Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula /aɪˈbɪəriən pəˈnᵻnsjᵿlə/, also known as Iberia /aɪˈbɪəriə/, is located in the southwest corner of Europe and is divided among three states: Spain, Portugal, and Andorra; as well as Gibraltar, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. With an area of approximately 582,000 km² (225,000 sq mi), it is the third largest European peninsula, after the Scandinavian and Balkan peninsulas.

Name

Greek name

The English word Iberia was adapted from the use of the Ancient Greek word Ιβηρία (Ibēría) by Greek geographers under the rule of the Roman Empire to refer to what is known today in English as the Iberian Peninsula. At that time, the name did not describe a single political entity or a distinct population of people. Strabo's Iberia was delineated from Keltikē (Gaul) by the Pyrenees and included the entire land mass southwest (he says "west") of there.

The ancient Greeks discovered the Iberian Peninsula by voyaging westward.Hecataeus of Miletus was the first known to use the term around 500 BC.Herodotus of Halicarnassus says of the Phocaeans that "it was they who made the Greeks acquainted with ... Iberia." According to Strabo, prior historians used Iberia to mean the country "this side of the Ἶβηρος (Ibēros)" as far north as the river Rhône in France, but currently they set the Pyrenees as the limit. Polybius respects that limit, but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far south as Gibraltar, with the Atlantic side having no name. Elsewhere he says that Saguntum is "on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and Celtiberia."

Iberia (book)

Iberia, by James A. Michener (original title: Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections), is a detailed and illustrated exploration of Spain as it was during the mid-1960s. The author takes a measured, literary view on such subjects as the Moorish occupation, Islam, Catholicism, Francisco Franco and other controversial subjects.

Michener shows to be very prescient, as in his talk of national cycles of rebirth (p. 837): "... And one of these days, (change) will be true even of Russia, and we had better be prepared to admit it .... though (in the United States) we fight against it and blind our eye and conscience to the fact".

Iberia (Albéniz)

Iberia is a suite for piano composed between 1905 and 1909 by the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz. It is composed of four books of three pieces each; a complete performance lasts about an hour and a half.

It is Albéniz's best-known work and considered his masterpiece. It was highly praised by Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen, who said: "Iberia is the wonder for the piano; it is perhaps on the highest place among the more brilliant pieces for the king of instruments". Stylistically, this suite falls squarely in the school of Impressionism, especially in its musical evocations of Spain. Technically, Iberia is one of the most difficult pieces in the repertoire, requiring immense strength from its interpreters and flexible hands.

Composition

Book 1

Dedicated to Ernest Chausson's wife.