was that the description appeared in a theological treatise, Christianismi Restitutio, not in a book on medicine. Further, most copies of the book were burned shortly after its publication in 1553. Three copies survived, but these remained hidden for decades. It was not until William Harvey's dissections in 1616 that the function of pulmonary circulation was widely accepted by physicians. It is increasingly recognized that the discovery of pulmonary circulation was made 300 years earlier by Ala-al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashqi (known as Ibn Al-Nafis) who was born in 1213 A.D. in Damascus. In 1984, a Zaragoza public hospital changed its name from José Antonio to Miguel Servet. It is now a university hospital. Most Spanish cities also include at least a street, square or park named after Servetus.

A beautiful chapter in the history of medicine

2008-03-31T19:43:00.001-07:00

This is one of the most beautiful chapters in the history of medicine, but of course, as it was done by a Spanish doctor, one mainly unknown, even by spaniards.
Balmis Expedition was a three year mission to the Americas led by Dr Francisco Javier de Balmis with the aim of giving thousands the smallpox vaccine. He set off from La Coruña on 30 November 1803. It may be considered the first international sanitary expedition in history.
King Charles IV of Spain supported his royal doctor Balmis, since his daughter María Luísa had suffered the illness. The expedition occurred on the Maria Pita ship and carried 22 orphan boys (8 to 10 years old) as successive carriers in "vivo" of the vaccine, Balmis, a deputy surgeon, two assistants, two first-aid practitioners, three nurses, and Isabel López de Gandalia, the rectoress of Casa de Expósitos a La Coruña orphanage.
The course
The mission took the vaccine to the Canary Islands, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, the Philippines and China. The ship carried also scientific instruments and translations of the Historical and Practical Treatise on the Vaccine by Moreau de Sarthe to be distributed to the local vaccine commissions to be founded.
Puerto Rico
The local population was already inoculated with a vaccine carried from the Danish colony Saint Thomas.
Venezuela
The expedition divided at La Guayra.
José Salvany, the deputy surgeon, went toward today's Colombia and the Viceroyalty of Peru (Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia). They took seven years and the toils of the voyage brought death to Salvany (Cochabamba, 1810).
Balmis went to Caracas and later to Havana. The local poet Andrés Bello wrote an ode to Balmis.
Mexico (1805)
In Mexico, Balmis took 25 orphans to maintain the vaccine during the crossing of the Pacific.
Philippines
They received help from the church. Balmis dismissed back to Mexico the gross of the expedition and went further to China.
China
Balmis landed on Macau and went also to Canton.
Return
On his way back to Spain, Balmis convinced the authorities of Saint Helena (1806) to take the vaccine.
The discoverer of the vaccine Edward Jenner himself wrote "I don’t imagine the annals of history furnish an example of philanthropy so noble, so extensive as this.”

(With information from Wikipedia).

If you want to know better the Philippine part, you can read here http://www.doh.gov.ph/sphh/balmis.htm

Further reading about it, http://www.juliaalvarez.com/books/biblio.php

La Alhambra

2008-02-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

As you maybe know, Spain has an incredible rich history, but did you know we were mostly a muslim country for about eight centuries? Sorry, but I will start by the end, this is the moorish palace of the last muslim kings of Granada. Granada was the last moorish kingdom in nowadays Spain and surrendered in 1492. Yes, the same year Colon discovered America. This palace, or group of palaces is known as "La Alhambra". Here you have information from the official visitors center (http://www.alhambra.org/eng/index.asp?secc=/inicio&popup=1)

"The history of the Alhambra is linked with the geographical place where it is located: Granada. On a rocky hill that is difficult to access, on the banks of the River Darro, protected by mountains and surrounded by woods, among the oldest quarters in the city, the Alhambra rises up like an imposing castle with reddish tones in its ramparts that prevent the outside world from seeing the delicate beauty they enclose.
Originally designed as a military area, the Alhambra became the residence of royalty and of the court of Granada in the middle of the thirteenth century, after the establishment of the Nasrid kingdom and the construction of the first palace, by the founder king Mohammed ibn Yusuf ben Nasr, better known as Alhamar.
Throughout the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the fortress became a citadel with high ramparts and defensive towers, which house two main areas: the military area, or Alcazaba, the barracks of the royal guard, and the medina or court city, the location of the famous Nasrid Palaces and the remains of the houses of noblemen and plebeians who lived there. The Charles V Palace (which was built after the city was taken by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492) is also in the medina.
The complex of monuments also has an independent palace opposite the Alhambra, surrounded by orchards and gardens, which was where the Granadine kings relaxed: the Generalife."

Talgo, the best spanish technology for trains

2008-01-30T19:13:00.000-08:00

Maybe you have not heard about it, but if you take some time reading this short introduction and more in Talgo official webpage , http://www.talgo.com/htm/English/English.htm you will be surprised by the achievements of spanish engineering,

"On August the 21st 1941, a Spanish engineer, Alejandro Goicoechea, successfully carried out tests on a singular solution for railway vehicle axle guidance. This was a new wheel structure, constructed from a framework of modules formed by isosceles triangle shapes, the wheels being mounted on the bases and linked together so that the axles were naturally guided along the track, avoiding direct wheel friction on the outer rail of curves. This wheel structure designed by Goicoechea reached 75 kilometres per hour between Leganés and Villaverde (Spain).
Shortly afterwards, on the 28th of October 1942, Talgo Patents S.A. was established. Its objective was industrial and commercial development of this new system, one of the most innovative railway concepts in history.Nearly 60 years have passed since that great initial venture. Six decades during which the rate of innovation has been maintained and enabled Talgo to remain at the forefront of the railway technology producing Spain's most prestigious industrial product.Various decades in which attention to the service of Talgo users has resulted in trains with high levels of availability, reliability and safety."

