Spanish Empire - wikipedia Spanish Empire For the use of the imperial title in medieval Spain, see Imperator totius Hispaniae. Spanish Empire Monarquía Hispánica Monarquía universal española Imperio Español 1492 -- 1975 Flag Motto `` Plus ultra '' ( Latin ) `` Further Beyond '' The areas of the world that at one time were territories of the Spanish Monarchy or Empire. Capital Madrid ( 1561 -- 1601 ) Valladolid ( 1601 -- 06 ) Madrid ( from 1606 ) Languages Spanish, Latin ( formal ) ; also Italian, Sardinian, Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, Catalan, Galician, Nahuatl, Zapotec, Maya and other indigenous languages Religion Catholic Church Government Composite monarchy ( Habsburgs ) Absolute monarchy ( Bourbons ) King Kings of Spain History Established 1492 Disestablished Preceded by Succeeded by Crown of Castile Crown of Aragon Emirate of Granada Kingdom of Navarre Burgundian Netherlands Episcopal principality of Utrecht Aztec Empire Inca Empire Maya Civilization Tondo ( historical polity ) Madja - as Sultanate of Sulu Louisiana ( New France ) Spain First Mexican Empire Gran Colombia United Provinces of the Río de la Plata Chile Bolivia Protectorate of Peru First Philippine Republic Equatorial Guinea Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Louisiana ( New France ) Florida Territory United States Military Government in Cuba Puerto Rico Warning : Value not specified for `` continent '' The Spanish Empire ( Spanish : Imperio español ) was one of the largest empires in history. At the time, it was not known as that by Spaniards, but rather the Spanish Monarchy ( Monarquía española ) with the monarch ruling kingdoms in Spain, the possessions of the king in Italy and northern Europe, and in the `` Spanish Indies, '' its New World territories. From the late fifteenth century to the early nineteenth, Spain 's kingdom of Castile controlled a huge overseas territory in the New World. The crown 's main source of wealth was from gold and silver mined in Mexico and Peru. The empire reached the peak of its military, political and economic power under the Spanish Habsburgs, through most of the 16th and 17th centuries, and its greatest territorial extent under the House of Bourbon in the 18th century. The Spanish Empire became the foremost global power of its time and it was the first to be called ' The empire on which the sun never sets '. Religious unity under Roman Catholicism was achieved in Spain, following the completion of the Christian reconquest of Spain in 1492, and the expulsion of Jews from Spain that same year. In Spanish overseas expansion, Queen Isabel 's top priority was the conversion of pagan indigenous peoples ( the `` spiritual conquest '' ) and their incorporation into the Christian community of faith. For the papacy, this was a key factor in justifying Spanish military conquest and it granted the right of crown patronage in its New World territories. The monarch 's authority enlarged by its support of the Roman Catholic Church. The Spanish Empire originated during the Age of Discovery after the voyages of Christopher Columbus. It comprised territories and colonies of the Spanish monarch in the Americas and the Philippines with some territory in North Africa and Oceania. The Spanish American wars of independence ( 1808 - 1826 ) in the early nineteenth century stripped Spain of its most valuable colonies, but it retained Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and the Marianas, as well as various territories in Africa under Spanish rule. Following the Spanish -- American War of 1898, Spain ceded its last colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific to the United States. Its last African colonies were granted independence or abandoned during Decolonization of Africa finishing in 1976. The dynastic union between Isabel of Castile and the Ferdinand of Aragón, known as the Catholic Monarchs, initiated political, religious, and social cohesion but not political unification. Iberian kingdoms retained their political identities, with particular administration and juridical configurations. Castile became dominant because of its jurisdiction over the overseas empire in the Americas and the Philippines, with its enormous flow of silver bullion and a slice of the Asia trade through the Philippines and Manila galleon. From 1580 to 1640, the ruler of Castile also ruled the kingdom of Portugal, Castile 's longtime rival, but they remained separate entities. After an period of delegation of authority of the crown of Castile in the Americas and rewards to Christopher Columbus and his heirs and to conquerors in the central areas of Mexico and Peru, the crown asserted control over those territories. There were fewer constraints on royal power in its overseas territories than on the peninsula. It established control over trade and immigration through the House of Trade ( 1503 ) ; high courts audiencias, starting in 1511 in Santo Domingo and 1527 in Mexico ; and a council devoted to overseeing governance in the overseas empire, the Council of the Indies ( 1524 ), based in Spain. It also established viceroyalties first in Mexico ( 1535 ) and Peru ( 1544 ). In the religious sphere, the crown of Castile was granted a concession by the papacy in 1501 and 1508 the power of appointment of ecclesiastical positions, administer ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and even veto papal bulls. The organization of governance of the overseas empire established under the Hapsburg monarchy was significantly reformed in the late eighteenth century by the Bourbon monarchs. Spain had claimed the Caribbean, all of North America and most of South America, with the exception of Brazil, which was claimed by Portugal. But other European powers did not recognize the division of territory between Spain and Portugal. English, Dutch and French settlements on the mainland of North America and in the Caribbean islands complicated the situation in the Americas. The Portuguese pressed for further territory in South America, codified by the Treaty of San Ildefonso ( 1777 ), but Spain gained the Mediterranean port of Ceuta from Portugal in the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668. In 1704 Britain gained Gibraltar, which Spain still claims. Following Britain 's seizure of the key Spanish ports of Havana, Cuba and Manila, the Philippines, in the Seven Years ' War, Spain stepped up military measures to secure its empire, establishing missions and presidios in Mexico 's northern frontier, particularly in California over concerns about Russian colonization of the Americas. Spain aided the Thirteen Colonies in their successful war of independence, but Spain soon found the United States directly bordering Mexico. Spain was persuaded to return the Louisiana Territory to France in 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte Louisiana Purchase then sold it to the United States in 1803. Napoleon Bonaparte 's invasion of Iberia, forcing the abdication of Charles IV and replacing him with Bonaparte 's brother Joseph, produced unforeseen changes in Spain and its overseas empire. The outbreak of the Spanish American wars of independence was a result of Napoleon 's destabilizing actions in Spain and led to the fragmentation of the former viceroyalties into independent nation - states. Royal government disappeared and local strongmen emerged in the Spanish American republics in the wake of these wars. Contents 1 Origins 1.1 Canary Islands 1.2 Rivalry with Portugal 1.3 Treaty of Tordesillas 1.4 Papal Bulls and the Americas 1.5 First settlements in the Americas 1.6 Struggles for Italy 1.7 Campaigns in North Africa 1.8 Oran 2 The Spanish Habsburgs 2.1 Spanish intervention in Europe 2.1. 1 Struggles of Charles V for Italy 2.1. 2 Religious conflicts in the Holy Roman Empire 2.1. 3 Defeat of France 2.1. 4 Conflicts in northern Europe 2.1. 5 The pacification at the time of Philip III 2.1. 6 Philip IV 2.1. 7 The Last Spanish Habsburgs 2.2 Africa and the Mediterranean 3 The New World 3.1 Explorers and conquerors 3.2 Organization and administration 3.2. 1 Audiencias, the High Courts 3.2. 