History for Young Readers
SPAIN
[Illustration:]
SPAIN
BY
FREDERICK A. OBER
AUTHOR OF
PUERTO RICO AND ITS RESOURCES,
CRUSOE’S ISLAND, TRAVELS IN
MEXICO, IN THE WAKE OF
COLUMBUS, CAMPS IN THE
CARIBBEES, A LIFE OF
JOSEPHINE, ETC.
NEW YORK AND LONDON
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1912
COPYRIGHT, 1899,
BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
Printed in the United States of America
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
As I pause in my work to pass in review the events of three thousand
years, which I have tried to narrate in this little book, I probably
anticipate my readers in wondering at the audacity, not to say
presumption, which moved me to this undertaking. It came about quite
naturally, to be sure, as the result of an interest awakened many years
ago in a nation which had sent to America such discoverers as Columbus
and Vespucci, such soldiers as Cortes and Pizarro, De Soto, and Ponce
de Leon. At first I became curious to visit the scenes of their
adventures, then to journey through the country whence they had come;
and the result has been that I have devoted a portion of my life to a
study of both people and country.
I do not, of course, assume that an interest in a subject should
warrant one in writing about it, be he never so well equipped for the
purpose; but with me, the seeing gives birth to a desire to convey to
others the pleasure I feel, or the lesson I may derive, from the object
under contemplation. Thus, while I never intended more than to make
a few forays into the historic fields of Spain, when I visited that
country ten years ago, it has eventuated that instead of skirmishing
with the outposts, I have attacked the very citadel. That I have come
off unscathed, and with spoil of some sort, is self–evident; but
whether it might not have been to my readers’ profit if I had not done
so, is a question for them to decide. I feel it to be, indeed, as true
to–day as it was a score of years ago that (in the words of a standard
encyclopædia) “there is no good general history of Spain!”
Without attempting to extenuate any possible errors, yet I would call
attention to the fact that it is extremely difficult to clothe in
picturesque language (and at the same time be faithful to the verities
of history) the details of a story extending over so vast a range, and
bring that story within the compass of a single volume.
The best histories are those which treat of single episodes or periods,
such as Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella, Irving’s Conquest of Spain,
Spanish Voyages, and Conquest of Granada. To these, in truth, I would
refer my young readers for a more extended acquaintance with Spain and
her fascinating history. In those charming narratives the dry bones of
fact are clothed in graceful drapery, and the reader moves and acts
with their heroes, kings, and queens, in most distinguished company.
I do not like to allude to the recent events in Spanish history, by
which our own country was forced into collision with Spain; and I will
dismiss the subject merely with the statement that it has been my
endeavour to present an accurate account of the unfortunate war, in
which I have had the benefit of supervision by competent authorities.
To them, and to the silent companions of my voyages and excursions,
drawn from the musty shelves of the library, and frequently exposed
to peril “by flood and field,” I would herewith express my heartfelt
thanks.
F. A. O.
WASHINGTON, D. C., _February, 1899_.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I.—ANCIENT IBERIA 1
II.—PHŒNICIANS AND CARTHAGINIANS 6
III.—SPAIN A ROMAN PROVINCE 13
IV.—A KINGDOM OF THE GOTHS 25
V.—THE INVASION FROM AFRICA 36
VI.—THE WESTERN CALIFATE 45
VII.—SPAIN’S HEROIC AGE 54
VIII.—DECLINE OF THE MOORS 63
IX.—KINGS OF CASTILE AND ARAGON 72
X.—FERDINAND AND ISABELLA 82
XI.—HOW THE MOORS WERE SUBJUGATED 92
XII.—THE FALL OF GRANADA 106
XIII.—A MEMORABLE REIGN 113
XIV.—WHEN SPAIN WAS GREAT 123
XV.—CHARLES I AND PHILIP II 133
XVI.—SPAIN’S RELIGIOUS WARS 142
XVII.—THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 154
XVIII.—THE HOUSE OF BOURBON 165
XIX.—CHARLES IV AND BONAPARTE 176
XX.—THE REIGN OF FERDINAND VII 187
XXI.—ISABELLA II AND THE CARLISTS 194
XXII.—FROM ISABELLA II TO ALFONSO XIII 203
XXIII.—SPAIN AND HER COLONIES 212
XXIV.—CUBA’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 222
XXV.—WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 234
XXVI.—SPAIN AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 255
XXVII.—THE TREATY OF PEACE 266
INDEX 279
[Illustration]
SPAIN.
CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT IBERIA.
In the southwestern corner of Europe, with the Atlantic Ocean on the
north and west, and the Mediterranean Sea south and east, lies the
Iberian Peninsula, eleven thirteenths of which belong to the country
known as Spain. The other two thirteenths pertain to Portugal, a
country politically distinct from Spain, but with similar physical
features in the main.
Although we do not know when it first received its ancient name,
Iberia, nor even whence came its very first peoples, yet we know
that for ages it has existed as a fair and fertile land, capable of
supporting millions of inhabitants.
It is essentially a mountainous country, for, first of all, there
are the Pyrenees, which partly bound it on the north; the Cantabrian
range, in the northwest; the Guadarrama, in the central region; and the
Sierras Morena and Nevada, in the south. Between these mountain ranges
lie great tablelands and deep valleys, the latter traversed by rivers
swift and long, but few of them navigable far from the sea.
It is its mountainous character that has given this land, lying as it
does beneath a southern sun, a great diversity of climate; so that we
may say it has at least four climatic zones: First, the zone of the
plateau, cold in winter and hot in summer, where the soil is arid;
second, that of the northwestern provinces, with a moist climate;
third, that of the eastern coast, where a balance is preserved between
the two extremes of the others; and, fourth, the subtropical zone of
the south coast, which is hot as well as humid.
Thus Spain has a more varied vegetation than any other country of
Europe, for its high plains and mountainous valleys are almost Alpine
in the character of their flora; its North Atlantic region has ferns
and grassy meadows, forests of oak, beech, and chestnut; and the
southeast and south a flora that is almost African, and comprising
many species that are purely tropical.
So we find that Spain, though only six hundred and fifty miles in
greatest length, and with an area of but little more than one hundred
and ninety thousand square miles, can boast forests of olives and cork
oaks, hillsides covered with vineyards, valleys filled with orange
trees, almonds, pomegranates, sugar cane, and with a range of fruits
extending from the apple of the northern region to the date palm of the
south, which last was brought over from Africa. Honeybees lay up rich
stores from the thyme–covered tablelands, silkworms flourish in the
mulberry groves of the eastern provinces, and the cochineal feeds on
the cactus of the south.
Not only does the land yield every variety of food for the sustenance
of man, but, with its thirteen hundred miles of coast line, Spain has
boundless stores of fish, such as anchovies, tunnies, and salmon in
their season. And again, while almost every species of the animal as
well as the vegetable kingdom might find a congenial home here, Nature
has not been sparing of her minerals, such as copper, lead, silver,
gold, coal, iron, cobalt, and quicksilver.
These are some of the natural resources of Spain, showing, as has been
said already, that it was bountifully endowed by the Creator with all
things necessary to man’s subsistence, even though he might through
ignorance prodigally waste them.
We have no authentic history of the first peoples inhabiting Iberia,
but it is believed that a remnant of their descendants yet exists in
northern Spain, in the Basques, whose speech and customs differ from
those of all others on the face of the earth. The Basques claim that
they are descended from the original people, and say, moreover, that
their language was the veritable speech of Paradise. It is difficult
enough to acquire, at all events, and they have a tradition that the
“Evil One” himself once spent seven years in attempting to master it,
and then gave up in despair, after having acquired but two words, “yes”
and “no,” which he forgot as soon as he left the country!
But by the twilight of tradition we observe an invasion of the
peninsula by the Celts, or Kelts, a wave from the great Aryan deluge
that at one time submerged all Europe, and which overleaped the
Pyrenees and swept all before it. And these Aryan Kelts, or Keltic
Aryans, became masters of Spain, not so much through conquest in war
as by intermingling with the natives; and there resulted, it is said,
another and distinct people, or race, called the Celtiberian. Now,
while the aborigines were probably swarthy and short of stature, the
incoming Kelts were tall and fair, excellent horsemen, hunters, and
tillers of the soil. As both races were warlike, their descendants
became celebrated, in after years, for their prowess, and when the
Romans invaded Spain these brave Celtiberians gave them great trouble,
and resisted subjection to the very last.
They were rude and uncivilized, and, if they built cities or towns, no
remains of such exist, of which we are aware. In their religion they
were Nature worshippers, blindly revering the god of day, the stars of
night, and the “phenomena of dawn and sunrise.” Remains of their rude
temples, it is claimed, have been found in Portugal, where dwelt that
branch of the race known as Lusitanians.
[Illustration]