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{{Short description|Colonial empire between 1492 and 1976}}
{{for|the use of the imperial title in medieval Spain|Imperator totius Hispaniae}}
{{for|the use of the imperial title in medieval Spain|Imperator totius Hispaniae{{!}}''Imperator totius Hispaniae''}}
{{pp-move-indef}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Infobox country
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
|native_name = ''Imperio Español''
{{Infobox former country
|conventional_long_name = Spanish Empire
| common_name = Spanish Empire
|image_flag = Flag of New Spain.svg
| native_name = {{Native name|es|Imperio español}}<br />{{Native name|la|Imperium Hispanicum}}
|image_map = Spanish Empire Anachronous 0.PNG|thumb|460px
| conventional_long_name = Spanish Empire
|map_caption = The areas of the world that at one time were territories of the Spanish Empire.
| image_flag = Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg
|footnotes = <small></small>
| image_flag2 = Flag of Spain (1785–1873, 1875–1931).svg
{{legend|#0000FF|] during the ].}}
| flag_type = ]<br />]
{{legend|#E364FF|Territories held before the ]&ndash;] (1713–1714).}}
| image_map_caption = The Spanish Empire during the second half of the 18th century
{{legend|#FF0000|Territories held before the ].}}
| p1 = Catholic Monarchs of Spain
{{legend|#FF8000|Territories held before the ].}}
| s1 = Kingdom of Spain
{{legend|#23A20D|Territories granted independence during the ].}}
| s2 = Kingdom of Naples
{{legend|#713620|Current territories administered by Spain.}}
| s3 = Duchy of Milan
| s4 = Kingdom of Sicily
| s5 = Austrian Netherlands
| s6 = Dutch Republic
| s7 = Gran Colombia
| s8 = United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
| s9 = First Mexican Empire
| s10 = Protectorate of Peru
| s11 = Conservative Republic{{!}}Republic of Chile
| s12 = Equatorial Guinea
| s13 = Louisiana (New&nbsp;France)
| s14 = Florida Territory
| s15 = United States Military Government in Cuba
| s16 = United States Military Government of Porto Rico
| s17 = Naval Government of Guam
| s18 = First Philippine Republic
| s19 = United States Military Government of the Philippine Islands
| s20 = German New Guinea
| s21 = Morocco
| s22 = Western Sahara
<!-- only 21 supported
| s22 = Dutch Formosa -->| capital = ] (1492–1561)<br>] (1561–1601, 1606–1976)<br>] (1601–1606)
| national_motto = {{Native name|la|]}}<br />"Further Beyond"
| national_anthem = {{Native name|es|]}}<br />"Royal March"<div class="center" style="margin-top:0.4em;">]</div>
| image_map = File:Imperio Español (1714-1800).png
| official_languages = ]
| languages_type = Other languages
| languages = {{collapsible list
| title = See list|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|] (until the early 17th century)|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|]|] and other various indigenous and non-indigenous languages}}
| government_type = {{plainlist|
*] 1492–1700
*] 1700–1820, 1823–1833, 1923–1930
*] 1820–1823, 1833–1873, 1874–1923, 1930–1931 1975<ref>Monarchy nominally restored in 1947</ref>–1976
*] 1823–1923, 1975–1976
*] 1873–1874, 1931–1939
*] 1939<ref>Government proclaimed in 1936</ref>–1975
*]}} 1975–1976
| membership = {{plainlist|
* ]
* ]
* ] ((]) (], ], ]))
* ]
* ]}}
| title_leader = ]
| leader1 = ] (first)
| year_leader1 = 1492–1516
| leader2 = ] (last)
| year_leader2 = 1975–1976
| religion = ]{{efn|The Catholic Church was the ] of the Spanish Empire, but the following religions were also present in the empire: ] (] (''Hanafi'' and ''Maliki'' schools), ], ]), ]s, ], ], ], ], ], ] and Judaism (]).}}
| demonym = ] or Spanish
| currency = ]<br />] (from 1537)<br />] (from 1598)<br />] (from 1869)
| footnotes =
| continent = <!-- Europe Africa Asia North America South America Oceania : according to Template:Infobox former country/Categories, but it doesn't work -->
| event_start = ] discovers the ]
| date_start = 12 October
| event1 = ] begins
| date_event1 = 1493
| event2 = ]
| date_event2 = 1512–29
| event3 = ]
| date_event3 = 1519–21
| event4 = ]
| date_event4 = 1519–22
| event5 = ]
| date_event5 = 1524–1697
| event6 = ]
| date_event6 = 1532–72
| event7 = ]
| date_event7 = 1537–40
| event8 = Establishment of the ]
| date_event8 = 27 April 1565
| event9 = ]
| date_event9 = 1580–1640
| event10 = ]
| date_event10 = 1808–33
| event11 = ]
| date_event11 = 1898
| event_end = Withdrawal from the ]
| year_start = 1492
| year_end = 1976
| stat_area1 = 13700000
| stat_year1 = 1780
| ref_area1 = <ref name="Taagepera1997" />
}} }}


The '''Spanish Empire''',{{efn|{{langx|es|link=no|Imperio español}}}} sometimes referred to as the ''']'''{{efn|{{langx|es|link=no|Monarquía Hispánica}}}} or the '''Catholic Monarchy''',{{efn|{{langx|es|link=no|Monarquía Católica}}}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Fernández Álvarez|first=Manuel|year=1979|language=es|title=España y los españoles en los tiempos modernos|publisher=]|page=128}}</ref><ref>Schneider, Reinhold, 'El Rey de Dios', Belacqva (2002)</ref><ref>Hugh Thomas, 'World Without End: The Global Empire of Philip II', Penguin; first edition (2015)</ref> was a ] that existed between 1492 and 1976.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Wright |editor1-first=Edmund |title=A Dictionary of World History |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0191726927 |edition=2nd |doi=10.1093/acref/9780192807007.001.0001 }}</ref><ref name="echavez-solano" >{{cite book |editor1-last=Echávez-Solano |editor1-first=Nelsy |editor2-last=Dworkin y Méndez |editor2-first=Kenya C. |title=Spanish and Empire |date=2007 |publisher=Vanderbilt University Press |location=Nashville, Tenn. |isbn=978-0826515667 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv16755vb.3 |pages=xi–xvi |s2cid=242814420 }}</ref> In conjunction with the ], it ushered in the European ]. It achieved a global scale,<ref name="beaule_douglass" >{{cite book |editor1-last=Beaule |editor1-first=Christine |editor2-last=Douglass |editor2-first=John G. |title=The Global Spanish Empire: Five Hundred Years of Place Making and Pluralism |series=Amerind Studies in Anthropology |date=2020 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |location=Tucson |isbn=978-0816545711 |url=https://openresearchlibrary.org/content/e9998998-e035-42b2-b178-cc5ac369b6c9 |jstor=j.ctv105bb41 |via=Open Research Library |pages=3–15 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv105bb41 |s2cid=241500499 |access-date=6 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830041013/https://openresearchlibrary.org/content/e9998998-e035-42b2-b178-cc5ac369b6c9 |url-status=live }}</ref> controlling vast portions of the ], ], various islands in ] and ], as well as territory in other parts of Europe.{{sfnm|Gibson|1y=1966|1p=91|2a1=Lockhart|2a2=Schwartz|2y=1983|2p=19}} It was one of the most powerful empires of the ], becoming known as "]".<ref name="Márquez2016">{{cite book |last1=Márquez |first1=Carlos E. |editor1-last=Tarver |editor1-first=H. Micheal |editor2-last=Slape |editor2-first=Emily |title=The Spanish Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia : A Historical Encyclopedia |chapter=''Plus Ultra'' and the Empire Upon Which the Sun Never Set |date=2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1610694223 |page=161 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LCJDAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA161 |access-date=19 September 2022 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124346/https://books.google.com/books?id=1LCJDAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA161 |url-status=live }}</ref> At its greatest extent in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Spanish Empire covered over {{Convert|13|e6km2|e6sqmi|abbr=off|sigfig=1}}, making it one of the ] in history.<ref name="Taagepera1997">{{cite journal|author=Taagepera|first=Rein|author-link=Rein Taagepera|date=September 1997|title=Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt3cn68807/qt3cn68807.pdf|url-status=live|journal=]|volume=41|issue=3|pages=492–502|doi=10.1111/0020-8833.00053|jstor=2600793|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707203055/https://escholarship.org/content/qt3cn68807/qt3cn68807.pdf|archive-date=2020-07-07|access-date=2020-07-07}}</ref>
The '''Spanish Empire''' ({{lang-es|Imperio Español|links=no}}) comprised territories and colonies administered by ] in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the ] and was one of the first ]s. At the time of ], Spain reached the peak of its political and economic power<ref>{{cite book
| last = Tracy
| first = James D.
| title = The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350-1750
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| year = 1993
| isbn = 9780521457354
| page = 35
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=heEdZziizrUC&lpg=PA35&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> when it became the foremost global power. Its establishment in the 15th century ushered in the modern global era and five centuries of European dominance of global affairs. Spain's territorial reach beyond Europe spanned six centuries, from the first voyages to the Americas in 1492 until the independence of its last African colonies in the 1970s.


Beginning with the 1492 arrival of ] and continuing for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the ], half of ], most of ] and much of ]. The ]—the first circumnavigation of the Earth—laid the foundation for Spain's ] empire and for Spanish control over the ]. The influx of gold and silver from the mines in ] and ] in Mexico and ] in Bolivia enriched the Spanish crown and financed military endeavors and territorial expansion. Another crucial element of the empire's expansion was the financial support provided by ] bankers, who financed royal expeditions and military campaigns.{{sfn|Kamen|2003|p=69}}
After the ] (1475–1479), Spain had emerged with a personally unified monarchy, with the marriage of the ] or ''los Reyes Catolicos'' between the Queen of ] and the King of ]: the internal and foreign policy was coordinated although the rule was separate. In 1492, the Spanish monarchs completed the '']'' with the incorporation of ] to the Kingdom of Castile. That same year ] commanded the first ] west across the Atlantic Ocean, leading to the ] and Europe's eventual colonial engagement in the ]. The ] thereby became the focus of ].


In 1700, ] became king of Spain after the death of ], the last ] monarch of Spain, who died without an heir. His ascension triggered the ], as various European powers contested his claim to the throne. The conflict concluded with the ] in 1713, allowing Philip, the first ] king of Spain, to retain the throne but resulting in territorial losses for Spain: ], ], the ] and Spanish Italy. In 1763, after the ], Spain ceded both ] and ] to Great Britain while gaining ] from France.{{sfn|Kamen|2003|p=484}} However, in 1783, following the ], Britain ceded both Floridas back to Spain as part of the ]. Spain had recaptured West Florida in 1781 through military operations.{{sfn|Marley|2008|p=512}} Both Floridas were ceded to the United States in 1819 as part of the ]. Louisiana was ceded back to France in 1801 in the ].{{sfn|Kamen|2003|p=485}}
In the 16th century, Spain settled the ] in the Caribbean, and took over large areas on mainland North and South America, especially areas formerly controlled by the ]s and ]. The Spanish expedition of world ] started by ] in 1519, and completed by ] in 1522, achieved what Columbus had longed for, a westward route to Asia and the sought-after ]. In 1565 navigator ] crossed the Pacific and arrived in ] and the ] establishing the ]. In addition to the overseas empire in America and Oceania, the ] controlled several European territories (the ], the greater part of Italy, and some parts of modern France and Germany), and a number of coastal strongholds in Africa. By the 17th century, Spain controlled an empire on a scale and world distribution that had never been approached by its predecessors.<ref>The ] had been larger, but was restricted to Eurasia</ref>


The Bourbon monarchy implemented ] like the '']'', which centralized power and abolished regional privileges. Economic policies promoted trade with the colonies, enhancing Spanish influence in the Americas. Socially, tensions emerged between the ruling elite and the rising bourgeoisie, as well as divisions between peninsular Spaniards and Creoles in the Americas.{{sfn|Kamen|2003|p=506}} These factors ultimately set the stage for the independence movements that began in the early 19th century, leading to the gradual disintegration of Spanish colonial authority.<ref>]. "Spanish American Independence" in ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean'' 2nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press 1992, p. 218.</ref> By the mid-1820s, Spain had lost its territories in Mexico, Central America, and South America. By 1900, it had also lost ], ], the ], and ] in the ] following the ].{{sfn|Scheina|2003|p=424}}
Spain's European possessions were given up at the conclusion of the ] in 1713, but Spain retained its vast overseas empire. In 1741, a massive victory over Britain at the ] in modern day ] prolonged Spain's hegemony in the Americas until the 19th century. During the late 18th century, ] reached Canada and Alaska, resulting in a ] on ] and the discovery of several archipelagos and glaciers.


== Catholic Monarchs and origins of the empire ==
The partial occupation of mainland Spain by the French in 1808 under ] cut off its American colonies temporarily, and a number of ] between 1810 and 1825 resulted in a chain of newly independent ] republics in South and Central America. The remainder of Spain's then-four hundred year empire, namely ], ], and the ], continued under Spanish control until the end of the 19th century, when most of these territories were annexed by the United States after the ]. Spain sold its remaining Pacific islands to ] in 1899. At the turn of the 20th century, Spain held territories in Africa, namely ], ] and ], obtained during the ]. These were relinquished in the second half of the 20th century during the ].
{{Main|Catholic Monarchs}}
With the marriage of the heirs apparent to their respective thrones ] and ] created a ] that most scholars{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} view as the foundation of the Spanish monarchy. The union of the Crowns of ] and ] joined the economic and military power of Iberia under one dynasty, the ]. Their dynastic alliance was important for a number of reasons, ruling jointly over a number of kingdoms and other territories, mostly in the western Mediterranean region, under their respective legal and administrative status. They successfully pursued expansion in Iberia in the Christian conquest of the Muslim ], completed in 1492, for which Valencia-born Pope ] gave them the title of the ]. Ferdinand of Aragon was particularly concerned with expansion in France and Italy, as well as conquests in North Africa.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Aram |last=Bethany |title=Monarchs of Spain |encyclopedia=Iberia and the Americas: culture, politics, and history|location=Santa Barbara |publisher=ABC Clio |year=2006 |page= 725}}</ref>


With the ] controlling the choke points of the overland trade from Asia and the Middle East, both Spain and Portugal sought alternative routes. The ] had an advantage over the ], having earlier retaken territory from the Muslims. Following Portugal's earlier completion of the reconquest and its establishment of settled boundaries, it began to seek overseas expansion, first to the port of ] (1415) and then by colonizing the Atlantic islands of ] (1418) and the ] (1427–1452); it also began voyages down the west coast of Africa in the fifteenth century.<ref>Dutra, Francis A. "Portuguese Empire" in {{harvnb|''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''|1996|loc=vol. 4, p. 451}}</ref> Its rival Castile laid claim to the ] (1402) and retook territory from the Moors in 1462. The Christian rivals Castile and Portugal came to formal agreements over the division of new territories in the ] (1479), as well as securing the crown of Castile for Isabella whose accession was challenged militarily by Portugal.
==Definition==
{{History of Spain}}
The land of the Iberian peninsula was commonly called ] since ] times and during the ]. The process of the ] produced the emergence of four Christian realms: ], ], ] and ].


Following the voyage of ] in 1492 and first major settlement in the ] in 1493, Portugal and Castile divided the world by the ] (1494), which gave Portugal Africa and Asia, and the Western Hemisphere to Spain.<ref name="Burkholder Empire">Burkholder, Mark A. "Spanish Empire" in {{harvnb|''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''|1996|loc=vol. 5, p. 167}}</ref> The voyage of Columbus, a ] mariner, obtained the support of Isabella of Castile, sailing west in 1492, seeking a route to the Indies. Columbus unexpectedly encountered the ], populated by peoples he named "Indians". Subsequent voyages and full-scale settlements of Spaniards followed, with gold beginning to flow into Castile's coffers. Managing the expanding empire became an administrative issue. The reign of Ferdinand and Isabella began the professionalization of the apparatus of government in Spain, which led to a demand for men of letters (''letrados'') who were university graduates (''licenciados''), of ], ], ] and ]. These lawyer-bureaucrats staffed the various councils of state, eventually including the ] and ], the two highest bodies in metropolitan Spain for the government of the empire in the New World, as well as royal government in the Indies.
The dynastic union between the Crown of Castile (which will include the kingdom of Navarre since 1515) and the Crown of Aragon,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Farazmand
| first = Ali
| title = Handbook of bureaucracy
| publisher = M. Dekker
| year = 1994
| isbn = 978-0-8247-9182-7
| pages = 12–13
}}</ref> in ]'s time, initiated a political system in force until the beginning of the eighteenth century labelled as Hispanic monarchy: the Spanish sovereign acted as monarch in a unitary manner<ref>{{cite book
| last = Ruiz Martín
| first = Felipe
| title = La proyección europea de la monarquía hispánica
| publisher = Editorial Complutense
| year = 1996
| isbn = 978-84-95983-30-5
| page = 473
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=jlJPsVc8UvQC&lpg=PA473&lr&pg=PA473#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref> over all his territories through a polisynodial system of Councils, but his power as king or lord varied from one territory to another one, since each territory retained its own particular administration and juridical configuration. The unity did not mean uniformity. According to this political configuration, independently of the denominations <ref>Denominations as , , , , , , , , or </ref> given to the "]" <ref>John Huxtable Elliott (2002) ''España en Europa: Estudios de historia comparada: escritos seleccionados'', </ref><ref>Jean-Frédéric Schaub (2001) ''Le Portugal au temps du Comte-Duc d'Olivares, 1621–1640'', </ref> between 1580 and 1640, the scholars argue that the Portuguese Empire kept its own administration and jurisdiction over its territory as the other kingdoms and realms ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs.<ref>Ali Farazmand (1994) ''Handbook of Bureaucracy'', </ref> Nevetheless, whereas some historians assert that at that time, Portugal was a kingdom which formed part of the Spanish Monarchy;<ref>Wolfgang Reinhard, European Science Foundation (1996), ''Power Elites and State Building'', </ref><ref>Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert (2007), ''A Nation Upon the Ocean Sea: Portugal's Atlantic Diaspora and the Crisis of the Spanish Empire, 1492–1640'', </ref><ref>{{harvnb|Anderson|2000|p= 103}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lockhart|Schwartz|1983|p= 250}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lach|Van Kley|1994|p= 9}}</ref> others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Empire.<ref>Donald F. Lach, Edwin J. Van Kley (1993), ''Asia in the Making of Europe: A Century of Advance'', </ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kamen|2003|p= 403}}</ref><!--references needed according to WP:NPOV!-->


== Early expansion ==
The Spanish Empire includes Spain's ''overseas'' colonies in the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa, but some disputes exist as to which European territories are to be counted. For instance, normally the ] are included as they were part of the possessions of the King of Spain, governed by Spanish officials, and defended by Spanish troops. However, authors like the British historian ] contend that these territories were not fully integrated into a Spanish state and instead formed part of the wider Habsburg possessions. Some historians use "Habsburg" and "Spanish" almost interchangeably when referring to the dynastic inheritance of ] or ].
{{See also|History of the territorial organization of Spain}}
=== Canary Islands ===
] (1402–1496)]]
Portugal obtained several ]s that acknowledged Portuguese control over the discovered territories, but Castile also obtained from the Pope the safeguard of its rights to the ] with the bulls '']'' dated 6 November 1436 and ''Dominatur Dominus'' dated 30 April 1437.<ref>{{cite book |last=Castañeda Delgado |first=Paulino |title=La Teocracia Pontifical en las controversias sobre el Nuevo Mundo |publisher=Universidad Autónoma de México |year=1996 |chapter=La Santa Sede ante las empresas marítimas ibéricas |chapter-url=http://www.bibliojuridica.org/libros/2/725/14.pdf |isbn=978-9683651532 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927135626/http://www.bibliojuridica.org/libros/2/725/14.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011 }}</ref> The ], inhabited by ] people, began in 1402 during the reign of ], by ] nobleman ] under a feudal agreement with the crown. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the ] between 1478 and 1496, when the islands of ] (1478–1483), ] (1492–1493), and ] (1494–1496) were subjugated.<ref name="Burkholder Empire"/> By 1504, more than 90 percent of the indigenous Canarians had been killed or enslaved.{{sfn|Kamen|2003|p=12}}


== Origins == === Rivalry with Portugal ===
{{See also|Treaty of Alcáçovas}}
During the 15th century, ] and ] fell within territorial and commercial rivalry in the Atlantic western zone. Portugal obtained several ]s which acknowledged the Portuguese control over the discovered territories, but Castile also obtained from the Pope, the safeguard of its rights to the ] with the bulls ''Romani Pontifex'' dated on 6 November 1436 and ''Dominatur Dominus'' dated on 30 April 1437.<ref>{{citation|last= Castañeda Delgado |first= Paulino |title= La Teocracia Pontifical en las controversias sobre el Nuevo Mundo |publisher= Universidad Autónoma de México |year= 1996 |chapter= La Santa Sede ante las empresas marítimas ibéricas
|chapterurl= http://www.bibliojuridica.org/libros/2/725/14.pdf |isbn= 968-36-5153-4|postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref> The ], inhabited by ] people, began under the reign of ] in 1402, authorizing under feudal agreement to ] noblemen ]. The conquest only finished when the armies of the ] won, in long and bloody wars, the islands of ] (1478–1483), La Palma (1492–1493) and ] (1494–1496).


The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the ] (1471) in the ], but the news quickly caused a huge gold rush. Chronicler ] wrote that the fame of the treasures of Guinea "spread around the ports of ] in such way that everybody tried to go there".<ref>] (1943), ''Crónica de los Reyes Católicos'', vol. I (in Spanish), Madrid, pp.&nbsp;278–279.</ref> Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and ] islands were exchanged for gold, slaves, ivory and Guinea pepper.
The proclamation of ] jointly with her husband ], at that time king of Sicily, as kings of Castile drove to a ] solved with the ] (4 September 1479). The Portuguese gave up their claims to the Canary Islands but were secured in their sovereignty over ], ] and the ] islands, and over the trade of Guinea,<ref>{{citation|last= Newitt |first= Malyn |title= A history of Portuguese overseas expansion, 1400&ndash;1668 |publisher= Routledge |year= 2005 |pages=38 |url= http://books.google.es/books?id=eyQu-O1EQCAC&lpg=PA38&dq=&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q=&f=false |isbn= 978-0415-23-980-6 |postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref> from the south of the ],<ref>{{citation|last= Bakewell |first= Peter |title= A History of Latin America to 1825 |publisher= John Wiley and Sons |year= 2009 |pages=82 |url= http://books.google.es/books?id=MTlK0Mx1a38C&lpg=PA82&dq=&pg=PA82#v=onepage&q&f=true |isbn= 978-1-4051-8368-0 |postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref> and the right to conquer the ].<ref>{{citation|last= Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. |first= |title= Historia general de España y América |volume=10 |publisher= Ediciones Rialp |year= 1992 |pages=82 |url= http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA80&dq=&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false |isbn= 978-84-321-2102-9 |postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|last= Soyer |first= François |title= The persecution of the Jews and Muslims of Portugal: King Manuel I and the end of religious tolerance (1496-7) |publisher= BRILL |year= 2007 |pages=274 |url= http://books.google.es/books?id=hvOpWcWD2_wC&lpg=PA274&dq=&pg=PA274#v=onepage&q&f=false |isbn= 978-90-04-16262-4 |postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref> This treaty was confirmed in 1481 by the ], in the papal bull ] (dated on 21 June 1481).<ref>{{citation|last= Davenport |first= Frances Gardiner |title= European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies |publisher= The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |year= 2004 |pages=49 |url= http://books.google.es/books?id=mDPF4ILESaUC&lpg=PA49&dq=&pg=PA49#v=onepage&q=&f=false |isbn= 978-1-58477-422-8 |postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref>


The ] (1475–79) provided the Catholic Monarchs with the opportunity not only to attack the main source of the Portuguese power, but also to take possession of this lucrative commerce. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea: every caravel had to secure a government license and to pay a tax on one-fifth of their profits (a receiver of the customs of Guinea was established in ] in 1475—the ancestor of the future and famous ]).<ref>] (1990), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122161635/https://books.google.com/books?id=gOxKAAAAYAAJ&q=%22devemos+buscar+a+origem+da+futura+e+famosa%22&dq=%22devemos+buscar+a+origem+da+futura+e+famosa%22sa=X&ei=uNqpUZPJJsqLhQfer4HAAg&redir_esc=y|date=22 November 2022}}, vol. III (in Portuguese), Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, p. 551, {{ISBN|9722704222}}</ref>
]
Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, the king ] died, and his son ] inherited the thrones of the ]; therefore, a ] was created between Aragon and Castile, each with their own administrations, but ruled by a common monarchy.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Burbank
| first = Jane
| coauthors= Frederick Cooper
| title = Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference
| publisher = Princeton University Press
| year = 2010
| isbn = 978-0-691-12708-8
| pages = 120–121
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=y7B9euuLEkUC&lpg=PA120&dq=&pg=PA120#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


]
After a war of 10 years, the ], in 1492, the <span lang="es" xml:lang="es">'']''</span> drove out the last Moorish king of Granada. After their victory, the ] negotiated with ], a ] sailor attempting to reach ] by sailing west. Castile was already engaged in a ] with Portugal to reach the ] by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. In the ], dated on April 17, 1492, Christopher Columbus obtained from the Catholic Monarchs the appointment as viceroy and governor in the lands ''already discovered''<ref>{{cite book
Castilian fleets fought in the Atlantic Ocean, temporarily occupying the ] islands (1476), conquering the city of ] in the ] in 1476 (but retaken by the Portuguese),{{efn|text=''...&nbsp;In August, the Duke besieged Ceuta'' ]] ''and took the whole city except the citadel, but with the arrival of ] in the same fleet which led him to France, he preferred to leave the square. As a consequence, this was the end of the attempted settlement of Gibraltar by converts from Judaism&nbsp;... which D. Enrique de Guzmán had allowed in 1474, since he blamed them for the disaster''. See Ladero Quesada, Miguel Ángel (2000), "" in ''En la España Medieval'', vol. 23 (in Spanish), p. 98, {{ISSN|0214-3038}}.}}{{efn|text=A dominated Ceuta by the Castilians would certainly have forced a share of the right to conquer the ] (Morocco) between Portugal and Castile instead of the Portuguese monopoly recognized by the treaty of Alcáçovas. See Coca Castañer (2004), "", in ''Espacio, tiempo y forma'' (in Spanish), Serie III, Historia Medieval, tome 17, p. 350: ''...&nbsp;In that summer, ] crossed the Strait with five thousand men to conquer Ceuta, managing to occupy part of the urban area on the first thrust, but knowing that the Portuguese King was coming with reinforcements to the besieged'' , ''he decided to withdraw&nbsp;...''}} and even attacked the ] islands, being defeated at ].{{efn|text=A Castilian fleet attacked the ]'s Bay in ] but the landing forces were decimated by a Portuguese counter-attack because the rowers panicked and fled with the boats. See chronicler ] (1963)- (in Portuguese), Edição do Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada, volume 6, chapter I, p. 10. See also ] (1717)- (in Portuguese), Book VI, Chapter VI, p. 257}}{{efn|text=This attack happened during the Castilian war of Succession. See ]- (in Portuguese).}} The turning point of the war came in 1478, however, when a Castilian fleet sent by King Ferdinand to conquer ] lost men and ships to the Portuguese who expelled the attack,<ref>The Canary's campaign: ], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122161635/https://books.google.com/books?id=-1A3cWT_1kAC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=%22Alonso+de+Palencia+decada+cuarta+naves+castellanas%22&source=bl&ots=kdDs0IZIC2&sig=1GhLLlK7uT95iMhwkS2KqoLeBJQ&ei=zGpZTbrYFIKAhQf-9YyDDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved |date=22 November 2022 }}, Book XXXI, Chapters VIII and IX (''"preparation of 2 fleets"'' ''"so that with them King Ferdinand crush its enemies"'' &nbsp;...). Palencia wrote that the conquest of Gran Canary was a secondary goal to facilitate the expeditions to Guinea (the real goal), a means to an end.
| last = Fernández Herrero
* Alfonso de Palencia, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122161635/https://books.google.com/books?id=-1A3cWT_1kAC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=%22Alonso+de+Palencia+decada+cuarta+naves+castellanas%22&source=bl&ots=kdDs0IZIC2&sig=1GhLLlK7uT95iMhwkS2KqoLeBJQ&ei=zGpZTbrYFIKAhQf-9YyDDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved |date=22 November 2022 }}, book XXXII, chapter III: in 1478 a Portuguese fleet intercepted the armada of 25 navies sent by Ferdinand to conquer Gran Canary—capturing 5 of its navies plus 200 Castilians—and forced it to fled hastily and definitively from the Canary waters. This victory allowed ] to use the Canary Islands as an "exchange coin" in the peace treaty of Alcáçovas.</ref> and a large Castilian armada—full of gold—was entirely captured in the decisive ].<ref>] (1780), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116165429/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/cronica-de-los-senores-reyes-catolicos-don-fernando-y-dona-isabel-de-castilla-y-de-aragon--2/ |date=16 January 2022 }} (in Spanish), chapters LXXVI and LXXXVIII (''"How the Portuguese fleet defeated the Castilian fleet which had come to the Mine of Gold"''). From the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.</ref>{{efn|text=This was a decisive battle because after it, in spite of the Catholic Monarchs' attempts, they were unable to send new fleets to Guinea, Canary or to any part of the Portuguese empire until the end of the war. The ] sent an order to drown any Castilian crew captured in Guinea waters. Even the Castilian navies which left to Guinea before the signature of the peace treaty had to pay the tax ("quinto") to the Portuguese crown when returned to Castile after the peace treaty. Isabella had to ask permission to Afonso V so that this tax could be paid in Castilian harbors. Naturally all this caused a grudge against the Catholic Monarchs in Andalusia.}}
| first = Beatriz
| title = La utopía de América: teoría, leyes, experimentos
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Anthropos Editorial
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-7658-320-3
| page = 143
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=Lcv7a0tM7XgC&lpg=PA143&dq=&pg=PA143#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> and that of he might discover thenceforth;<ref>{{cite book
| last = McAlister
| first = Lyle N.
| title = Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492-1700
| publisher = U of Minnesota Press
| year = 1984
| isbn = 978-0-8166-1218-5
| page = 69
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=lFwnCYl85VEC&lpg=PA69&dq=&pg=PA69#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| volume = 10
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| page = 189
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA190&dq=&pg=PA189#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref> thereby, it was the first document to establish an administrative organization in the Indies.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Fernández Herrero
| first = Beatriz
| title = La utopía de América: teoría, leyes, experimentos
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Anthropos Editorial
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-7658-320-3
| page = 141
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=Lcv7a0tM7XgC&lpg=PA141&dq=&pg=PA141#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> Columbus' discoveries inaugurated the ].