2 Cabildos or town councils 3.3 Education 4 The Spanish Bourbons : reform and recovery ( 1700 -- 1808 ) 4.1 Bourbon reforms 4.2 18th - century prosperity 4.3 Overseas expansion 5 Twilight of the global empire ( 1800 -- 1899 ) 5.1 Spanish American independence 5.2 Changes and reaction 6 Territories in Africa ( 1885 -- 1975 ) 7 Legacy 8 See also 9 References 9.1 Notes 9.2 Bibliography 9.3 Further reading 10 External links Origins During the 15th century, Castile and Portugal became territorial and commercial rivals in the Atlantic. Portugal was first in expansion, but Castile laid claim to the Canary Islands ( 1402 ) and retook territory from the Moors in 1462. Castile and Portugal came to formal agreements over the division of new territories in the Treaty of Alcaçovas ( 1479 ) and then the Treaty of Tordesillas ( 1494 ), following the voyage by Christopher Columbus in 1492 to the New World. Canary islands Main article : Conquest of the Canary Islands 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. Rivalry with Portugal See also : Battle of Guinea, Palos de la Frontera, and 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 conquest of the Canary Islands ( 1402 - 1496 ) 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 get 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 ). The Castilian fleets fought in the Atlantic Ocean, temporarily occupying the Cape Verde islands ( 1476 ), conquering the city of Ceuta in Tingitana Peninsula, in 1476 ( but retaken by the Portuguese ), and even attacked the Azores islands, being defeated at Praia. But the turning point of the war came in 1478, when a Castilian fleet sent by King Ferdinand to conquer Gran Canaria lost men and ships to the Portuguese who expelled it, and above all, 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 ( of Guinea ) 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 ( plus the right to conquer the Kingdom of Fez ). '' 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 ). Iberian ' mare clausum ' in the Age of Discovery. However, this experience would prove to be profitable for the 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 world 's division would be reached at Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers. Treaty of Tordesillas Main article : Treaty of Tordesillas The return of Columbus, 1493. Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, and his son Ferdinand II of Aragon, married to the Queen of Castile, Isabella, 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 drove the last Moorish 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 inaugurated 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, which vested the sovereignty of the territories discovered and to be discovered. Castile and Portugal divided the world in The Treaty of Tordesillas. 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 globe was split into two hemispheres dividing Spanish and Portuguese claims. These actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south ( except Brazil ), 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. 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. On the other hand, 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. Papal bulls and the Americas Upon the death of Ferdinand the Catholic, the lordship of the Spanish Indies became Kingdoms of the Indies. The Papal Bull Inter caetera of 1493 by Alexander VI, a Valencian known as Rodrigo Borgia before his election as pope, vested government and jurisdiction of newly found lands in the kings of Castile and León and their successors. According to the Concord of Segovia of 1475, Ferdinand was mentioned in the bulls as king of Castile, and upon his death the title of the Indies was to be incorporated into the Crown of Castile. The territories were incorporated by the Catholic Monarchs as jointly held assets. In the Treaty of Villafáfila of 1506, Ferdinand renounced not only the government of Castile in favour of his son - in - law Philip I of Castile but also the lordship of the Indies, withholding a half of the income of the kingdoms of the Indies. Joanna of Castile and Philip immediately added to their titles the kingdoms of Indies, Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea. But the Treaty of Villafáfila did not hold for long because of the death of Philip ; Ferdinand returned as regent of Castile and as `` lord the Indies ''. According to the domain granted by Papal bulls and the wills of queen Isabella of Castile in 1504 and king Ferdinand of Aragon in 1516, such property became held by the Crown of Castile. This arrangement was ratified by successive monarchs, beginning with Charles I in 1519 in a decree that spelt out the juridical status of the new overseas territories. The lordship of the discovered territories conveyed by papal bulls was private to the kings of Castile and León. The political condition of the Indies were to transform from `` Lordship '' of the Catholic Monarchs to `` Kingdoms '' for the heirs of Castile. Although the Alexandrine Bulls gave full, free and omnipotent power to the Catholic Monarchs, they did not rule them as a private property but as a public property through the public bodies and authorities from Castile, and when those territories were incorporated into the Crown of Castile the royal power was subject to the laws of Castile. First settlements in the Americas See also : Voyages of Christopher Columbus and Treaty of Tordesillas Discovery of the Mississippi. With the Capitulations of Santa Fe, the Crown of Castile granted expansive power to Christopher Columbus, including exploration, settlement, political power, and revenues, with sovereignty reserved to the Crown. The first voyage established sovereignty for the crown, and the crown acted on the assumption that Columbus 's grandiose assessment of what he found was true, so Spain negotiated the Treaty of Tordesillas with Portugal to protect their territory on the Spanish side of the line. The crown fairly quickly reassessed its relationship with Columbus and moved to assert more direct crown control over the territory and extinguish his privileges. With that lesson learned, the crown was far more prudent in the specifying the terms of exploration, conquest, and settlement in new areas. The pattern in the Caribbean that played out over the larger Spanish Indies was exploration of an unknown area and claim of sovereignty for the crown ; conquest of indigenous peoples or assumption of control without direct violence ; settlement by Spaniards who were awarded the labour of indigenous people via the encomienda ; and the existing settlements becoming the launch point for further exploration, conquest, and settlement, followed by the establishment institutions with officials appointed by the crown. The patterns set in the Caribbean were replicated throughout the expanding Spanish sphere, so although the importance of the Caribbean quickly faded after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire and the Spanish conquest of the Incas, many of those participating in those conquests had started their exploits in the Caribbean. The first permanent European settlements in the New World were established in the Caribbean, initially on the island of Hispaniola, later Cuba and Puerto Rico. As a Genoese with the connections to Portugal, Columbus considered settlement to be on the pattern of trading forts and factories, with salaried employees to trade with locals and to identify exploitable resources. However, 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. Although Columbus staunchly asserted and believed that the lands he encountered were in Asia, the paucity of material wealth and the relative lack of complexity of indigenous society meant that the Crown of Castile initially was not concerned with the extensive powers granted Columbus. However, as the Caribbean became a draw for Spanish settlement and as Columbus and his extended Genoese family failed to be recognized as officials worthy of the titles they held, there was unrest. Columbus encountered the mainland in 1498, and the Catholic Monarchs learned of his discovery in May 1499. Taking advantage of a revolt against Columbus in Hispaniola, they appointed Francisco de Bobadilla as governor of the Indies with civil and criminal jurisdiction over the lands discovered by