Madrid

History

People have lived in Spain's central meseta for thousands of years. In the late ninth century, with the arrival of the Moors from Northern Africa, an Arab town began to take shape in what is now modern Madrid. The Moors built a castle (alcazar) on a hill overlooking the Manzanares River to protect their newly acquired territories. Residents followed the military and settled in the area. The Moors developed an intricate irrigation system, and agriculture bloomed. During the early stages of the Christian "Reconquest" of the Iberian Peninsula, Madrid was attacked by King Ramiro II of León in 932. The Moors restored the town but remained under siege.

In a final assault in 1083, Alfonso VI of Castile and León captured Madrid. The town was now under Castilian and Christian control. Many Moors continued to live there until the final purge of Muslims and Jews from Spain in 1492. The town's Arab-Muslim character slowly faded over time. Madrid, which had been of marginal importance under the Moors, became home to many Castilian kings and grew in importance. By 1309, the Cortes (parliament) was operating within the city.

Madrid was already a large town when Philip II (1527–1598) made it the capital of Spain in 1561. Now at the center of Spanish power, Madrid began to grow rapidly. By the 1650s, more than 100,000 people lived in Madrid. Architecture flourished under the Habsburg monarchs, who directed the construction of many important structures that remain to this day. The Plaza Mayor, a huge square surrounded by five-story houses, was built between 1617 and 1619. It became the center of life for early Madrileños. Bullfights were held on the plaza, as well as trials and executions of the Inquisition (a general tribunal established in the thirteenth century for the discovery and suppression

The city continued to grow and prosper under the Bourbon Kings, especially King Charles III (1759–1788). Charles was not too fond of the city. He considered it dangerous and dirty and came close to moving the capital to Sevilla or Valencia. Yet despite his reservations, Charles stayed and passed laws to force citizens to clean up, inside and outside their homes. Acting much like a city planner, he engineered Madrid's continued growth and development. His contributions to Madrid would earn him the title of mayor-king.

Madrid's tranquility was shattered during the Napoleonic Wars when French troops occupied the city, and Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Joseph (1822–1891) was installed on the throne. On May 2, 1808, the War of Independence began as Spaniards rose against the unpopular Joseph and fought French troops in bloody skirmishes. The date is remembered as a national holiday, but France continued to rule Spain until the war ended in 1814 with the victory of the Spanish army and guerillas, aided by British troops. Ferdinand VII (1788–1833), who had been imprisoned by Napoleon, returned to Madrid in 1814 and began to redevelop the city.

By the 1850s, major projects ensured the city's continued growth. More than 31 kilometers (50 miles) of new canals brought fresh water into the city. In 1851, the first train departed from Atocha station on its way to Aranjuez. In 1861, the Castro Plan, more commonly known as the Ensanche (the widening), was formally adopted to guide the city's growth. The modern plan established areas for hospitals, cemeteries, hospices, and even jails. It assigned certain areas as working-class neighborhoods and protected the richer enclaves from undesirable urban uses. Yet despite the plan, Madrid was unable to prevent poor areas from developing outside planned zones. During this time, there were no major industries in Madrid, and workers spent most of their meager earnings on food. The bulk of the population lived in substandard housing, many without water and sewage facilities.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, nearly 600,000 people called Madrid home. Beautiful palaces, gardens, museums, and imposing government buildings dotted the city. In 1919 the city inaugurated the underground metro's first line. At the time, the service offered first and second-class tickets, a symbol of class differences in prosperous Madrid. By 1930, nearly one million people had moved into the city.

The 1930s were difficult years for Madrid and Spain. The nation was deeply divided by political ideology. Many Spaniards didn't want a monarchy and sought a more democratic form of government. Fascism in Europe was on the rise, and the Soviet Union sought to influence other nations with its Communist ideology. In 1931, Spain became a Republic; soon after that, the nation was divided by civil war. Fascists, the military, the Catholic Church and its conservative devotees championed the return of the monarchy. Collectively, these groups came to be known as Nationalists. A coalition of leftist parties that had narrowly won the 1936 elections and politically moderate Spaniards supported the continuation of the Republic. In 1936, civil war broke out. Francisco Franco, who had become a general at age 33, led the Nationalist forces. The Republicans could not muster a united front.

Epic battles were waged in Madrid during the civil war. The Republican government moved to Valencia, fearing that Madrid would crumble quickly to the Nationalist forces. But Madrid held up, despite heavy damage from constant aerial and artillery bombardments. With help from Nazi leader Adolph Hitler (1889–1945) and the Italian fascist Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), Franco's troops defeated the Republican forces in a final battle in Madrid on March 28, 1939. Franco declared Spain a monarchy in 1947, but he remained the country's dictatorial leader until his death in 1975.

Under Franco, Madrid's position as the seat of power was further solidified. Franco quickly set to rebuilding Madrid while he ignored other regions of the country. With the region established as a growing industrial center, the city continued to grow rapidly, swallowing many of its own suburbs. By 1951, Madrid covered 205 square kilometers (79 square miles). The Urban Plan of 1963 directed growth to other municipalities in the metropolitan area, turning some of them into bedroom communities. During the 1960s, the automobile became a major mode of transportation, choking the streets and the air.

Franco's death in 1975 brought profound changes to Spain and Madrid. With King Juan Carlos (1938–) leading the way, Spain embarked on a democratization process that affected every institution in the country. Free from the conservative constraints of a dictatorship, Madrid became a more cosmopolitan city during the 1980s and 1990s. Its elected leaders began to pay more attention to the environment and passed laws to protect the city's architectural treasures, air, and water.