The ] (4 September 1479), while assuring the Castilian throne to the Catholic Monarchs, reflected the Castilian naval and colonial defeat:<ref>{{cite journal |quote=...&nbsp;For four years the Castilians traded and fought; but the Portuguese were the stronger. They defeated a large Spanish fleet off Guinea in 1478, besides gaining other victories. The war ended in 1479 by Ferdinand resigning his claims to Guinea&nbsp;... |last=Laughton |first=Leonard |year=1943 |title=Reviews |number=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTgcAAAAMAAJ&q=%22But+the+Portuguese+were+the+stronger%22 |journal=The Mariner's Mirror |volume=29 |publisher=Society for Nautical Research |location=London |page=184 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124347/https://books.google.com/books?id=YTgcAAAAMAAJ&q=%22But+the+Portuguese+were+the+stronger%22 |url-status=live }}
Spain's claim to these lands was solidified by the '']'' ] dated on 4 May 1493, and ''Dudum siquidem'' on 26 September 1493. Since the Portuguese wanted to keep the line of demarcation of Alcaçovas running east and west along the latitude south of Cape Bojador, a compromise was worked out which was incorporated by the ] dated on 7 June 1494, in which the globe was divided into two hemispheres between Spanish and Portuguese claims. These actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from ] to ] (except Brazil), as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by the ] in the bull ''Ea quae pro bono pacis'' on 24 January 1506.<ref>{{citation|last= Vieira Posada|first= Édgar |title= La formación de espacios regionales en la integración de América Latina |publisher= Pontificia Universidad Javeriana |year= 2008 |pages=56 |url= http://books.google.es/books?id=-PAQOJyi-1UC&lpg=PA56&dq=&pg=PA56#v=onepage&q=&f=false |isbn= 978-958-698-234-4 |postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref> Spain's expansion and colonization was driven by economic influences, a yearning to improve national prestige, and a desire to spread Catholicism into the New World.
* ''...&nbsp;More important, Castile recognized Portugal as the sole proprietor of the Atlantic islands (excepting the Canaries) and of the African coast in the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479. This Treaty clause, secured by Portuguese naval successes off Africa during an otherwise unsuccessful war, eliminated the only serious rival.'' In Richardson, Patrick, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122161636/https://books.google.com/books?id=byN_AAAAMAAJ&q=%22Alc%C3%A1%C3%A7ovas+in+1479.+This+treaty+clause,+secured+by+Portuguese+naval+successes+off+Africa%22&dq=%22Alc%C3%A1%C3%A7ovas+in+1479.+This+treaty+clause,+secured+by+Portuguese+naval+successes+off+Africa%22&sa=X&ei=u-KpUaW0BdK5hAeaqICgDw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA |date=22 November 2022 }} (1966), Longmans, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523054857/https://www.google.com.br/search?q=+%22Alc%C3%A1%C3%A7ovas+in+1479.+This+treaty+clause%2C+secured+by+Portuguese+naval+successes+off+Africa%22&btnG=Pesquisar+livros&tbm=bks&tbo=1 |date=23 May 2020 }}</ref> "War with Castile broke out waged savagely in the Gulf until the Castilian fleet of thirty-five sail was defeated there in 1478. As a result of this naval victory, at the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479 Castile, while retaining her rights in the Canaries, recognized the Portuguese monopoly of fishing and navigation along the whole west African coast and Portugal's rights over the ], Azores and Cape Verde islands ] ]."<ref>Waters, David (1988), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410052635/https://books.google.com/books?id=UKK-b3If-78C&dq=%22war+with+Castile+broke+out+waged+savagely%22&pg=PA299 |date=10 April 2023 }}, p. 299, in the Separata from the Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, vol. XXXIV.</ref> The treaty delimited the ] of the two countries,<ref>''...&nbsp;the Treaty of Alcáçovas was an important step in defining the expansion areas of each kingdom&nbsp;... The Portuguese triumph in this agreement is evident, and in addition deserved. Efforts and perseverance developed over the last four decades by ] during the ] in Africa reached their fair reward.'' In Donat, Luis Rojas (2002), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122161636/https://books.google.com/books?id=7jIaAQAAIAAJ&q=%22El+triunfo+portugu%C3%A9s+en+este+acuerdo+es+evidente%22&dq=%22El+triunfo+portugu%C3%A9s+en+este+acuerdo+es+evidente%22&sa=X&ei=FPmpUYHJFoPBhAeltYDQDQ&redir_esc=y |date=22 November 2022 }} (in Spanish), Ediciones Universidad del Bio-Bio, p. 88, {{ISBN|9567813191}}</ref> establishing the principle of the ].<ref>''...&nbsp;Castile undertakes not to allow any his subject navigate waters reserved to the Portuguese. From the ]'s ] onwards, the Atlantic Ocean would be a ] to the Castilians. The ] represented a huge victory for Portugal and resulted tremendously damaging to Castile.'' In Espina Barrio, Angel (2001), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410052641/https://books.google.com/books?id=k6B6AAAAMAAJ&q=%22El+tratado+de+Alc%C3%A1%C3%A7ovas+supon%C3%ADa+un+triunfo+enorme+para+Portugal+y+resultaba+tremendamente+perjudicial+para+castilla%22|date=10 April 2023}}, vol. III (In Spanish), Universidad de Salamanca, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas de Castilla y León, p. 118, {{ISBN|8493123110}}</ref> It was confirmed in 1481 by the ], in the papal bull ] (dated on 21 June 1481).<ref>{{citation |last=Davenport |first=Frances Gardiner |title=European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |year=2004 |page=49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mDPF4ILESaUC&pg=PA49 |isbn=978-1584774228 |access-date=21 November 2020 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124348/https://books.google.com/books?id=mDPF4ILESaUC&pg=PA49 |url-status=live }}</ref>


However, this experience would prove to be profitable for future Spanish overseas expansion, because as the Spaniards were excluded from the lands discovered or to be discovered from the Canaries southward<ref>''...&nbsp;Castile accepted a Portuguese monopoly on new discoveries in the Atlantic from the Canaries southward and toward the African coast.'' In {{harvnb|Bedini|1992|p=53}}</ref>—and consequently from the ] around Africa<ref>''...&nbsp;This boundary line cut off Castile from the route to India around Africa&nbsp;...'', in Prien, Hans-Jürgen (2012), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122161637/https://books.google.com/books?id=kSAbYoBGmxQC&pg=PA8&dq=%22This+boundary+line+cut+off+Castile+from+the+route+to+India%22&sa=X&ei=xqKrUcDsC42O7QaO_YGoDA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22This%20boundary%20line%20cut%20off%20Castile%20from%20the%20route%20to%20India%22&f=false |date=22 November 2022 }}, Brill, p. 8, {{ISBN|978-9004242074}}</ref>—they sponsored the voyage of Columbus towards the west (1492) in search of Asia to trade in its ], encountering ] instead.<ref>''...&nbsp;With an eye to the Treaty of Alcáçovas which only permitted westerly expansion by Castile, the Crown accepted the proposals of the Italian adventurer'' ''because if, contrary to all expectation, he were to prove successful, a great opportunity would arise to outmanoeuvre Portugal&nbsp;...'', in Emmer, Piet (1999), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122161637/https://books.google.com/books?id=Xx1SuWX9YIkC&pg=PA86&dq=%22With+an+eye+to+the+Treaty+of+Alcacovas+%22&sa=X&ei=5KarUc6yCoiu7AbOw4HgDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22With%20an%20eye%20to%20the%20Treaty%20of%20Alcacovas%20%22&f=false |date=22 November 2022 }}, vol. II, UNESCO, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523054856/https://www.google.com.br/search?q=%22with+an+eye+to+the+Treaty+of+Alca%C3%A7ovas+which+only+permitted+westerly+expansion%22&btnG=Pesquisar+livros&tbm=bks&tbo=1 |date=23 May 2020 }}, {{ISBN|0333-724550}}</ref> Thus, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced division of the world would be reached in the ] between both emerging maritime powers.<ref>''Superpowers Spain and Portugal struggled for global control and in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas the Pope divided the non-Christian world between them.'' In Flood, Josephine (2006), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122161638/https://books.google.com/books?id=h0Ph5GLwWOQC&pg=PA1&dq=%22Superpowers+Spain+and+Portugal+struggled%22%22&sa=X&ei=JpOyUeLyDcKr7Ab554G4BQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Superpowers%20Spain%20and%20Portugal%20struggled%22%22&f=false |date=22 November 2022 }}, p. 1, {{ISBN|1 74114 872 3}}</ref>
On the other hand, the treaty of Tordesillas<ref>{{citation|last= Sánchez Doncel |first= Gregorio |title= Presencia de España en Orán (1509&ndash;1792) |publisher= I.T. San Ildefonso |year= 1991 |pages=122 |url= http://books.google.es/books?id=EOV8qNnYvDwC&lpg=PA129&dq=&pg=PA122#v=onepage&q&f=true |isbn= 978-84-600-7614-8 |postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref> and the treaty of Cintra (18 September 1509)<ref>{{citation|last= Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. |first= |title= Los Trastámara y la Unidad Española |publisher= Ediciones Rialp |year= 1981 |pages=644 |url= http://books.google.es/books?id=_vp1mwUwOmoC&lpg=PA644&dq=&pg=PA644#v=onepage&q&f=true |isbn= 978-84-321-2100-5 |postscript= <!--none-->}}.</ref> established the limits of the Kingdom of Fez for Portugal, and outside of these limits the Castilian expansion was allowed, beginning with the conquest of ] in 1497.


=== New World voyages and Treaty of Tordesillas ===
===Struggles for Italy===
{{Main|Voyages of Christopher Columbus|Treaty of Tordesillas}}
The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children in order to isolate their long-time enemy: France. The Spanish princes married the heirs of Portugal, England and the ]. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Aragonese house of ] against ] in the ] from 1494. As ], Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and ] for control of Italy; these conflicts became the center of Ferdinand's foreign policy as king. In these battles, which established the supremacy of the ] in the European battlefields, the forces of the kings of Spain acquired a reputation for invincibility that would last until the mid-17th century.
]
]


Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King ] died, and his son ], married to ], inherited the thrones of the ]. The two became known as the ], with their marriage a ] that created a relationship between the Crown of Aragon and Castile, each with their own administrations, but ruled jointly by the two monarchs.{{sfn|Burbank|Cooper|2010|pp=120–121}}
] at the ] (1512).]]
After the death of Queen Isabella, Ferdinand as Spain's sole monarch adopted a more aggressive policy than he had as Isabella's husband, enlarging Spain's sphere of influence in Italy and against France. Ferdinand's first investment of Spanish forces came in the ] against ], where the Spanish soldiers distinguished themselves on the field alongside their French allies at the ] (1509). Only a year later, Ferdinand became part of the ] against France, seeing a chance at taking both ]—to which he held a dynastic claim—and ]. The war was less of a success than that against Venice, and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of ].


Ferdinand and Isabella defeated the last Muslim king out of Granada in 1492 after a ]. The Catholic Monarchs then negotiated with ], a ] sailor attempting to reach ] (Japan) by sailing west. Castile was already engaged in a ] with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. In the ], dated on 17 April 1492, Christopher Columbus obtained from the Catholic Monarchs his appointment as viceroy and governor in the lands ''already discovered''{{sfn|Fernández Herrero|1992|p=143}} and that he might discover thenceforth;<ref>{{cite book | last = McAlister | first = Lyle N. | title = Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492–1700 | publisher = U of Minnesota Press | year = 1984 | isbn = 978-0816612185 | page = | url = https://archive.org/details/spainportugalinn0000mcal | url-access = registration }}</ref>{{sfn|Historia general de España|1992|p=189}} thereby, it was the first document to establish an administrative organization in the Indies.{{sfn|Fernández Herrero|1992|p=141}} Columbus' discoveries began the ]. Spain's claim<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Diffie | first1 = Bailey Wallys | last2 = Winius | first2 = George Davison | title = Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580 | publisher = University of Minnesota Press | year = 1977 | isbn = 978-0816607822 | page = 173 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hBTqPX4G9Y4C&pg=PA173 | access-date = 21 November 2020 | archive-date = 14 January 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124351/https://books.google.com/books?id=hBTqPX4G9Y4C&pg=PA173 | url-status = live }}</ref> to these lands was solidified by the '']'' ] dated 4 May 1493, and '']'' on 26 September 1493.
=== First settlements in America ===
The Capitulations of Santa Fe granted excessive power to Columbus, and the Catholic Monarchs reacted when Colon discovered mainland in 1498.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Diego-Fernández Sotelo
| first = Rafael
| title = Las capitulaciones colombinas
| language= Spanish
| publisher = El Colegio de Michoacán A.C.
| year = 1987
| isbn = 978-968-7230-30-6
| page = 139
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4ouNv6ZaRZQC&lpg=PA103&dq=&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> They learned the news of his discovery in May 1499, and taking advantage of a revolt against Columbus in <span lang="es" xml:lang="es">'']''</span>, they appointed ] as governor of the Indies with civil and criminal jurisdiction over the lands discovered by Columbus, but he was soon replaced by ] in September 1501.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Diego-Fernández Sotelo
| first = Rafael
| title = Las capitulaciones colombinas
| language= Spanish
| publisher = El Colegio de Michoacán A.C.
| year = 1987
| isbn = 978-968-7230-30-6
| pages = 143–145
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4ouNv6ZaRZQC&lpg=PA103&dq=&pg=PA145#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> Thenceforth the Crown could authorize to individuals voyages to discover territories in the Indies with previous license,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Diego-Fernández Sotelo
| first = Rafael
| title = Las capitulaciones colombinas
| language= Spanish
| publisher = El Colegio de Michoacán A.C.
| year = 1987
| isbn = 978-968-7230-30-6
| page = 139
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4ouNv6ZaRZQC&lpg=PA103&dq=&pg=PA146#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> and since 1503, the monopoly of the Crown was assured by the <span lang="es" xml:lang="es">'']''</span> at Sevile. But the successors of Columbus litigated against the Crown until 1536<ref>{{cite book
| last = Diego-Fernández Sotelo
| first = Rafael
| title = Las capitulaciones colombinas
| language= Spanish
| publisher = El Colegio de Michoacán A.C.
| year = 1987
| isbn = 978-968-7230-30-6
| pages = 147–149
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4ouNv6ZaRZQC&lpg=PA103&dq=&pg=PA149#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Sibaja Chacón
| first = Luis Fernando
| title = El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EUNED
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-9968-31-488-6
| page = 117
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=q61T1fs_K4wC&lpg=PA120&dq=&pg=PA117#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> for the fulfillment of the Capitulations of Santa Fe in the <span lang="es" xml:lang="es">'']''</span>.


Since the Portuguese wanted to keep the line of demarcation of Alcaçovas running east and west along a latitude south of ], a compromise was worked out and incorporated in the ], dated on 7 June 1494, in which the world was split into two dividing Spanish and Portuguese claims. These actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south (later with the exception of Brazil, which Portuguese commander ] encountered in 1500), as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The Treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by ] in the bull '']'' on 24 January 1506.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vieira Posada |first=Édgar |title=La formación de espacios regionales en la integración de América Latina |publisher=Pontificia Universidad Javeriana |year=2008 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-PAQOJyi-1UC&pg=PA56 |isbn=978-9586982344 |access-date=21 November 2020 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124351/https://books.google.com/books?id=-PAQOJyi-1UC&pg=PA56 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In the ] Spain, the direction of the issues of the Indies was taken over by the Bishop ]<ref>{{cite book
| last = Lynch
| first = John
| title = Los Austrias (1516-1700)
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Critica
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-84-8432-960-2
| page = 203
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=lvM7GaczH00C&lpg=PA203&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA203#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Díaz del Castillo
| first = Bernal
| title = Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España: Manuscrito "Guatemala"
| editor = José Antonio Barbón Rodríguez
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNAM
| year = 2005
| isbn = 978-968-12-1196-7
| page = 656
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=XZJWZjfg7KQC&lpg=RA1-PA656&dq=&hl=es&pg=RA1-PA656#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref> between 1493 and 1516,<ref>{{cite book
| last1 = Edwards
| first1 = John
| last2 = Lynch
| first2 = John
| title = Edad Moderna: Auge del Imperio, 1474-1598
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Critica
| year = 2005
| isbn = 978-84-8432-624-3
| volume = 4
| page = 290
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=JqS0uVXMlhAC&lpg=PA290&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA290#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> and again between 1518 and 1524, after a brief period of ].<ref>{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| volume = 7
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2119-7
| page = 232
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA232&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA232#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> Since 1504 the figure of the secretary was added, so then between 1504 and 1507 Gaspar de Gricio took charge,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Gómez Gómez
| first = Margarita
| title = El sello y registro de Indias: imagen y representación
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar
| year = 2008
| isbn = 978-3-412-20229-3
| page = 84
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=smJvSuwZbn4C&lpg=PA82&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA84#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> between 1508 and 1518 ] followed him,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Mena garcía
| first = Carmen
| title = La Casa de la Contratación y la navegación entre España y las Indias
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Universidad de Sevilla
| year = 2003
| isbn = 978-84-00-08206-2
| editor = Antonio Acosta Rodríguez, Adolfo Luis González Rodríguez, Enriqueta Vila Vilar
| chapter = La Casa de la Contratación de Sevilla y el abasto de las flotas de Indias
| chapterurl = http://books.google.es/books?id=6uKD1di85zcC&lpg=PA242&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA242#v=onepage&q=&f=true
| page = 242
}}</ref> and since 1519, ].<ref>{{cite book
| last = Gómez Gómez
| first = Margarita
| title = El sello y registro de Indias: imagen y representación
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar
| year = 2008
| isbn = 978-3-412-20229-3
| page = 90
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=smJvSuwZbn4C&lpg=PA90&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> In 1511, the ] of The Indies was constituted as a standing committee belonging to the ] to address issues of the Indies,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Brewer Carías
| first = Allan-Randolph
| title = La ciudad ordenada
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Instituto Pascual Madoz, Universidad Carlos III
| year = 1997
| isbn = 978-84-340-0937-0
| page = 69
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=QMBJAAAAYAAJ&q=junta+indias+castilla+1511&dq=&hl=es&ei=DHraTsq8BtG58gPX9eTnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAg
}}</ref> and this ''junta'' constituted the origin of the ] in 1524.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Martínez Peñas
| first = Leandro
| title = El confesor del rey en el Antiguo Régimen
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Complutense
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-84-7491-851-9
| page = 213
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=JAt1eXmY6nsC&lpg=PA213&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA213#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


The Treaty of Tordesillas<ref>{{cite book |last=Sánchez Doncel |first=Gregorio |title=Presencia de España en Orán (1509–1792) |publisher=I.T. San Ildefonso |year=1991 |page=122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EOV8qNnYvDwC&pg=PA122 |isbn=978-8460076148 |access-date=21 November 2020 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124352/https://books.google.com/books?id=EOV8qNnYvDwC&pg=PA122 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the treaty of Cintra (18 September 1509)<ref>{{cite book |title=Los Trastámara y la Unidad Española |publisher=Ediciones Rialp |year=1981 |page=644 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_vp1mwUwOmoC&pg=PA644 |isbn=978-8432121005 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> established the limits of the Kingdom of Fez for Portugal, and the Castilian expansion was allowed outside these limits, beginning with the ] in 1497. Other European powers did not see the treaty between Castile and Portugal as binding on themselves. ] observed "The sun shines for me as for others and I should very much like to see the clause in Adam's will that excludes ''me'' from a share of the world."<ref name="non-spanish caribbean">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Collier |first=Simon |title=The non-Spanish Caribbean Islands to 1815 |encyclopedia=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean |edition= second |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1992 |pages=212–213}}</ref>
Following the settlement of ] which was successful towards the end of the 15th century, the colonists began searching elsewhere to begin new settlements. Those from the less prosperous Hispaniola were eager to search for new success in a new settlement. From there ] conquered ] and ] took ].


=== First settlements in the Americas ===
In 1508, the Board of Navigators met in Burgos concurred the need to colonize the mainland, that which was entrusted to ] and ] as governors subordinated to the governor of Hispaniola,<ref>{{cite book
{{main|Spanish colonization of the Americas}}
| last = Arranz Márquez
] around 1515]]
| first = Luis
Spanish settlement in the New World was based on a pattern of a large, permanent settlements with the entire complex of institutions and material life to replicate Castilian life in a different venue. Columbus's second voyage in 1493 had a large contingent of settlers and goods to accomplish that.{{sfn|Lockhart|Schwartz|1983|p=63}} On Hispaniola, the city of ] was founded in 1496 by Christopher Columbus's brother ] and became a stone-built, permanent city. Non-Castilians, such as ] and ], were often prohibited from migrating to the New World.
| title = Don Diego Colón, almirante, virrey y gobernador de las Indias
]]]
| language= Spanish
Following the settlement of Hispaniola, Europeans began searching elsewhere to begin new settlements, since there was little apparent wealth and the numbers of indigenous were declining. Those from the less prosperous Hispaniola were eager to search for new success in a new settlement. From there ] conquered ] (1508) and ] took ].
| publisher = CSIC
| year = 1982
| isbn = 978-84-00-05156-3
| pages = 89–90
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=kRhygUNmg4UC&lpg=PA102&dq=&pg=PA89#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> who was the newly appointed ],<ref>{{cite book
| last = Arranz Márquez
| first = Luis
| title = Don Diego Colón, almirante, virrey y gobernador de las Indias
| language= Spanish
| publisher = CSIC
| year = 1982
| isbn = 978-84-00-05156-3
| page = 97
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=kRhygUNmg4UC&lpg=PA102&dq=&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Rialp, Ediciones, S.A.
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| volume = 10
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| page = 195
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA180&dq=&pg=PA195#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> with the same legal authority that Ovando.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Arranz Márquez
| first = Luis
| title = Don Diego Colón, almirante, virrey y gobernador de las Indias
| language= Spanish
| publisher = CSIC
| year = 1982
| isbn = 978-84-00-05156-3
| page = 101
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=kRhygUNmg4UC&lpg=PA102&dq=&pg=PA101#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> The first settlement on the mainland was ] in ], settled by ] in 1512. In 1513, Balboa crossed the ], and led the first European expedition to see the Pacific Ocean from the West coast of the New World. In an action with enduring historical import, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean and all the lands adjoining it for the Spanish Crown.


Columbus encountered the mainland in 1498,{{sfn|Diego-Fernández Sotelo|1987|p=139}} and the Catholic Monarchs learned of his discovery in May 1499. The first settlement on the mainland was ] in ] (now ], ], ] and ]), settled by ] in 1510. In 1513, Balboa crossed the ], and led the first European expedition to see the Pacific Ocean from the West coast of the New World. In an action with enduring historical import, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean and all the lands adjoining it for the Spanish Crown.<ref>{{cite book
The judgment of Seville of May 1511 recognized the viceregal title to Diego Columbus but limited to Hispaniola and to the islands discovered by his father, Christopher Columbus,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sibaja Chacón | last = Kozlowski
| first = Luis Fernando | first = Darrell J.
| title = Colonialism
| title = El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica
| publisher = Infobase Publishing
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EUNED | year = 2010
| isbn = 978-1438128900
| year = 2006
| page = 84
| isbn = 978-9968-31-488-6
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cCsUBMj2cvQC&pg=PA84
| page = 39
| access-date = 21 November 2020
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=q61T1fs_K4wC&lpg=PA39&dq=&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q=&f=false
| archive-date = 14 January 2023
}}</ref> nevertheless his power was limited by royal officers and magistrates<ref>{{cite book
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124846/https://books.google.com/books?id=cCsUBMj2cvQC&pg=PA84
| last = Rialp, Ediciones, S.A.
| url-status = live
| first =
}}</ref>
| title = Historia general de España y América
| volume = 10
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| page = 174
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA174&dq=&pg=PA174#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Rialp, Ediciones, S.A.
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| volume = 10
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| page = 186
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA183&dq=&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> constituting a dual regime of government.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Rialp, Ediciones, S.A.
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| volume = 10
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| page = 195
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA180&dq=&pg=PA196#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> Therefore, the king ] as regent of his daughter the queen ] separated the territories of mainland, designated as ],<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sibaja Chacón
| first = Luis Fernando
| title = El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EUNED
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-9968-31-488-6
| page = 36
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=q61T1fs_K4wC&lpg=PA120&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> from the viceroy of Hispaniola, establishing as General Lieutenant to ] in 1513<ref>{{cite book
| last = Rialp, Ediciones, S.A.
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| volume = 10
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| page = 197
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA174&dq=&pg=PA197#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> with functions similar to those of a viceroy, remaining Balboa subordinated as governing of Panama and Coiba<ref>{{cite book
| last = Carrera Damas
| first = Germán
| title = Historia general de América Latina
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNESCO
| year = 1999
| isbn = 978-92-3-303151-7
| page = 457
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=Bq2DZpHvPkkC&lpg=PA457&dq=&pg=PA457#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Mena García
| first = María del Carmen
| title = Pedrarias Dávila
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Universidad de Sevilla
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-7405-834-5
| page = 29
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=o9qselEBMysC&lpg=PA27&dq=&pg=PA29#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> on the Pacific Coast,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sibaja Chacón
| first = Luis Fernando
| title = El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EUNED
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-9968-31-488-6
| page = 50
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=q61T1fs_K4wC&lpg=PA58&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref> and that after his death returned to ''Castilla de Oro''. The territory of ''Castilla de Oro'' did not include either ] (which was comprised approximately between the river Chagres<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sibaja Chacón
| first = Luis Fernando
| title = El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EUNED
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-9968-31-488-6
| pages = 55–59
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=q61T1fs_K4wC&lpg=PA58&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref> and cape Gracias a Dios<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sibaja Chacón
| first = Luis Fernando
| title = El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EUNED
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-9968-31-488-6
| page = 32
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=q61T1fs_K4wC&lpg=PA58&pg=PA32#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref>), due to this territory was subject to a lawsuit between the Crown and Diego Columbus, or the region farther north, towards the Yucatán, explored by ] and ] in 1508-1509,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Rialp, Ediciones, S.A.
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| volume = 10
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| page = 165
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA165&dq=&pg=PA165#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref> due to its remoteness.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sibaja Chacón
| first = Luis Fernando
| title = El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EUNED
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-9968-31-488-6
| pages = 36–37
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=q61T1fs_K4wC&lpg=PA58&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref> The conflicts of the viceroy Columbus with the royal officers and with the <span lang="es" xml:lang="es">'']''</span>, created in 1511,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Colón de Carvajal
| first = Anunciada
| coauthors = Chocano Higueras, Guadalupe
| title = Cristóbal Colón: incógnitas de su muerte 1506-1902
| language= Spanish
| publisher = CSIC
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-00-07305-3
| page = 40
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=jBTF3fZowzUC&lpg=PA38&dq=&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Carrera Damas
| first = Germán
| title = Historia general de América Latina
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNESCO
| year = 1999
| isbn = 978-92-3-303151-7
| page = 458
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=Bq2DZpHvPkkC&lpg=PA457&dq=&pg=PA458#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref> caused his return to the ] in 1515.


=== Campaigns in Africa === === Navarre and struggles for Italy ===
] in Europe (1500)]]
After the conquest of Melilla in 1497, the Spanish expansionist policy in North Africa was developed during the regency of Ferdinand the Catholic in Castile, stimulated by the ], once the ''Reconquista'' in the Iberian Peninsula was finished. That way, several towns and outposts in the North African coast were conquered and occupied by Castile: ] (1505), ] (1508), ] (1509), ] (1510), ] (1510), and ] (1511). In the Atlantic coast, Spain took possession of the outpost of ] (1476) with support from the ], and it was retained until 1525 with the consent of the treaty of Cintra (1509).
The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children to isolate their rival, France. The Spanish princesses married the heirs of Portugal, England and the ]. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Aragonese house of the Kingdom of Naples against ] in the ] beginning in 1494. Following Spanish victories at the Battles of ] and ] in 1503, France recognized Ferdinand's sovereignty over Naples through a treaty.{{sfn|Kamen|2003|p=27}}


After the death of Queen Isabella in 1504, and her exclusion of Ferdinand from a further role in Castile, Ferdinand married ] in 1505, cementing an alliance with France. Had that couple had a surviving heir, probably the ] would have been split from Castile, which was inherited by Charles, Ferdinand and Isabella's grandson.{{sfn|Edwards|2000|pp=282–288}} Ferdinand joined the ] against ] in 1508. In 1511, he became part of the ] against France, seeing a chance at taking both ]—to which he held a dynastic claim—and ]. In 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of ], which had effectively been a Spanish protectorate following a series of treaties in 1488, 1491, 1493, and 1495.{{sfn|Edwards|2000|p=248}}
==The Spanish Habsburgs: The Sun Never Sets (1516–1700)==
] with the motto "]" as symbol of the Emperor ] in the Town Hall of ] (16th century)]]


=== Campaigns in North Africa ===
The 16th and 17th centuries are sometimes called "the Golden Age of Spain" (in Spanish, ''{{lang|es|]}}''). As a result of the marriage politics of the ''{{lang|es|Reyes Católicos}}'', their ] grandson ] inherited the Castilian empire in America, the ] in the Mediterranean (including a large portion of modern Italy), lands in Germany, the ], ], and Austria (this one, along with the rest of hereditary Habsburg domains was almost immediately transferred to ], the Emperor's brother). While not directly an inheritance, Charles was elected emperor of the ] after the death of his grandfather ] thanks to prodigious bribes paid the prince-electors. Charles became the most powerful man in Europe, his rule stretching over an empire in Europe unrivalled in extent until the ]ic era. It was often said during this time that it was ]. This sprawling overseas empire of the Spanish Golden Age was controlled, not from inland ], but from ].
{{See also|European enclaves in North Africa before 1830}}
With the Christian reconquest completed in the Iberian peninsula, Spain began trying to take territory in Muslim North Africa. It had conquered ] in 1497, and further expansionism policy in North Africa was developed during the regency of Ferdinand the Catholic in Castile, stimulated by ]. Several towns and outposts in the North African coast were conquered and occupied by Castile between 1505 and 1510: ], ], ], ], ], and ]. On the Atlantic coast, Spain took possession of the outpost of ] (1476) with support from the ], and it was retained until 1525 with the consent of the Treaty of Cintra (1509).


== The Spanish Habsburgs (1516–1700) ==
The Castilian Empire abroad was initially a disappointment. It did stimulate some trade and industry, but the trading opportunities encountered were limited. Matters began to change in the 1520s with the large-scale extraction of silver from the rich deposits of Mexico's ] region, but it was the opening of the silver mines in Mexico's ] and Bolivia's ] in 1546 that became legendary. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of ]1.5 trillion (1990 terms) in ] and silver received from ]. Ultimately, however, these imports diverted investment away from other forms of industry and contributed to ] in Spain in the last decades of the 16th century: "I learnt a proverb here", said a French traveler in 1603: "Everything is dear in Spain except silver".<ref>Quoted in ], ''The Wheels of Commerce'', vol. II of ''Civilization and Capitalism 15th–18th Centuryu'' 1979:171.</ref> This situation was aggravated by the loss of much of the commercial and artisan classes with the expulsions of the ] (1492) and ] (1609). The vast imports of silver ultimately made Spain overly dependent on foreign sources of ]s and ].{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}
{{Main|Habsburg Spain}}
]
{{legend|#008000|Territories administered by the ]}}
{{legend|#f5ab12|Territories administered by the ]}}
{{legend|#0000ff|Territories administered by the ]}}
{{legend|#800000|Territories administered by the ]}}
{{legend|#ff0000|Territories administered by the ]}}
{{legend|#d87ada|Territories appointed to the ]}}]]


As a result of the marriage politics of the ] (in Spanish, ''{{lang|es|Reyes Católicos}}''), their ] grandson ] inherited the Castilian empire in the Americas and the possessions of the Crown of Aragon in the Mediterranean (including all of ]), lands in Germany, the ], ], and ], starting the rule of the Spanish Habsburgs. The Austrian hereditary Habsburg domains were transferred to ], the Emperor's brother, whereas Spain and the remaining possessions were inherited by Charles's son, ], at the abdication of the former in 1556.
The wealthy preferred to invest their fortunes in ] (''juros''), which were backed by these silver imports, rather than in production of manufactures and the improvement of agriculture. This helped perpetuate the medieval ]ic prejudice that saw manual work as dishonorable long after this attitude had started to decline in other west European countries. The silver and gold whose circulation helped facilitate the economic and social revolutions in the Low Countries, France and England and other parts of Europe helped stifle them in Spain. The problems caused by inflation were discussed by scholars at the ] and '']s'' but they had no impact on the ] government.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}


The Habsburgs pursued several goals:
The Habsburg dynasty spent the Castilian and American riches in wars across Europe on behalf of Habsburg interests, defaulted on their debt several times, and left Spain bankrupt several times. These problems led to a number of revolts across his empire, notably that of Castilian rebels in the ], but these rebellions were put down.
* Undermining the power of France and containing it in its eastern borders
* Defending Europe against ], notably the ] in the ]
* Maintaining Habsburg ] in the ] and defending the ] against the ]
* Spreading (Catholic) Christianity to the unconverted indigenous of the ] and the ]
* Exploiting the resources of the Americas (gold, silver, sugar) and trading with Asia (], spices, silk)
* Excluding other European powers from the possessions it claimed in the New World


"I learnt a proverb here", said a French traveler in 1603: "Everything is dear in Spain except silver".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Braudel|1984|loc=vol. 2, p. 171}}.</ref> The problems caused by inflation were discussed by scholars at the ] and the '']s''. The natural resource abundance provoked a decline in entrepreneurship as profits from resource extraction are less risky.<ref>{{cite book|author=Baten, Jörg |title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present.|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=159|isbn=978-1107507180}}</ref> The wealthy preferred to invest their fortunes in ] (''juros''). The Habsburg dynasty spent the Castilian and American riches in ] on behalf of Habsburg interests, and declared moratoriums (bankruptcies) on their debt payments several times. These burdens led to a number of revolts across the Spanish Habsburg's domains, including their Spanish kingdoms.
The Habsburgs' political goals were several:
*Access to the resources of the ] (], ], ]) and products of Asia (], ]s, ])
*Undermining the power of France and containing it in its eastern borders.
*Maintaining ] ] ] in Germany, defending ] against the ]. Charles attempted to quell the ] at the ] but ] refused to recant his '].' However, Charles's piety could not stop his mutinying troops from plundering the ] in the '']''.
*Defending Europe against ], notably the ].
*To spread religion to the unconverted souls of the new world. With conflict between Catholics and Protestants raging in Europe, the new world was an ideal place for more Catholics to be recruited.


===Spanish intervention in Europe=== ===Territorial expansion in the Americas===
{{Main|Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire|Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire|Spanish conquest of the Maya}}
====Struggles of Charles V for Italy====
]]]
With the ascent of the king ] in 1516 and his election as sovereign of the ] in 1519, ] found himself surrounded by Habsburg territories, invaded the Spanish possessions in Italy in 1521, and inaugurated the ] of Franco-Spanish conflict. The war was a disaster for France, which suffered defeat at the ] (1522), the ] (1525, at which Francis was captured), and the ] (1529) before Francis relented and abandoned ] to Spain once more.
] might have looked like]]
] (1525)]]
]
During the Habsburg rule, the Spanish Empire significantly expanded its territories in the Americas, beginning with the conquest of the ]; these conquests were achieved not by the Spanish army, but by small groups of adventurers—artisans, traders, gentry, and peasants—who operated independently under the crown's ] system.{{sfn|Kamen|2003|p=95}}


Defying the opposition of ], the governor of Hispaniola, ] organized an expedition of 550 ] and sailed for the coast of Mexico in March 1519. The Castilians defeated a 10,000-strong ]n army at ] on 24 March and emerged triumphant against a larger force of 40,000 ] three days later. On 2 September, 360 Castilians and 2,300 ] Indigenous allies defeated a 20,000-strong ] army. Three days later, a 50,000-strong ]-Tlaxcalan force was defeated by Spanish arquebusier and cannon fire, and a Castilian cavalry charge. Thousands of Tlaxcalans joined the invaders against their Aztec rulers. Cortés's forces sacked the city of ], massacring 6,000 inhabitants,{{sfn|Marley|2008|p=27}} and later entered Emperor ]'s capital, ], on 8 November. Velázquez sent a force led by Pánfilo de Narváez to punish the insubordinate Cortés for his unauthorized invasion of Mexico, but they were defeated at the ] on 29 May 1520. Narváez was wounded and captured and 17 of his troops were killed; the rest joined Cortés. Meanwhile, ] triggered an Aztec uprising following the ], during which 400 Aztec nobles and 2,000 onlookers were killed. The Castilians were driven out of the Aztec capital, suffering heavy losses and losing all of their gold and guns during ].
King ] (Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor) achieved victory at the ] in 1525 and surprised many Italians and Germans and elicited concerns that Charles would endeavor to gain ever greater power.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} ] switched sides and now joined forces with France and prominent Italian states against the Habsburg Emperor, in the ]. In 1527, Charles grew exhausted with the pope's meddling in what he viewed as purely secular affairs, and ] itself, embarrassing the papacy sufficiently enough that Clement, and succeeding popes, were considerably more circumspect in their dealings with secular authorities.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} In 1533, Clement's refusal to annul the first marriage of King ] was a direct consequence of his unwillingness to offend the emperor and have his capital sacked for perhaps a second time. The ], signed between Charles V and the Pope in 1529, established a more cordial relationship between the two leaders. Spain was effectively named the protector of the Catholic cause and Charles was crowned as ] (]) in return for Spanish intervention in overthrowing the rebellious ] Republic.