Columbus. Bobadilla, however, was soon replaced by Nicolás de Ovando in September 1501. Henceforth, the Crown would authorize to individuals voyages to discover territories in the Indies only with previous royal license, and after 1503 the monopoly of the Crown was assured by the establishment of Casa de Contratación ( House of Trade ) at Seville. The successors of Columbus, however, litigated against the Crown until 1536 for the fulfillment of the Capitulations of Santa Fe in the pleitos colombinos. Spanish territories in the New World around 1515. In metropolitan Spain, the direction of the Americas was taken over by the Bishop Fonseca between 1493 and 1516, and again between 1518 and 1524, after a brief period of rule by Jean le Sauvage. After 1504 the figure of the secretary was added, so between 1504 and 1507 Gaspar de Gricio took charge, between 1508 and 1518 Lope de Conchillos followed him, and from 1519, Francisco de los Cobos. In 1511, the Junta of The Indies was constituted as a standing committee belonging to the Council of Castile to address issues of the Indies, and this junta constituted the origin of the Council of the Indies in 1524. Following the settlement of Hispaniola, ( now Haiti and the Dominican Republic ), which was successful towards the end of the 1490s, the 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. In 1508, the Board of Navigators met in Burgos concurred the need to establish settlements on the mainland, a project entrusted to Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa as governors, subordinated to the governor of Hispaniola, who was the newly appointed Diego Columbus, with the same legal authority as Ovando. 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. The judgment of Seville of May 1511 recognized the viceregal title to Diego Columbus, but limited it to Hispaniola and to the islands discovered by his father, Christopher Columbus ; his power was nevertheless limited by royal officers and magistrates constituting a dual regime of government. Therefore, king Ferdinand II of Aragon as regent of his daughter the queen Joanna separated the territories of the mainland, designated as Castilla de Oro, from the viceroy of Hispaniola, establishing as General Lieutenant to Pedrarias Dávila in 1513 with functions similar to those of a viceroy, remaining Balboa subordinated as governing of Panama and Coiba on the Pacific Coast, and that after his death returned to Castilla de Oro. The territory of Castilla de Oro did not include either Veragua ( which was comprised approximately between the Chagres River and cape Gracias a Dios ), due to this territory was subject to a lawsuit between the Crown and Diego Columbus, or the region farther north, towards the Yucatán peninsula, explored by Yáñez Pinzón and Solís in 1508 -- 1509, due to its remoteness. The conflicts of the viceroy Columbus with the royal officers and with the Audiencia, created in Santo Domingo in 1511, caused his return to the Peninsula in 1515. Struggles for Italy See also : Italian Wars El gran capitan at the Battle of Cerignola 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 House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Catalan - Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars beginning in 1494. As King of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and Venice 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 Spanish Tercios in European battlefields, the forces of the kings of Spain acquired a reputation for invincibility that would last until the mid-17th century. 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 deployment of Spanish forces came in the War of the League of Cambrai against Venice, where the Spanish soldiers distinguished themselves on the field alongside their French allies at the Battle of Agnadello ( 1509 ). Only a year later, Ferdinand became part of the Holy League against France, seeing a chance at taking both Milan -- to which he held a dynastic claim -- and Navarre. This war was less of a success than the war against Venice, and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre. Campaigns in North Africa 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 Cardinal Cisneros, 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 : Mazalquivir ( 1505 ), Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera ( 1508 ), Oran ( 1509 ), Algiers ( 1510 ), Bougie and Tripoli ( 1510 ). Tripoli was taken on 24 -- 25 July, the feast of St. James, protector of Spain ; the claim was made that 10,000 Muslims were killed and many captured. In 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 ). Oran The Spanish conquest of Oran ( 1509 ) was won with much bloodshed : a third of its Muslim population -- 4,000 inhabitants -- were massacred, and up to 8,000 were taken prisoner. The Zeiyanid sultans of Tlemcen quickly submitted to Spanish protectorate, and the two powers soon became allies. Cardinal Cisneros converted two mosques to Catholic use, and restored and expanded the town 's fortifications. Oran, like other principal Algerian ports, was forced to accept a presidio ( military outpost ) ; it became a major naval base, a garrison city armed with traffic - commanding cannons and arquebuses. For about 200 years, Oran 's inhabitants were virtually held captive in their fortress walls, ravaged by famine and plague ; soldiers, too, were irregularly fed and paid. In 1792, Spain abandoned Oran, selling it to the Ottoman Empire. The Spanish Habsburgs Further information : Habsburg Spain, Spanish Habsburgs, and Iberian Union Spanish Empire ( including claimed territories ), and Spanish Habsburg territories ( including the Portuguese Empire ) The period of the 16th to the mid-17th century is known as `` the Golden Age of Spain '' ( in Spanish, Siglo de Oro ). As a result of the marriage politics of the Catholic Monarchs ( in Spanish, Reyes Católicos ), their Habsburg grandson Charles inherited the Castilian empire in America, the Possessions of the Crown of Aragon in the Mediterranean ( including a large portion of modern Italy ), lands in Germany, the Low Countries, Franche - Comté, and Austria ( this one, along with the rest of hereditary Habsburg domains was almost immediately transferred to Ferdinand, the Emperor 's brother ). While not directly an inheritance, Charles was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire after the death of his grandfather Emperor Maximilian thanks to prodigious bribes paid the prince - electors. Charles became the most powerful man in Europe. It was often said during this time that it was the empire on which the sun never set. The sprawling overseas empire of the Spanish Golden Age was controlled, not from inland Valladolid, but from Seville, where the Casa de Contratación ( House of Trade ) regulated commerce with the Indies, as well as licenses for emigration. The supreme body for administering the Indies was the Council of the Indies, established in 1524. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain ( left ) with his son Philip Spain came across an imperial reality without finding profits at the beginning. It did stimulate some trade and industry, but the trading opportunities encountered were limited, therefore Spain started to invest in America with the creation of cities because Spain was in America due to religious reasons. Matters began to change in the 1520s with the large - scale extraction of silver from the rich deposits of Mexico 's Guanajuato region, but it was the opening of the silver mines in Mexico 's Zacatecas and Potosí in Upper Peru ( modern - day Bolivia ) in 1546 that became legendary. