



-
- The period in Spain's history during which the Christian kingdoms slowly recovered the territories occupied by the Moslem Moors of North Africa. The Moorish invasion of the Iberian peninsula began in 711 AD and was halted at the Battle of Covadonga in Asturias, in 718. The expulsion of the last Moorish ruler of the kingdom of Granada in 1492 completed the Reconquest. The intervening 781 years saw periods of conflict and coexistence between Moors and Christians. Alliances of Moorish and Christian kingdoms against Christian rivals were not unknown.
-
- The Mayas, possibly of North American origin, settled in the Yucatán Peninsula around 2600 BC, and established a civilization which spread through Southern Mexico, into Guatemala, Belize, parts of Honduras and El Salvador, flourishing until the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century. Their society was organized on the basis of city states grouped into confederations. Though lacking metal tools, the Mayas built stepped pyramids and other stone monuments such as those at Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, Petén and Palenque.




-
- The Península Ibérica (Iberian Peninsula) includes Spain and Portugal. The Spanish language makes use of this term (and the corresponding adjective peninsular), in order to differentiate between the Spanish mainland and the two Spanish island groups (Baleares y Canarias) as well as the country's territories in Africa (Ceuta y Melilla).
- The Península Ibérica (Iberian Peninsula) includes Spain and Portugal. The Spanish language makes use of this term (and the corresponding adjective peninsular), in order to differentiate between the Spanish mainland and the two Spanish island groups (Baleares y Canarias) as well as the country's territories in Africa (Ceuta y Melilla).