Uffe Østergård :
'Is Spain Different?'

This introductory article takes as its point of departure a dicussion of two publications on the Spanish Civil War made by Den jyske Historiker in 1977, and the way in which interpretations have changed from then till now. This is followed by a discussion of Spain and the Iberian Peninsula as objects of inquiry and the limitations of the Spanish perspective of the articles in this book. The Spanish rediscovery of their islamic heritage in the 1990s is then discussed, followed by a broad outline on the development from the early modern state formation of Aragon-Castile to modern Spain. The history of the region and the regionalism of modern Catalonia, the formation of the Spanish central state, and the character of the Franco regime is discussed leading to considerations of the question "Is Spain different?".