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US $1.5 trillion ( 1990 terms ) in gold and silver received from New Spain. These imports contributed to inflation in Spain and Europe from the last decades of the 16th century. The vast imports of silver that plagued the country with inflation that made local manufactures uncompetitive and ultimately made Spain overly dependent on foreign sources of raw materials and manufactured goods. `` I learnt a proverb here '', said a French traveller 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. Furthermore, 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, but the rebellions were put down. The Habsburgs pursued several political goals : Access to the resources of the Americas ( gold, silver, sugar ) and products of Asia ( porcelain, spices, silk ) Undermining the power of France and containing it in its eastern borders Maintaining Habsburg hegemony in the Holy Roman Empire and defending the Roman Catholic Church as the true Church against the Protestant schism Defending Europe against Islam, notably the Ottoman Empire Spreading ( Catholic ) Christianity to the unconverted souls of the New World Spanish intervention in Europe Struggles of Charles V for Italy See also : Italian Wars The Pillars of Hercules with the motto `` Plus Ultra '' as symbol of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in the Town Hall of Seville ( 16th century ) With the ascent of Charles I in 1516 and his election as sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire in 1519, Francis I of France found himself surrounded by Habsburg territories. He invaded the Spanish possessions in Italy in 1521 to inaugurate the second war of Franco - Spanish conflict. The war was a disaster for France, which suffered defeat in the Battle of Biccoca ( 1522 ), the Battle of Pavia ( 1525 ), in which Francis I was captured and imprisoned in Madrid, and in the Battle of Landriano ( 1529 ) before Francis relented and abandoned Milan to Spain. The Battle of Pavia ( 1525 ) King Charles I ( Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor ) achieved victory at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 and surprised many Italians and Germans and elicited concerns that Charles would endeavor to gain ever greater power. Pope Clement VII switched sides and joined forces with France and prominent Italian states against the Habsburg Emperor, resulting in the War of the League of Cognac. Charles grew exhausted with the pope 's meddling in what he viewed as purely secular affairs. In 1527, Charles ' army in northern Italy, underpaid and desiring to plunder the city of Rome, mutinied, advanced southward toward Rome, and sacked the city. The sack of Rome, while unintended by Charles, embarrassed the papacy sufficiently enough that Clement, and succeeding popes, were considerably more circumspect in their dealings with secular authorities. In 1533, Clement 's refusal to annul the first marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Catherine of Aragon may have been partly or entirely motivated by his unwillingness to offend the emperor and perhaps have his capital sacked for a second time. The Peace of Barcelona, 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 King of Italy ( Lombardy ) in return for Spanish intervention in overthrowing the rebellious Florentine Republic. In 1528, the great admiral Andrea Doria allied with the Emperor to oust the French and restore Genoa 's independence, opening the prospect for financial renewal : 1528 marks the first loan from Genoese banks to Charles. In 1543, Francis I of France announced his unprecedented alliance with the Islamic sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent, by occupying the Spanish - controlled city of Nice in concert with Ottoman forces. Henry VIII of England, who bore a greater grudge against France than he held against the Emperor for standing in the way of his divorce, joined Charles V in his invasion of France. Although the Spanish were defeated at the Battle of Ceresole in Savoy, the French army was 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 Ferdinand, continued to fight the Ottomans in the east. Charles went to take care of an older problem : the Schmalkaldic League. Religious conflicts in the Holy Roman Empire Map of the dominion of the Habsburgs following the abdication of Charles V ( 1556 ), as depicted in The Cambridge Modern History Atlas ( 1912 ) ; Habsburg 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 the islands were retained by the Spanish Habsburgs. 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 Council of Trent in 1545, but the Protestant leadership, feeling betrayed by the stance taken by the Catholics at the council, went to war, led by the Saxon elector Maurice. 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 Battle of Mühlberg in 1547. In 1555, Charles signed the Peace of Augsburg with the Protestant states and restored stability in Germany on his principle of cuius regio, eius religio, a position unpopular with Spanish and Italian clergymen. Charles 's involvement in Germany would establish a role for Spain as protector of the Catholic, Habsburg cause in the Holy Roman Empire ; the precedent would lead, seven decades later, to involvement in the war that would decisively end Spain as Europe 's leading power. Defeat of France The celebrations following the Peace of Cateau - Cambrésis ( 1559 ) between Spain and France Charles V 's only legitimate son, Philip II of Spain ( r. 1556 -- 98 ) parted the Austrian possessions with his uncle Ferdinand. Philip treated Castile as the foundation of his empire, but the population of Castile was never great enough to provide the soldiers needed to support the Empire. When he married Mary Tudor, England was allied to Spain. Spain was not yet at peace, as Henry II of France 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 Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy in 1558 and defeating Henry again at the Battle of Gravelines. The Peace of Cateau - Cambrésis, 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 French Wars of Religion ) and, during this period, removed from effectively competing with Spain and the Habsburg family in European power games. Freed from effective French opposition, Spain attained the apogee of its might and territorial reach in the period 1559 -- 1643. The opening for the Genoese banking consortium was the state bankruptcy of Philip II in 1557, which threw the German banking houses into chaos and ended the reign of the Fuggers as Spanish financiers. 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 Seville to Genoa, to provide capital for further ventures. Conflicts in northern Europe Otto van Veen : The Relief of Leiden ( 1574 ) after the Dutch had broken their dykes in the Eighty Years ' War The time for rejoicing in Madrid was short - lived. In 1566, Calvinist - led riots in the Netherlands prompted the Duke of Alba to march into the country to restore order. In 1568, William of Orange, better known as William the Silent, led a failed attempt to drive Alba from the Netherlands. These battles are generally considered to signal the start of the Eighty Years ' War that ended with the independence of the United Provinces. The Spanish, who derived a great deal of wealth from the Netherlands and particularly from the vital port of Antwerp, 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 Americas. '' In 1572, a band of rebel Dutch privateers known as the watergeuzen ( `` Sea Beggars '' ) seized a number of Dutch coastal towns, proclaimed their support for William and denounced the Spanish leadership. For Spain, the war became an endless quagmire, sometimes literally. In 1574, the Spanish army under Luis de Requeséns was repulsed from the Siege of Leiden after the Dutch broke the dykes, 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 piracy in the open seas reducing his income from his American colonies, Philip was forced to accept bankruptcy. 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 Union of Arras in 1579. In response, the Netherlands created the Union of Utrecht, as an alliance between the northern provinces, later that month. They officially deposed Philip in 1581 when they enacted the Act of Abjuration. Spanish raid on Cornwall in 1595 during the Anglo - Spanish war Under the Arras agreement the southern states of the Spanish Netherlands, today in Belgium and the Nord - Pas - de-Calais ( and Picardy ) régions in France, expressed their loyalty to the Spanish king Philip II and recognized his Governor - General, Don Juan of Austria. In 1580, this gave King Philip the opportunity to strengthen his position when the last member of the Portuguese royal family, Cardinal Henry of Portugal, 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 were little more popular in Lisbon than in Rotterdam, 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 Philip II 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 one 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. '' Portugal and her kingdoms including Brazil and her African colonies were under the dominion of the Spanish monarch. 