Hiber (Iberian) was thus used as a term for peoples living near the river Ebro. [30][31] During the Early Bronze Age, southeastern Iberia saw the emergence of important settlements, a development that has compelled some archeologists to propose that these settlements indicate the advent of state-level social structures. The coastline of the Iberian Peninsula is 3,313km (2,059mi), 1,660km (1,030mi) on the Mediterranean side and 1,653km (1,027mi) on the Atlantic side. Being the second largest peninsula in Europe, Iberia is geographically varied and vast, and as such it saw the spread of many isolated and very different cultures . These figures sum the figures given in the Wikipedia articles on the geography of Spain and Portugal. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/place/Iberian-Peninsula, Humanities LibreTexts - The Iberian Countries in the New World. Gibraltar, located on the southern tip, occupies only 7 square kilometers on the peninsula. [91] Many settlements in northern Castile and Catalonia were left forsaken. Most critically, Alfonso VI of Len-Castile conquered Toledo and its wider taifa in 1085, in what it was seen as a critical event at the time, entailing also a huge territorial expansion, advancing from the Sistema Central to La Mancha. Its name derives from its ancient inhabitants whom the Greeks called Iberians, probably for the Ebro (Iberus), the peninsulas second longest river (after the Tagus). As early as the 12th century BCE, the Phoenicians, a thalassocratic civilization originally from the Eastern Mediterranean, began to explore the coastline of the peninsula, interacting with the metal-rich communities in the southwest of the peninsula (contemporarily known as the semi-mythical Tartessos). Around 70,000 BP, during the Middle Paleolithic period, the last glacial event began and the Neanderthal Mousterian culture was established. [108] Castile sought to claim the Gulf of Biscay as its own. [1] By 718 the Muslims were in control of nearly the . al-Andals, possibly "Land of the Vandals"),[53][54] is the Arabic name given to Muslim Iberia. Spain has progressively introduced the 1,435mm standard gauge in its new high-speed rail network (one of the most extensive in the world),[182] inaugurated in 1992 with the MadridSeville line, followed to name a few by the MadridBarcelona (2008), MadridValencia (2010), an Alicante branch of the latter (2013) and the connection to France of the Barcelona line. We obtained root and rhizosphere samples from wild blackberry (R. ulmifolius) (at the end of the flowering stage) and blueberry (V. myrtillus) plants from three different locations in the Iberian Peninsula (July-2020); blackberry plants were also collected in a fourth location (Additional file 1: Fig. The confusion of the words was because of an overlapping in political and geographic perspectives. June | 21 Choose another date 1813 French defeated in Spain, ending the Peninsular War At Vitoria, Spain, a massive allied British, Portuguese and Spanish force under British General Arthur. Whatever languages may generally have been spoken on the peninsula soon gave way to Latin, except for that of the Vascones, which was preserved as a language isolate by the barrier of the Pyrenees. "The countries of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain and Portugal, make important contributions to twentieth-century culture, despite the disruptions and isolation caused by repressive political regimes throughout much of the period. About 75% of the peninsulas total area is Meseta Central, also known as Inner Plateau. To the west, the peninsula is delimited by the continental boundary formed by the magma-poor opening of the Atlantic Ocean. [27], In the Chalcolithic (c.3000 BCE), a series of complex cultures developed that would give rise to the peninsula's first civilizations and to extensive exchange networks reaching to the Baltic, Middle East and North Africa. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The Pyrenees mountain range is located at the border between Spain and France. Phoenicians established a permanent trading port in the Gadir colony c.800 BCE in response to the increasing demand of silver from the Assyrian Empire.[42]. [75] In 1086, following the siege of Zaragoza by Alfonso VI of Len-Castile, the Almoravids, religious zealots originally from the deserts of the Maghreb, landed in the Iberian Peninsula, and, having inflicted a serious defeat to Alfonso VI at the battle of Zalaca, began to seize control of the remaining taifas. Fig. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. It also occupies much of the landform, including the northwest, east, and central parts. It features some of Europes important geographical features such as rivers, mountains, and coastal plains. [137] Regarding the Atlantic faade of Castile, aside from the severing of trade with Northern Europe, inter-regional trade with other regions in the Iberian Peninsula also suffered to some extent. The major rivers flow through the wide valleys between the mountain systems. The oceanic climate, dominant along the Atlantic coastal regions, is characterized by cool summers and relatively even temperatures. [1] The mountain ranges of the Iberian Peninsula are mainly distributed from west to east, and in some cases reach altitudes of approximately 3000 mamsl, resulting in the region having the second highest mean altitude (637 mamsl) in Western Europe. However, around 584, they took control of the Suebi Kingdom, including Bracara (Braga). [138] In Aragon, suffering from similar problems than Castile, the expelling of the Moriscos in 1609 in the Kingdom of Valencia aggravated the recession. Europe is made up of several other smaller peninsulas. Reconquista, English Reconquest, in medieval Spain and Portugal, a series of campaigns by Christian states to recapture territory from the Muslims ( Moors ), who had occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century. Spanish and Portuguese have expanded beyond Iberia to the rest of world, becoming global languages. [7] Hecataeus of Miletus was the first known to use the term Iberia, which he wrote about circa 500 BCE. This word was derived from the river Hiberus (now called Ebro or Ebre). Spanish, Aragonese, Asturian, Extremaduran and Galician: This page was last edited on 24 July 2023, at 14:49. For other uses, see, Christian forces were usually better armoured than their Muslim counterparts, with noble and non-noble. In the north, between the continental shelf and the abyss, is an extension called the Galicia Bank, a plateau that also contains the Porto, Vigo, and Vasco da Gama seamounts, which form the Galicia interior basin. The Caliphate reached the height of its power under the rule of Abd-ar-Rahman III and his successor al-Hakam II, becoming then, in the view of Jaime Vicens Vives, "the most powerful state in Europe". The other climate experienced on the peninsula is the Mediterranean climate, characterized by varying temperatures and precipitation. The Iberian is the westernmost peninsula of the three peninsulas. Humble beginnings. Pliny goes so far as to assert that the Greeks had called "the whole of Spain" Hiberia because of the Hiberus River. Valencia and Seville in Spain have a combined population of 4.5 million people. The Iberian Peninsula, just like the rest of the continent of Europe, is made up of made different ethnic groups, or descendants of distinct ethnic groups. Elsewhere[12] he says that Saguntum is "on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and Celtiberia.". around 1million speakers)[177] are the most widely spoken languages in the Iberian Peninsula. Spains European continental territory is located entirely on the peninsula. [132] Meanwhile, the urban population in the Crown of Aragon was highly concentrated in a handful of cities: Zaragoza (Kingdom of Aragon), Barcelona (Principality of Catalonia), and, to a lesser extent in the Kingdom of Valencia, in Valencia, Alicante and Orihuela. Major industries include mining, tourism, small farms, and fishing. It has an area of 6.7 km 2 (2.6 sq mi) and is bordered to the north by Spain.The landscape is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar, at the foot of which is a . [93] The Hundred Years' War also spilled over into the Iberian peninsula, with Castile particularly taking a role in the conflict by providing key naval support to France that helped lead to that nation's eventual victory. The core of the Iberian Peninsula consists of a Hercynian cratonic block known as the Iberian Massif. Despite the weakening of Islamic power, its influence in science, medicine, and art is extraordinary and . Europe is one of the worlds largest peninsulas and the only one with a continental status. IBERIA Spain and Portugal occupy the Iberian Peninsula, which is separated at its southern tip from North Africa by only a narrow strait situated at the juncture of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.This key geographical position played an important part in Iberia's history. At the narrowest point, the peninsula is only 8 kilometers from Africa, specifically Morocco. [183] Portugal however suspended all the high-speed rail projects in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, putting an end for the time being to the possibility of a high-speed rail connection between Lisbon, Porto and Madrid. Other mountain systems are Montes de Toledo, Sierra Morena, and Baetic System. At the time Hispania was made up of three Roman provinces: Hispania Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis, and Hispania Lusitania. Only the kingdom of the Suebi (Quadi and Marcomanni) would endure after the arrival of another wave of Germanic invaders, the Visigoths, who occupied all of the Iberian Peninsula and expelled or partially integrated the Vandals and the Alans. Peninsular War. It is unclear what the word Hiber or Iber mean. According to Hasdai Crescas, about 70 Jewish communities were destroyed. Updated: 11/9/2022 Wiki User 10y ago Study now See answer (1) Best Answer Copy The Iberian Peninsula is one of the three major European. Prior to that date, geographers had used the terms 'Spanish Peninsula' or 'Pyrenaean Peninsula'.