El Imperio Iberico de Su Majestad Emperadora Isabel III

The Iberian Government is a true Empire, under Her Majesty Emperadora Isabel Trastámara III del Imperio Iberico,  with the Empirical Seat is in her Palace of Salamanca. The other two provinces, Andalucia and Aragon, have sworn allegiance to the throne; each pays taxes and enforces laws as a branch of the Emperor.  Their capitals are Sevilla and Barcelona, respectively.   The Government also slightly regulates the prices of certain goods and entirely in international trade.  The average price of the Spanish Gold Standard is approximately 1 CU per 170,000 coins, while civilian affairs are exchanged using the Gold, Silver, and Copper Standard, with each one 20 times more valuable than the previous.

Early History
    Parts of Spain first came under Roman rule during the Second Punic War, where they captured Carthaginian trade colonies along the Eastern Coast. Over two centuries, the Romans conquered the Peninsula and Romanized the population. They established most of the customs, languages, and cultures that exist today, and in the 1st century they spread Christianity there.
    In the 400s the Roman hold on the peninsula left, with the Suebi, Vandals, and Alans moving into Gaul and the Visigoths pushing them across the Pyrenees. The tribes settled in various regions of Spain and Portugal, however, the Visigoths united the Peninsula as Hispania, establishing their capital in Toledo.

Middle Ages:
     In 711, Moorish Tribes of the to-be Ummayad Caliphate crossed the Gibraltair and quickly conquered the Visigothic Empire and most of Iberia. However, the Battle of Covadonga in 732 secured the safety of the Kingdom of Asturias in the northern coast, and in 739 Asturias secured Galicia from the Ummayads.
   Through gradual infighting and decadence in the Caliphate, the Ummayad empire became weak and fractured in rival Muslim kingdoms. This opportunity was seized by Asturias, now extending southwards towards Salamanca.
   In 1065 came the reign of Alfonso VI, heraled as the father of modern Iberia.  When his father died, he took the throne of León. Using a combination of war and intruige, he seized the thrones of his two brothers and declared his personal holy war on the fractured Muslim Kingdoms, setting Cordóba as his prize.
   Alfonso VI showed his ruthlessness at the Seige of Toledo. Upon making it inside the walls, he ordered his soldiers to mount his catapults upon the walls and continued to shower the city in projectiles for another day before advancing into the city.  In later battles, some Muslim outposts surrendered upon his arrival, fearing his ruthlessness and the safety of their populous.
   In 1089, Alfonso's army reached the walls of Cordobá.  For 20 days, the army reigned projectiles down on then the richest city in Europe, however, supplies were running dangerouly low, due to hit and run attacks on his supply train.  Then, on the 21st day, his forces managed to seize the walls of the city. However, from there, he ordered oil poured down from the walls into the streets, then set the city aflame. It is said that the smoke could be seen from Paris and the fire shown brighter than the sun that night.  Once the dust settled, hardly more than rubble and smoldered brick remained of the once most sophisticated city in Europe.
  Alfonso managed to capture Sevilla in 1104, his empire reaching now from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean. He also cemented his family claims in Portugal and Aragon, which would prove priceless in the reign of Isabella the Catholic.
  Because of his rampant destruction againt the Muslim kingdoms, many of the infrastructure and population base in the south was destroyed, while the cities in the north flourished from Moorish gold.  This imbalance of power still stands today.  However, Alfonso's descendents did not live up to his greatness, and for 3 centuries the Iberian throne dealt with petty civil wars and incompetent kings.  However, in 1281 the University of Salamanca was founded and in 1342 the Capital moved from León to Salamanca.
 
Imperial Spain
   In 1474, Isabel the Catholic inherited the throne of the Castilla and León. Through a marriage with King Ferdinand II of Aragon, she ensured the kingdoms unified for the future Empire, effectively doubling it' size.  However, Isabel still had rough times ahead of her.  In 1475, her brother Alfonso crossed into Spain in his war for the throne. However, with the reinforcement troops from her husband in Aragon, she managed to take the war to Portugal.  Through 1478, she seized Portuguese territory and had decisive victories. In 1478, she turned down critical African territory for seizing her claim on the Portuguese throne.
 With almost the entirety of Iberia under their control, the Catholic monarchs had essentially assured the entirety of the peninsula for their descendents. In 1492, the Spanish Monarchs conquered the final Muslim outpost in Granada, ending more then 700 years of their occupation.
  For the next hundred and fifty years, the unified Iberian Empire expanded throught the Mediterranean and later Europe, including Southern France and Italy. In the reign of Charles I and Phillip II, Spanish Monarchs reigned on the Hasburg thrones.  However, with many inbred monarchs and civil wars, the Iberian power beganed to wane in the 1700's, especially with growing military strength of the French.  The Empire gradually came overstretched in its own home territory, which led in 1743 to the splitting off of the semi-autonomous kingdoms Andalusia and Aragon. This overstretching has also caused, in the lesser populated and mountainous regions of the Empire, large amounts of mostly ungoverned land.
  Now comes a pivitol age in the nations history. Will it expand West, for the virginal lands of the West Indies? Or will it expand into the crowded political scene of Western Europe? It is all in the hands of Isabel III, Empress of Iberia.