Spanish flu and conquistadores

2008-01-04T18:33:00.001-08:00

Late in the spring of 1918 the Spanish wire service Agencia Fabra sent cables of an unusual nature to Reuter's news service headquarters in London. "A strange form of disease of epidemic character has appeared in Madrid," it said. "The epidemic is of a mild nature, no deaths having been reported." The illness began with a cough, then headache and backache, fatigue, high fever, racing heart, loss of appetite and labored breathing. It usually lasted about three days. Cases had cropped up over the spring and summer in other countries, too, from Norway to India, China to Costa Rica. But in Spain, suddenly 8 million people were down with the bug. And as the summer of 1918 turned to fall, the epidemic lost its mildness: people started to die.
The influenza commonly called "Spanish flu" killed more people than the guns of World War I. Estimates put the worldwide death toll at 21,642,274. Some one billion people were affected by the disease -- half of the total human population. It came at a time when 19 nations were at war and the disruption, stress, and privation of war certainly aided the flu's transmission. It killed people on every continent except Antarctica, with the most lives lost in Asia and the highest percentage of population killed in India. From August 1918, when cases of the flu started looking abnormally high, until the following July when they returned to about normal, 20 million Americans became sick and more than 500,000 died. In October, 1918, the flu reached its peak, killing about 195,000 Americans. About 57,000 American soldiers died from influenza while the U.S. was at war; about 53,500 died in battle.
There wasn't much doctors could do. In the course of the epidemic nearly every known therapy was tried -- quinine tablets, bleeding, castor oil, digitalis, morphine, enemas, aspirin, tobacco, hot baths, cold baths, iron tonics, and expectorants of pine tar. Little was known about the virus, except that it was contagious. After deaths from the disease began in earnest, many local governing bodies closed down theaters, churches, and other public gatherings. Ordinances made it illegal to spit, cough, or sneeze in public -- with threat of $500 fines in New York City. When people went out they wore gauze masks over their nose and mouth, often soaked in camphor or other medicinal substances.
After months of terrorizing people around the world, the "Spanish lady" (called "The Naples Soldier" in Spain, and a variety of other names around the world) seemed to withdraw. It had been the most dire epidemic since the Middle Ages, the third worst in recorded history. For all its destruction, it did not get much press at the time. War and then peace monopolized the front pages. And still little is known about the origin or nature of the killer virus. Many believe the modern "swine flu" virus is a descendant of the deadly 1918 flu. Some theorize that its stronger ancestor ganged up with a bacteria to wreak havoc on the human population. In recent years, vaccinations against various strains of influenza have been introduced.
The disease was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas on March 4, 1918 and Queens on March 11, 1918. In August, 1918, a more virulent strain appeared simultaneously in Brest, France (you could link this one with the american troops fighting in Europe), in West Africa at Freetown, Sierra Leone and in the U.S. at Boston. The Allies countries of World War I came to call it the Spanish Flu, primarily because the pandemic received greater press attention after it moved from France to Spain in November, 1918. Spain was not involved in the war and had not imposed wartime censorship. As you can see saying the truth is dangerous for a country like Spain with so many historic enemies.
Scientists have used tissue samples from frozen victims to reproduce the virus for study. Given the strain's extreme virulence there has been controversy regarding the wisdom of such research. Among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm, which explains its unusually severe nature and the unusual age profile of its victims (the virus caused an overreaction of the body's immune system - strong immune systems ravaged the body, while weaker ones did far less damage). So, as you have read, this disease had nothing to do with Spain in its origin, it started in the USA, and the only mistake of Spain was it did not use censorship, that Spain told the truth. Besides, would anybody blame the US troops of genocide for bringing this disease to Europe, then why are there people saying Spanish conquistadores were genocides when it is proved that most of the indians who died after the Spanish arrival in the new world were because of illnesses that did not exist in America?

The Armada

2007-11-29T06:04:00.000-08:00

Probably, and because of british propaganda, you have always thought bristish ships were almost invincible and always defeated spanish ones, and that the spanish armada was defeated by them. But did you know that the biggest armada ever (until Normandy) was sent by Great Britain against Cartagena de Indias and was completely defeated by a small group of Spaniards?

