Who ruled Spain and Portugal for most of the middle ages?

Answer 1

Since this age is before Spain and Portugal became countries, both were part of the Roman Empire. Spain and Portugal, were once called "Hispania", and it's still called this in Spanish, "Espana (pronounced as es-pan-yah)" which refers to Spain. Portugal, became the Roman province of Lusitania. Hence, this is how Spanish and Portuguese are related and called "Romantic languages".

Answer 2

Early in the Middle Ages, the Iberian peninsula was ruled by Visigoths, with Suebi in the Northwest for a time, and a brief time when the area in the Southeast was held by the Byzantine Empire.

Early in the 8th century, Arabs and Moors invaded, and they took over the whole peninsula. Their territory was called Al-Andalus.

The nation of Asturias very soon established itself in the mountains of the North West, and this was the first of a series of Spanish Christian kingdoms. About 800, the Franks took over the mountains in the Northeast, including Barcelona. During the following centuries, a number of Christian kingdoms formed, including Leon, Castile, Navarre, Portugal, Catalonia, and Aragon. These gradually pushed the borders between Christian and Muslim areas southward, and ultimately, most were united by the late years of the Middle Ages. In 1492, the last Muslim country, Cordoba, was captured, and for practical purposes, the peninsula was Spain and Portugal.

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Answer 3

Countries changed a lot in the region of Spain and Portugal during the Middle Ages.

When the Middle Ages started, waves of Germanic tribes had passed through or settled in the area. These people were the Vandals, Alans, Suevi, and Visigoths. The Visigoths eventually took the entire peninsula.

The medieval continuation of the Roman Empire, which we now call the Byzantine Empire, retook an area called the Province of Spain, along the southeastern coast, and held it from 552 to 624.

In 711, Moors invaded. They took the entire peninsula in eight years, but they did not consolidate their power in the mountains of the North, and the Christians almost immediately began resistance, winning their first battle in 722. The Muslim area of Spain was called Al Andalus, but there were later Muslim kingdoms that broke away from it.

The period from 722 to 1492 is called the Reconquista. During this time, many small kingdoms were created, with the Christian kingdoms in the north gradually pushing the Muslims kingdoms to the south. The Christian kingdoms included Asturia, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, León, and Portugal. There were other independent countries, such as the county of Catalonia, which became a kingdom when one of the counts decided he was a king, and the Franks briefly held an area called the Spanish March in the north.

As the Middle Ages progressed, the various Spanish kingdoms gradually united, until, with the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, Aragon and Castile were united to form the Kingdom of Spain. They conquered the last remaining Muslim area, Grenada, in 1492.

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