[20]. Portugal receives over 20 million visitors annually, making it one of the worlds most-visited countries. Aided by their Spanish and Portuguese allies, the British held off superior French numbers before winning a series of victories and driving them out. An aerial view Gibraltar from the air, looking north-west. Al-Andalus (Arabic: , tr. During their 600-year occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, the Romans introduced the Latin language that influenced many of the languages that exist today in the Iberian peninsula. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), perhaps the most influential artist of the twentieth century, begins his earliest period of experimentation in Barcelona and Madrid . Portugals other populous city is Porto, with 1.7 million people. It also has vast coal and iron reserves. . The Latin word Hiberia, similar to the Greek Iberia, literally translates to "land of the Hiberians". Regarding Portugal and Spain, this chiefly excludes the Macaronesian archipelagos (the Azores and Madeira of Portugal, and the Canary Islands of Spain), the Balearic Islands (Spain), and the Spanish overseas territories in North Africa (most conspicuously the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as unpopulated islets and rocks). [186], There are four points connecting the Portuguese and Spanish rail networks: Valena do MinhoTui, Vilar FormosoFuentes de Ooro, Marvo-BeirValencia de Alcntara and ElvasBadajoz. The Guadiana river bends southwards and forms the border between Spain and Portugal in the last stretch of its course. El fin del problema del estrecho", "The Costs and Benefits for Europeans from their Empires Overseas", "La Eurorregin Galicia-norte de Portugal: una aproximacin a la movilidad en el contexto ibrico", Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas, "The Spanish Kingdoms and the Wider World in the Later Middle Ages", "The Flight of the Eagle: an Island Tribute to the Universal Iberian Monarchy at the End of the Sixteenth Century", "Las redes de Transporte entre la Pennsula Ibrica y el resto de Europa", "Towards oversized high-speed rail systems? Fun fact! Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Pyrenees mountains are situated along the northeast edge of the peninsula, where it adjoins the rest of Europe. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [123] Iberian imperialism, starting by the Portuguese establishment of routes to Asia and the posterior transatlantic trade with the New World by Spaniards and Portuguese (along Dutch, English and French), precipitated the economic decline of the Italian Peninsula. [189] Years of studies have, however, made no real progress thus far. [84] The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, neighbouring the Strait of Gibraltar and founded upon a vassalage relationship with the Crown of Castile,[87] also insinuated itself into the European mercantile network, with its ports fostering intense trading relations with the Genoese as well, but also with the Catalans, and to a lesser extent, with the Venetians, the Florentines, and the Portuguese. [17] The Roman geographers and other prose writers from the time of the late Roman Republic called the entire peninsula Hispania. On the northeast, this is bounded by the Pyrenean fold belt, and on the southeast it is bounded by the Baetic System. The warmest winter nights are usually found in downwelling favourable areas of the west coast, such as on capes. The Cantabrian Mountains stretch over 300 kilometers along the northern coast, with Torre de Cerrado as the highest peak. Europe's main peninsulas are the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan, located in southern Europe, and the Scandinavian and Jutland, located in Northern Europe. [148][149] All rivers in the Iberian Peninsula are subject to seasonal variations in flow. [70], During the Middle Ages, the North of the peninsula housed many small Christian polities including the Kingdom of Castile, the Kingdom of Aragon, the Kingdom of Navarre, the Kingdom of Len or the Kingdom of Portugal, as well as a number of counties that spawned from the Carolingian Marca Hispanica. France (part of the French department of Pyrnes-Orientales). French Cerdagne is on the south side of the Pyrenees mountain range, which runs along the border between Spain and France. However, it took Rome 200 years to defeat the Iberians and Celtic and annex the peninsula. [160] This cool and wet summer climate is replicated throughout most of the northern coastline. Situacin actual de los estudios", "Urbanisation and deurbanisation in Castile, 15001800", Peterson Institute for International Economics, "Los cambios dinsticos en Portugal de 1383/85 y 1580: una reflexin comparativa", "La esclavitud en la Espaa Medieval. "[9] According to Strabo,[10] prior historians used Iberia to mean the country "this side of the " (Ibros, the Ebro) as far north as the Rhne, but in his day they set the Pyrenees as the