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 but did not. In 1586, Queen Elizabeth I of England sent support to the Protestant causes in the Netherlands and France, and Sir Francis Drake launched attacks against Spanish merchants in the Caribbean and the Pacific, along with a particularly aggressive attack on the port of Cadiz. The Spanish Armada leaving the Bay of Ferrol ( 1588 ) In 1588, hoping to put a stop to Elizabeth 's intervention, Philip sent the Spanish Armada to invade England. Unfavourable weather, plus 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 a defeat for the Armada. However, the failure of the Drake -- Norris Expedition to Portugal and the Azores in 1589 marked a turning point in the on - off 1585 -- 1604 Anglo -- Spanish War. The Spanish fleets became more effective in transporting greatly increased quantities of silver and gold from the Americas, while English attacks suffered costly failures. Spain had invested itself in the religious warfare in France after Henry II 's death. In 1589, Henry III, the last of the Valois lineage, died at the walls of Paris. His successor, Henry IV of Navarre, the first Bourbon king of France, was a man of great ability, winning key victories against the Catholic League at Arques ( 1589 ) and Ivry ( 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. This proved a disaster. The pacification at the time of Philip III Faced with wars against France, England and the Netherlands, each led by capable leaders, the bankrupted empire found itself competing against strong adversaries. Continuing piracy against its shipping in the Atlantic and costly colonial enterprises forced Spain to renegotiate its debts in 1596. The crown attempted to reduce its exposure to the conflicts, first signing the Treaty of Vervins with France in 1598, recognizing Henry IV ( since 1593 a Catholic ) as king of France, and restoring many of the stipulations of the previous Peace of Cateau - Cambrésis. The Kingdom of England, suffering from a series of repulses at sea and from a guerrilla war by Catholics in Ireland, who were supported by Spain, agreed to the Treaty of London, 1604, following the accession of the more tractable Stuart King James I. Castile provided the Spanish crown with most of its revenues and its best troops. The plague devastated Castilian lands between 1596 and 1602, causing the deaths of some 600,000 people. A great number of Castilians went to America or died in battle. In 1609, the great majority of the Morisco population of Spain was expelled. It is estimated that Castile 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. 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 Maurice of Nassau, 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 Breda. Following the peace with England, the new Spanish commander Ambrogio Spinola, 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 bankruptcy in 1607. In 1609, the Twelve Years ' Truce was signed between Spain and the United Provinces. At last, Spain was at peace -- the Pax Hispanica. 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, Philip III, was a man of limited ability, uninterested in politics and preferring to delegate management of the empire to others. His chief minister was the capable Duke of Lerma. 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 Don Baltasar de Zúñiga, a veteran ambassador to Vienna. Don Balthasar believed that the key to restraining the resurgent French and eliminating the Dutch was a closer alliance with Habsburg Austria. In 1618, beginning with the Defenestration of Prague, Austria and the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, embarked on a campaign against the Protestant Union and Bohemia. 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 Army of Flanders to intervene. Thus, Spain entered into the Thirty Years ' War. Philip IV The Surrender of Breda ( 1625 ) to Ambrogio Spinola, by Velázquez. This victory came to symbolize the renewed period of Spanish military vigour in the Thirty Years ' War. In 1621, Philip III was succeeded by the considerably more religious Philip IV. The following year, Don Balthasar was replaced by Gaspar de Guzmán, Count - Duke of Olivares, a reasonably honest and able man. After certain initial setbacks, the Bohemians were defeated at White Mountain in 1621, and again at Stadtlohn in 1623. The war with the Netherlands was renewed in 1621 with Spinola taking the fortress of Breda in 1625. The intervention of Christian IV of Denmark in the war threatened the Spanish position, but the victory of the Imperial general Albert of Wallenstein over the Danes at Dessau Bridge and again at Lutter ( both in 1626 ), eliminated that threat. 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 Siege of La Rochelle 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 ''. Olivares realized that Spain needed to reform, and to reform it needed peace, first and foremost with the United Provinces. Olivares aimed for `` peace with honour '', however, which meant in practice a peace settlement that would have restored to Spain something of its predominant position in the Netherlands. This was unacceptable to the United Provinces, and the inevitable consequence was the constant hope that one more victory would finally lead to `` peace with honour '', perpetuating the ruinous war that Olivares had wanted to avoid to begin with. In 1625, Olivares proposed the Union of Arms, which aimed at raising revenues from the Indies for imperial defense, which met strong opposition. As an illustration of the precarious economic situation of Spain at the time, it was actually Dutch bankers who financed the East India merchants of Seville ( during the truce, presumably ). At the same time, everywhere in the world Dutch entrepreneurship and colonists were undermining Spanish and Portuguese hegemony. Spain badly needed time and peace to repair its finances and to rebuild its economy. While Spinola and the Spanish army were focused on the Netherlands, the war seemed to go in Spain 's favor. But in 1627 the Castilian economy collapsed. The Habsburgs had been debasing their currency to pay for the war and prices exploded, just as they had in previous years in Austria. Until 1631, parts of Castile operated on a barter 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. Olivares had backed certain taxation reforms in Spain pending the end of the war, but was blamed for another embarrassing and fruitless war in Italy. The Dutch, who during the Twelve Years ' Truce had made increasing their navy a priority, ( which showed its maturing potency at the Battle of Gibraltar 1607 ), managed to strike a great blow against Spanish maritime trade with the capture by captain Piet Hein of the Spanish treasure fleet on which Spain had become dependent after the economic collapse. 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 Barbary pirate threat in the Mediterranean. In the meantime the aim of choking Dutch shipping was carried out by the Dunkirkers with considerable success. In 1625 a Spanish - Portuguese fleet, under Admiral Fadrique de Toledo, regained the strategically vital Brazilian city of Salvador da Bahia 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. The Battle of Nördlingen by Pieter Meulener, a decisive victory for the Catholic Imperial army and Spain over the Swedes In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, one of history 's most noted commanders, landed in Germany and relieved the port of Stralsund, the last continental stronghold of German forces belligerent to the Emperor. Gustavus then marched south and won notable victories at Breitenfeld and Lützen, attracting more Protestant support with every step he took. The situation for the Catholics improved with the death of Gustavus at Lützen in 1632, and they won a key victory at Nördlingen in 1634. From a position of strength, the Emperor approached the war - weary German states with a peace offering in 1635 : many accepted, including the two most powerful, Brandenburg and Saxony. But then France entered the war, and diplomatic calculations were once again thrown into confusion. Cardinal Richelieu 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 Peace of Prague was contrary to French interests 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 King Louis XIII 's ministers and topple Richelieu. In the `` année de Corbie '', 1636, Spanish forces advanced as far south as Corbie, and such was the threat to Paris that the war came close to a conclusion on Spanish terms. 