Medieval Origins of the Spanish Nation

Many European nations have medieval origins and this is the case notably of Spain, which is the product of a complex history of agglomeration of previous political units, Catalonia among them. One of the most original traits of Iberian medieval history is that the merger and incorporation of kingdoms took place while the Christian kingdoms expanded southwards at the expense of the Moorish kingdoms and statelets. This was the process commonly called Reconquista (Reconquest). Catalonia merged with Aragon in the twelfth century; by the mid-fifteenth century the Iberian Peninsula was divided into five kingdoms: Portugal, Castile, Aragón, Navarre, and the Moorish kingdom of Granada. Under Isabel of Castile and Fernando of Aragon these two kingdoms were united, and Granada and Navarre were later annexed to Castile.