The Battle of Cartagena de Indias was the decisive battle of a large-scale amphibius expedition by the forces of Britain under Admiral Edward Vernon against Spain under Admiral Blas de Lezo, taking place at the city of Cartagena de Indias, in present day Colombia, starting in March 1741. It is the most significant battle in the War of Jenkins' Ear, though it is now largely forgotten by the British, blending into the greater conflict of the War of the Austrian Succession. It ended in a major defeat for the British.
The War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748. Under the 1729 Treaty of Seville, the British had agreed not to trade with the Spanish colonies except under extreme conditions restricted to the Annual Ship and the Asiento slave trade.The commercial class in England demanded access to the lucrative Spanish markets of the Caribbean Basin and Spanish colonists desired English goods so a burgeoning Black Market had developed. By the terms of the treaty, the Spanish were permitted to board British vessels in Spanish waters. After one such boarding in 1731, Robert Jenkins, captain of the ship Rebecca, claimed that the Spanish coast guard had severed his ear. Jenkins exhibited his pickled ear to the House of Commons. This only served to heighten the "war fever" now developing against Spain which was also driven by the desire of commercial and military domination of the Atlantic basin. To much cheering, the British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declared war on October 23, 1739. Vice-Admiral Vernon was an active and ardent supporter of war against Spain and spoke for offensive action both in Parliament and before the Admiralty.
The Spanish Caribbean basin trade had a network of four main ports: Vera Cruz, Cartagena, Porto Bello (now Portobelo) and the main port through which all the trade of those three came through, Havana. On November 22, 1739 one of the first actions of the War was the British capture of Portobelo which was part of the then New Granada. The attack was part of an attempt to damage Spain's finances. The poorly defended port was attacked by six ships of the line under Admiral Edward Vernon. The relative ease of this capture, although it quickly returned to Spanish control after Vernon's fleet departed, caused jubilation in England and resulted in Vernon being given command of a very large naval contingent consisting of one fourth of the British Royal Navy in ships and sailors of a major land and sea amphibious expedition under the overall command of Lord Cathcar. Unfortunately for British hopes Lord Cathcart died en route and it remained unclear who was then in command overall.
The despatch of the large fleet and troop contingent was primarily for political reasons as the government wished to gain credit for Vernon's hoped for future successes by supplying him with an overwhelming force. Vernon, himself, was not convinced that a large-scale attack on a heavily fortified city would be successful as his smaller Portobello assault had been. However, he could not refuse the orders to attack a major port when he had such a large force at his command.
Britain's objective was to capture and permanently retain Spain's four ports of the Caribbean basin and thereby acquire Spain's American empire. However, Britain had no place to build and refit ships in the Caribbean as Spain did with the dockyards at Havana and without a dockyard no fleet could remain in the area for any length of time without breaking down. Quick capture was imperative but England's divided ministry left the course of the campaign up to Vernon and others at a Council of War held in Jamaica. They decided on Cartagena as their initial objective as it was a good port and to windward of Britain's existing Caribbean bases.
The battle of Cartagena pitted a British invasion force of at least 26,400 in 186 ships including: 29 Ships of the Line; the rest of all types armed with 2,000 canon against the 3,000 Spanish and colonial regulars and 600 Indian archers, fighting from six frigates and massive fortifications — under the command of the Viceroy Sebastián de Eslava, Don Melchor de Navarrete, Don Carlos Des Naux, and Don Blas de Lezo.
The expedition arrived off Cartagena on March 4 and after a couple of weeks bombardment the initial attack made by land and sea at Boca Chica, the Little Mouth, on April 5. This channel ran between two narrow pennisulas and was defended on one side by the fort of St. Louis, Boca Chica Castle, with four bastions having some 80 cannons, on the other side of the channel an earthwork battery of 15 cannon all supported by redoubts. A boom strectched from the island of La Bomba to the southern peninsula on which was Fort St. Joseph with 21 cannon. Also supporting the entrance were the 6 Spanish line ships. The British army forces on land established a battery and made a breach in the main fort while part of the fleet assisted and another part of the fleet engaged the Spanish ships which, ultimately, Lezo tried to scuttle and set on fire. Two Spanish ships partially blocked the channel and one was captured by the British before it could sink. An advance was made on the breach, however the Spanish had already retired to fortifications in the inner harbor on the March 24. The landing force re-embarked and the harbor then entered. The next council of war decided to attempt to isolate Cartagena from the land side by an assault of Fort St. Lazar. The assault failed with a loss of 600 casualties.
Don Blas de Lezo's plan was that, given the overwhelming force against him, he hoped to conduct a fighting withdrawal and delay the British long enough until the start of the rainy season at the end of April. The tropical downpours would effectively end campaigning for another 2 months. Also, the longer the enemy had to remain mostly at sea and in the open the more likely it would become that insufficient supply, discomfort and especially disease would become his allies and the deadly enemies of the British. An experienced, wily and tenacious Spanish Naval commander, de Lezo, whose previous career was daring and spectacular , made use of every advantage, strategy and tactic available to him. Cartagena's defensive fortifications had been repaired and improved over the past year. Although De Lezo was pressed to the limit, his plan bore the hoped for fruit. The rains came and the British had to board their ships, where close quarters made disease even more deadly, and by April 25, Vernon resolved to retreat to Jamaica and by mid-May they were gone.
The battle lasted 67 days and ended with the British fleet withdrawing in defeat, having lost 18,000 men, about half of them to disease, and 50 ships. Most of the American colonists who had volunteered, lured by Vernon's promises of mountains of gold, died of yellow fever, dysentery, and outright starvation, and those who returned home injured, including Lawrence Washington (who renamed his Virginia plantation after Admiral Vernon) had little to show for their efforts.
In the middle of the battle, when the Spanish forces had retreated from different defense points to regroup in the larger Fortress of San Felipe de Barajas, the British dispatched a messenger, Captain Laws, to England. He informed the King of their victory on May 17. A special medal was even minted in London to commemorate this "victory" with a drawing of Admiral Vernon looking down upon the "defeated" Spanish admiral, Don Blas de Lezo who appears kneeling down. A contemporary song was composed by a sailor from the Shrewsbury that prematurely celebrated the victory:
VERNON'S GLORY; OR, THE SPANIARDS DEFEAT.Being an account of the taking of Carthagena by Vice-Admiral Vernon..."...and the town surrender[ed]To Admiral Vernon, the scourge of Spain". When the embarrassing news of the outcome reached London some weeks later, the British government removed these medals and prohibited the news from being disclosed and published. Following the news of the disaster Robert Walpole's government soon collapsed and Spain retained control over its extremely lucrative colony, and over a strategic port in the Caribbean that helped secure the defense of the Spanish Main. News of Britain's defeat reached Europe at the end of June, 1741 and had immense repercussions. It caused Britain's George II, until then Austria's staunch supporter, who had been acting as mediator between Frederick the Great of Prussia and Maria Theresa of Austria over Frederick's seizure of Silesia in December of 1740 to withdraw its guarantees of armed support for the Pragmatic Sanction. That encouraged France and Spain, the Bourbon allies, revealed to also be allied with Prussia, to move militarily against a now isolated Austria. A greater and wider war, The War of the Austrian Succession, was now inevitable.
The failure to take Cartagena caused the naval forces assigned to Vernon to remain in the Caribbean longer. This resulted in the weakened Mediterranean squadron being unable to prevent the Spanish from twice convoying troops totalling 25,000 to Italy in November and December of 1741. It wasn't until Commodore Lestock, commander of one of Vernon's divisions at Cartagena, returned to Europe with ships from the Caribbean fleet that England regained control of the seas in the Mediterranean.