On 8 July 1520, at ], the Castilians and their allies, without artillery or arquebusiers, repelled 100,000 Aztecs armed with obsidian-bladed clubs. In August, 500 Castilians and 40,000 Tlaxcalans conquered the hilltop town of ], an Aztec ally. Most of the inhabitants were either branded on the face with the letter "G" (for guerra, the Spanish word for "war") and enslaved by the Spanish, or sacrificed and eaten by the Tlaxcalans.{{sfn|Marley|2008|p=30}} Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan in 1521 with a new invasion force and laid siege to the Aztec capital in May, which was suffering from a ] epidemic that killed thousands. The new emperor, ], defended Tenochtitlan with 100,000 warriors armed with slings, bows, and ]. The first military encounter occurred after an advance along the causeway at ] by the armies of Alvarado and ]. While fighting on the causeway, the Spanish and their allies came under attack from both sides by Aztecs firing arrows from canoes. Thirteen Spanish brigantines sank 300 out of 400 enemy war canoes sent against them. The Aztecs tried to damage the Spanish vessels by hiding spears beneath the shallow water. The attackers breached the city and engaged in fighting with the Aztec defenders in the streets.
In 1528, the great admiral ] allied with the Emperor to oust the French and restore ]'s independence, opening the prospect for financial renewal: 1528 marks the first loan from Genoese banks to Charles.<ref>Braudel 1984{{Specify|date=October 2008}}<!--this is not in the references--></ref>


The Aztecs defeated the Spanish-Tlaxcalan forces at the ] on 30 June 1521. Following this Aztec victory, 53 Spanish prisoners were paraded to the tops of ]'s highest ] and publicly ].{{sfn|Marley|2008|p=36}} In late July, the attackers resumed their assaults, resulting in the massacre of 800 Aztec civilians. By 29 July, the Spanish had reached Tlatelolco's center, raising their new flag atop the city's twin towers. Having exhausted their gunpowder, they attempted a catapult breach but failed. On 3 August, 12,000 more civilians were killed in another city section.{{sfn|Marley|2008|p=37}} Alvarado's destruction of the aqueducts forced the Aztecs to drink from the lake, causing disease and thousands of deaths. Another major assault occurred on 12 August, during which many thousands of non-combatants were massacred in their shelters.{{sfn|Marley|2008|p=38}} The following day, the city fell and Cuauhtémoc was captured. At least 100,000 Aztecs died during the siege, while 100 Spaniards and up to 30,000 of their Indigenous allies were killed or died from disease.
In 1543, the king of France ] announced his unprecedented alliance with the ] sultan, ], by occupying the Spanish-controlled city of ] in concert with Ottoman forces. ], who bore a greater grudge against France than he held against the Emperor for standing in the way of his divorce, joined Charles in his invasion of France. Although the Spanish army was defeated at the ] in ] the French were unable to seriously threaten Spanish controlled Milan, whilst suffering defeat in the north at the hands of Henry, thereby being forced to accept unfavourable terms. The Austrians, led by Charles's younger brother ], continued to fight the Ottomans in the east. Charles went to take care of an older problem: the ].


The ] marked the beginning of Spanish colonial rule in Mexico, leading to the establishment of the ] in 1535. In 1532, ] conquered the ] by capturing its leader ] during a surprise attack in ] that resulted in the massacre of thousands of Incas.{{sfn|Marley|2008|p=48}} This conquest facilitated the establishment of the ] in 1542, allowing Spain to exert control over territories in western South America, comprising present-day Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and parts of Chile and Argentina. In the subsequent years, Spanish explorers and conquistadors ventured into northern South America, where they established settlements in present-day Venezuela and Colombia.
====Religious conflicts in the Holy Empire====
] following the ] of ] (1556) as depicted in ''The Cambridge Modern History Atlas'' (1912); ] lands are shaded green. From 1556 the lands in a line from the Netherlands, through to the east of France, to the south of Italy and ] were retained by the ].]]


===Reign of Philip II===
The Schmalkaldic League had allied itself to the French, and efforts in Germany to undermine the League had been rebuffed. Francis's defeat in 1544 led to the annulment of the alliance with the Protestants, and Charles took advantage of the opportunity. He first tried the path of negotiation at the ] in 1545, but the Protestant leadership, feeling betrayed by the stance taken by the Catholics at the council, went to war, led by the ] ] ]. In response, Charles invaded Germany at the head of a mixed Dutch–Spanish army, hoping to restore the Imperial authority. The emperor personally inflicted a decisive defeat on the Protestants at the historic ] in 1547. In 1555, Charles signed the ] with the Protestant states and restored stability in Germany on his principle of ''{{lang|la|]}}'', a position unpopular with Spanish and Italian clergymen. Charles's involvement in Germany would establish a role for Spain as protector of the Catholic, ] cause in the ]; the precedent would lead, seven decades later, to involvement in the war that would decisively end Spain as Europe's leading power.
{{main|Philip II of Spain}}
Philip II of Spain (r. 1556–98) oversaw the colonization of the Philippines, which began in 1565 with the arrival of Spanish explorer ], making him ruler of one of the first true globe-spanning empires. His victory in the ] led to the annexation of Portugal in 1580, effectively integrating its overseas empire—encompassing coastal Brazil and ] and ] coastal enclaves—into Spain's domain.<ref name="Cathal">{{cite book |last1=Cathal J. Nolan |title=The Age of Wars of Religion 1000–1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization |date=2006 |pages=672–675}}</ref> Philip II also reaffirmed Spanish control over the ], the ], the ], and the ] through the ] in 1559. Italy became the core of Spain's power.{{efn|Italian financiers from Milan and Genoa managed the crown's credit, while Italian generals, soldiers, and ships played a crucial role in supporting Spain's army and naval power. The Duchy of Milan served as Spain's main military base in Europe, blocking French expansion and facilitating troop movements via the ]. Milan's armaments industry provided war materials, and the Kingdom of Naples contributed recruits and taxes, which many Italians saw as exploitation for Spain's imperial ambitions, although Philip II insisted that the monarchy did not intend to exploit them.{{sfn|Kamen|2003|p=173}}}}


====Defeat of France==== ===Decline===
{{main|Decline of Spain}}
Charles V's only legitimate son, ] (r. 1556–98) parted the Austrian possessions with his uncle ]. Philip treated Castile as the foundation of his empire, but the population of Castile (that was about ⅓ of France's) was never great enough to provide the soldiers needed to support the Empire. When he married ], England was allied to Spain.
By the mid-17th century, Spain's global empire burdened its economic, administrative, and military resources. Over the preceding century, Spanish troops had fought in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, suffering heavy casualties.<ref name="Nolan">{{cite book |last1=Cathal J. Nolan |title=Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650–1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization |date=2008 |pages=442–443}}</ref> Despite its vast holdings, Spain's military lacked essential modernization and heavily relied on foreign suppliers.<ref name="Nolan"/> Nevertheless, Spain possessed abundant bullion from the Americas, which played a crucial role in both sustaining its military endeavors and meeting the needs of its civilian population. During this period, Spain displayed limited military interest in its overseas colonies. The ''Criollo'' elites (colonial-born Spaniards) and ''mestizo'' and ''mulatto'' militia (of mixed Indigenous-Spanish and African-Spanish descent) provided only minimal protection, often assisted by more influential allies with vested interests in maintaining the balance of power and safeguarding the Spanish Empire from falling into enemy hands.<ref name="Nolan"/>
] (1559) between Spain and France]]


== The Spanish Bourbons (1700–1808) ==
Spain was not yet at peace, as the aggressive ] came to the throne in 1547 and immediately renewed conflict with Spain. Charles's successor, Philip II, aggressively prosecuted the war against France, crushing a French army at the ] in ] in 1558 and defeating Henry again at the ]. The ], signed in 1559, permanently recognized Spanish claims in Italy. In the celebrations that followed the treaty, Henry was killed by a stray splinter from a lance. France was stricken for the next thirty years by chronic civil war and unrest (see ]) and removed from effectively competing with Spain and the Habsburg family in European power games. Freed from effective French opposition, Spain saw the ] of its might and territorial reach in the period 1559–1643.
{{Main|History of Spain (1700–1810)|Enlightenment in Spain}}
] (r. 1700–1746), the first Spanish monarch of the ]]]
With the 1700 death of the childless ], the crown of Spain was contested in the ].
Under the ] (11 April 1713) ending the war, the French prince of the ], Philippe of Anjou, grandchild of ] of France, became King ]. He retained the Spanish overseas empire in the Americas and the Philippines. The settlement gave spoils to those who had backed a Habsburg for the Spanish monarchy, ceding European territory of the ], ], ], and ] to ]; ] and parts of Milan to the ], and ] and ] to the ]. The treaty also granted British merchants the exclusive right to sell ] in ] for thirty years, the '']'', as well as licensed voyages to ports in Spanish colonial dominions and openings.{{sfn|Braudel|1984|loc=vol. 2, p. 418}}


Spain's economic and demographic recovery had begun slowly in the last decades of the Habsburg reign, as was evident from the growth of its trading convoys and the much more rapid growth of illicit trade during the period. (This growth was slower than the growth of illicit trade by northern rivals in the empire's markets.) However, this recovery was not then translated into institutional improvement, rather the "proximate solutions to permanent problems."{{sfn|Lynch|1989|p=1}} This legacy of neglect was reflected in the early years of Bourbon rule in which the military was ill-advisedly pitched into battle in the ] (1718–20). Spain was defeated in Italy by an alliance of Britain, France, Savoy, and Austria. Following the war, the new Bourbon monarchy took a much more cautious approach to international relations, relying on a family alliance with Bourbon France, and continuing to follow a program of institutional renewal.
The opening for the Genoese banking consortium was the ] of Philip II in 1557, which threw the German banking houses into chaos and ended the reign of the ]s as Spanish financiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Archer|2002|p= 251}}</ref> The Genoese bankers provided the unwieldy Habsburg system with fluid credit and a dependably regular income. In return the less dependable shipments of American silver were rapidly transferred from ] to ], to provide capital for further ventures.


The crown program to enact reforms that promoted administrative control and efficiency in the metropole to the detriment of interests in the colonies, undermined creole elites' loyalty to the crown. When French forces of ] ] in 1808, Napoleon ousted the Spanish Bourbon monarchy, placing his brother ] on the Spanish throne. There was a crisis of legitimacy of crown rule in Spanish America, leading to the ] (1808–1826).
====European conflicts at the time of Philip II====
The time for rejoicing in Madrid was short-lived. In 1566, ]-led riots in the Netherlands prompted the ] to march into the country to restore order. In 1568, ], better known as William the Silent, led a failed attempt to drive Alva from the Netherlands. These battles are generally considered to signal the start of the ] that ended with the independence of the ]. The Spanish, who derived a great deal of wealth from the Netherlands and particularly from the vital port of ], were committed to restoring order and maintaining their hold on the provinces. According to Luc-Normand Tellier, "It is estimated that the port of Antwerp was earning the Spanish crown seven times more revenues than the ]."<ref>{{Citation|title=Urban world history: an economic and geographical perspective|first1=Luc-Normand|last1=Tellier|publisher=PUQ|year=2009|isbn=2-7605-1588-5|page=308
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC}}, </ref> In 1572, a band of rebel Dutch privateers known as the '']'' ("Sea Beggars") seized a number of Dutch coastal towns, proclaimed their support for William and denounced the Spanish leadership.
]: ''The Relief of ]'' (1574) after the ] had broken their ] in the ]]]


=== Bourbon reforms ===
For Spain, the war became an endless quagmire, sometimes literally. In 1574, the Spanish army under ] was repulsed from the ] after the Dutch broke the ], thus causing extensive flooding. In 1576, faced with the bills from his 80,000-man army of occupation in the Netherlands, the cost of his fleet that had won at Lepanto, together with the growing threat of ] in the open seas reducing his income from his American colonies, Philip was forced to accept ]. The army in the Netherlands mutinied not long after, seizing Antwerp and looting the southern Netherlands, prompting several cities in the previously peaceful southern provinces to join the rebellion. The Spanish chose to negotiate, and pacified most of the southern provinces again with the ] in 1579. In response, the Netherlands created the ], as an alliance between the northern provinces, later that month. They officially deposed Philip in 1581 when they enacted the ].
{{Main|Bourbon Reforms}}
] and the ], seconded by the ], ], and the ], ], respectively, before the Virgin Mary. "Glorification of the Immaculate Conception".]]


The Spanish Bourbons' broadest intentions were to reorganize the institutions of empire to better administer it for the benefit of Spain and the crown. It sought to increase revenues and to assert greater crown control, including over the Catholic Church. Centralization of power (beginning with the ] against the realms of the ]) was to be for the benefit of the crown and the metropole and for the defense of its empire against foreign incursions.<ref name="Bourbon Reforms">Kuethe, Allan J. "The Bourbon Reforms" in {{harvnb|''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''|1996|loc=vol. 1, pp. 399–401}}</ref> From the viewpoint of Spain, the structures of colonial rule under the Habsburgs were no longer functioning to the benefit of Spain, with much wealth being retained in Spanish America and going to other European powers. The presence of other European powers in the Caribbean, with the English in ] (1627), ] (1623–25), and ] (1655); the Dutch in ], and the French in Saint Domingue (Haiti) (1697), ], and ] had broken the integrity of the closed Spanish mercantile system and established thriving sugar colonies.<ref>Fisher, John R. "The Spanish American empire, 1580–1808" in ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean'', 2nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press 1992, pp. 204–205.</ref><ref name="non-spanish caribbean" />
Under the Arras agreement the southern states of the ], today in ] and the ] (and ]) ''régions'' in France, expressed their loyalty to the Spanish king ] and recognized his Governor-General, ]. In 1580, this gave King Philip the opportunity to strengthen his position when the last member of the ], ], died. Philip asserted his claim to the Portuguese throne and in June sent the Duke of Alba with an army to Lisbon to assure his succession. Though the Duke of Alba and the Spanish occupation, however, was little more popular in ] than in ], the combined Spanish and Portuguese empires placed into Philip's hands almost the entirety of the explored New World along with a vast trading empire in Africa and Asia. In 1582, when ] moved his court back to Madrid from the Atlantic port of Lisbon where he had temporarily settled to pacify his new Portuguese kingdom, the pattern was sealed, in spite of what every observant commentator privately noted: "Sea power is more important to the ruler of Spain than any other prince" wrote a commentator, "for it is only by sea power that a single community can be created out of so many so far apart." A writer on tactics in 1638 observed, "The might most suited to the arms of Spain is that which is placed on the seas, but this matter of state is so well known that I should not discuss it, even if I thought it opportune to do so."<ref>Quoted by Braudel 1984{{Specify|date=October 2008}}<!--this is not in the references--></ref>
]'', by ]]]


At the beginning of his reign, the first Spanish Bourbon, King Philip V, reorganized the government to strengthen the executive power of the monarch as was done in France, in place of the deliberative, ] of Councils.<ref>{{cite book
Portugal required an extensive occupation force to keep it under control, and Spain was still reeling from the 1576 bankruptcy. In 1584, William the Silent was assassinated by a half-deranged Catholic, and the death of the popular Dutch resistance leader was hoped to bring an end to the war. It did not. In 1586, Queen ], sent support to the Protestant causes in the Netherlands and France, and ] launched attacks against Spanish merchants in the Caribbean and the Pacific, along with a particularly aggressive attack on the port of ]. In 1588, hoping to put a stop to Elizabeth's intervention, Philip sent the ] to attack England. Favourable weather, more heavily armed and manœuvrable English ships, and the fact that the English had been warned by their spies in the Netherlands and were ready for the attack resulted in defeat for the Armada. However the failure of the ] to Portugal and the Azores in 1589 marked a turning point in the on-off 1585–1604 ]. The Spanish fleets became more effective in transporting greatly increased quantities of silver and gold from the Americas, while English attacks suffered costly failures.
| last = Albareda Salvadó
] leaving the Bay of ] (1588)]]
| first = Joaquim
| title = La Guerra de Sucesión de España (1700–1714)
| publisher = Editorial Critica
| year = 2010
| pages = 239–241
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3optq8WlRIMC&pg=PA24
| isbn = 978-8498920604
}}</ref>


Philip's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies (1714) and established commercial companies, the ] (1714), a Caracas company; the ] (1728), and the most successful ones, the ] (1740) and the ] (1755).
Spain had invested itself in the religious warfare in France after Henry II's death. In 1589, ], the last of the ] lineage, died at the walls of Paris. His successor, ], the first ] king of France, was a man of great ability, winning key victories against the ] at ] (1589) and ] (1590). Committed to stopping Henry of Navarre from becoming King of France, the Spanish divided their army in the Netherlands and invaded France in 1590.


In 1717–18, the structures for governing the Indies, the ''{{lang|es|]}}'' and the ''{{lang|es|]}}'', which governed investments in the cumbersome ]s, were transferred from ] to ], where foreign merchant houses had easier access to the Indies trade.{{sfn|Lynch|1989|p=11}} Cádiz became the one port for all Indies trading (see ]). Individual sailings at regular intervals were slow to displace the traditional armed convoys, but by the 1760s there were regular ships plying the Atlantic from Cádiz to ] and ], and at longer intervals to the {{Lang|es|]|italic=no}}, where an additional ] was created in 1776. The contraband trade that was the lifeblood of the Habsburg empire declined in proportion to registered shipping (a shipping registry having been established in 1735).
====The pacification at the time of Philip III====
Faced with wars against England, France and the ], each led by capable leaders, the bankrupted empire found itself competing against strong adversaries. Continuing ] against its shipping in the Atlantic and the costly colonial enterprises forced Spain to renegotiate its debts in 1596. The crown attempted to reduce its exposure to the different conflicts, first signing the ] with France in 1598, recognizing ] (since 1593 a Catholic) as king of France, and restoring many of the stipulations of the previous ]. The ], suffering from a series of repulses at sea and from an endless ] by Catholics in Ireland, who were supported by Spain, agreed to the ], following the accession of the more tractable ] King ].


Two upheavals registered unease within Spanish America and at the same time demonstrated the renewed resiliency of the reformed system: the ] in Peru in 1780 and the ] of ], both in part reactions to tighter, more efficient control.
] provided the ] with most of its revenues and its best troops.<ref>Elliott, 'Decline of Spain', pp. 56–57. Paul Kennedy points out that the very reliance on such a narrow tax base was a major problem for Spanish finances in the long term. See Kennedy, ''Rise and Fall'', p. 68. </ref> The ] devastated Castilian lands between 1596 and 1602, causing the deaths of some 600,000 people.<ref>, Stanley G. Payne</ref> A great number of Castilians went to America or died in battle. In 1609, the great majority of the ] population of Spain was expelled. It is estimated that ] lost about 25% of its population between 1600 and 1623. Such a dramatic drop in the population meant the basis for the Crown's revenues was dangerously weakened in a time when it was engaged in continuous conflict in Europe.<ref>For a general account, see Kennedy, ''Rise and Fall'', pp. 40–93.</ref>


=== 18th-century economic conditions ===
Peace with England and France gave Spain an opportunity to focus its energies on restoring its rule to the Dutch provinces. The Dutch, led by ], the son of William the Silent and perhaps the greatest strategist of his time, had succeeded in taking a number of border cities since 1590, including the fortress of ]. Following the peace with England, the new Spanish commander ], a general with the ability to match Maurice, pressed hard against the Dutch and was prevented from conquering the Netherlands only by Spain's latest ] in 1607. In 1609, the ] was signed between Spain and the ]. At last, Spain was at peace — the ''{{lang|la|]}}''.
]. In 1741, the Spanish repulsed a British attack on this fortress in present-day ] in the ].]]
The 18th century was a century of prosperity for the overseas Spanish Empire as trade within grew steadily, particularly in the second half of the century, under the Bourbon reforms. Spain's victory in the ] against a British expedition in the Caribbean port of ] helped Spain secure its dominance of its possessions in the Americas until the 19th century. But different regions fared differently under Bourbon rule, and even while New Spain was particularly prosperous, it was also marked by steep wealth inequality. Silver production boomed in New Spain during the 18th century, with output more than tripling between the start of the century and the 1750s. The economy and the population both grew, both centered around Mexico City. But while mine owners and the crown benefited from the flourishing silver economy, most of the population in the rural Bajío faced rising land prices, falling wages. Eviction of many from their lands resulted.<ref name="tutino" />


With a Bourbon monarchy came a repertory of Bourbon ] ideas based on a centralized state, put into effect in the Americas slowly at first but with increasing momentum during the century. Shipping grew rapidly from the mid-1740s until the ] (1756–63), reflecting in part the success of the Bourbons in bringing illicit trade under control. With the loosening of trade controls after the Seven Years' War, shipping trade within the empire once again began to expand, reaching an extraordinary rate of growth in the 1780s.
Spain made a fair recovery during the truce, putting its finances in order and doing much to restore its prestige and stability in the run-up to the last truly great war in which she would play a leading part. Philip II's successor, ], was a man of limited ability, uninterested in politics and preferring to delegate management of the empire to others.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} His chief minister was the capable ].
] (1625) to ], by ]. This victory came to symbolize the renewed period of Spanish military vigour in the ].]]


The end of Cádiz's monopoly of trade with the American colonies brought about very important changes, particularly a rebirth of Spanish manufactures. Most notable of those changes were both the beginning of ] participation in the Spanish ], and the rapidly growing textile industry of Catalonia which by the mid-1780s saw the first signs of industrialization. This saw the emergence of a small, politically active commercial class in ]. This isolated pocket of advanced economic development stood in stark contrast to the relative backwardness of most of the country. Most of the improvements were in and around some major coastal cities and the major islands such as Cuba, with its tobacco ]s, and a renewed growth of ]s mining in South America.
The Duke of Lerma (and to a large extent Philip II) had been uninterested in the affairs of their ally, Austria. In 1618, the king replaced him with ], a veteran ambassador to ]. Don Balthasar believed that the key to restraining the resurgent French and eliminating the Dutch was a closer alliance with ]. In 1618, beginning with the ], Austria and the ], ], embarked on a campaign against the ] and ]. Don Balthasar encouraged Philip to join the Austrian Habsburgs in the war, and Spinola, the rising star of the Spanish army in the Netherlands, was sent at the head of the ] to intervene. Thus, Spain entered into the ].


Agricultural productivity remained low despite efforts to introduce new techniques to what was for the most part an uninterested, exploited peasant and laboring groups. Governments were inconsistent in their policies. Though there were substantial improvements by the late 18th century, Spain was still an economic backwater. Under the ] trading arrangements it had difficulty in providing the goods being demanded by the strongly growing markets of its empire, and providing adequate outlets for the return trade.
====The road to Rocroi====
In 1621, Philip III was succeeded by the considerably more religious ]. The following year, Don Balthasar was replaced by ], a reasonably honest and able man who believed that the center of all Spain's woes rested in the Netherlands.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} After certain initial setbacks, the Bohemians were defeated at ] in 1621, and again at ] in 1623. The war with the Netherlands was renewed in 1621 with Spinola taking the fortress of ] in 1625. The intervention of ] in the war worried some (Christian was one of Europe's few monarchs who had no worries over his finances), but the victory of the Imperial general ] over the Danes at ] and again at ] (both in 1626), eliminated that threat.


From an opposing point of view according to the "backwardness" mentioned above the naturalist and explorer ] traveled extensively throughout the Spanish Americas, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view between 1799 and 1804. In his work ''Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain containing researches relative to the geography of Mexico'' he says that the Amerindians of ] were wealthier than any Russian or German peasant in Europe.{{sfn|von Humboldt|1811}} According to Humboldt, despite the fact that Indian farmers were poor, under Spanish rule they were free and slavery was non-existent, their conditions were much better than any other peasant or farmer in ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Janota |first1=Tom |title=Alexander von Humboldt, un explorador científico en América |publisher=CIDCLI |isbn=978-6078351121 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmuVBgAAQBAJ |date=9 February 2015 |access-date=23 September 2020 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124846/https://books.google.com/books?id=jmuVBgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
There was hope in Madrid that the Netherlands might finally be reincorporated into the Empire, and after the defeat of Denmark the Protestants in Germany seemed crushed. France was once again involved in its own instabilities (the famous ] began in 1627), and Spain's eminence seemed clear. The Count-Duke Olivares stridently affirmed, "God is Spanish and fights for our nation these days".<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|Elliott|1980|p= 190}}</ref>


Humboldt also published a comparative analysis of bread and meat consumption in New Spain compared to other cities in Europe such as Paris. ] consumed 189 pounds of meat per person per year, in comparison to 163 pounds consumed by the inhabitants of Paris, the Mexicans also consumed almost the same amount of bread as any European city, with 363 kilograms of bread per person per year in comparison to the 377 kilograms consumed in Paris. ] consumed seven times more meat per person than in Paris. Von Humboldt also said that the average income in that period was four times the European income and also that the cities of New Spain were richer than many European cities.{{sfn|von Humboldt|1811}}
Olivares was a man out of time: he realized that Spain needed to reform, and to reform it needed peace. The destruction of the ] was added to his list of necessities, because at the root of every anti-Habsburg coalition there was Dutch money. Dutch bankers financed the ] merchants of ], and everywhere in the world Dutch entrepreneurship and colonists were undermining Spanish and Portuguese ].


=== Contesting with other empires ===
While Spinola and the Spanish army were focused on the Netherlands, the war seemed to go in Spain's favor. But 1627 saw the collapse of the Castilian economy. The Habsburgs had been ] their currency to pay for the war and ], just as they had in previous years in Austria. Until 1631, parts of Castile operated on a ] economy owing to the currency crisis, and the government was unable to collect any meaningful taxes from the peasantry and had to depend on revenue from its colonies. The Spanish armies, like others in German territories, resorted to "paying themselves" on the land.
] (1732)]]
]. Decisive victory for the Catholic ] army and Spain over the Swedes.]]
] (1741). Spain defeated a British fleet and inflicted heavy casualties.]]
Bourbon institutional reforms under Philip V bore fruit militarily when Spanish forces easily retook ] and ] from the Austrians at the ] in 1734 during the ], and during the ] (1739–42) thwarted ] efforts to capture the strategic cities of ], ] and ] by defeating a British combined army and navy force, although Spain's ] also failed. The British suffered 25,000 dead or wounded and lost nearly 5,000 ships during the war.<ref>{{cite web |title=4 More of the Stupidest Wars in World History |date=October 2020 |url=https://www.military.com/off-duty/4-more-of-stupidest-wars-world-history.html |access-date=7 August 2023 |archive-date=7 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807192730/https://www.military.com/off-duty/4-more-of-stupidest-wars-world-history.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
] at the ] (1781) during the ]. Gálvez cleared the ] of British forts with a multinational army.]]
In 1742, the War of Jenkins' Ear merged with the larger ], and ] in North America. The British, also occupied with France, were unable to capture Spanish convoys, and Spanish ]s captured British merchant shipping along the ] routes and ] the coast of ], levying ] on the inhabitants. In Europe, Spain had been trying to divest ] of the Duchy of Milan in northern Italy since 1741, but faced the opposition of ], and warfare in northern Italy remained indecisive throughout the period up to 1746. By the 1748 ], Spain gained (indirectly) ] in northern Italy.


Spain was defeated during the ] and lost both ] and ] to British forces towards the end of the ] (1756–63),<ref>{{cite book |quote=In one short year the unfortunate Spaniards saw their armies beaten in Portugal, Cuba and Manila torn from their grasp, their commerce destroyed, and their fleets annihilated.|last=Prowse |first=D. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=typhCoyd1S8C&pg=PA311 |title=A History of Newfoundland: from the English, Colonial and Foreign Records |publisher=Heritage Books |year=2007 |page=311|isbn=978-0788423109 }}</ref> but it promptly recovered these losses and Spanish forces seized British forts in ] (present-day ], ], ] and ]) and the British naval base in ] during the ] (1775–83).
Olivares had backed certain taxation reforms in Spain pending the end of the war, but was blamed for another embarrassing and fruitless ]. The Dutch, who during the Twelve Years' Truce had made increasing their navy a priority, (which showed its maturing potency at the ] 1607), managed to strike a great blow against Spanish maritime trade with the ] of the treasure fleet by captain ], on which Spain had become dependent after the economic collapse.


During most of the 18th century, Spanish privateers, particularly from ], were the scourge of the ], with Dutch, British, French and Danish vessels as their ].<ref>{{cite web |title=Corsairs of Santo Domingo a socio-economic study, 1718–1779 |url=https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/4972/1/ML21744.PDF |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=16 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116170020/https://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/4972/1/ML21744.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref>
Spanish military resources were stretched across Europe and also at sea as they sought to protect maritime trade against the greatly improved Dutch and French fleets, while still occupied with the Ottoman and associated ] threat in the Mediterranean. In the meantime the aim of choking Dutch shipping was carried out by the ] with considerable success. In 1625 a Spanish-Portuguese fleet, under Admiral ], regained the strategically vital Brazilian city of ] from the Dutch. Elsewhere, the isolated and undermanned Portuguese forts in Africa and the Asia proved vulnerable to Dutch and English raids and takeovers or simply being bypassed as important trading posts.


====Rival empires in the Pacific Northwest====
In 1630, ] of Sweden, one of history's most noted commanders, landed in Germany and relieved the port of ], the last continental stronghold of German forces belligerent to the Emperor. Gustavus then marched south and won notable victories at ] and ], attracting more Protestant support with every step he took. The situation for the Catholics improved with Gustavus's death at Lutzen in 1632, and a key victory at ] was won in 1634. From a position of strength, the Emperor approached the war-weary German states with a peace in 1635: many accepted, including the two most powerful, ] and ]. Then France entered the equation, and diplomatic calculations were thrown in to confusion.
{{Main|Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest}}
] (1643), the symbolic end of Spain's grandeur; the slow decline sets in.]]
] and the British. Most of what Spain claimed in Nootka was not directly occupied or controlled.]]


Spain claimed all of North America in the Age of Discovery, but claims were not translated into occupation until a major resource was discovered and Spanish settlement and crown rule put in place. The French had established an ] in northern North America and took some islands in the Caribbean. The English established colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America and in northern North America and some Caribbean islands as well. In the eighteenth century, the Spanish crown realized that its territorial claims needed to be defended, particularly in the wake of its visible weakness during the Seven Years' War when Britain captured the important Spanish ports of Havana and Manila. Another important factor was that the ] had expanded into North America from the mid-eighteenth century, with ] in what is now ] and forts as far south as ]. Great Britain was also expanding into areas that Spain claimed as its territory on the Pacific coast. Taking steps to shore up its fragile claims to California, Spain began planning ] in 1769. Spain also began a series of voyages to the Pacific Northwest, where Russia and Great Britain were encroaching on claimed territory. The ], with ] and others sailing for Spain, came too late for Spain to assert its sovereignty in the Pacific Northwest.{{sfn|Kamen|2003|pp=237, 485}}
] of France had been a strong supporter of the Dutch and Protestants since the beginning of the war, sending funds and equipment in an attempt to stem Habsburg strength in Europe. Richelieu decided that the recently signed ] was contrary to French designs and declared war on the Holy Roman Emperor and Spain within months of the peace being signed. In the war that followed, the more experienced Spanish forces scored initial successes. Olivares ordered a lightning campaign into northern France from the Spanish Netherlands, hoping to shatter the resolve of ]'s ministers and topple Richelieu. In the ''"{{lang|fr|année de Corbie}}"'', 1636, Spanish forces advanced as far south as ], and such was the threat to Paris that the war came close to a conclusion on Spanish terms.


The ] (1789–1791) nearly brought Spain and Britain to war. It was a dispute over claims in the Pacific Northwest, where neither nation had established permanent settlements. The crisis could have led to war, but without French support Spain capitulated to British terms and negotiations took place with the ]. Spain and Great Britain agreed to not establish settlements and allowed free access to Nootka Sound on the west coast of what is now ]. Nevertheless, the outcome of the crisis was a humiliation for Spain and a triumph for Britain, as Spain had practically renounced all sovereignty on the North Pacific coast.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blackmar |first1=Frank Wilson |title=Spanish Institutions of the Southwest Issue 10 of Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science |date=1891 |publisher=Hopkins Press |page=335 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F11GAAAAYAAJ |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114125414/https://books.google.com/books?id=F11GAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
After 1636, however, Olivares halted the advance, fearful of provoking another crown bankruptcy. The hesitation in pressing home the advantage proved fateful; French forces regrouped and pushed the Spanish back towards the border. The Spanish army would never again penetrate so far. At the ] in 1639 a Spanish fleet carrying troops was destroyed by the Dutch navy, and the Spanish found themselves unable to supply and reinforce their forces adequately in the Netherlands. The ], which represented the finest of Spanish soldiery and leadership, faced a French assault led by ] in northern France at ] in 1643. The Spanish, led by ], were beaten by the French. This battle was not a slaughter by any means, however; it was a closely fought battle but the Spanish were forced to surrender with honorable terms. The high reputation of the Army of Flanders was broken at Rocroi, and with it, the grandeur of Spain.


