Berber tribesmen, the Almoravids, establish a base at Marrakech from which they conquer northwest Africa and move into Spain

Toledo is captured from the Muslims by Alfonso VI of Castile, who continues the city's traditions of religious tolerance

Rodrigo Diaz, known as El Cid, drives out the Muslims and wins Valencia

Seville falls to the Almohads, from north Africa, who make it their Spanish capital

The merging of Catalonia with Aragon, by marriage, creates a power in northern Spain of comparable strength to Castile

In a treaty signed at Cazorla, the kings of Castile and Aragon agree on a plan of cooperation against the Muslims

In Cordoba the Muslim philosopher Averroës writes commentaries on Aristotle that are influential throughout medieval Europe

Representatives of the towns in Léon are summoned to one of the earliest known parliaments

The kingdom of Granada is established with a Berber noble, Muhammad I, as the first king

Work begins on the Alhambra, the palace fortress of the Muslim kings of Granada

A school of translation is set up in Toledo, to translate classical Greek texts from the Arabic versions into Latin

The classical work of the Kabbalah, the Zohar, is almost certainly the work of the Spanish Kabbalist Moses de Leon

The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella unites the crowns of Aragon and Castile, creating virtually a unified Spain

Tomas de Torquemada, from a family of converted Jews, is appointed Spain's first Grand Inquisitor

The army of Ferdinand and Isabella besieges and takes the city of Granada, completing the long reconquest of Spain from the Muslims

Torquemada persuades Ferdinand and Isabella to expel from Spain all Jews (about 160,000) who will not convert to Christianity

Bayazid II, the Turkish sultan, makes a special point of welcoming in Istanbul the Jews expelled from Spain

Christopher Columbus, together with the brothers Martin and Vicente Pinzón, sails west from Palos in Spain

Columbus returns to Spain, landing at Palos with news of his great discoveries

Pope Alexander VI draws a line through the Atlantic, dividing new discoveries between Spain (west) and Portugal (east)

Philip, heir to Austria, marries Joanna, a daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, in the second of the great Habsburg marital alliances

Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches the Pacific coast and claims the ocean for the king of Spain

The death of Ferdinand II results in Spain becoming part of the Habsburg empire, under the rule of Charles V (as Charles I of Spain)

Ferdinand Magellan and a small fleet depart from Seville, attempting to sail round the world

Ignatius of Loyola, recovering from a wound received as a soldier at Pamplona, is inspired by reading the lives of the saints