Hispania Archive

The Information of the pre european pertiod is surprisingly scarce but still we know for sure that the first human settlements in the territory of Hispania were developed around the year 1100 AD, consisting basically of small villages, inhabitated by natives from the area now known as “French Polinesia”. In the year 1243 AD, several villages joined to form a united political entity, called the “Kuhanai Empire”. At the time of maximum power, this empire dominated nearly 50 small islands and it’s capital “Rihuini” was the home of over 27,000 people. However, by the years 1300-1400 AD Strange diseases and at least three civil wars decimated the population, the crisis was so severe that historians calculate that, by the beginnings of fifteenth century only 15,000 people lived in the entire island

In 1539, a Spanish ship, part of an expedition exploring the Philippines’ area discovered the island, naming it “Hispania” in honor to the sailors’ home land. Ten years later, in 1549, a new Spanish expedition came to the island, its captain was Edmundo Herrera Marín, direct descendant of the English king known as Edward Longshanks. His grand-grandfather fled England in order to survive a palace intrigue and received asylum and help in Castilla. Edmundo’s family sailed to the new world in search of a new beginning, and they found it in Hispania. the period that runs from 1550 to 1574 is known as the “colonization” stage, during which the first towns of the new country (then still a Spanish colony) were founded, These villages still survive today and are “Nueva Madrid” and “Santa Cecilia”. In 1575 The newborn hispanian army had its first militry affair when defeated a group of pirates that tried to take Nueva Madrid for themselves In 1602 a small crew, including Rodrigo Herrera (son of Edmundo) travelled to Spain and talked with Spanish king Felipe III “the merciful”, two years later the treaties of “La Almudena” were signed. As a result Hispania gained its independence on the condition of aid Spanish ships and troops whenever would be necessary, at least for the next 150 years.

On December 23, 1604, Rodrigo Herrera was crowned as the first king of Hispania, taking onwards the name of Felipe I in homage to the Spanish ruler In 1613, less than a decade later, a change in the ocean currents isolates Hispania from the outside world. By 1735 The advancements in sailing techniques allowed Hispania to contact the outside world, it’s relations remained, however, limited to the contacs with the commercial routes between the “New Spain” (México) and the Philippines

On November 27th, 1759 agents of the Royal Crown unveil a huge conspiracy to dethrone the King Philip “the Seventh”, and arrest hundreds of conspirators in towns and villages around the country. Historians calculate in 1,200 the number of deaths from both sides. By 1760, Luis de Villiers, leader of the conspirators was convicted and executed. During his trial he admitted contact with foreign nations, but he never said which of them. Is suspected that English agents trying to set new ports in the Pacific were the hidden puppeteers of the rebellion. Meanwhile, from 1760 and until 1762, a cruel civil war thorned the country apart, during which Villiers’ followers took control of Hispania’s east coast and advanced towards the capital. The rebels destroyed dozens of churches and towns, becoming a kind of vision of the horrors of the French revolution, which would begin 27 years later Finally, on October 12th, 1762, in the valley of Clarvant, a barely armed and trained army of 450 peasants, defeated (and disbanded almost entirely) the western column of the rebel forces, consisting of over 6,000 experienced soldiers. This battle, considered as one of the most extraordinary upsets in military history, marks the turning point on the Hispania’s civil war, as the next battles were also decisively won by the royal troops, leading to the complete defeat of the rebellion.

In 1795 The “Autumn Reforms” legally established the freedom of religion (previously only granted to jews and catholics), the official separation between Church and State (they remain quite collaborative to this day, though), the universal vote (for both women and men) to elect local authorities and the free market as the base of the economic policy Nearly one century later, in 1887 a new set of constitutional reforms in the political system, divided the country in sixteen provinces, whose governors were designated by the King with the advisement of the Court and local personalities

In 1923 The King propossed to the Courts a series of reforms, which included the universal vote in provincial elections, which was consolidated by the reforms of 1949 that instituted the universal vote to elect the chief of government, while the King remained head of state In 1952 The National Rightist party triumped in the first general election, winning over 200 seats in the Congress and the presidency. Since then the Socialist and the Rightist party have held control of the Presidency of the Goverment, while other parties, as the Centrist Party or Fuerza Popular have remained on a distant third place