In 1806, Baron ] attempted to negotiate a treaty between the ] and the ], but his unexpected death in 1807 ended any treaty hopes. Spain gave up its claims in the West of North America in the ] of 1819, ceding its rights there to the United States, allowing the U.S. to purchase Florida, and establishing a boundary between New Spain and the U.S. When the negotiations between the two nations were taking place, Spain's resources were stretched due to the ].<ref>Salvucci, Linda K. "Adams–Onís Treaty (1819)" in {{harvnb|''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''|1996|loc=vol. 1, pp. 11–12}}</ref> Much of the present-day ] later became part of Mexico after its independence from Spain; after the ], Mexico ceded to the U.S. present-day ], ], ], ], ], ], and parts of ], ], ], ] and ] for $15 million.
====The Last Spanish Habsburgs====
Traditionally, historians mark the ] (1643) as the end of Spanish dominance in Europe, but the war was not finished. Supported by the French, the ], ], and ] rose up in revolt against the Spanish in the 1640s. With the Spanish Netherlands caught between the tightening grip of French and Dutch forces after the ] in 1648, the Spanish made peace with the Dutch and recognized the independent United Provinces in the ] that ended both the ] and the ].
]
War with France continued for eleven more years. Although France suffered from a civil war from 1648 to 1652 (''see ]'') the Spanish economy was so exhausted that it was unable to effectively cope with war on so many fronts. Yet the decline of Spanish power in this period has often been overstated. Spain retook Naples in 1648 and ] in 1652, but the war came to an end at the ] where the French army under ] defeated the remnants of the Spanish army of the Netherlands. Spain agreed to the ] in 1659 that ceded to France ] and ].


====Loss of Spanish Louisiana====
Portugal had rebelled in 1640 under the leadership of John of ], a pretender to the throne. He had received widespread support from the Portuguese people, and Spain—which had to deal with rebellions elsewhere, along with the war against France&nbsp;– was unable to respond adequately. John mounted the throne as King ] and the Spanish and Portuguese co-existed in a de facto state of peace from 1644 to 1656. When John died in 1656, the Spanish attempted to wrest Portugal from his son ] but were defeated at ] (1663) and ] (1665), leading to Spain's recognition of Portugal's independence in 1668.
{{Main|Louisiana (New Spain)}}
] in coastal California and sent maritime expeditions to the Pacific Northwest to assert sovereignty.]]
The growth of trade and wealth in the colonies caused increasing political tensions as frustration grew with the improving but still restrictive trade with Spain. ]'s recommendation to turn the empire into a looser ] to help improve governance and trade so as to quell the growing political tensions between the élites of the empire's periphery and center was suppressed by a monarchy afraid of losing control. All was to be swept away by the tumult that was to overtake Europe at the turn of the 19th century with the ] and ].


The first major territory Spain was to lose in the 19th century was the vast ], which had few European settlers. It stretched north to Canada and was ceded by France in 1763 under the terms of the ]. The French, under Napoleon, took back possession as part of the ] in 1800 and sold it to the United States in the ] of 1803. Napoleon's sale of the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803 caused border disputes between the United States and Spain that, with rebellions in ] (1810) and in the remainder of Louisiana at the mouth of the ], led to their eventual cession to the United States.
Spain still had a huge overseas empire, but France was now the superpower in Europe and the United Provinces were in the Atlantic.


== End of the global empire (1808–1899) ==
The ] (1647–1652) killed up to 25% of ]'s population. Sevilla, and indeed the economy of Andalucía, would never recover from so complete a devastation. Altogether Spain was thought to have lost 500,000 people, out of a population of slightly fewer than 10,000,000, or nearly 5% of its entire population. Historians reckon the total cost in human lives due to these plagues throughout Spain, throughout the entire 17th century, to be a minimum of nearly 1.25 million.<ref>{{citation| url= http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/payne15.htm |chapter= The Seventeenth-Century Decline |title= A History of Spain and Portugal |volume= 1 |first= Stanley G. |last= Payne |place= Madison, Wisconsin |publisher= University of Wisconsin Press |year= 1973 |accessdate= 2008-10-08| postscript= <!--none-->}}</ref>
]
]
In 1808, ] maneuvered to place the Spanish king under his control, effectively seizing power without facing resistance. This action sparked resistance from the Spanish people, leading to the ]. This conflict created a power vacuum lasting nearly a decade, followed by civil wars, transitions to a republic, and eventually the establishment of a liberal democracy. Spain lost all the colonial possessions in the first third of the century, except for Cuba, Puerto Rico and, isolated on the far side of the globe, the Philippines, Guam and nearby Pacific islands, as well as Spanish Sahara, parts of Morocco, and Spanish Guinea.


The wars of independence in Spanish America were triggered by another ] to seize Spanish American territory, this time in the ] estuary in 1806. The viceroy retreated hastily to the hills when defeated by a small British force. However, when the '']''' militias and colonial army decisively defeated the now reinforced British force in 1807, they promptly embarked on the path to securing their own independence, igniting independence movements across the continent. A long period of wars followed in the Americas, and the lack of Spanish troops in the colonies led to war between ] and local Royalists. In South America this period of wars led to the independence of ] (1810), ] (1810), ] (1810), ] (1811) and ] (1815, but subsequently ruled by Brazil until 1828). ] campaigned for independence in Chile (1818) and in ] (1821). Further north, ] led forces that won independence between 1811 and 1826 for the area that became ], ], ], ] and ] (then ]). ] declared independence in 1821 and merged with the Republic of Gran Colombia (from 1821 to 1903). Mexico gained independence in 1821 after more than a decade of struggle, following the War of Independence that began in 1810. Mexico's independence led to the independence of Central American provinces—], ], ], ], and ]—by 1823.
The ] of the young Spanish king ] was incompetent in dealing with the ] that ] prosecuted against the ] in 1667–68, losing considerable prestige and territory, including the cities of ] and ]. In the ] of 1672–1678, Spain lost still more territory when it came to the assistance of its former Dutch enemies, most notably ]. In the ] (1688–1697) Louis once again invaded the Spanish Netherlands. French forces led by the ] defeated the Spanish at ] (1690), and subsequently defeated Dutch forces under ], who fought on Spain's side. The war ended with most of the Spanish Netherlands under French occupation, including the important cities of ] and ]. The war revealed to Europe how vulnerable the Spanish defenses and bureaucracy were. Also the ineffective Spanish Habsburg government took no action to improve them.


Estimates of the number killed in the ] range from 250,000 to 500,000 individuals, and a large number of people also fled Mexico. Throughout the eleven years of fighting, Spain sent only 9,685 troops to Mexico.{{sfn|Scheina|2003|p=83}} Over the course of nine years, 20,000 Spanish soldiers were sent to reinforce the Spanish American Royalists in northern South America. However, disease and combat claimed the lives of 16,000–17,000 of these soldiers. Even within the Viceroyalty of Peru, the center of Spanish power in South America, the majority of the Royalist army consisted of Americans. After the ] in 1824, the captured Royalist army consisted of 1,512 Spanish Americans and only 751 Spaniards. Only 6,000 troops were sent to Peru directly from Spain, although others arrived from neighboring theaters of operation.{{sfn|Scheina|2003|p=70}} In contrast, Spain demonstrated a greater military commitment in the Caribbean, sending 30,000 troops to ] in 1861 and maintaining a force of 100,000 soldiers in Cuba in 1876.{{sfn|Scheina|2003|p=357}}
The final decades of the 17th century saw utter decay and stagnation in Spain; while the rest of ] went through exciting changes in government and society — the ] in England and the reign of the ] in France — Spain remained adrift. The Spanish bureaucracy that had built up around the charismatic, industrious, and intelligent ] and ] demanded a strong and hardworking monarch; the weakness and lack of interest of ] and ] contributed to Spain's decay. ] was ] and ]. He was therefore childless, and in his final will he left his throne to the ] prince ], rather than to a fellow Habsburg, albeit from Austria. This resulted in the ].


] of ] in Cuba, 1898]]
]
Cuba did not experience its first serious independence movement until the late 1860s. The ] was fought from 1868 to 1878, resulting in between 100,000 and 150,000 Cuban deaths.{{sfn|Scheina|2003|p=358}} The ] occurred between 1895 and 1898, during which approximately 300,000 Cubans died, with around 200,000 civilian deaths attributed to disease and famine caused by Spanish concentration camps.{{sfn|Scheina|2003|p=364}} Two contemporary sources estimated that by December 1895, the rebel army had lost between 29,850 and 42,800 men, and many Cuban generals were killed in combat.{{sfn|Scheina|2003|p=364}}


American sympathy for Cuban revolutionaries grew due to reports of atrocities and the sinking of the ]. On 25 April 1898, the U.S. declared war on Spain, leading to victories in both Cuba and the Philippines. The war ended with the ], which ceded ], ], and ] to the U.S. and sold the Philippines for US$20&nbsp;million.<ref name="avalon">{{Cite web|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/sp1898.asp|title=Avalon Project – Treaty of Peace Between the United States and Spain; December 10, 1898|website=avalon.law.yale.edu|access-date=29 September 2022|archive-date=16 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916071226/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/sp1898.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> The following year, Spain then sold its remaining Pacific Ocean possessions to Germany in the ], retaining only its African territories. On 2 June 1899, the second expeditionary battalion ] of Philippines, the last Spanish garrison in the Philippines, which had been ] in ] at war's end, was pulled out, effectively ending around 300 years of Spanish hegemony in the archipelago.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405133354/https://books.google.com/books?id=3amnMPTPP5MC&dq=Jun+2+1899+Philippines&pg=PA100 |date=5 April 2023 }} Cerezo finally surrendered with the full honors of war (1 July 1898&nbsp;– 2 June 1899)</ref>
===Africa and the Mediterranean===
By the 16th century, the ] had become an existential threat to Europe. ] made significant gains with a decisive victory at ].<ref></ref> Charles had preferred to suppress the Ottomans through a considerably more maritime strategy, hampering Ottoman landings on the ] territories in the Eastern Mediterranean.


== Territories in Africa (1885–1976) ==
The coastal villages and towns of Spain, Italy and the ] were frequently attacked by ] from North Africa; the ] was even temporarily left by its population and long stretches of the Spanish and Italian coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants. The most famous corsair was the Turkish ] ("Redbeard"). According to Robert C. Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by North African pirates and sold as ] in North Africa and ] between the 16th and 19th centuries.<ref>{{citation|url= http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/whtslav.htm |chapter= When Europeans were slaves: Research suggests white slavery was much more common than previously believed |work= Ohio State Research Communications |publisher= Ohio State University |date= March 8, 2004 |accessdate= 2008-10-08|postscript= <!--none-->}}<!--it would be rather better to examine the book to which this press release refers--></ref>
{{main|Spanish Guinea|Spanish West Africa|Spanish Sahara|Spanish protectorate in Morocco}}
]]]


By the end of the 17th century, only Melilla, ], ] (which had been taken again in 1564), and ] (part of the ] since 1415, chose to retain their links to Spain once the ] ended. The formal allegiance of Ceuta to Spain was recognized by the ] in 1668), and Oran and ] remained Spanish territories in Africa. The latter cities were lost in 1708, ] in 1732 and sold by ] in 1792.
The reign of ] saw a decline in the presence of Spain in the North of Africa, even if ] and its port, ], were taken in 1535. One after the other, most of the Spanish possessions were lost: Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera (1522), Santa Cruz de Mar Pequeña (1524), Algiers (1529), Tripoli (1551), Bujia (1554), and La Goleta and Tunis (1569).


In 1778, ] (now Bioko), adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the ] and ] rivers were ceded to Spain by the Portuguese in exchange for territory in South America (]). In the 19th century, some Spanish explorers and missionaries would cross this zone, among them ]. In 1848, Spanish troops occupied the uninhabited ], anticipating a French move on the rocks located off the North-African coast.
Only in response to ]s' raids on the eastern coast of Spain did Charles lead attacks against ] (1535) and ] (1541).


] at the ]]]
] (1571), marked the end of the ] naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea.]]
In 1565, the Spanish defeated an ] on the strategic island of ], defended by the ]. ]'s death the following year and his succession by his less capable son ] emboldened Philip, and he resolved to carry the war to the sultan himself. In 1571, Spanish and ] ]s, joined by volunteers across Europe, led by Charles's illegitimate son ] annihilated the Ottoman fleet at the ], in what is perhaps the most decisive battle in modern naval history. The battle ended the threat of Ottoman naval hegemony in the Mediterranean. This mission marked the height of the respectability of Spain and its sovereign abroad as Philip bore the burden of leading the ].


In 1860, after the ], ] paid Spain 100 million pesetas as ] and ceded ] to Spain as a part of the ], on the basis of the old outpost of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña, thought to be Sidi Ifni. The following decades of Franco-Spanish collaboration resulted in the establishment and extension of Spanish protectorates south of the city, and Spanish influence obtained international recognition in the ] of 1884: Spain administered Sidi Ifni and ] jointly. Spain claimed a ] over the coast of ] from ] to ], too, and even try to press a claim over the ] and ] regions in ]. ] became a protectorate in 1885 and a colony in 1900. Conflicting claims to the Guinea mainland were settled in 1900 by the ], because of which Spain was left with a mere 26,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> out of the 300,000 stretching east to the ] which they initially claimed.<ref name="Clarence-Smith">William Gervase Clarence-Smith, 1986 "Spanish Equatorial Guinea, 1898–1940", in ''The Cambridge History of Africa: From 1905 to 1940'' Ed. J. D. Fage, A. D. Roberts, & Roland Anthony Oliver. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press>{{cite web |url=http://es.scribd.com/doc/63545279/The-Cambridge-History-of-Africa-Volume-7-From-1905-to-1940-0521225051-1986 |title=The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 7~ from 1905 to 1940 (0521225051, 1986) |access-date=23 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220142411/http://es.scribd.com/doc/63545279/The-Cambridge-History-of-Africa-Volume-7-From-1905-to-1940-0521225051-1986 |archive-date=20 February 2014 }}</ref>
The Ottomans recovered soon. They reconquered Tunis in 1574, and they helped to restore an ally, ], in the throne of Morocco, in 1576. The death of the Persian shah, ] was an opportunity for the Ottoman sultan to intervene in that country, so, in 1580 was agreed a truce in the Mediterranean with Philip II.<ref></ref>
]
Following a ] in 1893, Morocco paid war reparations of 20 million pesetas and Spain expanded its influence south from Melilla. In 1912, Morocco was ]. The ] rebelled, led by ], a former officer for the Spanish administration. The ] (1921) during the ] was a major military defeat suffered by the Spanish army against Moroccan insurgents. A leading Spanish politician emphatically declared: "''We are at the most acute period of Spanish decadence''".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.es/20110715/archivo/abci-desastre-annual-201107150904.html |title=La derrota más amarga del Ejército español – ABC.es |date=15 July 2011 |access-date=28 January 2017 |language=es |archive-date=21 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721140822/http://www.abc.es/20110715/archivo/abci-desastre-annual-201107150904.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After the disaster of Annual, Spain began ] against the Moroccans. In September 1925, the ] by the Spanish Army and Navy with a small collaboration of an allied French contingent put an end to the Rif War. It is considered the first successful amphibious landing in history supported by seaborne air power and tanks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Desembarco en Alhucemas, el "Día D" de las tropas españolas en el norte de África|url=http://www.abc.es/historia-militar/20140112/abci-desembarco-alhucemas-tropas-espanolas-201401111236.html|website=abc|language=es-ES|date=12 January 2014|access-date=24 June 2017|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141802/http://www.abc.es/historia-militar/20140112/abci-desembarco-alhucemas-tropas-espanolas-201401111236.html|url-status=live}}</ref>


]
In the first half of the 17th century, ] and ], in the Moroccan Atlantic coast, and the island of ], in the Mediterranean, were taken, but during the second half of the 17th century, Larache and La Mamora were also lost.


In 1923, ] was declared an international city under French, Spanish, British, and later Italian ]. In 1926, Bioko and Rio Muni were united as the colony of ], a status that would last until 1959. In 1931, following the fall of the monarchy, the African colonies became part of the ]. In 1934, during the government of Prime Minister ], Spanish troops led by General Osvaldo Capaz landed in Sidi Ifni and carried out the occupation of the territory, ceded '']'' by Morocco in 1860. Two years later, ], a general of the ], rebelled against the republican government and started the ] (1936–39). During the Second World War the ] presence in Tangier was overcome by that of ].
===The New World===
====Explorers and conquistadors====
After Columbus, the ] was led by a series of warrior-explorers called ]. The Spanish forces, in addition to significant armament and equestrian advantages, exploited the rivalries between competing ], tribes, and nations, some of which were willing to form alliances with the Spanish in order to defeat their more-powerful enemies, such as the ] or ]—a ] that would be extensively used by later European colonial powers. The Spanish conquest was also facilitated by the spread of diseases (e.g. ]), common in Europe but never present in the New World, which reduced the ]. This sometimes caused a labour shortage for plantations and public works and so the colonists informally and gradually, at first, initiated the ]. (''see ]'')
<!---note: usually term 'America' = U.S. only, and 'the Americas' = North, Central & South America = 'the New World' (non-Australian part)--->


Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in its African colonies during the first half of the 20th century. However, through a ] system, particularly on ], Spain developed large ] plantations for which thousands of Nigerian workers were imported as laborers.
]]]
One of the most accomplished conquistadors was ], who leading a relatively small Spanish force but with local translators and the crucial support of thousands of native allies, achieved the ] in the campaigns of 1519–1521. This territory later became the ], present day ]. Of equal importance was the ] by ], which would become the ]. After the conquest of Mexico, rumours of golden cities (] in North America and ] in South America) motivated several other expeditions. Many of those returned without having found their goal, or finding it much less valuable than was hoped. Indeed, the New World colonies only began to yield a substantial part of the Crown's revenues with the establishment of mines such as that of ] (Bolivia) and ] (Mexico) both started in 1546. By the late 16th century, ] from the Americas accounted for {{frac|1|5}} of Spain's total budget.<ref></ref> In the 16th century "perhaps 240,000 Europeans" entered American ports.<ref>{{citation|url= http://www.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/AXTELL01.ART |title= The Columbian Mosaic in Colonial America |first= James |last= Axtell |journal= Humanities |date= September/October 1991 |volume= 12 |issue= 5 |pages= 12–18 |accessdate= 2008-10-08|postscript= <!--none-->}}</ref>


] and ]]]
Further Spanish settlements were progressively established in the New World: New Granada in the 1530s (later in the ] in 1717 and present day ]), ] in 1535 as the capital of the ], ] in 1536 (later in the ] in 1776), and ] in 1541.
] leads Spanish soldiers with ]n allies in the conquests of Jalisco, 1522. From ]]]
]; in 1604, all settlements south Biobío River except those in ] had fallen.]]
] was colonized in 1565 by ] when he founded ] and then promptly defeated an attempt led by the French Captain ] and 150 of his countrymen to establish a French foothold in ] territory. Saint Augustine quickly became a strategic defensive base for the Spanish ships full of gold and silver being sent to Spain from its New World dominions.


In 1956, when ] became independent, Spain surrendered ] to the new nation, but retained control of Sidi Ifni, the ] region and ]. Moroccan ] (later King) ] was interested in these territories and unsuccessfully invaded Spanish Sahara in 1957, in the ], or in Spain, the Forgotten War (''{{lang|es|la Guerra Olvidada}}''). In 1958, Spain ceded Tarfaya to Mohammed V and joined the previously separate districts of ] (in the north) and ] (in the south) to form the province of ].
The Portuguese ] died while in the Philippines commanding a Castilian expedition to ] the ] in 1522. ] would lead the expedition to success. Therefore, Spain sought to enforce their rights in the ], which led a conflict with the Portuguese, but the issue was
resolved with the ] (1525), settling the location of the ] of Tordesillas, which would divide the world into two equal ]. Thenceforth, maritime expeditions led to the discovery of several archipelagos in the ] as the ], the ], ], ], the ] or ].


] and ], as well as the ] territory (]), were still part of Spain. ]]
On April 27, 1565, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the ] was founded by ] and the service of ]s was inaugurated. The Manilla Galleons shipped goods from all over Asia across the Pacific to ] on the coast of Mexico. From there, the goods were transshipped across Mexico to the ]s, for shipment to Spain. The Spanish trading post of ] was established to facilitate this trade in 1572. The control of ], ], ], and ] was later, from the end of the 17th century, and remained under Spanish control until 1898.


In 1959, the Spanish territory on the ] was established with a status similar to the provinces of metropolitan Spain. As the Spanish Equatorial Region, it was ruled by a ] exercising military and civilian powers. The first local elections were held in 1959, and the first Equatoguinean representatives were seated in the ]. Under the Basic Law of December 1963, limited autonomy was authorized under a joint legislative body for the territory's two provinces. The name of the country was changed to ]. In March 1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the United Nations, Spain announced that it would grant the country independence.
In 1599, the Spanish Empire suffered one of its greatest setbacks in the Americas when native ] destroyed the Spanish army of Chile and killed the governor ] in the ]. This event led to a generalized rebellion that ended in the ], and established the ] as frontier. This led to the prolonged war called the ], and southern Chile received the name of ''Flandés Indiano'' (Indian ]) due to the resistances of the Mapuches. In a case unique for America, the Spanish established a professional army in Chile financed through the ] by the ].


In 1969, under international pressure, Spain returned Sidi Ifni to Morocco. Spanish control of Spanish Sahara endured until the 1975 ] prompted a withdrawal, under Moroccan military pressure. The future of this former Spanish colony remains uncertain.
====Organization and administration====
From the beginning of the exploration and conquest of the Indies, the Crown assumed the control of the venture turning away the Columbus family. In 1503 it was founded the ''Casa de Contratación'' to control the migrations towards the New World, which were restricted to ]s although the emigration of families and women was favored.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Delamarre-Sallard
| first = Catherine
| title = Manuel de civilisation espagnole et latino-américaine
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editions Bréal
| year = 2008
| isbn = 978-2-7495-0335-6
| page = 130
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=0y28O-vxgUQC&lpg=PA131&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref> In addition, the ''Casa de Contratación'' took charge of the fiscal organization, and of the organization and judicial control of the trade with the Indies.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sanz Ayán
| first = Carmen
| title = Sevilla y el comercio de Indias
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones AKAL
| year = 1993
| isbn = 978-84-460-0214-7
| page = 23
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=keL8BgoeX_cC&lpg=PA23&ots=kGkq5aGGcs&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


The ] and Spanish cities in the African mainland are considered an equal part of Spain and the ] but have a different tax system.
The system of government in Spain was constituted by a polisynodial system of Councils which advised the monarch and made ​​decisions on his behalf about specific matters of government. In 1524 it was established the Council of The Indies with the assignment of the government of the Indies from the mainland, thus it was responsible for drafting legislation, proposing the appointments to the King and pronouncing judicial sentences; as maximum authority in the ultramarine territories, the Council of The Indies took over both the institutions in the Indies as the defense of the interests of the Crown and of the aborigens.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Jiménez Núñez
| first = Alfredo
| title = El gran norte de México: una frontera imperial en la Nueva España (1540-1820)
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Tebar
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-84-7360-221-1
| page = 41
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=3J0sAG8D51kC&lpg=PA41&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


Morocco still claims Ceuta, Melilla, and ''{{lang|es|]}}'' even though they are internationally recognized as administrative divisions of Spain. ] ] on 11 July 2002 by Moroccan Gendarmerie and troops, who were evicted by ] forces in a bloodless operation.
The ] resulted in the ], which were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish ] in the Americas, particularly with regards to treatment of native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed the ] with attempts of ] to ].<ref>{{citation|url= http://faculty.smu.edu/bakewell/BAKEWELL/texts/burgoslaws.html |chapter= 1512–1513: Laws of Burgos |title= Colonial Latin America |publisher= Peter Bakewell |year= 1998 |accessdate= 2008-10-08|postscript= <!--none-->}}</ref> Upon their failure, they were replaced by the ]
]]]
Spain passed some laws for the protection of the ] of its American colonies, the first such in 1542; the legal thought behind them was the basis of modern ].{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} Taking advantage of their extreme remoteness, the European colonists revolted when they saw their power being reduced, forcing a partial revoking of these ]. Later, weaker laws were introduced to protect the indigenous peoples but records show their effect was limited.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} The restored ''{{lang|es|]}}'' increasingly used native Indian workforce.


== Imperial economic policy ==
The politics of implantation of the royal authority opposite to the Colón caused the suppression of the unit of government of the Indies and the appearance of governorates under royal authority. These governorates, also called as provinces, were the basic circumscriptions of the territorial government of the Indies,<ref>{{cite book
{{See also|Latin American economy#Colonial era and Independence (ca. 1500–1850)}}
| last = Andreo García
], discovered in 1545, the rich, sole source of silver from Peru, worked by compulsory indigenous labor called ].]]
| first = Juan
]
| title = Historia y sociabilidad: homenaje a la profesora María del Carmen Melendreras Gimeno
The Spanish Empire benefited from favorable ] from its overseas possessions with their large, exploitable indigenous populations and rich mining areas.<ref name="Sokoloff">{{cite journal|author=Kenneth L. Sokoloff|author2=Stanley L. Engerman|title=History Lessons: Institutions, Factor Endowments, and Paths of Development in the New World|journal=The Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=14|number=3|year=2000|pages=217–232|doi=10.1257/jep.14.3.217|url=http://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/debraj/Courses/Readings/SokoloffEngerman.pdf|access-date=12 March 2018|archive-date=21 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921232304/https://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/debraj/Courses/Readings/SokoloffEngerman.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Thus the crown attempted to create and maintain a classic closed ], warding off competitors and keeping wealth within the empire, specifically within the Crown of Castile. While in theory the Habsburgs were committed to maintaining a state monopoly, the reality was that the empire was a porous economic realm with widespread smuggling. In the 16th and 17th centuries under the Habsburgs, Spain's economic conditions gradually declined, especially in regards to the industrial development of its French, Dutch, and English rivals. Many of the goods being exported to the Empire originated from manufacturers in northwest Europe rather than in Spain. Illicit commercial activities became a part of the Empire's administrative structure. Supported by large flows of silver from the Americas, trade prohibited by Spanish mercantilist restrictions flourished as it provided a source of income to both crown officials and private merchants.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Silver, Trade, and War : Spain and America in the Making of early modern Europe.|last=Stein, Stanley J.|date=2003|publisher=Johns Hopkins Univ Press|isbn=0801877555|oclc=173164546}}</ref> The local administrative structure in ], for example, was established through its oversight of both legal and illegal commerce.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Moutoukias|first=Zacarias|date=1988|title=Power, Corruption, and Commerce: The Making of the Local Administrative Structure in Seventeenth-Century Buenos Aires|journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review|volume=68|issue=4|pages=771–801|doi=10.2307/2515681|issn=0018-2168|jstor=2515681}}</ref> The crown's pursuit of wars to maintain and expand territory, defend the Catholic faith, stamp out Protestantism, and beat back the Ottoman Turkish strength outstripped its ability to pay for it all, despite the huge production of silver in Peru and New Spain. Most of that flow paid mercenary soldiers in the European religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and paid foreign merchants for the consumer goods manufactured in northern Europe. Paradoxically, the wealth of the Indies impoverished Spain and enriched northern Europe, a course the ] monarchs would later attempt to reverse in the eighteenth century.{{sfn|Stein|Stein|2000|pp=40–57}}
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EDITUM
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-84-8371-654-0
| editor = Juan Bautista Vilar, Antonio Peñafiel Ramón, Antonio Irigoyen López
| chapter = Su Majestad quiere gobernar: la Administración española en Indias durante los siglos XVI y XVII
| chapterurl = http://books.google.es/books?id=keYAW_4N_YwC&lpg=PA282&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA279#v=onepage&q=&f=true
| page = 279
}}</ref> and arose as the territories were conquered and colonized.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Góngora
| first = Mario
| title = Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica
| language= Spanish
| publisher =
| year = 1998
| isbn = 978-956-11-1381-7
| page = 99
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=1dPIXTZ3xJkC&lpg=PA99&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA99#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref> To carry out the conquest of the territory, the king, as owner of the Indies, agreed a capitulación with a particular laying down the conditions of the venture of conquest of a territory. The individuals assumed the expenses of the venture and in return received as reward the grant from the government of the conquered territories;<ref>{{cite book
| last = Lagos Carmona
| first = Guillermo
| title = Los títulos históricos
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Andrés Bello
| year = 1985
| oclc = 320082537
| page = 119
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=dlY7Lg5p9A4C&lpg=PA100&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA119#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> and in addition, they received instructions about treating the aborigens.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Lagos Carmona
| first = Guillermo
| title = Los títulos históricos
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Andrés Bello
| year = 1985
| oclc = 320082537
| page = 122
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=dlY7Lg5p9A4C&lpg=PA100&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA122#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref>


This was well acknowledged in Spain, with writers on political economy, the ''],'' sending the crown lengthy analyses in the form of "memorials, of the perceived problems and with proposed solutions."<ref>Andrien, Kenneth A. "Arbitristas" in {{harvnb|''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''|1996|loc=vol. 1, p. 122}}</ref>{{sfn|Stein|Stein|2000|pp=94–102}} According to these thinkers, "Royal expenditure must be regulated, the sale of office halted, the growth of the church checked. The tax system must be overhauled, special concessions be made to agricultural laborers, rivers be made navigable and dry lands irrigated. In this way alone could Castile's productivity increase, its commerce restored, and its humiliating dependence on foreigners, on the Dutch and the Genoese, be brought to an end."{{sfn|Elliott|1989|p=231}}
After the end of the period of conquests, it was necessary to manage extensive and different territories with a strong bureaucracy. In the face of the impossibility of the Castilian institutions to take care of the American affairs, other new institutions were created.<ref>{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| volume = 7
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2119-7
| page = 601
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA601&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA601#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref>


]. In 1735, its expansion, in the same port, meant an increase in construction capacity. This shipyard in the 18th century developed the most complete dockyard in the New World.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/204|title=Old Havana and its Fortification System|website=UNESCO World Heritage List website|access-date=7 August 2023|archive-date=5 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605025659/http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/204|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
As the basic political entity it was the governorate, the governors exercised judicial ordinary functions of first instance, and prerogatives of government legislating by ordinances.<ref>{{cite book
Since the early days of the Caribbean and conquest era, the crown attempted to control trade between Spain and the Indies with restrictive policies enforced by the House of Trade (est. 1503) in ]. Shipping was through particular ports in Castile: Seville, and subsequently Cádiz, Spanish America: ], ], Havana, ], and ]/], and the Philippines: ]. There were very few Spanish settlers in the Indies in the very early period and Spain could supply sufficient goods to them. But as the Aztec and Inca empires were conquered in the early sixteenth century, and large deposits of silver found in both Mexico and Peru, Spanish immigration increased and the demand for goods rose far beyond Spain's ability to supply it. Since Spain had little capital to invest in the expanding trade and no significant commercial group, bankers and commercial houses in ], Germany, the ], ], and ] supplied both investment capital and goods in a supposedly closed system. Even in the sixteenth century, Spain recognized that the idealized closed system did not function in reality. Since the crown did not alter its restrictive structure or advocate fiscal prudence, despite the pleas of the ''arbitristas'', the Indies trade remained nominally in the hands of Spain, but in fact enriched the other European countries.
| last = Góngora
| first = Mario
| title = Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Universitaria
| year = 1998
| isbn = 978-956-11-1381-7
| page = 97
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=1dPIXTZ3xJkC&lpg=PA103&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> To these political functions of the governor, it could be joined the military ones, according to military requirements, with the rank of ].<ref>{{cite book
| last = Muro Romero
| first = Fernando
| title = Las presidencias-gobernaciones en Indias (siglo XVI)
| language= Spanish
| publisher = CSIC
| year = 1975
| isbn = 978-84-00-04233-2
| page = 177
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=zLfZaSvdgVMC&lpg=PA178&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA177#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> The office of captain general involved to be the supreme military chief of the whole territory and he was responsible for recruiting and providing troops, the fortification of the territory, the supply and the shipbuilding.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Malberti de López
| first = Susana
| title = Desde San Juan hacia la historia de la región
| language= Spanish
| publisher = effha
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-950-605-481-6
| editor = Instituto de Historia Regional y Argentina "Héctor Domingo Arias"
| chapter = Las instituciones políticas en la región de Cuyo
| chapterurl = http://books.google.es/books?id=bHwzlftPNZwC&lpg=PA141&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA141#v=onepage&q=&f=true
| page = 141
}}</ref>


