History of Spain – Institute for the Study of Western Civilization

The Institute will present a thirty-week course, "The History of Spain," taught by William H. Fredlund, Ph.D. on Thursday nights. The course studies the Spanish story from the earliest days of the Iberian peninsula to 1700. Spain has an advantage within the European community history of having a national and geographical unit that match almost completely. The one little piece that has drifted in and out of the Iberian unity is Portugal. The Celts came all the way to the Atlantic in the pre-Roman period. Then the Romans colonized Iberia in the third century BC and turned it into the most profitable of their colonies. During Fall Quarter we will study Roman and Visigothic Spain. The Islamic invasion of Spain in 711 sets the stage for our Winter Quarter: Muslims and Jews in Spain and the Reconquista. Spring Quarter is devoted to Renaissance Spain, with Ferdinand and Isabella, and early modern Spain. All classes begin at 7:00 PM.