limit. It originates in Monte Universales and forms the border between Spain and Portugal. However, it also comprises Andorra, part of Southern France (part of the French department of Pyrnes-Orientales), and Gibraltar (British overseas territory). In sharp contrast A Corua at the northern tip of Galicia has a summer daytime high average at just below 23C (73F). The terrain of the Iberian Peninsula is largely mountainous. A small Muslim army arrived on the southern shores of Iberia in the year 711 and by 720, almost the entire peninsula was under Muslim control. During the reign of Philip II of Spain (I of Portugal), the Councils of Portugal, Italy, Flanders and Burgundy were added to the group of counselling institutions of the Hispanic Monarchy, to which the Councils of Castile, Aragon, Indies, Chamber of Castile, Inquisition, Orders, and Crusade already belonged, defining the organization of the Royal court that underpinned the polysinodial system[es] through which the empire operated. El latn vulgar. The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Iberian Peninsula, 14001600 A.D. Iberian Peninsula - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Spain sweats out sultry nights as heat wave bakes southern Europe. [104], Throughout the late Middle Ages, the Crown of Aragon took part in the mediterranean slave trade, with Barcelona (already in the 14th century), Valencia (particularly in the 15th century) and, to a lesser extent, Palma de Mallorca (since the 13th century), becoming dynamic centres in this regard, involving chiefly eastern and Muslim peoples. At the narrowest point, the peninsula is only 8 kilometers from Africa, specifically Morocco. [81], By the beginning of the 13th century, a power reorientation took place in the Iberian Peninsula (parallel to the Christian expansion in Southern Iberia and the increasing commercial impetus of Christian powers across the Mediterranean) and to a large extent, trade-wise, the Iberian Peninsula reorientated towards the North away from the Muslim World. [citation needed], Challenging the conventions about the advent of modernity, Immanuel Wallerstein pushed back the origins of the capitalist modernity to the Iberian expansion of the 15th century. Under Tariq ibn Ziyad, the Islamic army landed at Gibraltar and, in an eight-year campaign, occupied all except the northern kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula in the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. What was the importance of the Iberian peninsula? Its southern tip, located in Tarifa is the southernmost point of the European continent and is very close to the northwest coast of Africa, separated from it by the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea. During the Late Middle Ages, the Jews acquired considerable power and influence in Castile and Aragon. In Galicia are Ra de Arousa (a home of grey plover), Ria de Ortigueira, Ria de Corme and Ria de Laxe. The Germanic people, including Vandals, Suebi, and Alans began settling on the peninsula around the 5th century. [191] MAREA, a high capacity communication transatlantic cable, connects the north of the Iberian Peninsula (Bilbao) to North America (Virginia), whereas Grace Hopper is an upcoming cable connecting the Iberian Peninsula (Bilbao) to the UK and the US intended to be operative by 2022[192] and EllaLink is an upcoming high-capacity communication cable expected to connect the Peninsula (Sines) to South America and the mammoth 2Africa project intends to connect the peninsula to the United Kingdom, Europe and Africa (via Portugal and Barcelona) by 202324. From the west, the peninsula begins at Cabo da Roca and extends to Cap de Creus in the east. Jean-Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent coined the name Iberian Peninsula in 1823. The Iberian Peninsula also has a coastline of about 3,313 kilometers, of which 1,653 kilometers are on the Atlantic Ocean and 1,660 kilometers on the Mediterranean Sea. With reference to this border, Polybius[23] states that the "native name" is Ibr, apparently the original word, stripped of its Greek or Latin -os or -us termination. Plains, plateaus, and valleys across the peninsula host the semi-deciduous forests that are dominated by carob, cork oak, holm oak, and wild olive. The association was so well known it was hardly necessary to state; for example, Ibria was the country "this side of the Ibrus" in Strabo. [124] The 16th century was one of population growth with increased pressure over resources;[125] in the case of the Iberian Peninsula a part of the population moved to the Americas meanwhile Jews and Moriscos were banished, relocating to other places in the Mediterranean Basin. Key Points. About 40,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans entered the Iberian Peninsula from across the Pyrenees. The submarine topography of the coastal waters of the Iberian Peninsula has been studied extensively in the process of drilling for oil. [58] The Muslims were referred to by the generic name Moors. [109] In 1419, the powerful