Volume 1

Spain & Portugal / by E.W. Gilbert [and others].

  • Great Britain. Naval Intelligence Division.
Date:
1941-1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Spain & Portugal / by E.W. Gilbert [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ginians, Romans, northern barbarians such as Vandals and Visigoths, have all poured into Spain. But probably the decisive event in Iberian history was the great Moorish invasion from Africa in the eighth and subsequent centuries. ‘his event not only affected the history of the Peninsula for the next five centuries, but also explains many of the features which differentiate Spain and Portugal from other European States at the present day. (6) The opening of the New World. 'Vhe second most important fact in the history of Spain and Portugal has been the part played by these two powers in the opening of the New World of the Americas. Both Spain and Portugal were once great imperial powers, and while the Spanish Empire is now but a shadow of its former self, Portugal’s overseas possessions are still very extensive. Spain can be described as one of the universal powers, as the existence of the Spanish-speak- ing world is an important geographical fact of the present day. It has been estimated that about 85 million people in the world speak Spanish, and about 53 millions speak Portuguese. When the fact that the two languages are mutually intelligible is taken into consideration, it can be said that there are no less than 150 million souls in the Hispanic World. ‘This numerical strength is greater than that of either French or Italian, and the Iberian languages therefore come next after English as a universal tongue. In all dealings with Spain it must never be forgotten that she is ‘an Empire gone out of business’, and that Spaniards still retain a just pride in their great colonial achievements of past centuries, which they claim to be similar to those of Great Britain. The relations between the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America are generally friendly and it has been the object of many persons in Spain to draw the Spanish-speaking world closer together. Spain could generally count on the votes of the Latin American Republics at the League of Nations. (c) Civil Wars. ‘The third important fact of Iberian history has been civil war, fostered by the separatism already described. During the nineteenth century Spain endured many years of civil strife, including the Carlist wars. Still more recently, during the years 1936-9, Spain suffered the tragedy of a disastrous and bitter civil war, fought out with modern weapons of destruction. ‘This, incidentally, makes it difficult to compile economic material about Spain that has any permanent value. The changes caused by the war were substantial and it is difficult, for example, to discover pre- cisely what bridges were destroyed during it, and what bridges have been repaired by any given date. Spanish statistics were never noted