Spanish Government

The first form of government was a monarchy known as the Visogothic Kingdom. The kingdom first started in 587 A.D. and lasted until 712 A.D. One of the rulers of this preriod was King Rodrigo. He was defeated at the battle of Guadalete. The total number of years for the kingdom was 125 years.

Muslim Spain was started by the Witiza Family. They caused the down fall of the Visogothic Kingdom. By the middle of the 8th century the muslims had made a strong hold in Spain. They put king Abd al-Rahman in to power. He feld the slaughter of 750 A.D. from Abbasid. Muslim Spain had a flurshing culture with libraies and other educational materials. The new Leader was Caliph Al-Hakam. Then it broke into smaller petty kingdoms known as Ta’ifas. They soon broke up and caused even more petty kingdoms.

Next the Christian Reconquest took place in 718. It lasted 774 years from 718 to 1492. During this period many new kingdoms came about such as the Basques. Much of Spain became under control of the reconquest when in 1492. It was completed by Isabel and Fernado by taking Granada. In October of that same year Columbus sailed to the West Indies. In 1469 Isabel and Fernado get married.

The Spanish Empire began in 1516 with Isabella I and Ferdinand V that the newly united country began to build an empire. Spanish expansion overseas began for a number of reasons. The monarchs wanted to secure neighboring areas for defense against Muslim raids originating from North Africa, to protect Castile's shipping activities and trade in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The crown went to Charles I of Spain. Who united the two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile under one ruler. In 1556 Charles leaves the throne and leaves it to his two sons. Charles dies two years later. In 1714 Spain loses the war. Philip of Anjou becomes king and Spain loses Belgium Luxemburg Milan Naples Sardini and Minorca. This empire lasted 198 years. In 1588 The Spanish Armada is attacked and destroyed making Spain’s down fall more noticeable.

The generals who rose against the Second Republic on July 17 were confident of an early victory. However, their attempt to seize power and establish a military directory throughout Spain was only partially successful. In cities that supported the Second Republic, such as Zaragoza and Seville, the insurgents quickly gained control by taking ...

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...d in a cabinet, or council of ministers. There is also the Council of States, a consultative body.

In 1977 Spain’s unicameral Cortes was replaced by a bicameral parliament made up of a 350-member Congress of Deputies and a Senate of 208 directly elected members and 47 special regional representatives. Deputies are popularly elected to four-year terms by universal suffrage of people 18 years of age and older, under a system of proportional representation. The directly elected senators are voted to four-year terms on a regional basis. Each mainland province elects 4 senators; another 20 senators come from the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla.

The judicial system in Spain is governed by the General Council of Judicial Power, presided over by the president of the Supreme Court. The country’s highest tribunal is the Supreme Court of Justice, divided into 7 sections; it sits in Madrid. There are 17 territorial high courts, one in each autonomous region, 52 provincial high courts, and several lower courts handling penal, labor, and juvenile matters. The country’s other important court is the Constitutional Court, which monitors observance of the constitution.