], natively called Peso, was the main coin of the Spanish Empire, this coin is from 1739.]]
The impossibility of the physical presence of the monarch was replaced by viceroys, the post of viceroy the direct representation of the monarch.<ref>{{cite book
The crown established the system of ] ({{langx|es|link=no|flota}}) to protect the conveyance of silver to Seville (later Cádiz). Produced in other European countries, Sevillian merchants conveyed consumer goods that were registered and taxed by the House of Trade, and then sent to the Indies. Other European commercial interests came to dominate supply, with Spanish merchant houses and their guilds ('']s'') in both Spain and the Indies acting as mere middlemen, reaping a slice of the profits. However, those profits did not promote a manufacturing sector in Spain's economic development, and its economy continued to be based in agriculture. The wealth of the Indies led to prosperity in northern Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and England, which were both Protestant. As Spain's power weakened in the seventeenth century, England, the Netherlands, and the French took advantage overseas by seizing islands in the Caribbean, which became bases for a burgeoning contraband trade in Spanish America. Crown officials, who were supposed to suppress contraband trade, were quite often in cahoots with the foreigners, since it was a source of personal enrichment. In Spain, the crown itself participated in collusion with foreign merchant houses, since they paid fines "meant to establish a compensation to the state for losses through fraud." It became a calculated risk for merchant houses doing business, and for the crown it gained income that would have otherwise been lost. Foreign merchants were part of the supposed monopoly system of trade. The transfer of the House of Trade from Seville to Cádiz meant foreign merchant houses had even easier access to the Spanish trade.{{sfn|Lynch|1989|pp=10–11}}
| last = Jiménez Núñez
| first = Alfredo
| title = El gran norte de México: una frontera imperial en la Nueva España (1540-1820)
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Tebar
| year = 20036
| isbn = 978-84-7360-221-1
| page = 41
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=3J0sAG8D51kC&lpg=PA441&dq=&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref> The functions of the viceroy were: governor, captain general, president of the Audiencia, superintendent of the Royal Treasury and vicepatronage of the Church.<ref>{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| volume = 10
| page = 473
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA472&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA473#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Delgado de Cantú
| first = Gloria M.
| title = Historia de México,
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Pearson Educación
| year = 2002
| isbn = 978-970-26-0275-0
| volume = 1
| page = 266
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=RC5zaL-9M1MC&lpg=PA266&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA266#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref> Thus, the territories of the viceroyalties emerged with posteriority to affirm the authority of the king in a specific territory. The territory which comprised the viceroyalty was divided in provinces —also called governorates- headed by the governor.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Silva Galdames
| first = Osvaldo
| title = Atlas de Historia de Chile
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Universitaria
| year = 2005
| isbn = 978-956-11-1776-1
| page = 50
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=OyHGQaM9GYEC&lpg=PA50&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> In the 16th century the Spanish overseas territories were divided in two viceroyalties: ] (1535) for North America, Antilles, the Philippines and Venezuela, and ] (1542) for South America, which was divided in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Vicente Villarán
| first = Manuel
| title = Lecciones de derecho constitucional
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Fondo Editorial PUCP
| year = 1998
| isbn = 978-9972-42-132-7
| page = 472
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=VIR_AWTxpkgC&lpg=PA473&dq=&pg=PA472#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref>


The Spanish imperial economy's major ] was ]. The mines in Peru and Mexico were in the hands of a few elite mining entrepreneurs with access to capital and a stomach for the risk that mining entailed. They operated under a system of royal licensing, since the crown held the rights to subsoil wealth. Mining entrepreneurs assumed all the risk of the enterprise, while the crown gained a 20% slice of the profits, the ] ("quinto real"). Further adding to the crown's revenues in mining was that it held a monopoly on the mercury supply, used for separating pure silver from silver ore in the ]. The crown kept the price high, thereby depressing the volume of silver production.<ref name="Miningcolonies">Bakewell, Peter and Kendall W. Brown, "Mining: Colonial Spanish America" in {{harvnb|''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''|1996|loc=vol. 4, pp. 59–63}}</ref> Protecting its flow from Mexico and Peru as it transited to ports for shipment to Spain resulted early on in a convoy system (the flota) sailing twice a year. Its success can be judged by the fact that the silver fleet was captured only once, in 1628 by Dutch privateer ]. That loss resulted in the bankruptcy of the Spanish crown and an extended period of economic depression in Spain.<ref>Fisher, John R. "Fleet System (Flota)" in {{harvnb|''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''|1996|loc=vol. 2, p. 575}}</ref>
On the other hand, the ] were constituted as a key administrative institution due to receive the confidence of the Crown as depositaries of an impartial authority opposite to conquerors and settlers.<ref name=audiencia>{{cite book
| last = Góngora
| first = Mario
| title = Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica
| language= Spanish
| publisher =
| year = 1998
| isbn = 978-956-11-1381-7
| page = 100
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=1dPIXTZ3xJkC&lpg=PA103&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA100#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> Their main function was that of being a court of justice of second instance —court of appeal— in penal and civil matters, but also the Audiencias were courts the first instance in the city where it had its headquarters, and also in the cases involving the Royal Treasury.<ref name=virrey>{{cite book
| last1 = Garavaglia
| first1 = Juan Carlos
| last2 = Marchena Fernández
| first2 = Juan
| title = América Latina de los orígenes a la Independencia
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Critica
| year = 2005
| isbn = 978-84-8432-652-6
| page = 266
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=lhPNmx3UkkQC&lpg=PA266&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA266#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> Besides court of justice, the Audiencias had functions of government as counterweight the authority of the viceroys, since they could communicate with both the Council of the Indies and the king without the requirement of requesting authorization from the viceroy.<ref name=virrey/> This direct correspondence of the Audiencia with the Council of The Indies made possible that the Council gave to the Audiencia all kinds of orientations about general aspects of government.<ref name=audiencia/>


One practice the Spanish used to gather workers for the mines was called '']''. This was a rotational forced labor system where indigenous pueblos were obligated to send laborers to work in Spanish mines and plantations for a set number of days out of the year. Repartimiento was not implemented to replace ], but instead existed alongside free wage labor, slavery, and ] It was, however, a way for the Spanish to procure cheap labor, thus boosting the mining-driven economy.
The fact that the presidents were not habitually either magistrates or lawyers, but men clad in sword and cape,<ref name=virrey/> caused that they did not have any vote in court cases, and the court did not submit to their authority, but in representation that of the king.<ref name=virrey2>{{cite book
| last = Bosco Amores
| first = Juan
| title = Historia de América
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Ariel
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-84-344-5211-4
| page = 276
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=6dNzKGOzbmUC&lpg=PA275&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA276#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> Thus, the authority of the president, when he was not a magistrate, was void in judicial matter and merely signed the verdicts.<ref name=virrey3>{{cite book
| editor-last = Muro Orejón
| editor-first = Antonio
| title = Cedulario americano del siglo XVIII: Cédulas de Luis I (1724), Cédulas de Felipe V (1724-46)
| language= Spanish
| publisher = CSIC
| year = 1977
| isbn = 978-84-00-03735-2
| page = 32
| volume = 3
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=_BicccJEDpQC&lpg=PR32&dq=&hl=es&pg=PR32#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> The Audiencias chaired by the viceroy were called viceregal Audiencias,<ref name=virrey4>{{cite book
| last = Celso
| first = Ramón Lorenzo
| title = Manual de historia constitucional Argentina
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Juris
| year = 1994
| isbn = 978-950-817-022-4
| volume = 1
| page = 28
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=qea56GOWpnEC&lpg=PA28&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA28#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> and the chaired ones by a governor-captain general were the pretorial Audiencias.<ref name=virrey5>{{cite book
| last = Bridikhina
| first = Eugenia
| title = Theatrum mundi: entramados del poder en Charcas colonial
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Plural Editores
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-99954-1-080-3
| page = 38
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=04N-ikzU7LMC&lpg=PA38&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Lohmann Villena
| first = Guillermo
| editor-last = Carrera Damas
| editor-first = Germán
| title = Historia general de América Latina
| chapter = La nueva estructura política
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNESCO
| year = 1999
| volume = 2
| isbn = 978-92-3-303151-7
| page = 464
| chapterurl = http://books.google.es/books?id=Bq2DZpHvPkkC&lpg=PA464&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA464#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Martínez Ruiz
| first = Enrique
| title = Diccionario de historia moderna de España,
| language= Spanish
| volume= 2
| publisher = Ediciones AKAL
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-84-7090-353-3
| page = 188
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=6dUWbt0KSgYC&lpg=PA188&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA188#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref>


The men who worked as repartimiento laborers were not always resistant to the practice. Some were drawn to the labor as a way to supplement the wages they earned cultivating fields so as to support their families and, of course, pay ]s. At first, a Spaniard could get repartimiento laborers to work for them with permission from a crown official, such as a ], only on the basis that this labor was absolutely necessary to provide the country with important resources. This condition became laxer as the years went on, and various enterprises had repartimiento laborers who would work in dangerous conditions for long hours and low wages.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tutino |first1=John |title=In The Mexican Heartland: How Communities Shaped Capitalism, a Nation, and World History, 1500–2000 |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=57–90}}</ref>
As the pretorial Audiencias were chaired by a governor-captain general, this situation caused to appear the post of president-governor of major districts, with direct rule over a province and superior control of other provinces included inside the territorial district of the Audiencia, so that they exercised functions similar to the viceroys.<ref>{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| volume = 10
| page = 611
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA611&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA611#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> Thus, another administrative division appeared: while the territories in charge of a governor were the minor provinces,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Muro Romero
| first = Fernando
| title = Las presidencias-gobernaciones en Indias (siglo XVI)
| language= Spanish
| publisher = CSIC
| year = 1975
| isbn = 978-84-00-04233-2
| page = 103
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=zLfZaSvdgVMC&lpg=PA88&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> the juridisdiccional scope of the Audiencias constituted the major provinces.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Fernández Álvarez
| first = Manuel
| title = España y los españoles en los tiempos modernos
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Universidad de Salamanca
| year = 1979
| isbn = 978-84-7481-082-0
| page = 513
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=tRajacBoHZUC&lpg=PA512&hl=es&pg=PA513#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref>


]
].]]
The members (<span lang="es" xml:lang="es">''oidores''</span>) of the Audiencia met with the president in a committee called royal agreement (<span lang="es" xml:lang="es">''real acuerdo''</span>), to take measurements for the government concerning the review of bylaws, appointments of commissioners (<span lang="es" xml:lang="es">''jueces pesquisidores''</span>), or retention of bulls, but the advice did not correspond to the Audiencia as institution but to its members as reputable people.<ref name=virrey2/> The decisions of the royal agreement were established in the concerted writs (<span lang="es" xml:lang="es">''autos acordados''</span>), nevertheless, there were matters as dispatching the issues of government, in which the Audiencia could not interfere either with the viceroy or the president-governor.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Bridikhina
| first = Eugenia
| title = Theatrum mundi: entramados del poder en Charcas colonial
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Plural Editores
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-99954-1-080-3
| page = 41
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=04N-ikzU7LMC&lpg=PA40&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> This way, the control of the Audiencias over the viceroys enabled to the Crown to control the functions of government of the viceroys.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Pinet Plasencia
| first = Adela
| title = La Península de Yucatán en el Archivo General de la Nación
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNAM
| year = 1998
| isbn = 978-968-36-5757-2
| page = 34
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=l0L5_lzURQkC&lpg=PA33&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


During the Bourbon era, economic reforms sought to reverse the pattern that left Spain impoverished with no manufacturing sector and its colonies' need for manufactured goods supplied by other nations. It attempted to establish a closed trading system, but it was hampered by the terms of the 1713 ]. The treaty ending the ], with a victory for the Bourbon French candidate for the throne, had a provision for British merchants to legally sell slaves with a license ('']'') ] to Spanish America. The provision undermined the possibility of a revamped Spanish monopoly system. The merchants also used the opportunity to engage in contraband trade of their manufactured goods. Crown policy sought to make legal trade more appealing than contraband by instituting free commerce (''comercio libre'') in 1778, whereby Spanish American ports could trade with each other, and they could trade with any port in Spain. It was aimed at revamping a closed Spanish system and outflanking the increasingly powerful British. Silver production revived in the eighteenth century, with production far surpassing the earlier output. The crown reduced the taxes on mercury, meaning that a greater volume of pure silver could be refined. Silver mining absorbed most of the available capital in Mexico and Peru, and the crown emphasized the production of precious metals, which were sent to Spain. There was some economic development in the Indies to supply food, but a diversified economy did not emerge.<ref name= Miningcolonies/> The economic reforms of the Bourbon era both shaped and were themselves impacted by geopolitical developments in Europe. The ] arose out of the War of the Spanish Succession. In turn, the crown's attempt to tighten its control over its colonial markets in the Americas led to further conflict with other European powers who were vying for access to them. After a sparking a series of skirmishes throughout the 1700s over its stricter policies, Spain's reformed trade system led to war with Britain in 1796.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=War and Reform, 1736–1749|last1=Kuethe|first1=Allan J.|last2=Andrien|first2=Kenneth J.|date=May 2014|website=The Spanish Atlantic World in the Eighteenth Century: War and the Bourbon Reforms, 1713–1796|doi=10.1017/cbo9781107338661.007|title=The Spanish Atlantic World in the Eighteenth Century|pages=133–166|isbn=978-1107338661}}</ref> In the Americas, meanwhile, economic policies enacted under the Bourbons had different impacts in different regions. On one hand, silver production in New Spain greatly increased and led to economic growth. But much of the profits of the revitalized mining sector went to mining elites and state officials, while in rural areas of New Spain conditions for rural workers deteriorated, contributing to social unrest that would impact subsequent revolts.<ref name="tutino">{{Cite book|title=New countries capitalism, revolutions, and nations in the Americas, 1750–1870|last=Tutino, John |date=2016|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0822361145|oclc=1107326871}}</ref>
While the viceregal and pretorial Audiencias were chaired by men clad in sword and cape, the presidents of the subordinated Audiencias were magistrates,<ref name=virrey4/> so that, in the juridisdiccional scope of the subordinated Audiencias, the functions of government, Treasury and war belonged to the viceroy.<ref name=virrey3/><ref name=virrey5/><ref>{{cite book
| last = Góngora
| first = Mario
| title = Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica
| language= Spanish
| publisher =
| year = 1998
| isbn = 978-956-11-1381-7
| page = 103
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=1dPIXTZ3xJkC&lpg=PA103&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> Therefore, in these sections of the viceroyalties there were no governors-captains general but Audiencias, and the presidency gave them the name, for example in ] and ].<ref>{{cite book
| last = Vicente Villarán
| first = Manuel
| title = Lecciones de derecho constitucional
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Fondo Editorial PUCP
| year = 1998
| isbn = 978-9972-42-132-7
| page = 473
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=VIR_AWTxpkgC&lpg=PA473&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA473#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


==Scientific investigations and expeditions==
Although there were accumulated in the same person the offices of viceroy, governor, captain general and president of the Audiencia, each of them had different jurisdictional areas.<ref>{{cite book
] by ], 1806]]
| last = Andreo García
The ] produced a huge body of information on Spain's overseas empire via scientific expeditions. The most famous traveler in Spanish America was Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt, whose travel writings, especially ''Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain'' and scientific observations remain important sources for the history of Spanish America. Humboldt's expedition was authorized by the crown, but was self-funded from his personal fortune. The Bourbon crown promoted state-funded scientific work prior to the famous Humboldt expedition. Eighteenth-century clerics contributed to the expansion of scientific knowledge.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Karl |last=Schmitt |title=The Clergy and the Enlightenment in Latin America: An Analysis |journal=The Americas |date=April 1959 |volume=15 |number=4|pages=381–391 |doi=10.2307/978867 |jstor=978867 |s2cid=146900474 }}
| first = Juan
* {{cite book |last1=Aldridge |first1=Alfred Owen |title=The Ibero-American Enlightenment |location=Urbana |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1971}}</ref> These include ],<ref>{{cite book |first=Alberto |last=Saladino García |title=Dos científicos de la Ilustración hispanoamericana: J.A. Alzate y F.J. de Caldas |location=Mexico|publisher=UNAM |year=1990 |language=Spanish}}
| title = Historia y sociabilidad: homenaje a la profesora María del Carmen Melendreras Gimeno
* {{cite journal |first=Mitchell A. |last=Codding |title=Perfecting the geography of New Spain: Alzate and the Cartographic legacy of Sigüenza y Góngora |journal=Colonial Latin American Review |volume=2 |date=1994 |issue=1–2 |pages=185–219|doi=10.1080/10609169408569828 }}</ref> and ].
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EDITUM
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-84-8371-654-0
| editor = Juan Bautista Vilar, Antonio Peñafiel Ramón, Antonio Irigoyen López
| chapter = Su Majestad quiere gobernar: la Administración española en Indias durante los siglos XVI y XVII
| chapterurl = http://books.google.es/books?id=keYAW_4N_YwC&lpg=PA282&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA282#v=onepage&q=&f=true
| page = 282
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Diego-Fernández
| first = Rafael
| title = Historia y sociabilidad: homenaje a la profesora María del Carmen Melendreras Gimeno
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EDITUM
| year = 2007
| isbn = 978-84-8371-654-0
| editor = Juan Bautista Vilar, Antonio Peñafiel Ramón, Antonio Irigoyen López
| chapter = Estudio introductorio
| chapterurl = http://books.google.es/books?id=NwFafLvE9IMC&lpg=PR30&dq=&hl=es&pg=PR29#v=onepage&q=&f=true
| page = xxix
| url =
}}</ref> The jurisdiction of the viceregal Audiencia, whose president was the viceroy, ended face up to the jurisdiction of other Audiencias inside the same viceroyalty: as the pretorial Audiencias chaired by a governor-captain general, who had administrative, political and military authority, as the subordinated Audiencias, whose president did not have this administrative, political and military authority.<ref name=virrey5/> Therefore, as governor, the direct administration of the province where was placed the viceregal capital belonged to the viceroy; nevertheless, with respect to the other governorates of the viceroyalty, his function was mere oversight or general inspection over the management of political affairs.<ref>{{cite book
| last = de Blas
| first = Patricio
| title = Historia común de Iberoamérica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EDAF
| year = 2000
| isbn = 978-84-414-0766-4
| page = 208
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=Ho1qYAQkXIQC&lpg=PA208&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA208#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Szászdi
| first = Adam
| title = Derecho y administracion pub´lica en las Indias hispánicas: Actas del XII Congreso Internacional de Historia del Derecho Indiano, Toledo
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Universidad de Castilla La Mancha
| year = 2002
| isbn = 978-84-8427-180-2
| page = 1709
| volume = 2
| editor = Feliciano Barrios
| chapter = Virreyes y Audiencias de Indias en el reinado de don Felipe II: Algunos señalamientos necesarios
| chapterurl = http://books.google.es/books?id=RSLB2LVrhDIC&lpg=PA1709&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA1709#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Rubio Mañé
| first = Ignacio José
| title = El Virreinato
| volume = 1
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNAM
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-968-16-1354-9
| page = 45
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=jPaRkqsMiVoC&lpg=PA45&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA45#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}</ref> The imprecision in defining the powers of the viceroy and those of the provincial governors allowed the Crown to control their officials.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Rubio Mañé
| first = Ignacio José
| title = El Virreinato
| volume = 1
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNAM
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-968-16-1354-9
| page = 50
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=jPaRkqsMiVoC&lpg=PA48&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


The Spanish crown funded a number of important scientific expeditions: ] (1777–78); ] (1783–1816);<ref>{{cite book |first=Enrique |last=Pérez Arbeláez |title=José Celestino Mutis y la real expedición botánica del Nuevo Reyno de Granada |language=es |location=Bogotá |orig-date=1967 |edition= 2nd. |publisher=Instituto Colombiano de Cultura Hispánica |year=1983}}</ref> the ] (1787–1803);<ref>{{cite journal |first=Harold W. |last=Rickett |title=The Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain |journal=Chronica Botanica |volume=11 |number=1 |year=1947 |pages=1–81}}
In the viceroyalty of ], the ], chaired by the viceroy, ended its jurisdiction face up to the jurisdiction of other Audiencias of ] (1543-1563; 1568-), of ] (1583-1589; 1595-), of ] (established in ] in 1548 and transferred in 1560 to ])<ref>{{cite book
* {{cite book |editor-first=Francisco |editor-last=de Solano |title=La Real Expedición Botánica a Nueva España, 1787–1800 |location=Madrid |publisher=CSIC |year=1987 |language=es}}</ref> which scholars are now examining afresh.<ref>{{cite book |first=Iris H. W. |last=Engstrand |title=Spanish Scientists in the New World: The Eighteenth-Century Expeditions |location=Seattle |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=1981}}
| last = Morón
* {{cite book |first=Daniela |last=Bleichmar |title=Visible Empire: Botanical Expeditions & Visible Culture in the Hispanic Enlightenment |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2012}}
| first = Guillermo
* {{cite journal |first=Paula S. |last=De Vos |title=Research, Development, and Empire: State Support of Science in Spain and Spanish America, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries |journal=Colonial Latin America Review |volume=15 |number=1 |date=June 2006 |pages=55–79|doi=10.1080/10609160600607432 |s2cid=218576951 }}</ref> Although the crown funded a number of ] to bolster claims to territory, lengthy transatlantic and transpacific ] was for scientific purposes. The crown also funded the ] in 1804 to vaccinate colonial populations against smallpox.
| title = Obra escogida
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Fundacion Biblioteca Ayacucho
| year = 1995
| isbn = 978-980-276-313-9
| editor-last = Medina
| editor-first = José Ramón
| page = 65
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=S5eBu6q2VXgC&lpg=PA65&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA65#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> and that of ] (1526-). The viceroy of New Spain as governor only had jurisdiction over a more reduced governorate of New Spain, and as captain general his authority did not comprise either the captaincies of ] or the ],<ref>{{cite book
| last = Pinet Plasencia
| first = Adela
| title = La Península de Yucatán en el Archivo General de la Nación
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNAM
| year = 1998
| isbn = 978-968-36-5757-2
| page = 33
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=l0L5_lzURQkC&lpg=PA33&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA33#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> but it comprised the military command over the governorate of ],<ref>{{cite book
| last = Garavaglia
| first = Juan Carlos
| last2 = Marchena Fernández
| first2 = Juan
| title = América Latina de los orígenes a la Independencia
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Critica
| year = 2005
| isbn = 978-84-8432-652-6
| page = 267
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=lhPNmx3UkkQC&lpg=PA266&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA267#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Méndez Salcedo
| first = Ildefonso
| title = La Capitanía General de Venezuela, 1777-1821
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Universidad de los Andes
| year = 2002
| isbn = 978-980-244-299-7
| page = 69
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=nKNhXPKy0JEC&lpg=PA69&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA69#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref> which was a territory under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Guadalajara, until in 1708 the captaincy general was attached to the governor of this province of Nueva Galicia.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Cornejo Franco
| first = José
| title = Testimonios de Guadalajara
| language= Spanish
| publisher = UNAM
| year = 1993
| isbn = 978-968-36-2671-4
| page = viii
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=OkWPvT97HIgC&lpg=PR8&dq=&hl=es&pg=PR8#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


Much of the research done in the eighteenth century was never published or otherwise disseminated, in part due to budgetary constraints on the crown. Starting in the late twentieth century, research on the ] in Spain and the Spanish empire has blossomed, with primary sources being published in scholarly editions or reissued, as well the publication of a considerable number of important scholarly studies.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Jorge Canizares-Esguerra |last=Cañizares-Esguerra |first=Jorge |title=Nature, Empire, and Nation: Explorations in the History of Science in the Iberian World |location=Stanford |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2006}}
In the viceroyalty of ], the viceroy presided the Audiencia of ] (1542-), and the jurisdiction of this Audiencia ended face up to the jurisdictions of the pretorial Audiencias of ] (1538-1543; 1563-1717), of ] (1547-), of ] (in ] between 1565 and 1575, and in ] since 1605), and that of ] (1661-1672), whose presidents were also both governors and captains general, and in addition to these Audiencias, the viceroyalty comprised the subordinated Audiencias of ] (La Plata; 1559-) and ] (1563-).<ref>{{cite book
* {{cite book |editor-first=Daniela |editor-last=Bleichmar |title=Science in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, 1500–800|location=Stanford |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2008}}
| last = de Blas
* {{cite book |editor-first=José Luis |editor-last=Peset |title=Ciencia, vida, y espacio en Iberoamérica|language=es|location=Madrid |publisher=CSIC |year=1989}}
| first = Patricio
* {{cite book |first=Neil |last=Franklin Safier |title=Measuring the New World: Enlightenment Science and South America |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2008}}</ref>
| title = Historia común de Iberoamérica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EDAF
| year = 2000
| isbn = 978-84-414-0766-4
| page = 210
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=Ho1qYAQkXIQC&lpg=PA210&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA210#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref>


==Legacy==
The settlers came from Spain had to settle in towns, where the local government belonged to the ''Cabildo''. The Cabildo was composed by a variable number of aldermen (''regidores''), around a dozen, depending on the size of the town, also two municipal judges (''alcaldes menores''), who were judges of first instance, and also other officials as police chief, inspector of supplies, court clerk, and a public herald.<ref>{{cite book
{{See also|Spanish colonial architecture|Analysis of Western European colonialism and colonization}}
| last = Bennassar
| first = Bartolomé
| title = La América española y la América portuguesa: siglos XVI-XVIII
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Akal
| year = 2001
| isbn = 978-84-7600-203-2
| page = 98
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=837Hw5QgdWgC&lpg=PA97&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA98#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> They were in charge of distributing land to the neighbors, establishing local taxes, dealing with the public order, inspecting jails and hospitals, preserving the roads and public works such as irrigation ditchs and bridges, supervising the public health, regulating the festive activities, monitoring market prices, or the protection of Indians.<ref name=local1>{{cite book
| last = Delgado de Cantú
| first = Gloria M.
| title = El mundo moderno y contemporáneo
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Pearson Educación
| year = 2005
| isbn = 978-970-26-0665-9
| volume = 1
| page = 90
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=1oJ22dmhBZIC&lpg=PT89&dq=&hl=es&pg=PT90#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Orduña Rebollo
| first = Enrique
| title = Municipios y provincias: Historia de la Organización Territorial Española
| language= Spanish
| publisher = INAP
| year = 2003
| isbn = 978-84-259-1249-8
| page = 238
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=UNaIBvyNyvQC&lpg=PA205&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA238#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = De Blas
| first = Patricio
| title = Historia Común de Iberoamérica
| language= Spanish
| publisher = EDAF
| year = 2000
| isbn = 978-84-414-0766-4
| page = 202
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=Ho1qYAQkXIQC&lpg=PA210&hl=es&pg=PA202#v=onepage&q=cabildo&f=true
}}</ref> Since the end of the reign of Philip II, the municipal offices, including the aldermen, were auctioned to alleviate the need for money of the Crown, even the offices could also be sold, which became hereditary,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Bennassar
| first = Bartolomé
| title = La América española y la América portuguesa: siglos XVI-XVIII
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Akal
| year = 2001
| isbn = 978-84-7600-203-2
| page = 99
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=837Hw5QgdWgC&lpg=PA99&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA99#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> so that the government of the cities went on to hands of urban oligarchies.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Orduña Rebollo
| first = Enrique
| title = Municipios y provincias: Historia de la Organización Territorial Española
| language= Spanish
| publisher = INAP
| year = 2003
| isbn = 978-84-259-1249-8
| page = 237
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=UNaIBvyNyvQC&lpg=PA237&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA237#v=onepage&q=&f=true
}}</ref> In order to control the municipal life, the Crown ordered the appointment of ''corregidores'' and ''alcaldes mayores'' to exert greater political control and judicial functions in minor districts.<ref>{{cite book
| last =
| first =
| title = Historia general de España y América
| volume = 10
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Ediciones Rialp
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-84-321-2102-9
| page = 615
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&lpg=PA615&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA615#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> Their functions were governing the respective municipalities, administering of justice and being appellate judges in the ''alcaldes menores''' judgments,<ref>{{cite book
| last = Pérez Guartambel
| first = Carlos
| title = Justicia indígena
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Universidad de Cuenca
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-9978-14-119-9
| pages = 49-50
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=cHW_FcJdtacC&lpg=PA49&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> but only the ''corregidor'' could preside over the ''cabildo''.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Bosco Amores
| first = Juan
| title = Historia de América
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Editorial Ariel
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-84-344-5211-4
| page = 273
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=6dNzKGOzbmUC&lpg=PA271&dq=&hl=es&pg=PA273#v=onepage&q=&f=false
}}</ref> However, both charges were also put up for sale freely since the late sixteenth century.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Bennassar
| first = Bartolomé
| title = La América española y la América portuguesa: siglos XVI-XVIII
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Akal
| year = 2001
| isbn = 978-84-7600-203-2
| page = 101
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=837Hw5QgdWgC&lpg=PA99&hl=es&pg=PA101#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref>


Although the Spanish Empire declined from its apogee in the late seventeenth century, it remained a wonder for other Europeans for its sheer geographical span. ], English author ] questioned, "Has heaven reserved, in pity to the poor,/No pathless waste or undiscovered shore,/No secret island in the boundless main,/No peaceful desert yet unclaimed by Spain?"<ref>quoted in Simon Collier, "The Spanish Conquests, 1492–1580" in ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean''. New York: Cambridge University Press 1992, p. 194.</ref>
==The Bourbon Spanish Empire: reform and recovery (1700–1808)==


The Spanish Empire left a huge linguistic, religious, political, cultural, and urban architectural legacy in the ]. With over 470&nbsp;million native speakers today, Spanish is the second ] in the world, as result of the introduction of the language of Castile—Castilian, "''Castellano''" —from Iberia to Spanish America, later expanded by the governments of successor independent republics. In the Philippines, the ] (1898) brought the islands under U.S. jurisdiction, with English being imposed in schools and Spanish becoming ]. Many indigenous languages throughout the empire were often lost either as indigenous populations were decimated by war and disease, or as indigenous people mixed with colonists, and the Spanish language was taught and spread over time.<ref name=":63">{{Citation|last=Hamel|first=Rainer Enrique|chapter=Indigenous education in Latin America: policies and legal frameworks|title=Linguistic Human Rights|year=1995|pages=271–288 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton|doi=10.1515/9783110866391.271|isbn=978-3110866391}}</ref>
Under the ] (April 11, 1713), the European powers decided what the fate of Spain would be, in terms of the continental balance of power. The new Bourbon king ] retained the Spanish overseas empire, but ceded the ], ], ], and ] to Austria; ] and parts of Milan to ]; and ] and ] to the ]. Moreover, Philip V granted the British the exclusive right to ] in ] for thirty years, the so-called '']'', as well as licensed voyages to ports in Spanish colonial dominions, openings, as ] remarked, for both licit and illicit smuggling (Brudel 1984 p 418).


An important cultural legacy of the Spanish empire overseas is ], which remains the main religious faith in Spanish America and the Philippines. Christian evangelization of indigenous peoples was a key responsibility of the crown and a justification for its imperial expansion. Although indigenous were considered neophytes and insufficiently mature in their faith for indigenous men to be ordained to the priesthood, the indigenous were part of the Catholic community of faith. Catholic orthodoxy was enforced by the ], particularly targeting ] and Protestants. Not until after their independence in the nineteenth century did Spanish American republics allow ] of other faiths. Observances of Catholic holidays often have strong regional expressions and remain important in many parts of Spanish America. Observances include ], ], ], ], ], and national saints' days, such as the ] in Mexico.
]'', 11 August 1718.]]
Spain's economic and demographic recovery had begun slowly in the last decades of the Habsburg reign, as was evident from the growth of its trading convoys and much more rapid growth of illicit trade during the period, though this growth was slower than in its northern rivals who had gained increasing illicit access to its empire's markets. Critically, this recovery was not translated into institutional improvement because of the incompetent leadership of the unfortunate last Habsburg. This legacy of neglect was reflected in the early years of Bourbon rule in which the military was ill-advisedly pitched into battle against the ] (1718–1720).


Politically, the colonial era has strongly influenced modern Spanish America. The territorial divisions of the empire in Spanish America became the basis for boundaries between new republics after independence and for state divisions within countries. It is often argued that the rise of ] during and after Latin American independence movements created a legacy of authoritarianism in the region.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chiaramonte|first=José Carlos|date=1 August 2010|title=The "Ancient Constitution" after Independence (1808–1852)|journal=Hispanic American Historical Review|volume=90|issue=3|pages=455–488|doi=10.1215/00182168-2010-003|issn=0018-2168}}</ref> There was no significant development of representative institutions during the colonial era, and the executive power was often made stronger than the legislative power during the national period as a result.
Following the war, the new Bourbon monarchy would take a much more cautious approach to international relations, built upon a family alliance with Bourbon France, and continuing to follow a program of institutional renewal.


This has led to a popular misconception that the colonial legacy has caused the region to have an extremely oppressed proletariat. Revolts and riots are often seen as evidence of this supposed extreme oppression. However, the culture of revolting against an unpopular government is not simply a confirmation of widespread authoritarianism. The colonial legacy did leave a political culture of revolt, but not always as a desperate last act. The civil unrest of the region is seen by some as a form of political involvement. While the political context of the political revolutions in Spanish America is understood to be one in which liberal elites competed to form new national political structures, so too were those elites responding to mass lower-class political mobilization and participation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hamnett|first=Brian R.|date=1997|title=Process and Pattern: A Re-Examination of the Ibero-American Independence Movements, 1808–1826|journal=Journal of Latin American Studies|volume=29|issue=2|pages=279–328|issn=0022-216X|jstor=158396|doi=10.1017/S0022216X97004719|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |s2cid=145479092 }}</ref>
===Bourbon Reforms===
{{main|Bourbon Reforms}}


Hundreds of towns and cities in the Americas were founded during the Spanish rule, with the colonial centers and buildings of many of them now designated as ] attracting tourists. The tangible heritage includes universities, forts, cities, cathedrals, schools, hospitals, missions, government buildings and colonial residences, many of which still stand today. A number of present-day roads, canals, ports or bridges sit where Spanish engineers built them centuries ago. The oldest universities in the Americas were founded by Spanish scholars and Catholic missionaries. The Spanish Empire also left a vast ]. The cultural legacy is also present in the ], ], and fashion, some of which have been granted the status of ].
At the beginning of the Philip V's reign and due to the War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish king Philip V initiated organizational reforms headed for a government more executive, giving priority to the direct decision of the monarch, opposite to the deliberative way of the polisynodial system of Councils.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Albareda Salvadó
| first = Joaquim
| title = La Guerra de Sucesión de España (1700&ndash;1714)
| publisher = Editorial Critica
| year = 2010
| pages = 239–241
| url = http://books.google.es/books?id=3optq8WlRIMC&pg=PA240&dq=&hl=es&ei=QgTgTam5Ocy08QPD2amCCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=true
}}</ref>

The Spanish Bourbons' broadest intentions were to break the power of the entrenched aristocracy of the '']s'' in America (locally born colonials of European descent), and, eventually, loosen the territorial control of the ] over the virtually independent ] of ] ''{{lang|es|]}}'': the ] from Spanish America in 1767. In addition to the established ''{{lang|es|]s}}'' of ] and ], firmly in the control of local landowners, a new rival ''{{lang|es|consulado}}'' was set up at ].

