History Of Madrid

With a history that is traceable back to the Moors around the middle of the 9th century, Madrid is believed to have descended from the Roman town of Mantua Carpetana. Mayrit, as Madrid was then known, was a military outpost, built to prevent the Christians from reclaiming Iberia, and from the time Madrid was captured in 1086 by Alfonso VI, it was a medieval village of fewer than 4,000 inhabitants.

Aragon

By the 14th century, Madrid became the seat of the Royal Court and developed as centre for trade and finance by the following century. This period was marked by relative political stability, Jewish expulsion and the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and Madrid was declared as the capital of the Spanish Empire.

Felipe V inherited Madrid in a bad state by the time he was crowned king in 1700; however, he built several magnificent buildings and monuments during his reign. By the early 19th century, Madrid had become decadent, with everything relinquished to the Church upon Fernando VII’s succession to the throne. Later, Madrid slowly regained its splendor with the ascension of Queen Isabel II.

A new period of parliamentary monarchy came into effect in 1902, with King Alfonso XIII having to deal with the crisis of Spain losing the last of its colonies. The Ciudad Lineal began in the 1890s as Madrid was planned to become a modern and unique city, breaking with tradition and redefining itself for the new century, the results of which are evident today.

Civil War

The city celebrated the victory of the republicans in April 1931 with the Declaration of the Second Republic. The divide of liberal and conservative governments lead to a bloody civil war, which started with Francisco Franco's coup d'état in July 1936 and ended with Madrid being seized by Franco’s forces three years later.

Post-war Madrid was a period for the city to repair itself, with economic growth and rural expansion blooming by the 1960s. Madrid’s development has continued since the 1970s, with the introduction of the Metro system and the city’s mounting skyline, which has been influential in providing the identity of the modern city that it is today.

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