Tharsis or Tartessos

2007-10-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

Scholars have only recently begun to separate Tartessian history from myth. When the Greeks reached the Iberian peninsula a few centuries after the Phoenicians, they called the land Tartessos. (The word “Tartessos” is a Greek version of the root trt/trd, which appears in a number of indigenous names—for example, Turduli, Turdetani—of the southwest Iberian peninsula.) For the Greeks, Tartessos was the mysterious land on the other side of Hercules’s columns (the Rock of Gibraltar); it was the gateway to the terra incognita.
According to the fifth-century B.C. historian Herodotus, Tartessian civilization was discovered accidentally by a Greek named Kolaios, who became extremely rich as a result of his trade with the Tartessians (History 4.152 ff.). From Herodotus, we also learn of a legendary Tartessian king named Arganthonius (meaning “man [or flower] of silver” in Greek), who welcomed the Greek merchants with rich gifts.
A number of other ancient works also make reference to Tartessos. One of them, Ora Maritima, a tantalizing Latin account of Phoenician travelers who explored the Atlantic coast up to Ireland and Britain, was written in the late fourth century A.D. by the Roman fabulist Avienus, who apparently based his text on a sixth-century B.C. Punic periplus (travel narrative).
Recent archaeological work suggests that Tartessos included a number of small proto-urban settlements largely dependent on agricultural and mineral (particularly silver) exploitation. This is probably what attracted the Phoenicians and formed the basis of Tartessian wealth.
Exactly when the Phoenicians arrived remains in question. According to ancient sources, such as Strabo (c. 60 B.C.–21 A.D.) and Pliny (23–79 A.D.), they arrived in the late 12th century B.C. and laid the foundations of sites such as Cadiz (Gadir) and Utica. But archaeological excavations at these sites have not uncovered remains earlier than the eighth century B.C.b The first-century B.C. historian Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus of Sicily) writes that the Phoenicians arrived on the peninsula while searching for silver but only settled there much later (Library of History 5.35.1–5, 5.20.1–2).
Some scholars identify biblical Tarshish with Iberian Tartessos. The prophet Isaiah, who lived in the latter part of the eighth century B.C., may refer to the Phoenicians’ sailing to the Iberian peninsula and reaching Tartessos/Tarshish:
The Lord poised his arm over the seaAnd made kingdoms quake;It was he decreed destruction for Phoenicia’s strongholds …Howl, O ships of Tarshish,For your stronghold is destroyed.(Isaiah 23:11–15)
Although the location of biblical Tarshish is much debated, an inscription of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680–669 B.C.) suggests that it was located on the Mediterranean coast: “All the kings from (the islands) amidst the sea—from the country Iadanana [Cyprus], as far as Tarsisi [Tarshish], bowed to my feet and I received heavy tribute (from them).”1 Many scholars have connected Tarshish to Iberian Tartessos;2 it is possible that both names, the Semitic “Tarshish/Tarsisi” and the Greek “Tartessos,” derive from the same Iberian root, trt/trd. Nonetheless, the connection between Iberian Tartessos and biblical Tarshish can only remain a matter of speculation until new evidence is found.
The core area of Tartessian civilization comprised the modern Spanish provinces of Cadiz, Seville, Huelva and the Algarve in modern Portugal. After the seventh century B.C., Tartessian influence expanded, reaching the Guadiana Valley (where Cancho Roano is located) and a considerable portion of the southeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. However, the Tartessians never formed a united country, nor did they create independent city-states. What bound the Tartessians together as a people over this large territory were their ethnic and cultural traits—and, especially, their religious beliefs. One of the key institutions for understanding the Tartessians is the sacred sanctuary, or shared religious precinct.
Most of these sanctuaries are in the core of the Tartessian world, but there are also many in the periphery (as distant as modern Portugal). One of these peripheral sanctuaries is the extraordinary site of Cancho Roano (“Reddish Rock” in Spanish), which functioned from the end of the seventh century B.C. to the end of the fifth century B.C.

Numantia, the symbol of resistance

2007-10-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

"All glory to a brave city, a city blessed, so it seems to me, even in its misfortunes; for it loyally helped its allies and with so small a force withstood for so long a period a people which was supported by the resources of the whole world."
Florus, Epitome of Roman History (I.34.16)

Numantia (Numancia in Spanish) was a town in Hispania (modern-day Spain), which for a long time resisted conquest by Romans in what was known as the "Numantine War." The city was finally taken and destroyed by consul Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus after a long and brutal siege. This victory put most of the Iberia under Roman control (although the north of Hispania was not conquered until the end of the Astur-Cantabrian Wars over a century later). This was the first notable military endeavour by Gaius Marius.

Before their defeat, the Numantines gained a number of victories. For example, in 137 BC, 20,000 Romans surrendered to the Celtiberians of Numantia (population between 4,000-8,000).
The ruins of Numantia is near modern-day Garray in Soria. Many objects and rest of the city can be visited in the Museo Numantino of Soria an in the Museo Arqueologico Nacional (Madrid).

The Siege of Numantia was the culminating and pacifying action of the long-running Numantine War between the forces of the Roman Republic and those of the native Celtiberian population of Hispania Citerior. The Numantine War was the third of the Celtiberian Wars and it broke out in 143 BC. A decade later, in 133 BC, the Roman general and hero of the Third Punic War, Scipio Aemilianus, subjugated the chief Celtiberian city of Numantia.

Roman preparation
In late 135, the Roman Senate reappointed Scipio consul on popular demand and sent him to Hispania to finish what lesser generals had failed to complete. Scipio found morale low among the troops stationed in Iberia. The chance of plunder being low, there were few enticements to enlistment. Scipio nevertheless raised an army of 20,000 with 40,000 allied and mercenary troops, especially Numidian cavalry led by Jugurtha. The troops were trained hard by constant marching and there were several successful skirmishes before Scipio began to surround the city of Numantia itself. He planned only to starve it out and not to storm it.

Siege works
Scipio's constructed two camps separated by a wall around the city (circumvallation). He dammed the nearby swamp to create a lake between the city walls and his own. From ten feet of the ground, his archers could shoot into Numantia from seven towers interspersed along the wall. He also built an outer wall to protect his camps (eventually five in total) from any relief forces (contravallation).
Scipio also engineered the isolation of the city from the Duero. He towered the river at the points where it entered and exited the city and strung a cable across, with blades, to prevent both boats and swimmers from leaving or entering the city.
Counterattack
The Numantines attempted one failed sally before their greatest warrior, Rhetogenes, successfully led a small band of men down the river past the blockade. Heading first to the Aravaci, his pleas were ignored. He then went to Lutia, where he was positively received by the youth, but the elders of the tribe warned Scipio, who marched from Numantia and arrested the 400 Lutian youths and cut off their hands. After Scipio's return, Avarus, the Numantine leader, began negotiations.
Surrender
The first ambassadors sent by Numantia asked for their liberty in return for complete surrender, but Scipio refused. They were killed upon return by the incredulous populace, who believed they had cut a deal with the Romans. The city refused to surrender and starvation set in. Cannibalism ensued and eventually some began to commit suicide with their whole families. The remnant population finally surrendered only after setting their city on fire. Scipio took it and had its ruins levelled. This was late in the summer of 133.
Legacy
The siege of Numantia was recorded by several Roman historians that admired the sense of freedom of the ancient Iberians and acknowledged their fighting skills against the Roman legions. Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) wrote a play about the event, La Numancia, which stands today as his most well-known dramatic work.