Immediately, Philip's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies (1714) and created first a ] (1714), a Caracas company, the ] (1728) and—the most successful one—a ] (1740). In 1717–1718, the structures for governing the Indies, the ''{{lang|es|]}}'' and the ''{{lang|es|]}}'' that governed investments in the cumbersome ] were transferred from ] to ], which became the one port for all Indies trading (see ]). Individual sailings at regular intervals were slow to displace the old habit of armed convoys, but by the 1760s there were regular packet ships plying the Atlantic between Cádiz and ] and ], and at longer intervals to the ], where an additional ]alty was created in 1776. The contraband trade that was the lifeblood of the Habsburg empire declined in proportion to registered shipping (a shipping registry having been established in 1735).

Two upheavals registered unease within Spanish America and at the same time demonstrated the renewed resiliency of the reformed system: the ] in Peru in 1780 and the ] of ], both in part reactions to tighter, more efficient control.

===18th century prosperity===
]. In 1741 the Spanish defeated a vast British invasion fleet and army from this fortress in present-day ] during the ].]]

The 18th century was a century of prosperity for the overseas Spanish Empire as trade within grew steadily, particularly in the second half of the century, under the Bourbon reforms. Spain's crucial victory in the ] against a massive British fleet and army in the Caribbean port of ], one of a number of successful battles, helped Spain secure its dominance of America until the 19th century.

With a Bourbon monarchy came a repertory of Bourbon ] ideas based on a centralized state, put into effect in America slowly at first but with increasing momentum during the century. Rapid shipping growth from the mid-1740s until the ] (1756–1763), reflecting in part the success of the Bourbons in bringing illicit trade under control. With the loosening of trade controls after the Seven Years' War, shipping trade within the empire once again began to expand, reaching an extraordinary rate of growth in the 1780s.

The ending of Cádiz's ] with America brought about a rebirth of Spanish manufactures. Most notable was the rapidly growing ] industry of ] which by the mid-1780s saw the first signs of ]. This saw the emergence of a small, politically active commercial class in ]. This isolated pocket of advanced economic development stood in stark contrast to the relative backwardness of most of the country. Most of the improvements were in and around some major coastal cities and the major islands such as ], with its ]s, and a renewed growth of ]s ] in America. On the other hand most of rural Spain and its empire, where the great bulk of the population lived, lived in relatively backward conditions by 18th century West European standards, reinforced old customs and isolation. ] productivity remained low despite efforts to introduce new techniques to what was for the most part an uninterested, exploited peasant and labouring groups. Governments were inconsistent in their policies. Though there were substantial improvements by the late 18th century, Spain was still an economic backwater. Under the ] trading arrangements it had difficulty in providing the goods being demanded by the strongly growing markets of its empire, and providing adequate outlets for the return trade.

===Overseas expansion===
] in 1781. In 1783 the ] returns all of ] to Spain for the return of the ].]]

The Bourbon institutional reforms were to bear fruit militarily when Spanish forces easily retook ] and ] from the Austrians in 1734 during ], and during the ] (1739–1742) thwarted British efforts to seize the strategic cities of ] and ] by defeating a massive British army and navy<ref>The biggest amphibious attack until the ] in 1944 ({{cite book |last=Victoria |first=Pablo |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=''El día que España derrotó a Inglaterra : de cómo Blas de Lezo, tuerto, manco y cojo, venció en Cartagena de Indias a la otra "Armada Invencible" |year=2005 |publisher= Áltera |location=Barcelona |isbn=84-89779-68-6 }})</ref> led by ], which ended Britain's ambitions in the ]. Moreover, though Spain lost minor territories to British forces towards the end of the ] (1756–1763), she was to recover these losses and seize the British naval base in the ] during the ] (1775–83).

The greater part of what is the territory of today's Brazil had been claimed as Spanish when exploration began with the navigation of the length of the ] in 1541–42 by ]. Many Spanish expeditions explored large parts of this vast region, especially those close to Spanish settlements. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish soldiers, missionaries and adventurers also established pioneering communities, primarily in ], ], and ], and forts on the northeastern coast threatened by the French and Dutch. As Portuguese-Brazilian settlement expanded, following in the trail of the ] exploits, these isolated Spanish groups were eventually integrated into Brazilian society. Only some Castilians who were displaced from the disputed areas of the Pampas of Rio Grande do Sul have left a significant influence on the formation of the gaucho, when they mixed with Indian groups, Portuguese and blacks who arrived in the region during the 18th century. The Spanish were barred by their laws from slaving of indigenous people, leaving them without a commercial interest deep in the interior of the Amazon basin. The Laws of Burgos (1512) and the New Laws (1542) had been intended to protect the interests of indigenous people. While in spirit they were often abused, as through forced exploitative labour of locals, they did prevent widespread formal enslavement of indigenous people in Spanish territories. The Protuguese-Brazilian slavers, the ], had the advantage of access from the mouth of the Amazon River, which was on the Portuguese side of the line of Tordesillas. One famous attack upon a Spanish mission in 1628 resulted in the enslavement of about 60,000 indigenous people.<ref>An early bandeira in 1628, (led by Antônio Raposo Tavares), composed of 2,000 allied Indians, 900 Mamluks (]s) and 69 white ], to find precious metals and stones and/or to capture Indians for slavery. This expedition alone was responsible for the destruction of most of the Jesuit missions of Spanish ] and the enslavement of 60,000 indigenous people. In response the missions that followed were heavily fortified.</ref> In time, there were in effect a self-funding force of occupation. By the 18th century, much of the Spanish territory was under defacto control of Portuguese-Brazil. This reality was recognised with the legal transfer of sovereignty in 1750 of most of the Amazon basin and surrounding areas to Portugal in the ]. This settlement sowed the seeds of the ] in 1756.

The ] planning was begun in 1769. The ] (1789–1791) involved a dispute between Spain and Great Britain about the British settlement in ] to ]. In 1791, the king of Spain gave ] an order to search for a ].

The Spanish empire had still not returned to first rate power status, but it had recovered considerably from the dark days at the beginning of the 18th century when it was, and particularly in continental matters, at the mercy of other powers' political deals. The relatively more peaceful century under the new monarchy had allowed it to rebuild and start the long process of modernizing its institutions and economy. The demographic decline of the 17th century had been reversed. It was a middle-ranking power with great power pretensions that could not be ignored. But time was to be against it. The growth of trade and wealth in the colonies caused increasing political tensions as frustration grew with the improving but still restrictive trade with Spain. Malaspina's recommendation to turn the empire into a looser ] to help improve governance and trade so as to quell the growing political tensions between the élites of the empire's periphery and centre was suppressed by a monarchy afraid of losing control. All was to be swept away by the tumult that was to overtake Europe at the turn of the 19th century with the ] and ].

==Twilight Of The Global Empire (1800–1899)==
]'s Death'', oil on canvas about the ] by ], ] Museum]]
{{main|Spanish American wars of independence}}

The first major territory Spain was to lose in the 19th century was the vast and wild ], which stretched north to Canada and was ceded by France in 1763 under the terms of the ]. The French, under Napoleon, took back possession as part of the ] in 1800 and sold it to the United States (], 1803).

The destruction of the main Spanish fleet, under French command, at the ] (1805) undermined Spain's ability to defend and hold on to its empire. The later intrusion of Napoleonic forces into Spain in 1808 (see ]) cut off effective connection with the empire. But it was internal tensions that ultimately ended the empire in the Americas.

Napoleon's sale in 1803 of the ] to the United States caused border disputes between the United States and Spain that, with rebellions in ] (1810) and in the remainder of Louisiana at the mouth of the ], led to their eventual cession to the United States, along with the sale of all of ], in the ] (1819). In 1806 Baron ] attempted to negotiate a treaty between the ] and ] but his premature death in 1807 ended any treaty hopes.
]'', by ] (1814).]]

In 1808, Napoleon forced the abdication of the Spanish monarchy and placed his brother on the throne, however his unpopularity provoked an uprising from the Spanish people and the grinding ], which Napoleon dubbed his "ulcer", the ], (famously depicted by the painter ]) ensued, followed by a power vacuum lasting up to a decade and turmoil for several decades, civil wars on succession disputes, a ], and finally a ].

Spain lost all the colonial possessions in the first third of the century, except for Cuba, Puerto Rico and, isolated on the far side of the globe, the ], ] and nearby Pacific islands, as well as ] and ], and some islands that later would be part of the ].

] were triggered by a ] to seize the ] in 1806. The ] retreated hastily to the hills when defeated by a small British force. However when the ''Criollos'' militias and colonial army defeated the now reinforced British force in 1807, and with the example of the North American revolutionaries very much in their minds, they quickly set about the business of winning their own independence and inspiring independence movements elsewhere in America.

A long period of wars followed in America although the ] in 1812 gave Spanish citizenship to natives of the territories that had belonged to the Spanish monarchy in both hemispheres.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Peña
| first = Lorenzo
| title = Un puente jurídico entre Iberoamérica y Europa: la Constitución española de 1812
| language= Spanish
| publisher = Casa de América-CSIC
| year = 2002
| isbn = 84-88490-55-0
| pages = 6-7
| url = http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/9858/1/1812Cadiz.pdf
}}</ref> This period of wars led to the independence of ] (1811) and ] (1815 but subsequently ruled by Brazil until 1828). ] campaigned for freedom in ] (1816), ] (1818) and ] (1821). Further north ] led forces that won independence for the area that is currently ], ] (then ]), ], and ] (then ]) by 1825. In 1810, a free thinking priest, ], declared Mexican independence, which was won by 1821. Central America declared its independence in 1821 and was joined to Mexico for a brief time (1822–23). ] declared independence in 1821 and joined ], ] and ] to form the ] (from 1821 to 1903). ] likewise declared independence in 1821 and began negotiating for inclusion in Bolivar's ], but was quickly occupied by ], which ruled it until an 1844 revolution. Then after 17 years of independence, in 1861, Santo Domingo was again made a colony due to Haitian aggressions, yet by 1865 Santo Domingo again declared independence, making it the only territory to be recolonized by Spain. Thus only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained in Spanish hands in the New World after 1865.
]'', ] May 1824]]

In devastated Spain, the post-Napoleonic era created a political vacuum, broke apart any traditional consensus on sovereignty, fragmented the country politically and regionally and unleashed wars and disputes between progressives, liberals and conservatives. The instability inhibited Spain's development, which had started fitfully gathering pace in the previous century. A brief period of improvement occurred in the 1870s when the capable ] and his thoughtful ministers succeeded in restoring some vigour to Spanish politics and prestige, but this was cut short by Alfonso's early death.
]]]

An increasing level of ], anti-colonial uprisings in various colonies culminated with the ] of 1898, fought primarily over ]. Military defeat was followed by the independence of Cuba and the cession, for ]20 million, of ], the ], and ] to the United States. On June 2, 1899,{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} the last Spanish garrison in the Philippines, located in ], ], effectively ending around 300 years of Spanish hegemony in this archipelago. Its American and Asian presence ended, Spain then sold its remaining Pacific Ocean possessions to Germany in 1899, retaining only its African territories.

==Territories in Africa (1885–1975)==
By the end of the 17th century, only Melilla, Alhucemas, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera (which had been taken again in 1564), ] (part of the ] since 1415, has chosen to retain its links to Spain once the ] ended; the formal allegiance of Ceuta to Spain was recognized by the ] in 1668), Oran and Mazalquivir remained as Spanish territory in Africa. The latter cities were lost in 1708, reconquered in 1732 and sold by ] in 1792.

]]]
In 1778, ] (now ]), adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the ] and ] Rivers were ceded to Spain by the Portuguese in exchange for territory in South America (]). In the 19th century, some Spanish explorers and missionaries would cross this zone, among them ].

In 1848, Spanish troops conquered the ].

In 1860, after the ], ] ceded ] to Spain as a part of the ], on the basis of the old outpost of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña, thought to be Sidi Ifni. The following decades of Franco-Spanish collaboration resulted in the establishment and extension of Spanish protectorates south of the city, and Spanish influence obtained international recognition in the ] of 1884: Spain administered Sidi Ifni and ] jointly. Spain claimed a ] over the coast of Guinea from ] to ], too. ] became a protectorate in 1885 and a colony in 1900. Conflicting claims to the Guinea mainland were settled in 1900 by the ].

Following a ] in 1893, Spain expanded its influence south from Melilla.
]]]

In 1911, Morocco was divided between the French and Spanish. The ] ] rebelled, led by ], a former officer for the Spanish administration. The '']'' (1921) was a sudden, grave, and almost fatal, military defeat suffered by the Spanish army against Moroccan insurgents. A leading Spanish politician emphatically declared: "''We are at the most acute period of Spanish decadence''".{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} The statement reflected the mood of the country. The rebellion exposed the utter corruption and incompetence of the military and destabilised the Spanish government, leading to dictatorship. A campaign in conjunction with the French suppressed the Rif rebels by 1925 but at a terrible cost to both sides. In 1923, ] was declared an international city under French, Spanish, British, and later Italian ]. In 1926 Bioko and Rio Muni were united as the colony of ], a status that would last until 1959. In 1931, following the fall of the monarchy, the African colonies became part of the ]. Five years later, ], a general of the ], rebelled against the republican government and started the ] (1936–39). During the Second World War the ] presence in Tangier was overcome by that of ].

Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in its African colonies during the first half of the 20th century. However, through a ] system, particularly on ], Spain developed large ] plantations for which thousands of ]n workers were imported as laborers. The Spanish also helped ] achieve one of the continent's highest ] rates and developed a good network of health care facilities.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}

In 1956, when ] became independent, Spain surrendered ] to the new nation, but retained control of Sidi Ifni, the ] region and ]. Moroccan ] (later King) ] was interested in these territories and invaded Spanish Sahara in 1957 (The ], or, in Spain, the Forgotten War, ''{{lang|es|la Guerra Olvidada}}''). In 1958, Spain ceded Tarfaya to Mohammed V and joined the previously separate districts of ] (in the north) and ] (in the south) to form the province of ].

In 1959, the Spanish territory on the ] was established with a status similar to the provinces of metropolitan Spain. As the Spanish Equatorial Region, it was ruled by a ] exercising military and civilian powers. The first local elections were held in 1959, and the first Equatoguinean representatives were seated in the ]. Under the Basic Law of December 1963, limited autonomy was authorized under a joint legislative body for the territory's two provinces. The name of the country was changed to ].

In March 1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the ], Spain announced that it would grant the country independence. At independence, Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} In 1969, under international pressure, Spain returned Sidi Ifni to Morocco. Spanish control of Spanish Sahara endured until the 1975 ] prompted a withdrawal, under Moroccan military presion. The future of this former Spanish colony remains uncertain.

The ] and Spanish cities in the African mainland are considered an equal part of Spain and the ] but have a different tax system without ].

Morocco still claims Ceuta, Melilla, and ''{{lang|es|]}}'' even though they are internationally recognized as administrative divisions of Spain (despite Plazas de Soberania which is a territory of Spain). ] ({{lang-ar|''}}{{lang|ar|Leila}}'' ("night")) was occupied on July 11, 2002 by Moroccan Gendarmerie and troops, who were evicted peacefully by ] forces.

==Legacy==
] ] is a legacy of the Spanish settlement in that city.]]
The ] (now the second most widely spoken language in the world) and the ] faith were brought to ], parts of ] and the ], by Spanish colonization which began in the 15th century. It also played a crucial part in sustaining the Catholic Church as the leading Christian denomination in Europe when it was under extreme pressure.


The long colonial period in ] resulted in a mixing of indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans that were ], which created a markedly different society than the European colonies of North America. In concert with the ], the Spanish Empire laid the foundations of a truly global trade by opening up the great trans-oceanic ] and the exploration of unknown territories and oceans for the western knowledge. The ] became the world's first global currency.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124716/coin/16030/Dissemination-of-Hispanic-American-coinage|title= Dissemination of Hispanic-American coinage|publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date= 7 February 2012|archive-date= 29 December 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111229235442/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124716/coin/16030/Dissemination-of-Hispanic-American-coinage|url-status= live}}</ref>
The long colonial period in ] resulted in a mixing of peoples. Most Hispanics in the Americas have mixed indigenous and European ancestry, while a substantial proportion also have African ancestry. The only exceptions are ], ] and ] which experienced heavy European immigration in the post colonial period.


One of the features of this trade was the exchange of a great array of domesticated plants and animals between the ] and the ] in the ]. Some cultivars that were introduced to the Americas included grapes, wheat, barley, apples and citrous fruits; animals that were introduced to the New World were horses, donkeys, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens. The Old World received from the Americas such things as maize, potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, squash, cacao (chocolate), vanilla, avocados, pineapples, chewing gum, rubber, peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, pecans, blueberries, strawberries, quinoa, amaranth, chia, agave and others. The result of these exchanges was to significantly improve the agricultural potential of not only in the Americas, but also that of Europe and Asia. Diseases brought by Europeans and Africans, such as smallpox, measles, typhus, and others, devastated almost all indigenous populations that had no immunity.
In concert with the ], the Spanish Empire laid the foundations of a truly global trade by opening up the great trans-oceanic trade routes. The ] became the world's first global currency.


There were also cultural influences, which can be seen in everything from architecture to food, music, art and law, from southern Argentina and Chile to the United States of America together with the Philippines. The complex origins and contacts of different peoples resulted in cultural influences coming together in the varied forms evident today in the former colonial areas.
One of the features of this trade was the exchange of a great array of domesticated plants and animals between the Old World and the New and vice versa. Some that were introduced to America included wheat, barley, apples, cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys, and many others. The Old World received from America such things as maize, potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, squash, cacao (chocolate), vanilla, avocados, pineapples, chewing gum, rubber, peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, pecans, blueberries, strawberries, quinoa, amaranth, chia, and agave. The result of these exchanges was to significantly improve the agricultural potential of not only in America, but also that of Europe and Asia.


===Gallery===
There were also cultural influences, which can be seen in everything from architecture to food, music, art and law, from Southern ] and Chile to the Southwest United States. The complex origins and contacts of different peoples resulted in cultural influences coming together in the varied forms so evident today in the former colonial areas.
<gallery>
File:Cathedral, City of Mexico. (15719792402).jpg|A photo of ]. It is one of the largest cathedrals in Americas, built on the ruins of the Aztec main square.
File:Clock of Comayagua.jpg|The clock of ]'s bell tower in ] is one of the oldest clocks in Americas and the oldest still working in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=El reloj más antiguo del mundo – 30 Maravillas de Honduras |url=https://maravillasdehonduras.com/el-reloj-mas-antiguo-del-mundo/ |access-date=2022-07-27 |language=es-ES |archive-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701203312/https://maravillasdehonduras.com/el-reloj-mas-antiguo-del-mundo/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It was brought from the ] Arab palace to the Spanish colonies during the 17th century.
File:Catedral-Basílica-de-Nuestra-Señora-de-la-Asunción-de-Popayán-Colombia-1.jpg|], Colombia '']''. Spain impregnate its ] style in ].
File:TemplodelCarmenSLP01.JPG|Templo del Carmen in ] city, Mexico in January 2014. It is one of the largest churches in Americas.
File:Hospital Escuela Eva Perón 1.jpg|] are a common Hispanic American architectural element because Spanish colonization. ] in ], ], Argentina.
File:Murales Rivera - Treppenhaus 3 Kaiser Maximilian.jpg|Detail of a Mural by ] at the ] showing the ethnic differences between ], a '']'', and the ] Mexican court
File:Chest (petaca) MET DP-15917-001.jpg|] (petaca) from ], {{circa|1772}}. ]<ref>{{cite web | title=Chest (petaca) | website=] website | url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/751902 | access-date=4 June 2023 | archive-date=4 June 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604190155/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/751902 | url-status=live }}</ref>
</gallery>


==See also== == See also ==
*] {{Portal|History|Spain}}
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==References== ==References==
===Notes=== ===Notes===
{{notelist}}
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}


=== Citations ===
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{{reflist}}

{{Refimprove|date=October 2008}}


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* {{cite book | last1 = Burbank | first1 = Jane |first2=Frederick |last2=Cooper | title = Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-0691127088 | pages = 120–121 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y7B9euuLEkUC&pg=PA120 }}
* {{cite book |last=Brading |first=D.A. |author-link=David Brading |title=The First America: Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State, 1492–1866 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0521447966 }}
* {{cite book |last=Brading |first=D.A. |author-link=David Brading |title=Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763–1810 |url=https://archive.org/details/minersmerchantsi0000brad |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University |date=1971 |isbn=978-0521102070 }}
* {{cite book |last=Braudel |first=Fernand |title=Civilization and Capitalism, 15th–18th century |volume=3 volumes |date=1984 |publisher=Collins |location=London |orig-date=1979 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Jonathan |last2=Elliott |first2=John Huxtable |year=1980 |title=A Palace for a King. The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV |place=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300025071 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/palaceforkingbue0000brow }}
* {{cite book|last=Bushnell |first=Amy |title=The King's Coffer: Proprietors of the Spanish Florida Treasury 1565–1702 |year=1981 |publisher=University Presses of Florida |location=Gainesville|isbn=978-0813006901 }}
* {{cite book | last = Carrera Damas | first = Germán | title = Historia general de América Latina | language=es | publisher = UNESCO | year = 1999 | isbn =978-9233031517 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Bq2DZpHvPkkC }}
* {{cite book|last=Chipman|first=Donald E.|title=Moctezuma's Children: Aztec Royalty under Spanish Rule, 1520–1700|year=2005|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin|isbn=978-0292782648|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbp7AAAAQBAJ&q=factor+overseer+accountant+treasurer+spanish&pg=PT55|edition =Individual e-book (no page numbers)|access-date=22 October 2013 }}
* {{cite book | last = Diego-Fernández Sotelo | first = Rafael | title = Las capitulaciones colombinas | language=es | publisher = El Colegio de Michoacán A.C. | year = 1987 | isbn = 978-9687230306 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4ouNv6ZaRZQC }}
* {{cite book |last=Edwards |first=John |year=2000 |title=The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, 1474–1520 |location=New York |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-0631161653 }}
* {{cite book |last=Elliott |first=J.H. |title=Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492–1830 |url=https://archive.org/details/empiresofatlanti00john |url-access=registration |year=2006 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press }}
* {{cite book |last=Elliott |first=J.H. |title=Spain and Its World, 1500–1700 |year=1989 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press }}
* {{cite book |last=Elliott |first=J.H. |title=The Count-Duke of Olivares: the statesman in an age of decline |year=1986 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300033908 }}
* {{cite book |last=Elliott |first=J.H. |title=Imperial Spain, 14691716 |url=https://archive.org/details/imperialspain1460000elli |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=New American Library |year=1977 |isbn=978-0452006140 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Elliott |first=J.H. |author-link=John Huxtable Elliott |title=The Decline of Spain |journal=Past and Present |number=20 |year=1961 |pages=52–75 |doi=10.1093/past/20.1.52 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1996 |ref={{harvid|''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''|1996}}}} 5 volumes
* {{cite book | last = Fernández Herrero | first = Beatriz | title = La utopía de América: teoría, leyes, experimentos | language=es | publisher = Anthropos Editorial | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-8476583203| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Lcv7a0tM7XgC }}
* {{cite book |last1=Frankham |first1= Steven |title= Borneo |series= Footprint Handbooks |publisher= Footprint |isbn= 978-1906098148 |date= 2008 }}
* {{cite book |last = Gómez Gómez |first = Margarita |title = El sello y registro de Indias: imagen y representación |language=es |publisher = Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar |year = 2008 |isbn = 978-3412202293 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=smJvSuwZbn4C }}
* {{cite book | last = Góngora | first = Mario | title = Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica | language=es | year = 1998 | publisher = Editorial Universitaria | isbn = 978-9561113817 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1dPIXTZ3xJkC }}
*{{Citation|last1=Guerrero |first1=Milagros |last2=Custodio |first2=Teresa Ma. |last3=Dalisay |first3=Jose Y. |title=Kasaysayan: The History of the Filipino People |chapter=Reform and Revolution |publisher=Asia Publishing Company Limited |volume=5 |year=1998 |isbn=962-258-228-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?as_isbn=9622582281}}
* {{cite book |last=Hamnett |first=Brian |title=The End of Iberian Rule on the American Continent, 1770–1830 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1316626634 }}
* {{cite book |last=Haring |first=Clarence |author-link=Clarence Haring |title=The Spanish Empire in America |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1947 }}
* {{cite book | title = Historia general de España y América | volume = 10 | language=es | publisher = Ediciones Rialp | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-8432121029 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC |ref={{harvid|Historia general de España|1992}}}}
* {{cite book |last1=von Humboldt |first1= Alexander|title=Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain containing researches relative to the geography of Mexico |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/85282#page/12/mode/1up |via=Biodiversity Library |date=1 January 1811 |isbn= 978-0665185465|publisher= Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown ... and H. Colburn ...}}
* {{cite book |last=Joaquin |first=Nick |title=Culture and history: occasional notes on the process of Philippine becoming |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NS1vAAAAMAAJ |year=1988 |publisher=Solar |isbn=978-9711706333 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kamen |first=Henry |date=2005 |title=Spain 1469–1714. A Society of Conflict |edition=third |location=London |publisher=Pearson Longman |isbn=978-0582784642 |url=https://archive.org/details/spain14691714soc00kame }}
* {{cite book |last=Kamen |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Kamen|year=2003 |title=Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492–1763 |url=https://archive.org/details/empirehowspainbe00kame |url-access=registration |place=New York |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0060932640 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Paul M |date=2017 |orig-date=1988 |title=The rise and fall of the great powers: economic change and military conflict from 1500 to 2000 |location=London |publisher=William Collins |isbn=978-0006860525 |url=https://archive.org/details/risefallofgreatp00paul }}
* {{cite book |last=Kurlansky |first=Mark |title=The Basque history of the world |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uW5gQgAACAAJ |year=1999 |publisher=Walker |isbn=978-0802713490 }}
* {{cite book | last = Lagos Carmona | first = Guillermo | title = Los títulos históricos | language=es | publisher = Editorial Andrés Bello | year = 1985 | oclc = 320082537 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dlY7Lg5p9A4C }}
* {{cite book |last1=Lockhart |first1=James |author-link1=James Lockhart (historian) |author-link2=Stuart B. Schwartz |last2=Schwartz |first2=Stuart B. |title=Early Latin America |place=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1983 |isbn=978-0521233446 |url=https://archive.org/details/earlylatinameric00lock }}
* {{cite book |last=Lynch |first=John |date=1989 |title=Bourbon Spain, 1700–1808 |location=New York |isbn=978-0631192459 }}
* {{cite book |title= Malay Muslims: The History and Challenge of Resurgent Islam in Southeast Asia |first1= Robert Day |last1= McAmis |publisher= Eerdmans |date= 2002 |isbn= 978-0802849458 }}
* {{cite book|last=Mecham |first=J. Lloyd |year=1966 |title=Church and State in Latin America: A History of Politico-Ecclesiastical Relations |edition= revised |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=University of North Carolina Press }}
* {{cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |year=1978 |title=Philip II |location=Boston |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0316690805 |url=https://archive.org/details/philipii00geof }}
* {{cite book |last=Ruiz Martín |first=Felipe |title=La proyección europea de la monarquía hispánica |publisher=Editorial Complutense |language=es |year=1996 |isbn=978-8495983305 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jlJPsVc8UvQC }}
* {{cite book |last1= Saunders |first1= Graham | title= A History of Brunei | publisher= Routledge |date= 2002 | isbn= 978-0700716982 }}
* {{cite book | last =Sibaja Chacón | first = Luis Fernando | title = El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica | language=es | publisher = EUNED | year = 2006| isbn = 978-9968314886 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=q61T1fs_K4wC&pg=PA37 }}
* {{cite book |last1= Stein |first1= Stanley J. |first2=Barbara H. |last2=Stein |year= 2000|title=Silver, Trade, and War: Spain and America in the Making of Early Modern Europe |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University }}
* {{cite book |last1=Victoria |first1=Pablo |date=2005 |title=El día que España derrotó a Inglaterra : de cómo Blas de Lezo, tuerto, manco y cojo, venció en Cartagena de Indias a la otra "Armada Invencible" |language=es |publisher=Áltera |isbn=978-8489779686 |edition=1st |location=Barcelona }}
* {{cite book|last1=Marley|first1=David|title=Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present |date=2008}}
* {{cite book |last=Scheina |first=Robert L. |title=Latin America's Wars Volume I: The Age of the Caudillo, 1791–1899 |publisher=Brassey's |year=2003}}
{{div col end}}


