page_title: Spain
section_title: Kingdom of León
hierarchical_section_title: Spain / History of Spain / Kingdom of León
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Spanien, Cordoba, MezquitaEnglish: Spain, Cordoba, Mosque-Cathedral
context_page_description: Spain is a country in Southern Europe. It is in the Iberian Peninsula. Spain has borders with France, Portugal, Andorra and Morocco. In Spain's northeast side are the Pyrenees mountains.
  The people of Spain are called Spaniards. They speak Castilian or Spanish
context_section_description: The Kingdom of León, the most important in the early Spanish Middle Ages, was started in 910. This Kingdom developed the first democratic parliament (Cortes de Llión) in Europe in 1188. After 1301, León had the same King as the Kingdom of Castile in personal union.  The various kingdoms remained independent territories until 1833, when Spain was divided into regions and provinces.
  In 1492, the Christians took the last part of Spain that still belonged to the Moors, Granada.  Boabdil, the last Moorish King of Granada, surrendered to King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile on 2 January 1492.  Ferdinand and Isabella then ruled all of Spain.
  Before this, there were a number of Christian countries in what is now called Spain. Two of these countries, Castile and Aragon, came together when Ferdinand II of Aragon married the queen Isabella of Castile.  The King ruled as much as the Queen.
  In the same year, 1492, they sent Christopher Columbus to sail across the Atlantic Ocean.  Columbus found the islands of the Caribbean Sea.
  When other Europeans explored, like Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, they found out that there were two continents there - North America and South America.  Spanish conquistadores took over very large parts of those two continents. This empire did not make Spain a rich country, for most of the money had to be spent in wars in Italy and elsewhere.  Some of these wars were fought against other European countries who were trying to take over parts of the Americas.
  Meanwhile, at home, the Muslim manuscripts had been either burnt or taken to other countries.  Jews had also been expelled from Spain.  Some Jews remained but they had to become Christians.  Among the few old things kept and respected in Spain were in music:  harmony and stringed instruments. The buildings that had been built by the Moors were kept, and many Muslim religious buildings (mosques) were turned into churches. Some Jewish religious buildings were also turned into churches. Many Arab words became part of the Spanish Language.
caption: Inside of the Mezquita in Córdoba, a Muslim mosque which became a Christian cathedral.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "In der Mezquita in Cordoba", "Image Make": "PENTAX Corporation", "Image Model": "PENTAX K10D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DxO Optics Pro 9.5.2", "Image DateTime": "2015:10:27 13:54:14", "Image ExifOffset": "2234", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[37, 52, 49255/1132]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[4, 46, 46867/1021]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "114", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[13, 54, 14]", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "GPS GPSDate": "2015:10:27", "Image GPSInfo": "2620", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "160", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "120", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2851", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4711", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/15", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:10:27 13:54:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:10:27 13:54:14", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "21", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3762", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2486", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "31", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}