(With information from Wikipedia)

Falcata or Iberian sword

2007-10-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

The old historians describe the iberian soldiers as dressed in white short dresses with borders in purple and their iberian falcatas in their hand. Probably the dress was not white, but the natural color of wool, like Roman gowns, and probably the purple of the borders was not so, but a strip of scarlet color.
In fact, it is easy to think not all Spanish soldiers dressed equal, far from it, but this way of dressing was the common one aat the time Romans identified the Spaniards of the army of Aníbal. An aesthetic one that is most repeated in the iberian art.
The famous relief of Osuna, Sevilla (Spain), shows the most well-known image of the soldier with its iberian sword.
The Spanish soldiers used a great variety of armors to protect the mselves in combat. Simplest he was the pectoral one that then also used the Roman legionaries and who consisted of a metal plate that protected the chest.
The most well-known weapon of the iberos is the famous falcata.
The falcata is a weapon of Spanish origin, in fact is a streamlined type of gladius Roman hispaniensis or gladius, that after the arrival of Romans to Spain happened to become a part of the Roman fighting equipment. The leaf of the falcata approximately measures about 45 cm. in length, that is to say, the length of the arm. In fact there were not two equal falcatas, since these valuable Roman swords made of order, reason why each one had measures according to the arm of his sir.
In all Mediterranean the quality of these arms, made with an iron mineral was admired of highest purity. Its flexibility was so that the armorers placed it on their heads doubling them until the end and the grip touched their shoulders. If the Roman sword returned to its straight position when loosen it of blow were an art work, if it were not fused to return to make it. Greek that arrived at Spain took the falcata with himself and had great acceptance, becoming the second used weapon more after the hoplita sword.
The Romans adapted their own grip to gladius, but pugio continued with the typical Spanish grip.
The iberos used two types of shields: the céltico, made oval, and caetra, that was round and smaller
Separate mention deserves the famous "honderos" (stone throwers) of the Balearic islands that formed one of the elite troops best known in the ancient times. They even became part of the auxiliary troops of Julius Caesar.
In the tombs, the iberian arms are doubled carefully, made unusable, since as we have seen in the falcata, they were personal arms, made for each soldier in particular and meant not to be used by any other. For that reason they were buried made unusable with his owner. The bond that tied the Spanish soldier with its arms was more important that their own life, for that reason preferred to die before surrendering and giving their arms. Like soldiers, the Spaniards were the best of the auxiliary troops.
Punic and Roman they used them widely, mainly the heavy infantry and the Balearic "honderos", whose deadly skill in the handling of their arm was very important in the ancient times. In fact, in Cannas, Anibal had to alternate Spanish and Gallic companies because it was not entrusted in these last ones and he knew that Spaniards always fulfilled the orders until the end.
Each nation had its own arms and their way to use them. In Spain, when using the short sword, the formation was in line, but offensive, since gladius is a powerful weapon that is not useful for defense. That is the reason why the remendous loss of life caused by the Spaniards in Cannas and later in many other battles to the Roman legions. Altogether, the ibera tactics were literally copied by the Romans after the I Punic War.
The Spanish infant carried the frightful soliferrum, specially designed to penetrate any kind of shield. After sending it against the enemy he pulled out of a scabbard his frightful short sword and, protected by his celtic shield attacked using the sword for "puncturing", with the arm moving perpendicular to the body. This way of fighting, with the protected affluent body, was lethal against an enemy who used his sword for "striking", since he had to discover part of his body when raising it, moment that the iberian took advantage to hit him with his falcata.
The Romans were so surprised with this way of fighting in Cannas that when they arrived at Spain they adopted the gladius, now call hispaniensis, like standard weapon. Since the Roman shield, the typical samnita shield, was better than celtic and provided greater protection, the Roman legions became authentic machines to destroy their enemies, although in front of the Spanish troops (as an example you have Numantia), with whole generations of training on them, they underwent great disasters one after another one. Why? because the legion was not the best kind of unit to use these tactics, tactics that would find its total yield in the new legions of Mario in which cohortes acted like a block, devastating the enemy lines.

El Alcazar de Segovia

2007-10-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

The Alcazar (word from the arabic language meaning castle) of Segovia is a stone fortification, located in the old city of Segovia, Spain. Rising out on a rocky crag above the confluence of the rivers Eresma and Clamores near the Guadarrama mountains, it is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape - like the bow of a ship. The Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then.
The Alcázar of Segovia, like many fortifications in Spain, started off as an Arab fort. The first reference to this particular Alcázar was in 1120, around 32 years after the city of Segovia returned to Christian hands (during the time when Alfonso VI of Castile reconquered lands to the south of the river Duero down to Toledo and beyond). However, archaeological evidence suggests that the site of this Alcázar was once used in Roman times as a fortification. This theory is further substantiated by the presence of Segovia's famous Roman Aqueduct.
The shape and form of the Alcázar was not known until the reign of King Alfonso VIII (1155-1214), however early documentation mentioned a wooden stockade fence. It can be concluded that prior to Alfonso VIII's reign, it was no more than a wooden fort built over the old Roman foundations. Alfonso VIII and his wife, Eleanor of Plantagenet made this Alcázar their principal residence and much work was carried out to erect the beginnings of the stone fortification we see today.

Throne Room
The Alcázar, throughout the Middle Ages, remained one of the favourite residences of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Castile and a key fortress in the defence of the kingdom. It was during this period a majority of the current building was constructed and the palace was extended on a large scale by the monarchs of the Trastámara dynasty.
In 1258, parts of the Alcázar had to be rebuilt by King Alfonso X after a cave-in and soon after the Hall of Kings was built to house Parliament. However, the single largest contributor to the continuing construction of the Alcázar is King John II which built the 'New Tower' (John II tower as it is known today).
In 1474, the Alcázar played a major role in the rise of Queen Isabella of Castile. On the 12th December news of the King Henry IV's death in Madrid reached Segovia and Isabella immediately took refuge within the walls of this Alcázar where she received the support of Andres Cabrera and Segovia's council. She was coronated the next day as Queen of Castile and Leon. It was also the site where she married Ferdinand of Aragon.