===Further reading=== == Further reading ==
{{Library resources box|onlinebooks=yes}}
*Armstrong, Edward (1902). ''The emperor Charles V''. New York: The Macmillan Company
{{div col}}
*Black, Jeremy (1996). ''The Cambridge illustrated atlas of warfare: Renaissance to revolution''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47033-1
* {{cite book |last=Padilla Angulo |first=Fernando J. |title=Volunteers of the Empire: War, Identity, and Spanish Imperialism, 1855–1898 |date=2023-01-12 |isbn=978-1-350-28120-2 |publisher=Bloomsbury}}
*Braudel, Fernand (1972). ''The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II'', trans. Siân Reynolds. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-090566-2
* {{cite book |last=Anderson |first=James Maxwell |title=The History of Portugal |place=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood |year=2000 |isbn=978-0313311062}}
*Fernand Braudel, ''The Perspective of the World'' (part iii of ''Civilization and Capitalism'') 1979, translated 1985.
* {{cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |year=1996 |title=The Cambridge illustrated atlas of warfare: Renaissance to revolution |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University |isbn=978-0521470339}}
*Brown, Jonathan (1998). ''Painting in Spain : 1500–1700''. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06472-1
* {{cite book |last=Boyajian |first=James C. |year=2007 |title=Portuguese Trade in Asia Under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |isbn=978-0801887543}}
*Dominguez Ortiz, Antonio (1971). ''The golden age of Spain, 1516–1659.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-297-00405-0
* {{cite book |last=Braudel |first=Fernand |title=The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II |year=1972 |url=https://archive.org/details/mediterraneanthe01brau |publisher=Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press}}
*Edwards, John (2000). ''The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, 1474–1520''. New York: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-16165-1
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |year=1998 |title=Painting in Spain: 1500–1700 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300064728}}
*Harman, Alec (1969). ''Late Renaissance and Baroque music''. New York: Schocken Books.
* {{cite book |last=Dominguez Ortiz |first=Antonio |year=1971 |title=The Golden Age of Spain, 1516–1659 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press. |isbn=978-0297004059}}
*Kamen, Henry (1998). ''Philip of Spain''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07800-5
* {{cite book |last=Elliott |first=J.H. |title=The Old World and The New |url=https://archive.org/details/oldworldnew1492100elli |url-access=registration |location=Cambridge |year=1970 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521079372}}
*Kamen, Henry (2005). ''Spain 1469–1714. A Society of Conflict'' (3rd ed.) London and New York: Pearson Longman. ISBN 0-582-78464-6
* {{cite book |last=Farriss |first=N.M. |author-link=Nancy Farriss |title=Crown and Clergy in Colonial Mexico, 1759–1821 |location=London |publisher=Athlone Press |year=1968}}
*Parker, Geoffrey (1997). ''The Thirty Years' War'' (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-12883-8
* {{cite book |last=Fisher |first=John |year=1985 |title=Commercial Relations Between Spain and Spanish America in the Era of Free Trade, 1778–1796 |location=Liverpool}}
*Parker, Geoffrey (1972). ''The Army of flanders and the Spanish road, 1567–1659; the logistics of Spanish victory and defeat in the Low Countries' Wars.''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-08462-8
* {{cite book |last=Gibson |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Gibson (historian) |title=Spain in America |url=https://archive.org/details/spaininamerica0000gibs |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Harper and Row |date=1966}}
*Parker, Geoffrey (1977). ''The Dutch revolt''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-8014-1136-X
* {{cite book |last=Gibson |first=Charles |title=The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule |url=https://archive.org/details/aztecsunderspani00gibs |url-access=registration |location=Stanford |publisher=Stanford University Press |date=1964}}
*Parker, Geoffrey (1978). ''Philip II''. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-69080-5
* {{cite book |last=Herr |first=Richard |date=1958 |title=The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain |url=https://archive.org/details/eighteenthcentur00rich |url-access=registration |location=Princeton}}
*Parker, Geoffrey (1997). ''The general crisis of the seventeenth century''. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16518-0
* {{cite journal |author-link=Jonathan I. Israel |last=Israel |first=Jonathan |title=Debate{{snd}}The Decline of Spain: A Historical Myth |journal=Past and Present |issue=91 |date=May 1981 |pages=170–185 |doi=10.1093/past/91.1.170}}
*Ramsey, John Fraser (1973) ''Spain: the rise of the first world power.'' University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-5704-1, ISBN 978-0-8173-5704-7
*Stradling, R. A. (1988). ''Philip IV and the government of Spain''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-32333-9 * {{cite book |last1=Kagan |first1=Richard L. |last2=Parker |first2=Geoffrey |date=1995 |title=Spain, Europe and the Atlantic: Essays in Honour of John H. Elliott |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521525114}}
* {{cite book |last=Kamen |first=Henry |date=1998 |title=Philip of Spain |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University |isbn=978-0300078008}}
*Thomas, Hugh (2004). ''Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire 1490–1522'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-64563-3
* Kamen, Henry. ''Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1493–1763''. New York: HarperCollins 2003. {{ISBN|978-0060194765}}
*Thomas, Hugh (1997). ''The Slave Trade; The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade 1440–1870''. London: Papermac. ISBN 0-333-73147-6
* {{cite book |first1=Donald F. |last1=Lach |first2=Edwin J. |last2=Van Kley |title=Asia in the Making of Europe |place=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago |year=1994 |isbn=978-0226467344}}
*Various (1983). ''Historia de la literatura espanola''. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel
* {{cite book |last=Lynch |first=John |date=1964 |title=Spain Under the Hapsburgs |location=New York}}
*Wright, Esmond, ed. (1984). ''History of the World, Part II: The last five hundred years'' (3rd ed.). New York: Hamlyn Publishing. ISBN 0-517-43644-2.
* {{cite book |last=Lynch |first=John |date=1983 |title=The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808–1826 |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last=MacLachlan |first=Colin M. |title=Spain's Empire in the New World: The Role of Ideas in Institutional and Social Change |url=https://archive.org/details/spainsempireinne008 |url-access=registration |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0520074101}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Marichal |first1=Carlos |first2=Matilde Souto |last2=Mantecón |title=Silver and Situados: New Spain and the Financing of the Spanish Empire in the Caribbean in the Eighteenth Century |journal=Hispanic American Historical Review |volume=74 |number=4 |year=1994 |pages=587–613 |doi=10.2307/2517493 |jstor=2517493}}
* {{cite book |last1=Merriman |first1=Roger Bigelow |author-link=Roger Bigelow Merriman |title=The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and the New |location=New York |year=1918 |url=https://archive.org/search.php?query=Spanish%20%20Merriman}}
* {{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=James S. |title=Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Empire, 1402–1975 |year=1992 |url=https://www.questia.com/library/3767770/historical-dictionary-of-the-spanish-empire-1402-1975}}
* {{cite book |last=Paquette |first=Gabriel B |title=Enlightenment, governance, and reform in Spain and its empire, 1759–1808 |location=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan 2008 |isbn=978-0230300521 |date=17 January 2008}}
* {{cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |year=1997 |title=The Thirty Years' War |edition=2nd |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415128834}}
* {{cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |year=1972 |title=The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567–1659; the logistics of Spanish victory and defeat in the Low Countries' Wars |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521084628}}
* {{cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |year=1977 |title=The Dutch revolt |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0801411366}}
* {{cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |year=1997 |title=The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415165181}}
* {{cite book |author-link=J.H. Parry |last=Parry |first=J.H. |title=The Spanish Seaborne Empire |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |year=1966 |isbn=978-0520071407}}
* {{cite book |last=Ramsey |first=John Fraser |year=1973 |title=Spain: The Rise of the First World Power |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0817357047 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/spainriseoffirst0000rams}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Restall |first1=Matthew |title=The Decline and Fall of the Spanish Empire? |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=64 |number=1 |year=2007 |pages=183–194 |jstor=4491607}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Schmidt-Nowara |editor-first1=Christopher |editor-first2=John M. |editor-last2=Nieto Phillips |title=Interpreting Spanish Colonialism: Empires, Nations, and Legends |location=Albuquerque |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |date=2005}}
* {{cite book |last1=Stein |first1=Stanley J. |first2=Barbara H. |last2=Stein |title=Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759–1789 |year=2003 |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University}}
* {{cite book |last=Stradling |first=R. A. |date=1988 |title=Philip IV and the Government of Spain |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521323338}}
* {{cite book |last=Studnicki-Gizbert |first=Daviken |date=2007 |title=A Nation upon the Ocean Sea: Portugal's Atlantic Diaspora and the Crisis of the Spanish Empire, 1492–1640 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0198039112}}
* {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton |date=2004 |title=Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire 1490–1522 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=978-0297645634}}
* {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Hugh |date=1997 |title=The Slave Trade; The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade 1440–1870 |location=London |publisher=Papermac |isbn=978-0333731475}}
* {{cite book |last=Vicens Vives |first=Jaime |title=An Economic History of Spain |url=https://archive.org/details/bettycrockersnew00bett_2 |url-access=registration |edition=3rd revised |location=Princeton |year=1969 |publisher=Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=Esmond |date=1984 |title=History of the World, Part II: The last five hundred years |edition=third |location=New York |publisher=Hamlyn Publishing |isbn=978-0517436448}}
{{div col end}}


==External links== == External links ==
{{Commons}}
*
{{Wikivoyage}}
*
*
*
*
* {{es icon}}
*
*{{Citation | title=Fronteras, identidad, conflicto e interacción. Los Presidios Españoles en el Norte Africano | author=Francisco José Calderón Vázquez | year=2008 | language=Spanish | isbn= 978-84-691-6786-1 | url=http://www.eumed.net/libros/2008c/433/ | postscript=<!--none-->}}
* {{in lang|es}}
* {{Citation |title=Fronteras, identidad, conflicto e interacción. Los Presidios Españoles en el Norte Africano |author=Francisco José Calderón Vázquez |year=2008 |language=es |isbn=978-8469167861 |url=http://www.eumed.net/libros/2008c/433/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214075645/http://eumed.net/libros/2008c/433/ |archive-date=14 February 2009 }}
* at the ] contains primary materials on Spanish colonialism.


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Latest revision as of 00:56, 29 December 2024

Colonial empire between 1492 and 1976 For the use of the imperial title in medieval Spain, see Imperator totius Hispaniae.

Spanish EmpireImperio español (Spanish)
Imperium Hispanicum (Latin)
1492–1976
Flag of Spanish Empire Left: Cross of Burgundy
Right: early modern flag
Motto: Plus Ultra (Latin)
"Further Beyond"
Anthem: Marcha Real (Spanish)
"Royal March"
The Spanish Empire during the second half of the 18th centuryThe Spanish Empire during the second half of the 18th century
CapitalItinerant court (1492–1561)
Madrid (1561–1601, 1606–1976)
Valladolid (1601–1606)
Official languagesSpanish
Other languages See list
Religion Roman Catholicism
Demonym(s)Spaniard or Spanish
Membership
Government 1975–1976
Head of state 
• 1492–1516 Catholic Monarchs (first)
• 1975–1976 Juan Carlos I (last)
History 
• Christopher Colombus discovers the Americas 12 October 1492
• Spanish colonization of the Americas begins 1493
• Conquest of Navarre 1512–29
• Conquest of the Aztec Empire 1519–21
• Magellan's circumnavigation 1519–22
• Conquest of the Maya 1524–1697
• Conquest of the Inca Empire 1532–72
• Conquest of the Muisca 1537–40
• Establishment of the Spanish East Indies 27 April 1565
• Iberian Union 1580–1640
• Spanish American wars of independence 1808–33
• Withdrawal from the Spanish Sahara 1976
Area
178013,700,000 km (5,300,000 sq mi)
CurrencySpanish real
Escudo (from 1537)
Spanish dollar (from 1598)
Spanish peseta (from 1869)
Preceded by Succeeded by
Catholic Monarchs of Spain
Kingdom of Spain
Kingdom of Naples
Duchy of Milan
Kingdom of Sicily
Austrian Netherlands
Dutch Republic
Gran Colombia
United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
First Mexican Empire
Protectorate of Peru
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The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa, various islands in Asia and Oceania, as well as territory in other parts of Europe. It was one of the most powerful empires of the early modern period, becoming known as "the empire on which the sun never sets". At its greatest extent in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Spanish Empire covered over 13 million square kilometres (5 million square miles), making it one of the largest empires in history.

Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus and continuing for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the Caribbean Islands, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America. The Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation—the first circumnavigation of the Earth—laid the foundation for Spain's Pacific empire and for Spanish control over the East Indies. The influx of gold and silver from the mines in Zacatecas and Guanajuato in Mexico and Potosí in Bolivia enriched the Spanish crown and financed military endeavors and territorial expansion. Another crucial element of the empire's expansion was the financial support provided by Genoese bankers, who financed royal expeditions and military campaigns.

In 1700, Philip V became king of Spain after the death of Charles II, the last Habsburg monarch of Spain, who died without an heir. His ascension triggered the War of the Spanish Succession, as various European powers contested his claim to the throne. The conflict concluded with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, allowing Philip, the first Bourbon king of Spain, to retain the throne but resulting in territorial losses for Spain: Gibraltar, Menorca, the Spanish Netherlands and Spanish Italy. In 1763, after the Seven Years' War, Spain ceded both East Florida and West Florida to Great Britain while gaining Louisiana from France. However, in 1783, following the American Revolutionary War, Britain ceded both Floridas back to Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris. Spain had recaptured West Florida in 1781 through military operations. Both Floridas were ceded to the United States in 1819 as part of the Adams-Onís Treaty. Louisiana was ceded back to France in 1801 in the Treaty of Aranjuez.

The Bourbon monarchy implemented reforms like the Nueva Planta decrees, which centralized power and abolished regional privileges. Economic policies promoted trade with the colonies, enhancing Spanish influence in the Americas. Socially, tensions emerged between the ruling elite and the rising bourgeoisie, as well as divisions between peninsular Spaniards and Creoles in the Americas. These factors ultimately set the stage for the independence movements that began in the early 19th century, leading to the gradual disintegration of Spanish colonial authority. By the mid-1820s, Spain had lost its territories in Mexico, Central America, and South America. By 1900, it had also lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and Guam in the Mariana Islands following the Spanish–American War.

Catholic Monarchs and origins of the empire

Main article: Catholic Monarchs

With the marriage of the heirs apparent to their respective thrones Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile created a personal union that most scholars view as the foundation of the Spanish monarchy. The union of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon joined the economic and military power of Iberia under one dynasty, the House of Trastámara. Their dynastic alliance was important for a number of reasons, ruling jointly over a number of kingdoms and other territories, mostly in the western Mediterranean region, under their respective legal and administrative status. They successfully pursued expansion in Iberia in the Christian conquest of the Muslim Emirate of Granada, completed in 1492, for which Valencia-born Pope Alexander VI gave them the title of the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand of Aragon was particularly concerned with expansion in France and Italy, as well as conquests in North Africa.

With the Ottoman Turks controlling the choke points of the overland trade from Asia and the Middle East, both Spain and Portugal sought alternative routes. The Kingdom of Portugal had an advantage over the Crown of Castile, having earlier retaken territory from the Muslims. Following Portugal's earlier completion of the reconquest and its establishment of settled boundaries, it began to seek overseas expansion, first to the port of Ceuta (1415) and then by colonizing the Atlantic islands of Madeira (1418) and the Azores (1427–1452); it also began voyages down the west coast of Africa in the fifteenth century. Its rival Castile laid claim to the Canary Islands (1402) and retook territory from the Moors in 1462. The Christian rivals Castile and Portugal came to formal agreements over the division of new territories in the Treaty of Alcaçovas (1479), as well as securing the crown of Castile for Isabella whose accession was challenged militarily by Portugal.

Following the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and first major settlement in the New World in 1493, Portugal and Castile divided the world by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which gave Portugal Africa and Asia, and the Western Hemisphere to Spain. The voyage of Columbus, a Genoese mariner, obtained the support of Isabella of Castile, sailing west in 1492, seeking a route to the Indies. Columbus unexpectedly encountered the New World, populated by peoples he named "Indians". Subsequent voyages and full-scale settlements of Spaniards followed, with gold beginning to flow into Castile's coffers. Managing the expanding empire became an administrative issue. The reign of Ferdinand and Isabella began the professionalization of the apparatus of government in Spain, which led to a demand for men of letters (letrados) who were university graduates (licenciados), of Salamanca, Valladolid, Complutense and Alcalá. These lawyer-bureaucrats staffed the various councils of state, eventually including the Council of the Indies and Casa de Contratación, the two highest bodies in metropolitan Spain for the government of the empire in the New World, as well as royal government in the Indies.

Early expansion

See also: History of the territorial organization of Spain

Canary Islands

The conquest of the Canary Islands (1402–1496)

Portugal obtained several papal bulls that acknowledged Portuguese control over the discovered territories, but Castile also obtained from the Pope the safeguard of its rights to the Canary Islands with the bulls Romani Pontifex dated 6 November 1436 and Dominatur Dominus dated 30 April 1437. The conquest of the Canary Islands, inhabited by Guanche people, began in 1402 during the reign of Henry III of Castile, by Norman nobleman Jean de Béthencourt under a feudal agreement with the crown. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the Crown of Castile between 1478 and 1496, when the islands of Gran Canaria (1478–1483), La Palma (1492–1493), and Tenerife (1494–1496) were subjugated. By 1504, more than 90 percent of the indigenous Canarians had been killed or enslaved.

Rivalry with Portugal

See also: Treaty of Alcáçovas

The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the Gold Coast (1471) in the Gulf of Guinea, but the news quickly caused a huge gold rush. Chronicler Pulgar wrote that the fame of the treasures of Guinea "spread around the ports of Andalusia in such way that everybody tried to go there". Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and Cape Verde islands were exchanged for gold, slaves, ivory and Guinea pepper.

The War of the Castilian Succession (1475–79) provided the Catholic Monarchs with the opportunity not only to attack the main source of the Portuguese power, but also to take possession of this lucrative commerce. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea: every caravel had to secure a government license and to pay a tax on one-fifth of their profits (a receiver of the customs of Guinea was established in Seville in 1475—the ancestor of the future and famous Casa de Contratación).

Iberian 'mare clausum' in the Age of Discovery

Castilian fleets fought in the Atlantic Ocean, temporarily occupying the Cape Verde islands (1476), conquering the city of Ceuta in the Tingitan Peninsula in 1476 (but retaken by the Portuguese), and even attacked the Azores islands, being defeated at Praia. The turning point of the war came in 1478, however, when a Castilian fleet sent by King Ferdinand to conquer Gran Canaria lost men and ships to the Portuguese who expelled the attack, and a large Castilian armada—full of gold—was entirely captured in the decisive Battle of Guinea.

The Treaty of Alcáçovas (4 September 1479), while assuring the Castilian throne to the Catholic Monarchs, reflected the Castilian naval and colonial defeat: "War with Castile broke out waged savagely in the Gulf until the Castilian fleet of thirty-five sail was defeated there in 1478. As a result of this naval victory, at the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479 Castile, while retaining her rights in the Canaries, recognized the Portuguese monopoly of fishing and navigation along the whole west African coast and Portugal's rights over the Madeira, Azores and Cape Verde islands ." The treaty delimited the spheres of influence of the two countries, establishing the principle of the Mare clausum. It was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV, in the papal bull Æterni regis (dated on 21 June 1481).

However, this experience would prove to be profitable for future Spanish overseas expansion, because as the Spaniards were excluded from the lands discovered or to be discovered from the Canaries southward—and consequently from the road to India around Africa—they sponsored the voyage of Columbus towards the west (1492) in search of Asia to trade in its spices, encountering the Americas instead. Thus, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced division of the world would be reached in the Treaty of Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers.

New World voyages and Treaty of Tordesillas

Main articles: Voyages of Christopher Columbus and Treaty of Tordesillas
The return of Columbus, 1493
Castile and Portugal divided the world in The Treaty of Tordesillas.

Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, and his son Ferdinand II of Aragon, married to Isabella I of Castile, inherited the thrones of the Crown of Aragon. The two became known as the Catholic Monarchs, with their marriage a personal union that created a relationship between the Crown of Aragon and Castile, each with their own administrations, but ruled jointly by the two monarchs.

Ferdinand and Isabella defeated the last Muslim king out of Granada in 1492 after a ten-year war. The Catholic Monarchs then negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu (Japan) by sailing west. Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. In the Capitulations of Santa Fe, dated on 17 April 1492, Christopher Columbus obtained from the Catholic Monarchs his appointment as viceroy and governor in the lands already discovered and that he might discover thenceforth; thereby, it was the first document to establish an administrative organization in the Indies. Columbus' discoveries began the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Spain's claim to these lands was solidified by the Inter caetera papal bull dated 4 May 1493, and Dudum siquidem on 26 September 1493.

Since the Portuguese wanted to keep the line of demarcation of Alcaçovas running east and west along a latitude south of Cape Bojador, a compromise was worked out and incorporated in the Treaty of Tordesillas, dated on 7 June 1494, in which the world was split into two dividing Spanish and Portuguese claims. These actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south (later with the exception of Brazil, which Portuguese commander Pedro Álvares Cabral encountered in 1500), as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The Treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506.

The Treaty of Tordesillas and the treaty of Cintra (18 September 1509) established the limits of the Kingdom of Fez for Portugal, and the Castilian expansion was allowed outside these limits, beginning with the conquest of Melilla in 1497. Other European powers did not see the treaty between Castile and Portugal as binding on themselves. Francis I of France observed "The sun shines for me as for others and I should very much like to see the clause in Adam's will that excludes me from a share of the world."

First settlements in the Americas

Main article: Spanish colonization of the Americas
Spanish territories in the New World around 1515

Spanish settlement in the New World was based on a pattern of a large, permanent settlements with the entire complex of institutions and material life to replicate Castilian life in a different venue. Columbus's second voyage in 1493 had a large contingent of settlers and goods to accomplish that. On Hispaniola, the city of Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Christopher Columbus's brother Bartholomew Columbus and became a stone-built, permanent city. Non-Castilians, such as Catalans and Aragonese, were often prohibited from migrating to the New World.

Spanish colonial swords in the Museum of the Royal Houses

Following the settlement of Hispaniola, Europeans began searching elsewhere to begin new settlements, since there was little apparent wealth and the numbers of indigenous were declining. Those from the less prosperous Hispaniola were eager to search for new success in a new settlement. From there Juan Ponce de León conquered Puerto Rico (1508) and Diego Velázquez took Cuba.

Columbus encountered the mainland in 1498, and the Catholic Monarchs learned of his discovery in May 1499. The first settlement on the mainland was Santa María la Antigua del Darién in Castilla de Oro (now Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia), settled by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1510. In 1513, Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and led the first European expedition to see the Pacific Ocean from the West coast of the New World. In an action with enduring historical import, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean and all the lands adjoining it for the Spanish Crown.

Navarre and struggles for Italy

Crowns and kingdoms of the Catholic Monarchs in Europe (1500)

The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children to isolate their rival, France. The Spanish princesses married the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Aragonese house of the Kingdom of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars beginning in 1494. Following Spanish victories at the Battles of Cerignola and Garigliano in 1503, France recognized Ferdinand's sovereignty over Naples through a treaty.

After the death of Queen Isabella in 1504, and her exclusion of Ferdinand from a further role in Castile, Ferdinand married Germaine de Foix in 1505, cementing an alliance with France. Had that couple had a surviving heir, probably the Crown of Aragon would have been split from Castile, which was inherited by Charles, Ferdinand and Isabella's grandson. Ferdinand joined the League of Cambrai against Venice in 1508. In 1511, he became part of the Holy League against France, seeing a chance at taking both Milan—to which he held a dynastic claim—and Navarre. In 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre, which had effectively been a Spanish protectorate following a series of treaties in 1488, 1491, 1493, and 1495.

Campaigns in North Africa

See also: European enclaves in North Africa before 1830

With the Christian reconquest completed in the Iberian peninsula, Spain began trying to take territory in Muslim North Africa. It had conquered Melilla in 1497, and further expansionism policy in North Africa was developed during the regency of Ferdinand the Catholic in Castile, stimulated by Cardinal Cisneros. Several towns and outposts in the North African coast were conquered and occupied by Castile between 1505 and 1510: Mers El Kébir, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, Oran, Bougie, Tripoli, and Peñón of Algiers. On the Atlantic coast, Spain took possession of the outpost of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña (1476) with support from the Canary Islands, and it was retained until 1525 with the consent of the Treaty of Cintra (1509).

The Spanish Habsburgs (1516–1700)

Main article: Habsburg Spain
The realms of Philip II of Spain   Territories administered by the Council of Castile   Territories administered by the Council of Aragon   Territories administered by the Council of Portugal   Territories administered by the Council of Italy   Territories administered by the Council of the Indies   Territories appointed to the Council of Flanders

As a result of the marriage politics of the Catholic Monarchs (in Spanish, Reyes Católicos), their Habsburg grandson Charles inherited the Castilian empire in the Americas and the possessions of the Crown of Aragon in the Mediterranean (including all of south Italy), lands in Germany, the Low Countries, Franche-Comté, and Austria, starting the rule of the Spanish Habsburgs. The Austrian hereditary Habsburg domains were transferred to Ferdinand, the Emperor's brother, whereas Spain and the remaining possessions were inherited by Charles's son, Philip II of Spain, at the abdication of the former in 1556.

The Habsburgs pursued several goals:

"I learnt a proverb here", said a French traveler in 1603: "Everything is dear in Spain except silver". The problems caused by inflation were discussed by scholars at the School of Salamanca and the arbitristas. The natural resource abundance provoked a decline in entrepreneurship as profits from resource extraction are less risky. The wealthy preferred to invest their fortunes in public debt (juros). The Habsburg dynasty spent the Castilian and American riches in wars across Europe on behalf of Habsburg interests, and declared moratoriums (bankruptcies) on their debt payments several times. These burdens led to a number of revolts across the Spanish Habsburg's domains, including their Spanish kingdoms.

Territorial expansion in the Americas

Main articles: Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, and Spanish conquest of the Maya
Map of the Aztec Empire
Artist's conception of what the Great Pyramid of Cholula might have looked like
Cholula Massacre

During the Habsburg rule, the Spanish Empire significantly expanded its territories in the Americas, beginning with the conquest of the Aztec Empire; these conquests were achieved not by the Spanish army, but by small groups of adventurers—artisans, traders, gentry, and peasants—who operated independently under the crown's encomienda system.

Defying the opposition of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, the governor of Hispaniola, Hernán Cortés organized an expedition of 550 conquistadors and sailed for the coast of Mexico in March 1519. The Castilians defeated a 10,000-strong Chontal Mayan army at Potonchán on 24 March and emerged triumphant against a larger force of 40,000 Mayans three days later. On 2 September, 360 Castilians and 2,300 Totonac Indigenous allies defeated a 20,000-strong Tlaxcalan army. Three days later, a 50,000-strong Otomi-Tlaxcalan force was defeated by Spanish arquebusier and cannon fire, and a Castilian cavalry charge. Thousands of Tlaxcalans joined the invaders against their Aztec rulers. Cortés's forces sacked the city of Cholula, massacring 6,000 inhabitants, and later entered Emperor Moctezuma II's capital, Tenochtitlan, on 8 November. Velázquez sent a force led by Pánfilo de Narváez to punish the insubordinate Cortés for his unauthorized invasion of Mexico, but they were defeated at the Battle of Cempoala on 29 May 1520. Narváez was wounded and captured and 17 of his troops were killed; the rest joined Cortés. Meanwhile, Pedro de Alvarado triggered an Aztec uprising following the massacre in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, during which 400 Aztec nobles and 2,000 onlookers were killed. The Castilians were driven out of the Aztec capital, suffering heavy losses and losing all of their gold and guns during La Noche Triste.

On 8 July 1520, at Otumba, the Castilians and their allies, without artillery or arquebusiers, repelled 100,000 Aztecs armed with obsidian-bladed clubs. In August, 500 Castilians and 40,000 Tlaxcalans conquered the hilltop town of Tepeaca, an Aztec ally. Most of the inhabitants were either branded on the face with the letter "G" (for guerra, the Spanish word for "war") and enslaved by the Spanish, or sacrificed and eaten by the Tlaxcalans. Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan in 1521 with a new invasion force and laid siege to the Aztec capital in May, which was suffering from a smallpox epidemic that killed thousands. The new emperor, Cuauhtémoc, defended Tenochtitlan with 100,000 warriors armed with slings, bows, and obsidian clubs. The first military encounter occurred after an advance along the causeway at Tlacopan by the armies of Alvarado and Cristóbal de Olid. While fighting on the causeway, the Spanish and their allies came under attack from both sides by Aztecs firing arrows from canoes. Thirteen Spanish brigantines sank 300 out of 400 enemy war canoes sent against them. The Aztecs tried to damage the Spanish vessels by hiding spears beneath the shallow water. The attackers breached the city and engaged in fighting with the Aztec defenders in the streets.

The Aztecs defeated the Spanish-Tlaxcalan forces at the Battle of Colhuacatonco on 30 June 1521. Following this Aztec victory, 53 Spanish prisoners were paraded to the tops of Tlatelolco's highest pyramids and publicly sacrificed. In late July, the attackers resumed their assaults, resulting in the massacre of 800 Aztec civilians. By 29 July, the Spanish had reached Tlatelolco's center, raising their new flag atop the city's twin towers. Having exhausted their gunpowder, they attempted a catapult breach but failed. On 3 August, 12,000 more civilians were killed in another city section. Alvarado's destruction of the aqueducts forced the Aztecs to drink from the lake, causing disease and thousands of deaths. Another major assault occurred on 12 August, during which many thousands of non-combatants were massacred in their shelters. The following day, the city fell and Cuauhtémoc was captured. At least 100,000 Aztecs died during the siege, while 100 Spaniards and up to 30,000 of their Indigenous allies were killed or died from disease.

The fall of Tenochtitlan marked the beginning of Spanish colonial rule in Mexico, leading to the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1535. In 1532, Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire by capturing its leader Atahualpa during a surprise attack in Cajamarca that resulted in the massacre of thousands of Incas. This conquest facilitated the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542, allowing Spain to exert control over territories in western South America, comprising present-day Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and parts of Chile and Argentina. In the subsequent years, Spanish explorers and conquistadors ventured into northern South America, where they established settlements in present-day Venezuela and Colombia.

Reign of Philip II

Main article: Philip II of Spain

Philip II of Spain (r. 1556–98) oversaw the colonization of the Philippines, which began in 1565 with the arrival of Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi, making him ruler of one of the first true globe-spanning empires. His victory in the War of the Portuguese Succession led to the annexation of Portugal in 1580, effectively integrating its overseas empire—encompassing coastal Brazil and African and Indian coastal enclaves—into Spain's domain. Philip II also reaffirmed Spanish control over the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Duchy of Milan through the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. Italy became the core of Spain's power.

Decline

Main article: Decline of Spain

By the mid-17th century, Spain's global empire burdened its economic, administrative, and military resources. Over the preceding century, Spanish troops had fought in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, suffering heavy casualties. Despite its vast holdings, Spain's military lacked essential modernization and heavily relied on foreign suppliers. Nevertheless, Spain possessed abundant bullion from the Americas, which played a crucial role in both sustaining its military endeavors and meeting the needs of its civilian population. During this period, Spain displayed limited military interest in its overseas colonies. The Criollo elites (colonial-born Spaniards) and mestizo and mulatto militia (of mixed Indigenous-Spanish and African-Spanish descent) provided only minimal protection, often assisted by more influential allies with vested interests in maintaining the balance of power and safeguarding the Spanish Empire from falling into enemy hands.

The Spanish Bourbons (1700–1808)

Main articles: History of Spain (1700–1810) and Enlightenment in Spain
Philip V of Spain (r. 1700–1746), the first Spanish monarch of the House of Bourbon

With the 1700 death of the childless Charles II of Spain, the crown of Spain was contested in the War of the Spanish Succession. Under the Treaties of Utrecht (11 April 1713) ending the war, the French prince of the House of Bourbon, Philippe of Anjou, grandchild of Louis XIV of France, became King Philip V of Spain. He retained the Spanish overseas empire in the Americas and the Philippines. The settlement gave spoils to those who had backed a Habsburg for the Spanish monarchy, ceding European territory of the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sardinia to Austria; Sicily and parts of Milan to the Duchy of Savoy, and Gibraltar and Menorca to the Kingdom of Great Britain. The treaty also granted British merchants the exclusive right to sell slaves in Spanish America for thirty years, the asiento de negros, as well as licensed voyages to ports in Spanish colonial dominions and openings.

Spain's economic and demographic recovery had begun slowly in the last decades of the Habsburg reign, as was evident from the growth of its trading convoys and the much more rapid growth of illicit trade during the period. (This growth was slower than the growth of illicit trade by northern rivals in the empire's markets.) However, this recovery was not then translated into institutional improvement, rather the "proximate solutions to permanent problems." This legacy of neglect was reflected in the early years of Bourbon rule in which the military was ill-advisedly pitched into battle in the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20). Spain was defeated in Italy by an alliance of Britain, France, Savoy, and Austria. Following the war, the new Bourbon monarchy took a much more cautious approach to international relations, relying on a family alliance with Bourbon France, and continuing to follow a program of institutional renewal.

The crown program to enact reforms that promoted administrative control and efficiency in the metropole to the detriment of interests in the colonies, undermined creole elites' loyalty to the crown. When French forces of Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Iberian peninsula in 1808, Napoleon ousted the Spanish Bourbon monarchy, placing his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne. There was a crisis of legitimacy of crown rule in Spanish America, leading to the Spanish American wars of independence (1808–1826).

Bourbon reforms

Main article: Bourbon Reforms
Representation of the two powers, church and state, symbolized by the altar and the throne, with the presence of the king Charles III and the Pope Clement XIV, seconded by the Viceroy, Antonio Bucareli, and the Archbishop of Mexico, Alonso Núñez de Haro, respectively, before the Virgin Mary. "Glorification of the Immaculate Conception".

The Spanish Bourbons' broadest intentions were to reorganize the institutions of empire to better administer it for the benefit of Spain and the crown. It sought to increase revenues and to assert greater crown control, including over the Catholic Church. Centralization of power (beginning with the Nueva Planta decrees against the realms of the Crown of Aragon) was to be for the benefit of the crown and the metropole and for the defense of its empire against foreign incursions. From the viewpoint of Spain, the structures of colonial rule under the Habsburgs were no longer functioning to the benefit of Spain, with much wealth being retained in Spanish America and going to other European powers. The presence of other European powers in the Caribbean, with the English in Barbados (1627), St Kitts (1623–25), and Jamaica (1655); the Dutch in Curaçao, and the French in Saint Domingue (Haiti) (1697), Martinique, and Guadeloupe had broken the integrity of the closed Spanish mercantile system and established thriving sugar colonies.

At the beginning of his reign, the first Spanish Bourbon, King Philip V, reorganized the government to strengthen the executive power of the monarch as was done in France, in place of the deliberative, Polysynodial System of Councils.

Philip's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies (1714) and established commercial companies, the Honduras Company (1714), a Caracas company; the Guipuzcoana Company (1728), and the most successful ones, the Havana Company (1740) and the Barcelona Trading Company (1755).

In 1717–18, the structures for governing the Indies, the Consejo de Indias and the Casa de Contratación, which governed investments in the cumbersome Spanish treasure fleets, were transferred from Seville to Cádiz, where foreign merchant houses had easier access to the Indies trade. Cádiz became the one port for all Indies trading (see flota system). Individual sailings at regular intervals were slow to displace the traditional armed convoys, but by the 1760s there were regular ships plying the Atlantic from Cádiz to Havana and Puerto Rico, and at longer intervals to the Río de la Plata, where an additional viceroyalty was created in 1776. The contraband trade that was the lifeblood of the Habsburg empire declined in proportion to registered shipping (a shipping registry having been established in 1735).

Two upheavals registered unease within Spanish America and at the same time demonstrated the renewed resiliency of the reformed system: the Tupac Amaru uprising in Peru in 1780 and the rebellion of the comuneros of New Granada, both in part reactions to tighter, more efficient control.

18th-century economic conditions

San Felipe de Barajas Fortress Cartagena de Indias. In 1741, the Spanish repulsed a British attack on this fortress in present-day Colombia in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias.

The 18th century was a century of prosperity for the overseas Spanish Empire as trade within grew steadily, particularly in the second half of the century, under the Bourbon reforms. Spain's victory in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias against a British expedition in the Caribbean port of Cartagena de Indias helped Spain secure its dominance of its possessions in the Americas until the 19th century. But different regions fared differently under Bourbon rule, and even while New Spain was particularly prosperous, it was also marked by steep wealth inequality. Silver production boomed in New Spain during the 18th century, with output more than tripling between the start of the century and the 1750s. The economy and the population both grew, both centered around Mexico City. But while mine owners and the crown benefited from the flourishing silver economy, most of the population in the rural Bajío faced rising land prices, falling wages. Eviction of many from their lands resulted.

With a Bourbon monarchy came a repertory of Bourbon mercantilist ideas based on a centralized state, put into effect in the Americas slowly at first but with increasing momentum during the century. Shipping grew rapidly from the mid-1740s until the Seven Years' War (1756–63), reflecting in part the success of the Bourbons in bringing illicit trade under control. With the loosening of trade controls after the Seven Years' War, shipping trade within the empire once again began to expand, reaching an extraordinary rate of growth in the 1780s.

The end of Cádiz's monopoly of trade with the American colonies brought about very important changes, particularly a rebirth of Spanish manufactures. Most notable of those changes were both the beginning of Catalan participation in the Spanish slave trade, and the rapidly growing textile industry of Catalonia which by the mid-1780s saw the first signs of industrialization. This saw the emergence of a small, politically active commercial class in Barcelona. This isolated pocket of advanced economic development stood in stark contrast to the relative backwardness of most of the country. Most of the improvements were in and around some major coastal cities and the major islands such as Cuba, with its tobacco plantations, and a renewed growth of precious metals mining in South America.

