Spanish wines are steeped in history, with indigenous grape vines being cultivated as early as 1100 BC. During the ages of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, winemaking was a common village trade. Rich, sweet and heavy, these early wines were the precursor to the modern day Sherry. Wine production was not a priority during the rule of the Moors from the 8th century until the end of the 15th, as Islam forbids drinking wine. It was not until the 1490s that Spain began producing wines in abundance again. The Catholic era of Ferdinand and Isabella followed the Moorish rule, with foreign (mostly English) merchants increasing the Spanish wine trade. For several centuries that followed, beginning with the Spanish Inquisition, wars and colonial competition between Spain and England, the trade history was riddled with crises and financial ruin. By the 1820s, English merchants brought the wine trade back to a profitable boom, with modern winemaking techniques introduced shortly thereafter. The demise of the French wine industry due to phylloxera in the later 1860s brought the more sophisticated techniques to Spain. French winemakers improved the flavor of Spanish wines with their expertise and taste. Eventually, phylloxera spread to Spain, nearly erasing the wine industry. It was not until the 1960s that Spanish wines began to be improved again. During the past 40 years Spain has greatly enhanced the quality of their wines, allowing them to be enjoyed worldwide.