Ancient Precedents

• Modern bullfighting has links to ancient practices. In the early centuries of the Common Era (CE or AD), Roman gladiators violently fought animals, more typically lions, to the death. Gladiatorial matches were civic events, attracting large crowds. Another historical precedent is bull worship and a few prehistoric rituals, involving bulls. One fresco has been discovered at the Knossos Palace on the island of Crete, depicting a ritual in which two acrobats leap over a bull.
  
  

18th Century Bullfighting

• The Spanish matador Francisco Romero (1700-1763) introduced the red cape or the "muleta" to bullfighting. During his reign from 1700 and 1724, Philip V (1683-1746) banned bullfighting, what he considered a barbaric sport. During this century, bullfighting spread to Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America, where bull-fighting is still practiced. In Latin America, though, the bull is applauded, not the matador.
  
  

19th Century Bullfighting

• Bridging the gaps between 18th and 20th century bullfighting, Juan Belmonte Garcia (1892-1962) forged a new style of bullfighting. Unlike earlier bullfighters, Garcia, who made it on the cover of TIME magazine in 1924, kept his feet firmly on the ground, forcing the bull to give way to him. His style was more restrained and graceful than previous fighters. Garcia was a character in Ernest Hemingway's two novels, The Sun Also Rises and "Death in the Afternoon."
  
  

20th Century Bullfighting

• Throughout the rulership of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, bullfighting was celebrated by the Spanish State as an important cultural value. Franco supported nationalism, encouraging bullfighting and flamenco dance and music, and suppressed other activities considered non-native to Spain. In 1946, the largest bull-fighting venue, the Plaza Mexico, opened in Mexico City. It seats 45,000 people.
  
  

Contemporary Bullfighting

• Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, elected in 2004, has been less sympathetic to bullfighting, banning children under 14 and limited television broadcasts of matches. Bull-fighting is still a major local and tourist attraction, especially in Andalusia, an autonomous community in southern Spain.