Having recently waxed lyrical over what strategies you can employ to really up your Spanish comprehension, I began looking at new ways I can concentrate my twenty-minutes of active listening each day outside of simply listening to the news.

All that time I dedicate to staying on top of current affairs? I figured I could put that to better use and actually educate myself, through Spanish, on the History of the country itself.

This idea first cropped up due to my rabid YouTube activity and interest in self-education via MOOC’s. Given the plethora of information there is online in seemingly every field imaginable, one day I found myself getting pulled into watching an explanatory video about the formation of the Basque Country (a complicated and controversial province (for now at least) in Spain).

Outside of simply watching some of the YouTube recommendations that the homepage here in Spain throws up on landing, which from two of my favourites AuronPlay and Wismichu, I’d argue, you can have fun watching and learn a lot of ‘colloquial language’, I got to thinking; “why don’t I actually run through a course or online video series that actually teaches me something real about Spain?”

Can you get any more “real” than the history of this fascinating country itself? I think not.

Anyway, here are some of the channels I’ve subscribed to who’s content I plan to work through.

Hopefully you can learn a lot more about Spain as well as improve your language skills by doing something similar.

Spanish Civil War

There are a few really great videos on YouTube that break down the complicated Spanish Civil War and explain it in more simpler terms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOcRp0e39jQ

This video from Emilse is short, sweet and recorded in clear audio and helps understand the different factions involved in the conflict.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJlq2uU5hFo

UnProfesor also has a great video that uses a similar diagrammatic style that strays from conventional documentaries and is short enough to watch in timed-period. This channel, in fact, although badly organised, has a whole ton of similar bitesize educational videos on a whole host of other subjects outside of history too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_zo5YG_FNk

Education, similar to UnProfesor is an Argentinian channel that reminds me very much of Khan Academy in its presentation style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrmuf0Q46Xk

Anralosa’s tact is somewhat different to the aforementioned videos and uses documentary footage in this explainer. I’ve included it because it’s still brief and easy to digest and is recorded in high enough quality not to make your ear drums burst or have to strain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukDQCzMr__c

Keilon44’s explainer appears as it if was recorded directly in a classroom but is done in such an effective style that it’s definitely worth of it’s place on this list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukDQCzMr__c

The Muslim Conquest of Spain

Another key event that helps explain the mix of architectural styles in Spain, like the wonder of the Alhambra and much of what you will see in Andalusia, the Muslim Conquest of Spain is also a great topic to dust up on. A lot of Spanish words, specifically those beginning with ‘al’ come from the Muslim invasion too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXL-iKcfDXk

Ariel Amanza Rojas lays down the event quite nicely in this video with her clear explanation and simple graphics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZM-5oX9IDc

Here NeltBlog breaks it down in a slightly different style using maps, photos and paintings that depict the Moorish conquest of the Iberian peninsula. Note that the audio isn’t great on this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAnEA3Q_Ef8

ArteHistoria has a super brief explanation of the core facts in their version of the events. The speakers interchange in this video and are very clear, making this much easier to understand than the two aforementioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8cxQ4TPgDk

ArteHistoria also have a different video explaining the events albeit with quite strange computer graphics too.

Franco’s Dictatorship

Jumping back in time again from the age of the Moors, we’re back and close to modern Spanish history again by adjusting our focus to Franco and the authoritarian and conservative regime he put in place in Spain between 1939-75.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uECDf46oYmw

This video from anonimoBilbao is a great explanation of events that picks up from the Civil War. The sound-quality and graphics are clear as day too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=935BCteD8_Q

ArteHistoria is back again with this mash-up of photography, strange 3D-graphics and everything else that we already exposed ourselves to gracias to their previous explainers. This video lays out the events of the Franco regime neatly and delves a little deeper than the previous suggestion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC_J24h-tjs

SalvanF also breaks things down smartly in this six-minute video with documentary footage appropriated from the History Channel.

Spain’s Overseas Empire

Another key point of history that’s crucial to understanding modern day Spain and its racial and ethnic mix, is the construction of the Spanish ‘New World’, starting in 1492 thanks to the discoveries made by Colombus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Nc34P10wg

This three-minute video from media mayor runs through the basic events quickly but clearly before positing the all-important question at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R61EYDDXja0

Interestingly Deibys Perez studies the event from another viewpoint, delving into the consequences of the discovery of the America’s for countries like Spain and beyond.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvqC8ZYyR90

Lastly Dani Vaca’s video also discusses the event in rather dramatic fashion.

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Hopefully there’s enough content there to keep your studies going for a while. I’ve tried to deliberately pick out videos that are clear to understand and short enough to hold your attention span (to make for effective learning resources for learners of a lower-intermediate and beyond.

The biggest point of this article being that YouTube is a veritable treasure trove of Spanish language learning resources that you absolutely should be taking advantage of to up your skills.

Weave together your video consumption into some broader theme, like I’ve tried to do here by picking out some of the more crucial events in Spanish history, can make it all the more satisfying.

What other facets of Spanish history fascinate you?