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History of Extremadura | Prehistoric | Roman | Middle Ages | Conquistadors | Modern History | Religious History | Changing Times
Three Millennia of Civilization
“Cradle of the Conquistadors”
The world’s longest Roman Bridge - still in use today- was built in Mérida before the birth of Christ. But long before the Romans, prehistoric cave dwellers in Cáceres date back to 30,000 B.C. Civilization first arrived during the bronze and iron ages with Phoenicians and Carthaginians settlers. Extremadura was conquered by the Roman Empire beginning in 155 B.C. Mérida, Emérita Augusta, was the capital of Lusitanian and the most important Roman colony on the Iberian peninsula.
In 411 A.D. Christian Visigoth kings replaced the crumbling Roman empire and Mérida became the seat of the Archbishopric of Spain. In 713 Extremadura was captured by invading Arabs and for five hundred years was under Islamic rule. By 1230 Muslim castles and fortified cities in the region were reconquered by Christians forces.
Extremadura “Land of the Conquistadors” was the staging ground for the most famous Spanish discoverers of the Americas: Cortés, Pizarro, Orellana, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Hernando de Soto, Alvarado, and Valdivia. With medieval technology they discovered and explored the Appalachians, Andes. Ozarks, Mississippi, Amazon, and the Pacific. They captured the Aztec and Inca empires and spread their Catholic faith from Florida to California, Colorado to Chile.