Spain Poem by David Pass

Phoenicians came to Iberia
Bringing metals and farming skills
From the coast to the interior
Up the Ebro into the hills

Celts crossed the Pyrenees from the north
They met Basques settled in the west
As these tribes met new groups came forth
Competing put them to the test

Out of Africa from Carthage
To Iberia Hannibal came
Anti-Roman, a war to wage
Crossing the Alps brought him to fame

Rome prevailed in the Punic Wars
Hispania they renamed the land
Provinces using Roman laws
Exporting goods to Rome as planned

Visigoths followed when Rome fell
Limited order was restored
With rival factions things weren’t well
And Muslims put them to the sword

The Moors invaded in 7 1 1
And called the land Al-Andalus
Christian influence soon had gone
Advance was halted at Toulouse

The Moors brought in an astrolabe
To measure stars and planets too
Cordoba Mosque was far from drab
Maths, Science and Philosophy grew

Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar
Was the national hero El Cid
He liberated Valencia
The Berber army he undid

Isabella and Ferdinand
Re-joined Aragon and Castile
Granada annexed to their land
The Re-Conquista now was real

Muslims and Jews killed or exiled
By the Spanish Inquisition
Protestants also were reviled
Heresy the verdict of tradition

Columbus sailed to Samana Cay
Spain had Inca and Aztec gold
Portugal agreed a Treaty
East of fifty one west to hold

Goa and Macao their bases
The Moluccas to trade for spice
Ruling over many races
Brazil to Timor goods of choice

Then disaster in Morocco
And forced to be a part of Spain
For 60 years morale was low
But Portugal arose again

Philip 2 was the Spanish king
From Corunna the Armada came
To attack England and then bring
A Catholic ruler and to maim

With the Armada defeated
And then the Inca riches spent
The Spanish empire retreated
And the Spanish Netherlands went

Fighting when the Hapsburgs ended (1700)
Peace with the Treaty of Utrecht (1713)
Bourbons from the French descended
Gibraltar-Britain did collect

Fight for trade in 1762 (7 years war)
Britain fought against France and Spain
Portugal joined against Spain too
Treaty of Paris, peace again (1763)

Spain protested with Louis dying (1793)
But they were forced to join the foe (1795)
Boney’s brother installed as king (1808)
Guerilla fighters made him go (1812)

French fought in Spain and Russia too
But weakened forces could not stand
Slowly the opposition grew
Invaders driven from the land

Liberal constitution then
But King Ferdinand was restored (1814)
This led to civil war again
And colonies rebelled abroad (1810-21)

A century of strife brought on
Dictator Primo de Rivera (1923-30)
A brief democracy was soon gone
Franco was ruthless at Guernica (1936-39)


Finally true democracy
Juan Carlos brought in UCD
Since eighty two, PSOE
People’s Party now majority