The Spanish culture is best understood through the events and different cultures that spent time in the peninsula. From the Phoenicians, Spaniards learnt about the use of money, trading and even mining. From the Romans they learnt to grow wines, olive trees and build beautiful and delicate pieces of art. But the Romans also influenced on war and Spanish soldiers became very important for the Roman legions. Spain provided important writers to the Roman empire with Seneca, Cordoba´s most famous person, as the most obvious example. But Spain also provided Emperors: Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Theodosius were all from Hispania.

When the Romans withdrew Spain was a Christian country, and this was what the Visigoths found when they followed the Romans. The visigoths were Arrianos but in 589, with King Recadero, Spain became Catholic, and a common belief was shared amongst the Goths kings. But this did not prevent fights, something which was well used by the Muslims who, within just twenty miles of water from Spain, perceived they could enjoy Africa without the heat up north. By 711 they crossed the strait of Gibraltar and in just 2 years they conquered most of Southern Spain. Spain and its culture profited. Tribal antipathies did not prevent the Moors to establish the Caliphate of Cordoba, which rivalled with Baghdad and where culture and arts thrived. At that time the city of Cordoba was Europe´s second largest city only behind Constantinople. The Moors thought people the techniques of irrigation, and they brought a sort of sybaritic fancy, best understood at the Alhmabra palace, and this vision which could have infused into local culture. The Reconquista started in 718 but took more than 7 centuries to get finalised. Through this long process, the Christian cross went up in Mosques and when the processes ended, Spain sent ships to America. The Spaniards may have thought themselves invincible at the time. That could have left certain traits of local culture, as well as also the new products that arrived from America, that developed local gastronomy, and merged with the scents of Moorish recipes.

As all empires through history, the Spanish Empire collapsed and out of many losses, the one of Cuba in 1898 left a proud country poor, an imperial attitude but not empire…

The XX century brought the darkest episode of Spanish history with its civil war, but if one thing is to be retained is that the country came out of it as a democracy, galloping down with great people in the highroad of history.