-	All photographs of History

The History of Salamanca is one of the most interesting in Spain, it is a history in which the romans left an important mark and substituted the Vaceos and Vetones. Our tour through Salamanca begins in the III century b.c. with Hannibal took this city of Helmantica which today is Salamnca. From then until today many chapters in history are worth mentioning about this beautiful city in Spain.

When the Romans defeated the carthaginians, Salamanca started an important development process. The Tormes River became a geographical accident vital for the development of this area, and the Silver route was built by the Roman Empire to begin commerce in this region. From this era you´ll find the Roman Bridge, one of the monuments that you can visit today.

After the Romans came the visigoths that took over this region. There was however a small time period that the Alans took over after taking over Lusitania. Afterwards in the year 712 came the muslims, an era in which the city lost all of the great splendor it had gained years earlier.

In the 10th century once the city came back to the hands of Christians, the repopulation of this region began the repopulation with the Cantabrian coastline, castillians, portuguese, mozarabs, gallegos and jews. In this time it is when this university city that it is today regains it´s strength.

In the 13th century, Leon and Castille unite with the kingdom of Ferdinand the 3rd and the Monarch Alfonso 13th to repopulated this region once again and create the University of Salamanca. In the 14th century a Salamantine King, Alfonso the 11th becomes the first king of this region.

The 16th century was the one with the most splendor for this city. It´s population grew in an important way due to the university. In the 18th century this city became the most important from a cultural and economic point of view in this region. In this era the Plaza Mayor (main square) was built in a Barroque style, being the most important work of art in this city.

Today Salamanca is a modern and cosmopolitan city, with an important cultural richness. It is a university and youthful city. It was occupied during the war for Independence, and it´s worst moment was when Ferdinand VII prohibited the Universities. Afterwards came hard times, which were finally relieved with the railroad that gave life back to this city once again in the 19th century.

During the Civil war this city took the Nationalist side and was the center of control for Franco. In these times when the Salamanca archives were created, which little by little began taking space in the bookshelves with documents that Franco´s troops created around the Penninsula to keep track of their doings.

In 2002 this city was names Europe´s capital.