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 Battle of the Downs 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 Army of Flanders, which represented the finest of Spanish soldiery and leadership, faced a French assault led by Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé in northern France at Rocroi in 1643. The Spanish, led by Francisco de Melo, were beaten by the French. After a closely fought battle the Spanish were forced to surrender on honorable terms. As a result, while the defeat was not a rout, the high status of the Army of Flanders was ended at Rocroi. The defeat at Rocroi also led to the dismissal of the embattled Olivares, who was confined to his estates by the king 's order and died two years later, broken and mad. The last Spanish Habsburgs Main article : Habsburg Spain in the seventeenth century Battle of Rocroi, by Augusto Ferrer - Dalmau Traditionally, historians mark the Battle of Rocroi ( 1643 ) as the end of Spanish dominance in Europe. But the war was not finished, and after a severe setback, more Spanish victories followed. Supported by the French, the Catalans, Neapolitans, and Portuguese 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 Battle of Lens in 1648, the Spanish made peace with the Dutch and recognized the independent United Provinces in the Peace of Westphalia that ended both the Eighty Years ' War and the Thirty Years ' War. War with France continued for eleven more years. Although France suffered from a civil war from 1648 to 1652 ( see Wars of the Fronde ), Spain had been exhausted by the Thirty Years ' War and the ongoing revolts. With the war against the United Provinces at an end in 1648, the Spanish drove the French out of Naples and Catalonia in 1652, recaptured Dunkirk, and occupied several northern French forts that they held until peace was made. The war came to an end soon after the Battle of the Dunes ( 1658 ), where the French army under Viscount Turenne retook Dunkirk. Spain agreed to the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 that ceded to France the Spanish Netherlands territory of Artois and the northern Catalan county of Roussillon. Portugal had rebelled in 1640 under the leadership of John of Braganza, 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 -- was unable to respond adequately. John mounted the throne as King John IV of Portugal, 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 Alfonso VI of Portugal but were defeated at Ameixial ( 1663 ) and Montes Claros ( 1665 ), leading to Spain 's recognition of Portugal 's independence in 1668. The meeting of Philip IV of Spain and Louis XIV of France on 7 July 1660 at Pheasant Island. Spain still had a huge overseas empire, but France was now the dominant power on continental Europe, and the United Provinces were dominant in the Atlantic. The Great Plague of Seville ( 1647 -- 1652 ) killed up to 25 % of Seville 's population. Sevilla, and indeed the economy of Andalucía, would never recover from such complete 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. The regency of the young Spanish king Charles II was incompetent in dealing with the War of Devolution that Louis XIV of France prosecuted against the Spanish Netherlands in 1667 -- 68, losing considerable prestige and territory, including the cities of Lille and Charleroi. In the Franco - Dutch War of 1672 -- 1678, Spain lost still more territory when it came to the assistance of its former Dutch enemies, most notably Franche - Comté. The Battle of Almansa ( 1707 ) was one of the most decisive engagements of the War of the Spanish Succession. In the Nine Years ' War ( 1688 -- 1697 ) Louis once again invaded the Spanish Netherlands. French forces led by the Duke of Luxembourg defeated the Spanish at Fleurus ( 1690 ) and subsequently defeated Dutch forces under William III of Orange, who fought on Spain 's side. The war ended with most of the Spanish Netherlands under French occupation, including the important cities of Ghent and Luxembourg. The war revealed to Europe the vulnerability of the Spanish defenses and bureaucracy. Further, the ineffective Spanish Habsburg government took no action to improve them. Spain suffered utter decay and stagnation during the final decades of the 17th century. While the rest of Western Europe went through exciting changes in government and society -- the Glorious Revolution in England and the reign of the Sun King in France -- Spain remained adrift. The Spanish bureaucracy that had built up around the charismatic, industrious, and intelligent Charles I and Philip II demanded a strong and hardworking monarch ; the weakness and lack of interest of Philip III and Philip IV contributed to Spain 's decay. Charles II was mentally retarded and impotent. He was therefore childless, and in his final will he left his throne to a French prince, the Bourbon Philip of Anjou, rather than to a fellow Habsburg, albeit from Austria. This resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession. Africa and the Mediterranean By the 16th century, the Ottomans had become a threat to the states of Western Europe. Ottoman conquests in Europe made significant gains with a decisive victory at Mohács. Charles had preferred to suppress the Ottomans through a considerably more maritime strategy, hampering Ottoman landings on the Venetian territories in the Eastern Mediterranean. The coastal villages and towns of Spain, Italy and the Mediterranean islands were frequently attacked by Barbary pirates from North Africa ; the Formentera 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 Barbarossa ( `` Redbeard '' ). According to Robert C. Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by North African pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa and Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries. The reign of Charles V saw a decline in the presence of Spain in the North of Africa, even if Tunis and its port, La Goleta, 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 ). Only in response to Barbary pirates ' raids on the eastern coast of Spain did Charles lead attacks against Tunis ( 1535 ) and Algiers ( 1541 ). The Battle of Lepanto ( 1571 ), marked the end of the Ottoman naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1565, the Spanish defeated an Ottoman landing on the strategic island of Malta, defended by the Knights of St. John. Suleiman the Magnificent 's death the following year and his succession by his less capable son Selim the Sot emboldened Philip, and he resolved to carry the war to the sultan himself. In 1571, Spanish and Venetian warships, joined by volunteers across Europe, led by Charles 's illegitimate son Don John of Austria annihilated the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto, 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 Counter-Reformation. The Ottomans recovered soon. They reconquered Tunis in 1574, and they helped to restore an ally, Abu Marwan Abd al - Malik I Saadi, in the throne of Morocco, in 1576. The death of the Persian shah, Tahmasp I 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. Nonetheless, the Spanish at Lepanto eliminated the best sailors of the Ottoman fleet, and the Ottoman Empire would never recover in quality what they could in numbers. Lepanto was the decisive turning point in control of the Mediterranean away from centuries of Turkish hegemony to western European control, initiated by the Spanish Empire and its allies. In the first half of the 17th century, Spanish ships attacked the Anatolian coast, defeating larger Ottoman fleets at the Battle of Cape Celidonia and the