Castilian navy thoroughly defeated a Hanseatic fleet in La Rochelle. Europe is a peninsula of the Eurasian supercontinent and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas to the south. The Iberian Peninsula is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulasthe Iberian, Italian, and Balkan. [1], The Iberian Peninsula extends from the southernmost extremity at Punta de Tarifa to the northernmost extremity at Punta de Estaca de Bares over a distance between lines of latitude of about 865km (537mi) based on a degree length of 111km (69mi) per degree, and from the westernmost extremity at Cabo da Roca to the easternmost extremity at Cap de Creus over a distance between lines of longitude at 40 N latitude of about 1,155km (718mi) based on an estimated degree length of about 90km (56mi) for that latitude. [65], The Umayyad rulers faced a major Berber Revolt in the early 740s; the uprising originally broke out in North Africa (Tangier) and later spread across the peninsula. "In reality, the Muslim influence in the Iberian peninsula was extremely far . This massive plateau occupies the peninsulas central part and rises between 610 and 760 meters above sea level. A new Podarcis lizard species, Podarcis virescens, was accepted as a species by the Taxonomic Committee of the Societas Europaea Herpetologica in 2020. The endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is a symbol of the Iberian mediterranean forest and of the fauna of the Iberian Peninsula altogether.[169]. Islam arrived in that region with the arrival of the Moors during the 8 th century AD, and succeeded in conquering almost the entire peninsula in less than a decade. [63] Some Christians migrated to the Northern Christian kingdoms, while those who stayed in Al-Andalus progressively arabised and became known as musta'arab (mozarabs). The Iberian Peninsula (/abrin/),[a] also known as Iberia,[b] is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defining the westernmost edge of Eurasia. Battle of Tours, also called Battle of Poitiers, (October 732), victory won by Charles Martel, the de facto ruler of the Frankish kingdoms, over Muslim invaders from Spain. The large predominance of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R1b, common throughout Western Europe, is testimony to a considerable input from various waves of (predominantly male) Western Steppe Herders from the PonticCaspian steppe during the Bronze Age. For example, curlew sandpipers rest in the region of the Bay of Cdiz. According to Charles Ebel, the ancient sources in both Latin and Greek use Hispania and Hiberia (Greek: Iberia) as synonyms. [198], The Galician region of Spain, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, became one of the biggest entry points of cocaine in Europe, on a par with the Dutch ports. NEW VERSION #10", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iberian_Peninsula&oldid=1166912983. [83], Merchants from Genoa and Pisa were conducting an intense trading activity in Catalonia already by the 12th century, and later in Portugal. The Iberian Peninsula experiences two main climate types. Many Jews and Muslims fled to North Africa and the Ottoman Empire, while others publicly converted to Christianity and became known respectively as Marranos and Moriscos (after the old term Moors). The Goths were a nomadic Germanic people who fought against Roman rule in the late 300s and early 400s A.D., helping to bring about the downfall of the Roman Empire, which had controlled much of. Regarding their role in the global economy, both the microstate of Andorra and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar have been described as tax havens. The Pyrenees mountain range forms an effective land barrier in the northeast, separating the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of Europe, and in the south at Gibraltar the peninsula is separated from North Africa by the narrow Strait of Gibraltar. Among these sites is the cave of Gran Dolina, where six hominin skeletons, dated between 780,000 and one million years ago, were found in 1994. Urban growth took place, and population progressively moved from hillforts to the plains. [50], The process of Romanization spurred on throughout the first century BC. Despite both Portugal and Spain starting their path towards modernization with the liberal revolutions of the first half of the 19th century, this process was, concerning structural changes in the geographical distribution of the population, relatively tame compared to what took place after World War II in the Iberian Peninsula, when strong urban development ran in parallel to substantial rural flight patterns.[141]. The peninsula is also a popular stopover for most migratory birds because it is Africa and Northern Europes closest stopover. It is bordered to the northwest and west by Portugal, north by Andorra and Southern France, and south by Gibraltar. Polybius respects that limit,[11] but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far south as Gibraltar, with the Atlantic side having no name.