History of Madrid (+ info)

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The first historical records about the origin of Madrid date from the mid 9th century, when the Emir of Cordoba Mohamed I built an Arab castle on the site where today stands the Royal Palace.
A walled military town soon was established around this fortress, known as al-Mudaina.
During the Reconquest by the Christians it was subject to several attacks until it was finally conquered by Alfonso VI in 1083.
In around 1200 it obtained its Charter and soon mediaeval Madrid became a small town visited frequently by some of the monarchs of the House of Trastámara (Enrique III, Juan II and Enrique IV) for hunting.
The 16th century is the beginning of a new period in the history of Madrid. Carlos I granted it the titles of Coronada and Imperial (crowned and imperial) and began the transformation of the old Arab fortress into the Royal Palace.
In 1561 Felipe II moved the Court from the Imperial Toledo to Madrid, where it has been since then.
During the 16th and 17th centuries the town was to grow and become the capital of the vast Spanish Empire.
Sumptuous palaces, churches, convents, etc. were built. They now conform what is called the Madrid of the Austrias.
The reign of Felipe IV was an exceptional period of cultural splendour, with the presence in the capital of geniuses like Cervantes, Quevedo, Góngora, Velázquez, Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca.
The arrival of the dynasty of the Borbons, in the early 18th century, signified a renaissance of what had become a stagnant country after the reign of Carlos II.
The most brilliant times were during the reign of Carlos III, known as the best Mayor Madrid ever had. This was the era of the Illustration and Madrid was filled with museums, academies and libraries.
The reign of Isabel II brings a new stage in the urban development of the city: this is the Romantic Madrid of the early 19th century, characterised by social meetings or "tertulias" in the cafés, the rise of a middle class, the first industries and the turbulent politics with the alternation in power of the Liberal and Conservative parties.
An intellectual movement is to appear in the first half of the 20th century called Generación del 98 (Generation of 98) and it is the main representative of the political and cultural unrest that affected Spain at the time.
It is the Madrid of the reign of Alfonso XIII, the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the Second Republic and the siege of Madrid during the Civil War in 1936.
After the War, especially from the 1950's on, Madrid is to grow enormously making it what it is now, a large city with all the problems that this brings but with a magnificent collection of monuments that make it one of the most interesting in Europe.
In the 90's Madrid could be seen as a cultural city. In 1992 it was declared European Cultural Capital.
The greatest growth has been seen in activities related to the movement of information, capital, goods and people, from financial and banking services, transport and travelling and business activities.
The metropolitan area of Madrid became in the 90's one of the main centres of the European Union in the south, enlarging its traditional role as a service centre only for Spain.

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