After the
African world it’s time to discover Europe. Once arrived in Sicily, we were
impressed by the wonderful sceneries and monuments. We visited the cultural
city and learned a lot about the history of this island.
Where shall
we start? Sicily is known for her rich
and turbulent history. Over the years, the island is occupied by several
nations.
Let’s begin
around the year 800, the Byzantine period. Some cities were conquered by the Arabs. They wanted to convert the
inhabitants to the Islam but there was a heavy resistance coming from the
Sicilians.
Around the
11th century, the Norman Duke Robert Guiscard founded a Norman empire. After 30 years, he
occupied the whole island. Consequently the Arabs disappeared and Italian
became the most spoken language.
Afterwards,
Sicily got ruled by Germany, France and
Spain. First, there was the Spanish
period but in 1675 France wanted
the island. A complicated matter because there was a war going on between
Filips II of Spain and France. The republic wanted to help but Admiral Michiel
De Ruyter died in the battle of Mount
Etna.
In 1713,
the island had to endure a new ‘boss’, the house of Savoy. But five years
later, the Savoy had to renunciate Sicily to Austria, in exchange for Sardinia. A couple of years
later (1735) Sicily fell under the reign
of the Spanish Bourbons. This period
was disastrous; the island gained little wealth and did not
dispose of a prosperous economy.
Don’t
despair as it even gets more intricate. Around 1806, British troops occupied the island to protect them because the army
of Napoleon wanted to do an invasion. This was a good thing for the inhabitants
because the English put the Spanish king under pressure and a new constitution
and positive period for the economy was born. Unfortunately the English left
and the period of wealth was gone. In protest, the Sicilian began to live as
criminals, so the mafia was born.
Armed with
the army of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Sicilians protested the Bourbons. Rapidly, they conquered the whole island
and made the crossing to the Italian
mainland.
Finally, the Italian republic, the union of the
Italian mainland and the islands Sicily and Sardinia, was born. Fortunately,
the long history resulted in a happy
ending!
Sources:
The history of a country is not as interesting as other things you can discover. But Sicily has a lot of beautifull ruins with wonderfull stories. Definitely worth visiting!
BeantwoordenVerwijderenOur guide could continue to talk for hours of the history of Sicily. In the picture below, you can see ou have a perfect view of a city. Most of the buildngs have the same shape and layout.
BeantwoordenVerwijderen