Alcazar of Segovia
The next major renovation at the Alcázar was conducted by King Phillip II after his marriage to Anna of Austria. He added the sharp slate spires to reflect the castles of central Europe. In 1587, architect Francisco de Morar completed the main garden and the School of Honor areas of the castle.
The royal court eventually moved to Madrid and the Alcázar then served as a state prison for almost two centuries before King Carlos III founded the Royal Artillery School in 1762. It served this function for almost a hundred years until March 6th 1862 where a fire badly damaged the roofs and framework.
It was only in 1882 that the building was slowly restored to its original state. In 1896, King Alfonso XIII ordered the Alcázar to be handed over to the Ministry of War as a military college.
Today, the Alcázar remains one of the most popular historical sights in Spain and is one of the three major attractions in Segovia. Notable rooms are the Hall of Ajimeces which houses many works of art, the Hall of the Throne and the Hall of Kings with a frieze representing all Spanish Kings and Queens starting from Pelagius of Asturias down to Juana la Loca.

This castle is supposed to have been the inspiration for the one in Disney world.

Columbus Day

2007-10-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was very surprised while reading the comic strips in the Philadelphia National Inquirer, in one of them a girl had to receive congratulations because she was Italian and that day was Columbus day. There are many reasons to be surprised. The one I am not going to talk about is the most evident one, the different theories about his origin (you can see this in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_theories_of_Christopher_Columbus ).

Cristobal Colon, in spanish, Columbus in english, sailed with three spanish ships Santa Maria, Pinta y Nina, with spanish sailors and paid with spanish money. Sailing from a Spanish port and coming back to Spain again. Besides, Spain already existed when he began his trip, while Italy would begin to exist around 400 years after his travels. It would be the same to say the Hadrian´s Wall was a spanish one because the emperor was born in nowadays Spain. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian's_Wall)

So, please, remember if you want to say USA was the first country in reaching the moon and not Germany (Wernher Von Braun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun was the brain behind all the development), you must say Spain was the first one in reaching, reporting and repeating the travels to America.

Happy Colon day!!!!

La Torre de Hercules

2007-10-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Tower of Hercules (Torre de Hércules), is an ancient Roman lighthouse located on a peninsula about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) of the center of the city of A Coruña, Galicia, in present-day northwestern Spain. The lighthouse is almost 1900 years old, standing 185 feet (57 meters) high, overlooking the North Atlantic coast of Spain. It is the oldest active Roman lighthouse in the world.
Through the millennia many mythical stories of its origin have been told. According to a myth that blends Celtic and Greco-Roman elements, the hero Hercules slew the giant tyrant Geryon after three days and three nights of continuous battle. Hercules then—in a Celtic gesture— buried the head of Geryon with his weapons and ordered that a city be built on the site. The city, Brigantia to the Romans, came to be called “Crunya”. The lighthouse atop a skull and crossbones representing the buried head of Hercules’ slain enemy appears in the coat-of-arms of A Coruña.
According to Gaelic legend embodied in the 11th-century compilation Lebor Gabala Erren— the "Book of Invasions"— King Breogán, the founding father of the Galician Celtic nation, constructed here a massive tower of such a grand height that his sons could see a distant green shore from its top. The glimpse of that distant green land lured them to sail north to Ireland. A colossal statue of Breogán has been erected near the Tower. Breogan's name in Old Celtic was Breganos Maccos Bratus, King of Gallaecia. Actually his name is Breoghan macBratha in Gaelic. I only felt it was necessary to give this comment.
Nice article, take care. Vincent F. Pintado, Author of the Old Celtic Dictionary.
The tower remains a sentinel from days long past. It is known to have existed by the 2nd century, built or perhaps rebuilt under Trajan, perhaps on foundations and just possibly following a design that was Phoenician in origin. At its base is preserved the cornerstone with the inscription MARTI AUG.SACR C.SEVIVS LUPUS ARCHTECTUS AEMINIENSIS LVSITANVS.EX.VO, permitting the original lighthouse tower to be ascribed to the architect Gaius Sevius Lupus, from Aeminia (an ancient Roman town near present-day Coimbra,Portugal) in the former province of Lusitania, as an ex voto dedicated to Mars_(god. The tower has been in constant use since the 2nd century. Originally it was constructed with an ascending ramp encircling its sides, for oxen to bring cartloads of wood to keep the light fueled at night.
The earliest surviving mention of the lighthouse at Brigantium is by Paulus Orosius in Historiae adversum Paganos written ca 415 – 417:
“Secundus angulus circium intendit, ubi Brigantia Gallaeciae civitas sita altissimum farum et inter pauca memorandi operis ad speculam Britanniae erigit”
("At the second angle of the circuit [circumnavigating Hispania], where the Gallaecian city of Brigantia is sited, a very tall lighthouse is erected among a few commemorative works, for looking towards Britannia.")

The Tower of Hercules, in the coat of arms of A Coruña
In 1788 the original tower was provided with a new outer shell by order of king Carlos IV, the work of the naval engineer Eustaquio Giannini (1750–1814). The work was finished in 1791, giving the tower the crisp classicizing outward aspect we see today. Within, the much-repaired Roman and medieval masonry may be inspected. The Tower of Hercules is a National Monument of Spain.
The Romans who settled this region of Spain believed it to be the end of the earth, as described in "Finisterra". This region is notorious for shipwrecks, earning the name "Costa da Morte".

(With information from Wikipedia)