Battle of Cape Corvo. Larache and La Mamora, in the Moroccan Atlantic coast, and the island of Alhucemas, in the Mediterranean, were taken, but during the second half of the 17th century, Larache and La Mamora were also lost. The New World Explorers and conquerors Emperor Atahualpa is shown surrounded on his palanquin at the Battle of Cajamarca. After Columbus, the Spanish colonization of the Americas was led by a series of soldier - explorers called conquistadors. The Spanish forces, in addition to significant armament and equestrian advantages, exploited the rivalries between competing indigenous peoples, 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 Aztecs or Incas -- a tactic that would be extensively used by later European colonial powers. The Spanish conquest was also facilitated by the spread of diseases ( e.g. smallpox ), common in Europe but never present in the New World, which reduced the indigenous populations in the Americas. This sometimes caused a labour shortage for plantations and public works and so the colonists informally and gradually, at first, initiated the Atlantic slave trade. ( see Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas ) One of the most accomplished conquistadors was Hernán Cortés, who, leading a relatively small Spanish force but with local translators and the crucial support of thousands of native allies, achieved the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the campaigns of 1519 -- 1521. This territory later became the Viceroyalty of New Spain, present day Mexico. Of equal importance was the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro, which would become the Viceroyalty of Peru. After the conquest of Mexico, rumours of golden cities ( Quivira and Cíbola in North America and El Dorado 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 Potosí ( Bolivia ) and Zacatecas ( Mexico ) both started in 1546. By the late 16th century, silver from the Americas accounted for one - fifth of Spain 's total budget. Cristóbal de Olid leads Spanish soldiers with Tlaxcalan allies in the conquests of Jalisco, 1522. From Lienzo de Tlaxcala. Eventually the world 's stock of precious metal was doubled or even tripled by silver from the Americas. Official records indicate that at least 75 % of the silver was taken across the Atlantic to Spain and no more than 25 % across the Pacific to China. Some modern researchers argue that due to rampant smuggling about 50 % went to China. In the 16th century `` perhaps 240,000 Europeans '' entered American ports. Further Spanish settlements were progressively established in the New World : New Granada in the 1530s ( later in the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717 and present day Colombia ), Lima in 1535 as the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Buenos Aires in 1536 ( later in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776 ), and Santiago in 1541. Florida was colonized in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés when he founded St. Augustine and then promptly defeated an attempt led by the French Captain Jean Ribault and 150 of his countrymen to establish a French foothold in Spanish Florida 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. Spanish settlements in Chile before the Destruction of the Seven Cities ; in 1604, all settlements south Biobío River except those in Chiloé had fallen. The Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan died while in the Philippines commanding a Castilian expedition in 1522 which was the first to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque commander Juan Sebastián Elcano would lead the expedition to success. Therefore, Spain sought to enforce their rights in the Moluccan islands, which led a conflict with the Portuguese, but the issue was resolved with the Treaty of Zaragoza ( 1525 ), settling the location of the antimeridian of Tordesillas, which would divide the world into two equal hemispheres. Thenceforth, maritime expeditions led to the discovery of several archipelagos in the South Pacific as the Pitcairn Islands, the Marquesas, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands or New Guinea. On 27 April 1565, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Philippines was founded by Miguel López de Legazpi and the service of Manila Galleons was inaugurated. The Manilla Galleons shipped goods from all over Asia across the Pacific to Acapulco on the coast of Mexico. From there, the goods were transshipped across Mexico to the Spanish treasure fleets, for shipment to Spain. The Spanish trading post of Manila was established to facilitate this trade in 1572. The control of Guam, Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands, and Palau was later, from the end of the 17th century, and remained under Spanish control until 1898. Organization and administration Since the Crown of Castile had funded the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, the empire in the Americas ( what was often termed `` The Indies '' ), was a newly established dependency of that kingdom alone, so crown power was not impeded by any existing cortes ( i.e. parliament ), administrative or ecclesiastical institution, or seigneurial group. 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 the Casa de Contratación ( House of Trade ) was founded to control migration to the New World, which was restricted to old Christians especially families and women. 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. 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 the Council of the Indies was established. Based in Castile, with the assignment of the governance of the Indies, it was thus 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. The Laws of the Indies resulted in the Laws of Burgos, 1512 -- 1513, which were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in the Americas, particularly with regards to treatment of native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed the Indian Reductions with attempts of conversion to Catholicism. Upon their failure, they were replaced by the New Laws ( 1542 ) 1541 founding of Santiago de Chile Spain passed some laws for the protection of the indigenous peoples of its New World territories. Despite the fact that The Queen Isabel was the first monarch that laid the first stone for the protection of the indigenous peoples in her testament in which the Catholic monarch prohibited the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Then the first such in 1542 ; the legal thought behind them was the basis of modern International law. Taking advantage of their extreme remoteness, some colonists were disagree with the laws when they saw their power being reduced, forcing a partial revoking of these New Laws. Colegio de San Gregorio, Valladolid Colegio de San Gregorio, where the Laws of the Indies was born The Valladolid debate ( 1550 -- 1551 ) was the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of a colonized people by colonizers. Held in the Colegio de San Gregorio, in the Spanish city of Valladolid, it was a moral and theological debate about the colonization of the Americas, its justification for the conversion to Catholicism and more specifically about the relations between the European settlers and the natives of the New World. It consisted of a number of opposing views about the way natives were to be integrated into colonial life, their conversion to Christianity and their rights and obligations. According to the French historian Jean Dumont The Valladolid debate was a major turning point in world history `` In that moment in Spain appeared the dawn of the human rights ''. The politics of implantation of the royal authority opposite to Columbus 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, and arose as the territories were conquered and colonized. To carry out the expedition ( entrada ), which entailed exploration, conquest, and initial settlement of the territory, the king, as owner of the Indies, agreed capitulación ( an itemized contract ) with the specifics of the conditions of the expedition in a particular territory. The individual leaders of expeditions ( adelantados ) assumed the expenses of the venture and in return received as reward the grant from the government of the conquered territories ; and in addition, they received instructions about treating the aborigens. 