Iberian Peninsula

(noun)

The Iberian Peninsula, commonly called Iberia, is a peninsula located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas. It is bordered on the southeast and east by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the north, west and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean. The Pyrenees form the northeast edge of the peninsula, separating it from the rest of Europe. In the south, it approaches the northern coast of Africa.

Related Terms

Examples of Iberian Peninsula in the following topics:

  • Beatus Manuscripts

    • Though Beatus may have written these commentaries as a response to Adoptionism in the Hispania of the late 700s, many scholars believe that the book's popularity in monasteries stemmed from the Arabic-Islamic conquest of the Iberian peninsula, which some Iberian Christians took as a sign of the Antichrist.
    • Mozarabic art refers to art of Mozarabs, Iberian Christians living in Al-Andalus who adopted Arab customs without converting to Islam during the Islamic invasion of the Iberian peninsula (from the eighth through the eleventh century).

  • The Reconquista

    • The Reconquista is a period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula dominated by almost constant warfare between Muslims and Christians and followed by the Spanish Inquisition.
    • The Reconquista ("reconquest") is a period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula, spanning approximately 770 years, between the initial Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the 710s and the fall of the Emirate of Granada, the last Islamic state on the peninsula, to expanding Christian kingdoms in 1492.
    • Tariq's commander, Musa, quickly crossed with Arab reinforcements, and by 718 the Muslims were in control of nearly the whole Iberian Peninsula.
    • A decisive victory for the Christians took place at Covadonga, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in the summer of 722.
    • The Kingdom of Asturias became the main base for Christian resistance to Islamic rule in the Iberian Peninsula for several centuries.

  • First Romanesque Architecture

    • The First Romanesque style developed in the north of Italy, parts of France, and the Iberian Peninsula in the 10th century prior to the later influence of the Abbey of Cluny.

  • Ancient Carthage

    • According to Aristotle, the Carthaginians and others had treaties of commerce to regulate their exports and imports.The empire of Carthage depended heavily on its trade with cities of the Iberian peninsula, from which it obtained vast quantities of silver, lead, copper and— most importantly —tin ore, which was essential for the manufacture of bronze objects by the civilizations of antiquity.
    • Carthaginian trade-relations with the Iberians (and the naval strength that enforced Carthage's monopoly on Iberian trade and that with tin-rich Britain), made it the sole significant broker of tin and maker of bronze in its day.
    • Although Carthage's navy was always its main military force, the army acquired a key role in the spread of Carthaginian power over the native peoples of northern Africa and southern Iberian Peninsula, from the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC.

  • Expansion Under the Umayyad Caliphates

    • The Umayyads incorporated the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb, and the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) into the Muslim world.
    • The musician Ziryab is credited with bringing hair and clothing styles, toothpaste, and deodorant from Baghdad to the Iberian peninsula.

  • Illustrated Books in the Early Middle Ages

    • Though Beatus might have written these commentaries as a response to Adoptionism in the Hispania of the late 700s, many scholars believe that the book's popularity in monasteries stemmed from the Arabic-Islamic conquest of the Iberian peninsula, which some Iberian Christians took as a sign of the Antichrist.
    • Mozarabic art refers to art of Mozarabs, Iberian Christians living in Al-Andalus who adopted Arab customs without converting to Islam during the Islamic invasion of the Iberian peninsula (from the eighth through the eleventh century).

  • Ancient Africa

    • The Almoravids were a Berber dynasty from the Sahara that spread over a wide area of northwestern Africa and the Iberian peninsula during the eleventh century.
    • The Banu Hilal and Banu Ma'qil were a collection of Arab Bedouin tribes from the Arabian Peninsula who migrated westwards via Egypt between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.

  • Spanish Architecture in the Northern Renaissance

    • Renaissance architecture reached the Iberian peninsula in the 16th century, ushering in a new style that gradually replaced the Gothic architecture, which had been popular for the centuries.
    • This style influenced the Spanish architecture of both the peninsula and the colonies for over a century.

  • The Spanish Habsburgs

    • In this period,  "Spain" or "the Spains" covered the entire peninsula, politically a confederacy comprising several, nominally independent kingdoms in personal union: Aragon, Castile, León, Navarre and, from 1580, Portugal.
    • The Iberian Union with Portugal in 1580 not only unified the peninsula, but added that country's worldwide resources to the Spanish crown.
    • Europe is shown standing upright with the Iberian Peninsula forming her crowned head.

  • The Fourth Crusade

    • In the Iberian peninsula, Crusader privileges were given to those aiding the Templars, the Hospitallers, and the Iberian orders that merged with the Order of Calatrava and the Order of Santiago.
    • The papacy declared frequent Iberian crusades, and from 1212 to 1265 the Christian kingdoms drove the Muslims back to the Emirate of Granada, which held out until 1492, when the Muslims and Jews were expelled from the peninsula.