The Altamira Caves

2007-10-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

The Sistine Chapel of Palaeolithic Art

The cave is 270 meters long, and consists of a series of twisting passages and chambers. The main passage varies from two to six meters high. The cave was formed through collapses following early karstic phenomena in the calcerous rock of Mount Vispieres.
Archaeological excavations in the cave floor found rich deposits of Upper Solutrean (c. 18,500 years ago) and Lower Magdalenean (between c. 16,500 and 14,000 years ago) artifacts. The cave was occupied only by wild animals in the long period between these two occupations. The site was well positioned to take advantage of the rich wildlife that grazed in the valleys of the surrounding mountains as well as permitting the occupants to supplement their diet with food from nearby coastal areas. Around 13,000 years ago a rockfall sealed the cave's entrance preserving its contents until its eventual discovery which was caused by a nearby tree falling and disturbing the fallen rocks.
Human occupation was limited to the cave mouth although paintings were created throughout the length of the cave. The artists used charcoal and ochre or haematite to create the images, often scratching or diluting these dyes to produce variances in intensity and creating an impression of chiaroscuro. They also exploited the natural contours in the cave walls to give a three-dimensional effect to their subjects. The Polychrome Ceiling is the most impressive feature showing a herd of bison in different poses, two horses, a large doe and a possible wild boar.
This art is dated to the Magdelenean occupation and as well as animal subjects also included abstract shapes. Solutrean images include images of horses, goats and handprints created from the artist placing his hand on the cave wall in spraying paint over it leaving a negative image of his palm. Numerous other caves in northern Spain contain Palaeolithic art but none is as advanced or well-populated as Altamira.During the 1960s and 1970s, the paintings were being damaged by the damp breath of large numbers of visitors. Altamira was completely closed to the public in 1977, and reopened to limited access in 1982. Very few visitors are allowed in per day, resulting in a three-year waiting list. A replica cave and museum were built nearby and completed in 2001 by Manuel Franquelo and Sven Nebel, reproducing the cave and its art. The replica allows a more comfortable view of the polychrome paintings of the main hall of the cave, as well as a selection of minor works. It also includes some sculptures of human faces that are not visitable in the real cave.[1]
There are other replicas in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain (Madrid), in the Deutsche Museum in Munich (completed 1964), and in Japan (completed 1993).

Several painters were influenced by the Altamira cave paintings. After a visit, Picasso famously exclaimed "after Altamira, all is decadence".
Some of the polychrome paintings at Altamira Cave are well known in Spanish popular culture. The logo used by the autonomous government of Cantabria to promote tourism to the region is based on one of the bisons in this cave. Bisonte (Spanish for 'Bison'), a Spanish brand of cigarettes of the 20th century, also used a Paleolithic style bison figure along with its logo.
The Spanish comic character and series Altamiro de la Cueva, created in 1965, are a clear consequence of the fame of Altamira Cave. The comic series depicts the adventures of a group of prehistoric cavemen, shown as modern people, but dressed in pieces of fur, a bit like the Flintstones.
The rock band Steely Dan wrote the song "The Caves of Altamira" for their 1976 album, The Royal Scam

(With information from Wikipedia)

Dr. Santiago Ramon y Cajal

2007-10-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

Santiago Ramon y Cajal was born at Petilla Spain in 1852. He studied medicine in the University of Saragossa and became Professor of Anatomy at Valencia, later histology in normal and pathologic histology at Barcelona and then to Madrid as Professor of normal histology and pathological anatomy. He and Camillo Golgi received the Nobel Prize in 1906 for introduction of the silver-chromate stain. Later he set out carefully to explore the finer aspects of the brain. With his reduced silver nitrate technique he demonstrated neurons and their connections so easily. His introduction of his gold chloride- mercury bichloride technique to demonstrate astrocytes was a monumental contribution as was his work on degeneration and regeneration of the nervous system later. He will be remembered as a world famous neuropathologist

Coat of arms of Fernando and Isabel (The Catholic Kings)

2007-10-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

For many people, this coat of arms is only the one used by Francisco Franco, but it really was the first coat of arms of Spain, the one used by Fernando and Isabel, who joined the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and conquered Granada, the las moorish territory in the Iberian Peninsula in 1492.

Habsburgs coat of arms

2007-09-26T19:25:00.001-07:00

History of the Spanish Coat of Arms
Components of this emblem symbolize different aspects of the Spanish empire.
Black double eagle: A symbol of the Holy Roman Empire brought to Spain by Emperor Charles V (I of Spain) in 1530. Before that, the Catholic Kings (Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabell of Castile) used a one-headed black eagle (for St. John), and this eagle was used again in the Spanish arms under General Franco's Regime until 1977.
Crown: Represents the Royal Spanish Kingdom.
Lions: The rampant lions are derived from the Kingdom of Leon.
Castles: The two castles are derived from the Kingdom of Castile.
Sheep: The small dangling sheep at the down point of the shield originates from the Order of the Golden Fleece from Greek mythology, founded by Phillip the Good of Burgundy in 1430.

PLUS ULTRA

2007-09-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Plus Ultra (Latin for further beyond, more beyond or yet beyond) is the national motto of Spain.
Earl Rosenthal, author of The Palace of Charles V in Granada (1985), has researched the origin of the motto. It is closely associated with the Pillars of Hercules, which according to Roman mythology were built by Hercules, near the Straits of Gibraltar, marking the edge of the then known world. According to mythology the pillars bore the warning Nec Plus Ultra (also Non Plus Ultra, "nothing further beyond"), serving as a warning to sailors and navigators to go no further.
It is believed that the young Charles V adopted Plus Ultra as his motto at the suggestion of his doctor and personal advisor Luigi Marliano. The idea was to encourage him to ignore the ancient warning and encourage him to take risks and go further beyond. Charles V was born in Ghent in Flanders and as a result the motto is also used in this region.
The motto became popular in Spain after Charles V became king of both Aragon and Castile in the early 1500s. It subsequently became the motto of Habsburg Spain and featured on the Spanish dollar. The motto was used to encourage Spanish explorers to go beyond the Pillars of Hercules and onto the New World. Today the inscription, along with the Pillars of Hercules, is featured on both the national flag and emblem of modern Spain. It was also featured on the shield of the Second Spanish Republic.
In 1926 a crew of Spanish aviators, including Ramón Franco and Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz, completed a Trans-Atlantic flight on a hydroplane named the Plus Ultra. 1930 saw the formation of a Madrid-based football team AD Plus Ultra, which eventually developed into Real Madrid Castilla. In more recent times, the Plus Ultra Brigade was a brigade of troops from five Spanish speaking countries including Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador, which served in the Iraq War.