Agricultural productivity remained low despite efforts to introduce new techniques to what was for the most part an uninterested, exploited peasant and laboring groups. Governments were inconsistent in their policies. Though there were substantial improvements by the late 18th century, Spain was still an economic backwater. Under the mercantile trading arrangements it had difficulty in providing the goods being demanded by the strongly growing markets of its empire, and providing adequate outlets for the return trade.

From an opposing point of view according to the "backwardness" mentioned above the naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt traveled extensively throughout the Spanish Americas, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view between 1799 and 1804. In his work Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain containing researches relative to the geography of Mexico he says that the Amerindians of New Spain were wealthier than any Russian or German peasant in Europe. According to Humboldt, despite the fact that Indian farmers were poor, under Spanish rule they were free and slavery was non-existent, their conditions were much better than any other peasant or farmer in northern Europe.

Humboldt also published a comparative analysis of bread and meat consumption in New Spain compared to other cities in Europe such as Paris. Mexico City consumed 189 pounds of meat per person per year, in comparison to 163 pounds consumed by the inhabitants of Paris, the Mexicans also consumed almost the same amount of bread as any European city, with 363 kilograms of bread per person per year in comparison to the 377 kilograms consumed in Paris. Caracas consumed seven times more meat per person than in Paris. Von Humboldt also said that the average income in that period was four times the European income and also that the cities of New Spain were richer than many European cities.

Contesting with other empires

Spanish expedition to Oran (1732)
Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1741). Spain defeated a British fleet and inflicted heavy casualties.

Bourbon institutional reforms under Philip V bore fruit militarily when Spanish forces easily retook Naples and Sicily from the Austrians at the Battle of Bitonto in 1734 during the War of the Polish Succession, and during the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–42) thwarted British efforts to capture the strategic cities of Cartagena de Indias, Santiago de Cuba and St. Augustine by defeating a British combined army and navy force, although Spain's invasion of Georgia also failed. The British suffered 25,000 dead or wounded and lost nearly 5,000 ships during the war.

Painting of Bernardo de Gálvez at the Siege of Pensacola (1781) during the American War of Independence. Gálvez cleared the American south of British forts with a multinational army.

In 1742, the War of Jenkins' Ear merged with the larger War of the Austrian Succession, and King George's War in North America. The British, also occupied with France, were unable to capture Spanish convoys, and Spanish privateers captured British merchant shipping along the Triangle Trade routes and attacked the coast of North Carolina, levying tribute on the inhabitants. In Europe, Spain had been trying to divest Maria Theresa of the Duchy of Milan in northern Italy since 1741, but faced the opposition of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, and warfare in northern Italy remained indecisive throughout the period up to 1746. By the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle, Spain gained (indirectly) Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla in northern Italy.

Spain was defeated during the invasion of Portugal and lost both Havana and Manila to British forces towards the end of the Seven Years' War (1756–63), but it promptly recovered these losses and Spanish forces seized British forts in West Florida (present-day Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida) and the British naval base in the Bahamas during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83).

During most of the 18th century, Spanish privateers, particularly from Santo Domingo, were the scourge of the Antilles, with Dutch, British, French and Danish vessels as their prizes.

Rival empires in the Pacific Northwest

Main article: Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest
Spanish territorial claims on the West Coast of North America in the 18th century, contested by the Russians and the British. Most of what Spain claimed in Nootka was not directly occupied or controlled.

Spain claimed all of North America in the Age of Discovery, but claims were not translated into occupation until a major resource was discovered and Spanish settlement and crown rule put in place. The French had established an empire in northern North America and took some islands in the Caribbean. The English established colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America and in northern North America and some Caribbean islands as well. In the eighteenth century, the Spanish crown realized that its territorial claims needed to be defended, particularly in the wake of its visible weakness during the Seven Years' War when Britain captured the important Spanish ports of Havana and Manila. Another important factor was that the Russian empire had expanded into North America from the mid-eighteenth century, with fur trading settlements in what is now Alaska and forts as far south as Fort Ross, California. Great Britain was also expanding into areas that Spain claimed as its territory on the Pacific coast. Taking steps to shore up its fragile claims to California, Spain began planning California missions in 1769. Spain also began a series of voyages to the Pacific Northwest, where Russia and Great Britain were encroaching on claimed territory. The Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest, with Alessandro Malaspina and others sailing for Spain, came too late for Spain to assert its sovereignty in the Pacific Northwest.

The Nootka Crisis (1789–1791) nearly brought Spain and Britain to war. It was a dispute over claims in the Pacific Northwest, where neither nation had established permanent settlements. The crisis could have led to war, but without French support Spain capitulated to British terms and negotiations took place with the Nootka Convention. Spain and Great Britain agreed to not establish settlements and allowed free access to Nootka Sound on the west coast of what is now Vancouver Island. Nevertheless, the outcome of the crisis was a humiliation for Spain and a triumph for Britain, as Spain had practically renounced all sovereignty on the North Pacific coast.

In 1806, Baron Nikolai Rezanov attempted to negotiate a treaty between the Russian-American Company and the Viceroyalty of New Spain, but his unexpected death in 1807 ended any treaty hopes. Spain gave up its claims in the West of North America in the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, ceding its rights there to the United States, allowing the U.S. to purchase Florida, and establishing a boundary between New Spain and the U.S. When the negotiations between the two nations were taking place, Spain's resources were stretched due to the Spanish American wars of independence. Much of the present-day American Southwest later became part of Mexico after its independence from Spain; after the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded to the U.S. present-day California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming for $15 million.

Loss of Spanish Louisiana

Main article: Louisiana (New Spain)
Spanish Empire in 1790. In North America, Spain claimed lands west of the Mississippi River and the Pacific coast from California to Alaska, but it did not control them on the ground. The crown constructed missions and presidios in coastal California and sent maritime expeditions to the Pacific Northwest to assert sovereignty.

The growth of trade and wealth in the colonies caused increasing political tensions as frustration grew with the improving but still restrictive trade with Spain. Alessandro Malaspina's recommendation to turn the empire into a looser confederation to help improve governance and trade so as to quell the growing political tensions between the élites of the empire's periphery and center was suppressed by a monarchy afraid of losing control. All was to be swept away by the tumult that was to overtake Europe at the turn of the 19th century with the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

The first major territory Spain was to lose in the 19th century was the vast Louisiana Territory, which had few European settlers. It stretched north to Canada and was ceded by France in 1763 under the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau. The French, under Napoleon, took back possession as part of the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800 and sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Napoleon's sale of the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803 caused border disputes between the United States and Spain that, with rebellions in West Florida (1810) and in the remainder of Louisiana at the mouth of the Mississippi River, led to their eventual cession to the United States.

End of the global empire (1808–1899)

The Americas towards the year 1800, the colored territories were considered provinces in some maps of the Spanish Empire.
The Spanish Empire in 1898

In 1808, Napoleon maneuvered to place the Spanish king under his control, effectively seizing power without facing resistance. This action sparked resistance from the Spanish people, leading to the Peninsular War. This conflict created a power vacuum lasting nearly a decade, followed by civil wars, transitions to a republic, and eventually the establishment of a liberal democracy. Spain lost all the colonial possessions in the first third of the century, except for Cuba, Puerto Rico and, isolated on the far side of the globe, the Philippines, Guam and nearby Pacific islands, as well as Spanish Sahara, parts of Morocco, and Spanish Guinea.

The wars of independence in Spanish America were triggered by another failed British attempt to seize Spanish American territory, this time in the Río de la Plata estuary in 1806. The viceroy retreated hastily to the hills when defeated by a small British force. However, when the Criollos' militias and colonial army decisively defeated the now reinforced British force in 1807, they promptly embarked on the path to securing their own independence, igniting independence movements across the continent. A long period of wars followed in the Americas, and the lack of Spanish troops in the colonies led to war between patriotic rebels and local Royalists. In South America this period of wars led to the independence of Argentina (1810), Gran Colombia (1810), Chile (1810), Paraguay (1811) and Uruguay (1815, but subsequently ruled by Brazil until 1828). José de San Martín campaigned for independence in Chile (1818) and in Peru (1821). Further north, Simón Bolívar led forces that won independence between 1811 and 1826 for the area that became Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia (then Upper Peru). Panama declared independence in 1821 and merged with the Republic of Gran Colombia (from 1821 to 1903). Mexico gained independence in 1821 after more than a decade of struggle, following the War of Independence that began in 1810. Mexico's independence led to the independence of Central American provinces—Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica—by 1823.

Estimates of the number killed in the Mexican War of Independence range from 250,000 to 500,000 individuals, and a large number of people also fled Mexico. Throughout the eleven years of fighting, Spain sent only 9,685 troops to Mexico. Over the course of nine years, 20,000 Spanish soldiers were sent to reinforce the Spanish American Royalists in northern South America. However, disease and combat claimed the lives of 16,000–17,000 of these soldiers. Even within the Viceroyalty of Peru, the center of Spanish power in South America, the majority of the Royalist army consisted of Americans. After the Battle of Ayacucho in 1824, the captured Royalist army consisted of 1,512 Spanish Americans and only 751 Spaniards. Only 6,000 troops were sent to Peru directly from Spain, although others arrived from neighboring theaters of operation. In contrast, Spain demonstrated a greater military commitment in the Caribbean, sending 30,000 troops to Santo Domingo in 1861 and maintaining a force of 100,000 soldiers in Cuba in 1876.

Victims of the reconcentration policy of Valeriano Weyler in Cuba, 1898
Spanish garrison marching in the Philippines

Cuba did not experience its first serious independence movement until the late 1860s. The First War for Independence was fought from 1868 to 1878, resulting in between 100,000 and 150,000 Cuban deaths. The Second War for Independence occurred between 1895 and 1898, during which approximately 300,000 Cubans died, with around 200,000 civilian deaths attributed to disease and famine caused by Spanish concentration camps. Two contemporary sources estimated that by December 1895, the rebel army had lost between 29,850 and 42,800 men, and many Cuban generals were killed in combat.

American sympathy for Cuban revolutionaries grew due to reports of atrocities and the sinking of the USS Maine. On 25 April 1898, the U.S. declared war on Spain, leading to victories in both Cuba and the Philippines. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris (1898), which ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the U.S. and sold the Philippines for US$20 million. The following year, Spain then sold its remaining Pacific Ocean possessions to Germany in the German–Spanish Treaty, retaining only its African territories. On 2 June 1899, the second expeditionary battalion Cazadores of Philippines, the last Spanish garrison in the Philippines, which had been besieged in Baler, Aurora at war's end, was pulled out, effectively ending around 300 years of Spanish hegemony in the archipelago.

Territories in Africa (1885–1976)

Main articles: Spanish Guinea, Spanish West Africa, Spanish Sahara, and Spanish protectorate in Morocco
A map of Spanish Guinea

By the end of the 17th century, only Melilla, Alhucemas, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera (which had been taken again in 1564), and Ceuta (part of the Portuguese Empire since 1415, chose to retain their links to Spain once the Iberian Union ended. The formal allegiance of Ceuta to Spain was recognized by the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668), and Oran and Mers El Kébir remained Spanish territories in Africa. The latter cities were lost in 1708, reconquered in 1732 and sold by Charles IV in 1792.

In 1778, Fernando Pó (now Bioko), adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the Niger and Ogooué rivers were ceded to Spain by the Portuguese in exchange for territory in South America (Treaty of El Pardo). In the 19th century, some Spanish explorers and missionaries would cross this zone, among them Manuel Iradier. In 1848, Spanish troops occupied the uninhabited Chafarinas Islands, anticipating a French move on the rocks located off the North-African coast.

General Prim at the Battle of Tétouan

In 1860, after the Tetuan War, Morocco paid Spain 100 million pesetas as war reparations and ceded Sidi Ifni to Spain as a part of the Treaty of Tangiers, on the basis of the old outpost of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña, thought to be Sidi Ifni. The following decades of Franco-Spanish collaboration resulted in the establishment and extension of Spanish protectorates south of the city, and Spanish influence obtained international recognition in the Berlin Conference of 1884: Spain administered Sidi Ifni and Spanish Sahara jointly. Spain claimed a protectorate over the coast of Guinea from Cape Bojador to Cap Blanc, too, and even try to press a claim over the Adrar and Tiris regions in Mauritania. Río Muni became a protectorate in 1885 and a colony in 1900. Conflicting claims to the Guinea mainland were settled in 1900 by the Treaty of Paris, because of which Spain was left with a mere 26,000 km out of the 300,000 stretching east to the Ubangi River which they initially claimed.

 Spanish territories in Africa (1914)

Following a brief war in 1893, Morocco paid war reparations of 20 million pesetas and Spain expanded its influence south from Melilla. In 1912, Morocco was divided between the French and Spanish. The Riffians rebelled, led by Abdelkrim, a former officer for the Spanish administration. The Battle of Annual (1921) during the Rif War was a major military defeat suffered by the Spanish army against Moroccan insurgents. A leading Spanish politician emphatically declared: "We are at the most acute period of Spanish decadence". After the disaster of Annual, Spain began using German chemical weapons against the Moroccans. In September 1925, the Alhucemas landing by the Spanish Army and Navy with a small collaboration of an allied French contingent put an end to the Rif War. It is considered the first successful amphibious landing in history supported by seaborne air power and tanks.

Spanish officers in Africa in 1920

In 1923, Tangier was declared an international city under French, Spanish, British, and later Italian joint administration. In 1926, Bioko and Rio Muni were united as the colony of Spanish Guinea, a status that would last until 1959. In 1931, following the fall of the monarchy, the African colonies became part of the Second Spanish Republic. In 1934, during the government of Prime Minister Alejandro Lerroux, Spanish troops led by General Osvaldo Capaz landed in Sidi Ifni and carried out the occupation of the territory, ceded de jure by Morocco in 1860. Two years later, Francisco Franco, a general of the Army of Africa, rebelled against the republican government and started the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). During the Second World War the Vichy French presence in Tangier was overcome by that of Francoist Spain.

Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in its African colonies during the first half of the 20th century. However, through a paternalistic system, particularly on Bioko Island, Spain developed large cocoa plantations for which thousands of Nigerian workers were imported as laborers.

Morocco and Spanish territories

In 1956, when French Morocco became independent, Spain surrendered Spanish Morocco to the new nation, but retained control of Sidi Ifni, the Tarfaya region and Spanish Sahara. Moroccan Sultan (later King) Mohammed V was interested in these territories and unsuccessfully invaded Spanish Sahara in 1957, in the Ifni War, or in Spain, the Forgotten War (la Guerra Olvidada). In 1958, Spain ceded Tarfaya to Mohammed V and joined the previously separate districts of Saguia el-Hamra (in the north) and Río de Oro (in the south) to form the province of Spanish Sahara.

Map of Spain in 1960. Present-day Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara, as well as the Ifni territory (Morocco), were still part of Spain.

In 1959, the Spanish territory on the Gulf of Guinea was established with a status similar to the provinces of metropolitan Spain. As the Spanish Equatorial Region, it was ruled by a governor general exercising military and civilian powers. The first local elections were held in 1959, and the first Equatoguinean representatives were seated in the Spanish parliament. Under the Basic Law of December 1963, limited autonomy was authorized under a joint legislative body for the territory's two provinces. The name of the country was changed to Equatorial Guinea. In March 1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the United Nations, Spain announced that it would grant the country independence.

In 1969, under international pressure, Spain returned Sidi Ifni to Morocco. Spanish control of Spanish Sahara endured until the 1975 Green March prompted a withdrawal, under Moroccan military pressure. The future of this former Spanish colony remains uncertain.

The Canary Islands and Spanish cities in the African mainland are considered an equal part of Spain and the European Union but have a different tax system.

Morocco still claims Ceuta, Melilla, and plazas de soberanía even though they are internationally recognized as administrative divisions of Spain. Isla Perejil was occupied on 11 July 2002 by Moroccan Gendarmerie and troops, who were evicted by Spanish naval forces in a bloodless operation.

Imperial economic policy

See also: Latin American economy § Colonial era and Independence (ca. 1500–1850)
Cerro de Potosí, discovered in 1545, the rich, sole source of silver from Peru, worked by compulsory indigenous labor called mit'a.
Main trade routes of the Spanish Empire

The Spanish Empire benefited from favorable factor endowments from its overseas possessions with their large, exploitable indigenous populations and rich mining areas. Thus the crown attempted to create and maintain a classic closed mercantile system, warding off competitors and keeping wealth within the empire, specifically within the Crown of Castile. While in theory the Habsburgs were committed to maintaining a state monopoly, the reality was that the empire was a porous economic realm with widespread smuggling. In the 16th and 17th centuries under the Habsburgs, Spain's economic conditions gradually declined, especially in regards to the industrial development of its French, Dutch, and English rivals. Many of the goods being exported to the Empire originated from manufacturers in northwest Europe rather than in Spain. Illicit commercial activities became a part of the Empire's administrative structure. Supported by large flows of silver from the Americas, trade prohibited by Spanish mercantilist restrictions flourished as it provided a source of income to both crown officials and private merchants. The local administrative structure in Buenos Aires, for example, was established through its oversight of both legal and illegal commerce. The crown's pursuit of wars to maintain and expand territory, defend the Catholic faith, stamp out Protestantism, and beat back the Ottoman Turkish strength outstripped its ability to pay for it all, despite the huge production of silver in Peru and New Spain. Most of that flow paid mercenary soldiers in the European religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and paid foreign merchants for the consumer goods manufactured in northern Europe. Paradoxically, the wealth of the Indies impoverished Spain and enriched northern Europe, a course the Bourbon monarchs would later attempt to reverse in the eighteenth century.

This was well acknowledged in Spain, with writers on political economy, the arbitristas, sending the crown lengthy analyses in the form of "memorials, of the perceived problems and with proposed solutions." According to these thinkers, "Royal expenditure must be regulated, the sale of office halted, the growth of the church checked. The tax system must be overhauled, special concessions be made to agricultural laborers, rivers be made navigable and dry lands irrigated. In this way alone could Castile's productivity increase, its commerce restored, and its humiliating dependence on foreigners, on the Dutch and the Genoese, be brought to an end."

From 1715 to 1759, a third of Spanish ship production was from the Havana shipyard. In 1735, its expansion, in the same port, meant an increase in construction capacity. This shipyard in the 18th century developed the most complete dockyard in the New World.

Since the early days of the Caribbean and conquest era, the crown attempted to control trade between Spain and the Indies with restrictive policies enforced by the House of Trade (est. 1503) in Seville. Shipping was through particular ports in Castile: Seville, and subsequently Cádiz, Spanish America: Veracruz, Acapulco, Havana, Cartagena de Indias, and Callao/Lima, and the Philippines: Manila. There were very few Spanish settlers in the Indies in the very early period and Spain could supply sufficient goods to them. But as the Aztec and Inca empires were conquered in the early sixteenth century, and large deposits of silver found in both Mexico and Peru, Spanish immigration increased and the demand for goods rose far beyond Spain's ability to supply it. Since Spain had little capital to invest in the expanding trade and no significant commercial group, bankers and commercial houses in Genoa, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and England supplied both investment capital and goods in a supposedly closed system. Even in the sixteenth century, Spain recognized that the idealized closed system did not function in reality. Since the crown did not alter its restrictive structure or advocate fiscal prudence, despite the pleas of the arbitristas, the Indies trade remained nominally in the hands of Spain, but in fact enriched the other European countries.

The Spanish dollar, natively called Peso, was the main coin of the Spanish Empire, this coin is from 1739.

The crown established the system of treasure fleets (Spanish: flota) to protect the conveyance of silver to Seville (later Cádiz). Produced in other European countries, Sevillian merchants conveyed consumer goods that were registered and taxed by the House of Trade, and then sent to the Indies. Other European commercial interests came to dominate supply, with Spanish merchant houses and their guilds (consulados) in both Spain and the Indies acting as mere middlemen, reaping a slice of the profits. However, those profits did not promote a manufacturing sector in Spain's economic development, and its economy continued to be based in agriculture. The wealth of the Indies led to prosperity in northern Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and England, which were both Protestant. As Spain's power weakened in the seventeenth century, England, the Netherlands, and the French took advantage overseas by seizing islands in the Caribbean, which became bases for a burgeoning contraband trade in Spanish America. Crown officials, who were supposed to suppress contraband trade, were quite often in cahoots with the foreigners, since it was a source of personal enrichment. In Spain, the crown itself participated in collusion with foreign merchant houses, since they paid fines "meant to establish a compensation to the state for losses through fraud." It became a calculated risk for merchant houses doing business, and for the crown it gained income that would have otherwise been lost. Foreign merchants were part of the supposed monopoly system of trade. The transfer of the House of Trade from Seville to Cádiz meant foreign merchant houses had even easier access to the Spanish trade.

The Spanish imperial economy's major global impact was silver mining. The mines in Peru and Mexico were in the hands of a few elite mining entrepreneurs with access to capital and a stomach for the risk that mining entailed. They operated under a system of royal licensing, since the crown held the rights to subsoil wealth. Mining entrepreneurs assumed all the risk of the enterprise, while the crown gained a 20% slice of the profits, the royal fifth ("quinto real"). Further adding to the crown's revenues in mining was that it held a monopoly on the mercury supply, used for separating pure silver from silver ore in the patio process. The crown kept the price high, thereby depressing the volume of silver production. Protecting its flow from Mexico and Peru as it transited to ports for shipment to Spain resulted early on in a convoy system (the flota) sailing twice a year. Its success can be judged by the fact that the silver fleet was captured only once, in 1628 by Dutch privateer Piet Hein. That loss resulted in the bankruptcy of the Spanish crown and an extended period of economic depression in Spain.

One practice the Spanish used to gather workers for the mines was called repartimiento. This was a rotational forced labor system where indigenous pueblos were obligated to send laborers to work in Spanish mines and plantations for a set number of days out of the year. Repartimiento was not implemented to replace slave labor, but instead existed alongside free wage labor, slavery, and indentured labor. It was, however, a way for the Spanish to procure cheap labor, thus boosting the mining-driven economy.

The men who worked as repartimiento laborers were not always resistant to the practice. Some were drawn to the labor as a way to supplement the wages they earned cultivating fields so as to support their families and, of course, pay tributes. At first, a Spaniard could get repartimiento laborers to work for them with permission from a crown official, such as a viceroy, only on the basis that this labor was absolutely necessary to provide the country with important resources. This condition became laxer as the years went on, and various enterprises had repartimiento laborers who would work in dangerous conditions for long hours and low wages.

Cover of the English translation of the Asiento contract signed by Britain and Spain in 1713 as part of the Utrecht treaty that ended the War of Spanish Succession. The contract broke the monopoly of Spanish slave traders to sell slaves in Spanish America.

During the Bourbon era, economic reforms sought to reverse the pattern that left Spain impoverished with no manufacturing sector and its colonies' need for manufactured goods supplied by other nations. It attempted to establish a closed trading system, but it was hampered by the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. The treaty ending the War of the Spanish Succession, with a victory for the Bourbon French candidate for the throne, had a provision for British merchants to legally sell slaves with a license (Asiento de Negros) slaves to Spanish America. The provision undermined the possibility of a revamped Spanish monopoly system. The merchants also used the opportunity to engage in contraband trade of their manufactured goods. Crown policy sought to make legal trade more appealing than contraband by instituting free commerce (comercio libre) in 1778, whereby Spanish American ports could trade with each other, and they could trade with any port in Spain. It was aimed at revamping a closed Spanish system and outflanking the increasingly powerful British. Silver production revived in the eighteenth century, with production far surpassing the earlier output. The crown reduced the taxes on mercury, meaning that a greater volume of pure silver could be refined. Silver mining absorbed most of the available capital in Mexico and Peru, and the crown emphasized the production of precious metals, which were sent to Spain. There was some economic development in the Indies to supply food, but a diversified economy did not emerge. The economic reforms of the Bourbon era both shaped and were themselves impacted by geopolitical developments in Europe. The Bourbon Reforms arose out of the War of the Spanish Succession. In turn, the crown's attempt to tighten its control over its colonial markets in the Americas led to further conflict with other European powers who were vying for access to them. After a sparking a series of skirmishes throughout the 1700s over its stricter policies, Spain's reformed trade system led to war with Britain in 1796. In the Americas, meanwhile, economic policies enacted under the Bourbons had different impacts in different regions. On one hand, silver production in New Spain greatly increased and led to economic growth. But much of the profits of the revitalized mining sector went to mining elites and state officials, while in rural areas of New Spain conditions for rural workers deteriorated, contributing to social unrest that would impact subsequent revolts.

Scientific investigations and expeditions

Portrait of Alexander von Humboldt by Friedrich Georg Weitsch, 1806

The Spanish American Enlightenment produced a huge body of information on Spain's overseas empire via scientific expeditions. The most famous traveler in Spanish America was Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt, whose travel writings, especially Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain and scientific observations remain important sources for the history of Spanish America. Humboldt's expedition was authorized by the crown, but was self-funded from his personal fortune. The Bourbon crown promoted state-funded scientific work prior to the famous Humboldt expedition. Eighteenth-century clerics contributed to the expansion of scientific knowledge. These include José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez, and José Celestino Mutis.

The Spanish crown funded a number of important scientific expeditions: Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru (1777–78); Royal Botanical Expedition to New Granada (1783–1816); the Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain (1787–1803); which scholars are now examining afresh. Although the crown funded a number of Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest to bolster claims to territory, lengthy transatlantic and transpacific Malaspina-Bustamante Expedition was for scientific purposes. The crown also funded the Balmis Expedition in 1804 to vaccinate colonial populations against smallpox.

Much of the research done in the eighteenth century was never published or otherwise disseminated, in part due to budgetary constraints on the crown. Starting in the late twentieth century, research on the history of science in Spain and the Spanish empire has blossomed, with primary sources being published in scholarly editions or reissued, as well the publication of a considerable number of important scholarly studies.

Legacy

See also: Spanish colonial architecture and Analysis of Western European colonialism and colonization

Although the Spanish Empire declined from its apogee in the late seventeenth century, it remained a wonder for other Europeans for its sheer geographical span. Writing in 1738, English author Samuel Johnson questioned, "Has heaven reserved, in pity to the poor,/No pathless waste or undiscovered shore,/No secret island in the boundless main,/No peaceful desert yet unclaimed by Spain?"

The Spanish Empire left a huge linguistic, religious, political, cultural, and urban architectural legacy in the Western Hemisphere. With over 470 million native speakers today, Spanish is the second most spoken native language in the world, as result of the introduction of the language of Castile—Castilian, "Castellano" —from Iberia to Spanish America, later expanded by the governments of successor independent republics. In the Philippines, the Spanish–American War (1898) brought the islands under U.S. jurisdiction, with English being imposed in schools and Spanish becoming a secondary official language. Many indigenous languages throughout the empire were often lost either as indigenous populations were decimated by war and disease, or as indigenous people mixed with colonists, and the Spanish language was taught and spread over time.

An important cultural legacy of the Spanish empire overseas is Roman Catholicism, which remains the main religious faith in Spanish America and the Philippines. Christian evangelization of indigenous peoples was a key responsibility of the crown and a justification for its imperial expansion. Although indigenous were considered neophytes and insufficiently mature in their faith for indigenous men to be ordained to the priesthood, the indigenous were part of the Catholic community of faith. Catholic orthodoxy was enforced by the Inquisition, particularly targeting crypto-Jews and Protestants. Not until after their independence in the nineteenth century did Spanish American republics allow religious toleration of other faiths. Observances of Catholic holidays often have strong regional expressions and remain important in many parts of Spanish America. Observances include Day of the Dead, Carnival, Holy Week, Corpus Christi, Epiphany, and national saints' days, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico.

Politically, the colonial era has strongly influenced modern Spanish America. The territorial divisions of the empire in Spanish America became the basis for boundaries between new republics after independence and for state divisions within countries. It is often argued that the rise of caudillismo during and after Latin American independence movements created a legacy of authoritarianism in the region. There was no significant development of representative institutions during the colonial era, and the executive power was often made stronger than the legislative power during the national period as a result.

This has led to a popular misconception that the colonial legacy has caused the region to have an extremely oppressed proletariat. Revolts and riots are often seen as evidence of this supposed extreme oppression. However, the culture of revolting against an unpopular government is not simply a confirmation of widespread authoritarianism. The colonial legacy did leave a political culture of revolt, but not always as a desperate last act. The civil unrest of the region is seen by some as a form of political involvement. While the political context of the political revolutions in Spanish America is understood to be one in which liberal elites competed to form new national political structures, so too were those elites responding to mass lower-class political mobilization and participation.

Hundreds of towns and cities in the Americas were founded during the Spanish rule, with the colonial centers and buildings of many of them now designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites attracting tourists. The tangible heritage includes universities, forts, cities, cathedrals, schools, hospitals, missions, government buildings and colonial residences, many of which still stand today. A number of present-day roads, canals, ports or bridges sit where Spanish engineers built them centuries ago. The oldest universities in the Americas were founded by Spanish scholars and Catholic missionaries. The Spanish Empire also left a vast cultural and linguistic legacy. The cultural legacy is also present in the music, cuisine, and fashion, some of which have been granted the status of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The long colonial period in Spanish America resulted in a mixing of indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans that were classified by race and hierarchically ranked, which created a markedly different society than the European colonies of North America. In concert with the Portuguese, the Spanish Empire laid the foundations of a truly global trade by opening up the great trans-oceanic trade routes and the exploration of unknown territories and oceans for the western knowledge. The Spanish dollar became the world's first global currency.

One of the features of this trade was the exchange of a great array of domesticated plants and animals between the Old World and the New in the Columbian Exchange. Some cultivars that were introduced to the Americas included grapes, wheat, barley, apples and citrous fruits; animals that were introduced to the New World were horses, donkeys, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens. The Old World received from the Americas such things as maize, potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, squash, cacao (chocolate), vanilla, avocados, pineapples, chewing gum, rubber, peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, pecans, blueberries, strawberries, quinoa, amaranth, chia, agave and others. The result of these exchanges was to significantly improve the agricultural potential of not only in the Americas, but also that of Europe and Asia. Diseases brought by Europeans and Africans, such as smallpox, measles, typhus, and others, devastated almost all indigenous populations that had no immunity.

There were also cultural influences, which can be seen in everything from architecture to food, music, art and law, from southern Argentina and Chile to the United States of America together with the Philippines. The complex origins and contacts of different peoples resulted in cultural influences coming together in the varied forms evident today in the former colonial areas.

Gallery

See also

References

Notes

  1. The Catholic Church was the State religion of the Spanish Empire, but the following religions were also present in the empire: Islam (Sunni Islam (Hanafi and Maliki schools), Shia Islam, Crypto-Islam), Aztec religions, Inca religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Animism and Judaism (Crypto-Judaism).
  2. Spanish: Imperio español
  3. Spanish: Monarquía Hispánica
  4. Spanish: Monarquía Católica
  5. ... In August, the Duke besieged Ceuta and took the whole city except the citadel, but with the arrival of Afonso V in the same fleet which led him to France, he preferred to leave the square. As a consequence, this was the end of the attempted settlement of Gibraltar by converts from Judaism ... which D. Enrique de Guzmán had allowed in 1474, since he blamed them for the disaster. See Ladero Quesada, Miguel Ángel (2000), "Portugueses en la frontera de Granada" in En la España Medieval, vol. 23 (in Spanish), p. 98, ISSN 0214-3038.
  6. A dominated Ceuta by the Castilians would certainly have forced a share of the right to conquer the Kingdom of Fez (Morocco) between Portugal and Castile instead of the Portuguese monopoly recognized by the treaty of Alcáçovas. See Coca Castañer (2004), "El papel de Granada en las relaciones castellano-portuguesas (1369–1492)", in Espacio, tiempo y forma (in Spanish), Serie III, Historia Medieval, tome 17, p. 350: ... In that summer, D. Enrique de Guzmán crossed the Strait with five thousand men to conquer Ceuta, managing to occupy part of the urban area on the first thrust, but knowing that the Portuguese King was coming with reinforcements to the besieged , he decided to withdraw ...
  7. A Castilian fleet attacked the Praia's Bay in Terceira Island but the landing forces were decimated by a Portuguese counter-attack because the rowers panicked and fled with the boats. See chronicler Frutuoso, Gaspar (1963)- Saudades da Terra (in Portuguese), Edição do Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada, volume 6, chapter I, p. 10. See also Cordeiro, António (1717)- Historia Insulana (in Portuguese), Book VI, Chapter VI, p. 257
  8. This attack happened during the Castilian war of Succession. See Leite, José Guilherme Reis- Inventário do Património Imóvel dos Açores Breve esboço sobre a História da Praia (in Portuguese).
  9. This was a decisive battle because after it, in spite of the Catholic Monarchs' attempts, they were unable to send new fleets to Guinea, Canary or to any part of the Portuguese empire until the end of the war. The Perfect Prince sent an order to drown any Castilian crew captured in Guinea waters. Even the Castilian navies which left to Guinea before the signature of the peace treaty had to pay the tax ("quinto") to the Portuguese crown when returned to Castile after the peace treaty. Isabella had to ask permission to Afonso V so that this tax could be paid in Castilian harbors. Naturally all this caused a grudge against the Catholic Monarchs in Andalusia.
  10. Italian financiers from Milan and Genoa managed the crown's credit, while Italian generals, soldiers, and ships played a crucial role in supporting Spain's army and naval power. The Duchy of Milan served as Spain's main military base in Europe, blocking French expansion and facilitating troop movements via the Spanish Road. Milan's armaments industry provided war materials, and the Kingdom of Naples contributed recruits and taxes, which many Italians saw as exploitation for Spain's imperial ambitions, although Philip II insisted that the monarchy did not intend to exploit them.

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