(With information from Wikipedia)

The first spaniards

2007-09-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

25,000 to 10,000 B.C.: The cave paintings of Pinal, Peña de Candamo, El Pendal, Pasiega, Ribadesella and Altamira express the existence of a fine culture in the Magdalenian period.
1,100 B.C.: The Phoenicians found Gadir or Gades (Cadiz), Baria Adra, Almuñecar and Malaga.
1,000 B.C.: Civilization of the Tartessians. The Celts begin to arrive from across the Pyrenees.
7th century B.C.: The Greeks found Hemeroscopion and Manake.
6th century B.C.: Emporio (Ampurias) and Rhodaes (Rosas) founded.
237 B.C.: Hamilcar takes the S. and SE. and founds Akra Leuke (Alicante). Hasdrubal founds Cartago Nova (Cartagena)
218 to 201 B.C.: Hannibal takes Saguntum (Punic War). The Carthaginians invade Italy. Scipio lands in Spain and defeats Hasdrubal in Tarraco (Tarragona), Illipa (Alcala del Rio) and Gadir. Rome annexes the country and divides it into two provinces: Hispanis Citerior and Hispania Ulterior.

With so many different people from different places we became a melting pot of the different people in the mediterranean sea

2007-09-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

I do like this flag. The colours of my country and the image of a powerful animal as the bull ...

The origin of helicopters

2007-09-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Juan de la Cierva, born on September 21, 1895, in Murcia, Spain, was an aeronautical engineer who invented the autogiro, an aircraft that combined the capabilities of a conventional airplane and the helicopter.
He was interested in flight as a teenager and experimented with gliders with his friends. After receiving his engineering degree, in 1918 he built the first trimotor airplane. Its crash in 1919 after a stall convinced him that aviation safety called for stall-proof aircraft that could make steep takeoffs and landings at slow speeds. He decided that only the wing and not the body should be used to maintain lift. He began experimenting with rotating-wing aircraft in 1920 and developed the autogiro as a more stable form of aircraft. His first attempts with rigid rotors were unsuccessful. He then applied the idea of mounting the blades to the hub of the rotor on hinges so they could flap. This would equalize lift on advancing and retreating sides of the rotor while in forward flight.

His first successful flight with the autogiro took place on January 9 1923. The craft was equipped with a conventional propeller for forward flight and an articulated, or hinged, air-powered rotor blade that could be adjusted to balance lift. This technical breakthrough was necessary for the successful development of the helicopter, which ironically, replaced the autogiro around the time of World War II.

Cierva moved to England in 1925. His aircraft were further developed by the Cierva Autogiro Company of Great Britain, as well as by U.S. and various continental companies. They were used widely in France, Germany, Japan, and the United States until World War II, when the helicopter replaced them.

Cierva died in an airplane crash on December 19, 1936, near London, England.

The first electrical submarine

2007-09-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

On the 8th September, 1888, an electrically powered vessel built by the Spanish engineer and sailor, Isaac Peral, for the Spanish Navy was launched. It had two torpedoes, new air systems, and a hull shape, propeller, and cruciform external controls anticipating much later designs. Its underwater speed was ten knots (19 km/h). In June 1890 Peral's submarine launched a torpedo while submerged. After many successful dives the project was scrapped because of the difficulties of recharging at sea and the short range of battery powered vessels.

Good news from Spain

2007-09-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

"Two of Spain's regional governments and its capital city plan to plant millions of trees to help offset the impact of the country's spiraling greenhouse gas emissions, environment officials said. Madrid, despite its snarling traffic, already claims to be one of the cities with most parks and gardens in the world." Reuters 10/July/07.
"The Spanish Environment Ministry has decided to stop the construction of a 300-kilometre motorway to save the Iberian lynx, the world's most threatened feline species, of which there are about 100 remaining". Earth Times 03/June/07

Sport

2007-09-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know this blog is supposed to be about Spanish History, but you know, history is what has just happende, so we can think it is. Yesterday Spain became, for the first time, European champion in volleyball. We also became the second in EuroBasket, aand we are still the World champion. We are also world champions in indoor soccer and in skate hockey. And our Fernando Alonso is in his way to get the third straight Formula 1 championship. So today is a happy day ...

Some facts about Spain

2007-09-11T07:50:00.001-07:00

Official name: The Kingdom of Spain
Capital of Spain: Madrid
Top 3 Largest cities in Spain: Madrid 5.9 million inhabitants, Barcelona 5.3 million inhabitants, Valencia 1.6 million inhabitants.
Population size: 44,7 million in 2006. Density: 88,39 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Size: 506,000M square meters (Spain is the third largest country in Europe after Ukraine and France, about twice the size of Oregon).
Mean Altitude: 600 m. (which makes Spain the second highest country in Europe after Switzerland).
Highest Point: Teide in Tenerife 3,719 m.
Tourism: Over 52 million tourists visit Spain each year, Spain is in the top 3 most visited countries in the world.
Foreigners Living in Spain: officially there were 3.7 million foreign residents in 2005. Independent organisations such as Red Cross put the number at 4.8 million.
Political Structure: Parliamentary monarchy (since 1978).
Regions: Spain is made up of 17 autonomous regions. Time zone: +1 GMT except Canary Islands +2 GMT.
Currency: The introduction of the Euro in 2002 replaced the former Spanish Peseta.
Economy size: eighth largest economy worldwide with a Gross Domestic Product just over 1 trillion euros.
Labor force: approximately 20 million.
Gross Domestic Product per Capita: €27,767 per year, 25th on world ranking
Religion: approximately 90% of the population are Catholic and there is freedom of religion in Spain.

Juan Sebastian Elcano

2007-09-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

This is Juan Sebastian Elcano, the first captain to circunnavigate the world. The expedition started with Magallanes in command, but he was killed, so the spanish Juan Sebastian Elcano took the command and finished with the few remnants this first round to the world.

Hello

2007-09-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody:

This first post is just to try to establish the guidelines of this blog. Spain is a very old country with a lot of history and has played a very important role in the world in many different aspects. A spanish built the first auto propelled submarine (Isaac Peral) or the antecessor of the helicopter (Juan de la Cierva). We have had very famous sailors (Elcano, Blas de Lezo, Gravina..), conquistadores (Hernan Cortes, Pizarro, Cabeza de Vaca,...), painters (Velazquez, Goya, Picasso, Dali ...), writers (Cervantes, Calderon de la Barca, Quevedo, Aleixandre, Cela, Umbral, Perez Reverte,...). But for many years we have been not ignored but insulted and humiliated by the official anglo saxon history. Their queen (Elizabeth) has almost become superwoman and our king (Philip II) the devil. And since there we have been badly treated or completely ignored. I will try to talk about the many important things Spain has done for so many years. I would like you to give your opinions and help me do a good blog.

Thank you,