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 New World affairs, other new institutions were created. 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. To these political functions of the governor, it could be joined the military ones, according to military requirements, with the rank of Captain general. 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. Beginning in 1522 in the newly conquered Mexico, government units in the Spanish Empire, from viceroyalties down to governorships ( provinces ), had a royal treasury controlled by a set of officiales reales ( royal officials ). There were also sub-treasuries at important ports and mining districts. The officials of the royal treasury at each level of government typically included two to four positions : a tesorero ( treasurer ), the senior official who guarded money on hand and made payments ; a contador ( accountant or comptroller ), who recorded income and payments, maintained records, and interpreted royal instructions ; a factor, who guarded weapons and supplies belonging to the king, and disposed of tribute collected in the province ; and a veedor ( overseer ), who was responsible for contacts with native inhabitants of the province, and collected the king 's share of any war booty. The veedor, or overseer, position quickly disappeared in most jurisdictions, subsumed into the position of factor. Depending on the conditions in a jurisdiction, the position of factor / veedor was often eliminated, as well. The treasury officials were appointed by the king, and were largely independent of the authority of the viceroy, audiencia president or governor. On the death, unauthorized absence, retirement or removal of a governor, the treasury officials would jointly govern the province until a new governor appointed by the king could take up his duties. Treasury officials were supposed to be paid out of the income from the province, and were normally prohibited from engaging in income - producing activities. The impossibility of the physical presence of the monarch was replaced by viceroys, the post of viceroy the direct representation of the monarch. The functions of the viceroy were : governor, captain general, president of the Audiencia, superintendent of the Royal Treasury and vicepatronage of the Church. Thus, the territories of the viceroyalties emerged 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. In the 16th century the Spanish overseas territories were divided in two viceroyalties : New Spain ( 1535 ) for North America, Antilles, the Philippines and Venezuela, and Peru ( 1542 ) for South America, which was divided in the 18th century. Audiencias, the high courts View of the Plaza Mayor of Mexico City, by Cristóbal de Villalpando, 1695 On the other hand, the Audiencias 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. 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. 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. 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. The fact that the presidents were not habitually either magistrates or lawyers, but men clad in sword and cape, 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. Thus, the authority of the president, when he was not a magistrate, was void in judicial matter and merely signed the verdicts. The Audiencias chaired by the viceroy were called viceregal Audiencias, and the chaired ones by a governor - captain general were the pretorial Audiencias. 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. Thus, another administrative division appeared : while the territories in charge of a governor were the minor provinces, the juridisdiccional scope of the Audiencias constituted the major provinces. Former Viceregal Palace and seat of the Audiencia of Mexico, nowadays, the National Palace. The members ( oidores ) of the Audiencia met with the president in a committee called royal agreement ( real acuerdo ), to take measurements for the government concerning the review of bylaws, appointments of commissioners ( jueces pesquisidores ), or retention of bulls, but the advice did not correspond to the Audiencia as institution but to its members as reputable people. The decisions of the royal agreement were established in the concerted writs ( autos acordados ), 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. This way, the control of the Audiencias over the viceroys enabled to the Crown to control the functions of government of the viceroys. While the viceregal and pretorial Audiencias were chaired by men clad in sword and cape, the presidents of the subordinated Audiencias were magistrates, so that, in the juridisdiccional scope of the subordinated Audiencias, the functions of government, Treasury and war belonged to the viceroy. 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 Charcas and Quito. 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. 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. 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. The imprecision in defining the powers of the viceroy and those of the provincial governors allowed the Crown to control their officials. Puerto del Príncipe being sacked in 1668 by Henry Morgan In the viceroyalty of New Spain, the Audiencia of Mexico, chaired by the viceroy, ended its jurisdiction face up to the jurisdiction of other Audiencias of Guatemala ( 1543 -- 1563 ; 1568 - ), of Manila ( 1583 -- 1589 ; 1595 - ), of Guadalajara ( established in Compostela in 1548 and transferred in 1560 to Guadalajara ) and that of Santo Domingo ( 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 Yucatán or the New Kingdom of León, but it comprised the military command over the governorate of Nueva Galicia, 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. In the viceroyalty of Peru, the viceroy presided the Audiencia of Lima ( 1542 - ), and the jurisdiction of this Audiencia ended face up to the jurisdictions of the pretorial Audiencias of Panama ( 1538 -- 1543 ; 1563 -- 1717 ), of Santa Fe de Bogotá ( 1547 - ), of Santiago de Chile ( in Concepción between 1565 and 1575, and in Santiago de Chile since 1605 ), and that of Buenos Aires ( 1661 -- 1672 ), whose presidents were also both governors and captains general, and in addition to these Audiencias, the viceroyalty comprised the subordinated Audiencias of Charcas ( La Plata ; 1559 - ) and Quito ( 1563 - ). Cabildos or town Councils 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. 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. After 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, so that the government of the cities went on to hands of urban oligarchies. 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. Their functions were governing the respective municipalities, administering of justice and being appellate judges in the alcaldes menores ' judgments, but only the corregidor could preside over the cabildo. However, both charges were also put up for sale freely since the late 16th century. Education The expansion of the Spanish Empire brought a significant surplus in education, particularly as regards to higher education. The first medieval European universities were simply groups of scholars, the word `` university '' being derived from the Latin universitas, meaning corporation. The University of Palencia appears to have been the first high education institution in Spain and the third in the world, after Bologna and Oxford, while the University of Salamanca is the oldest existing Spanish university. Founded in 1218, during a period of expansion that had begun in the 11th century, Salamanca is considered to be the third oldest in Western Europe. The university was founded as a `` General School of the kingdom '' by Alfonso IX in 1218 so that the Leonese people could study at home without having to leave for Castile. El Pilar is a school with a long list of old boys ( former pupils ), including one Prime Minister. The reign of Ferdinand, King of Aragon, and Isabella I, Queen of Castile, saw a professionalisation 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 men staffed the various councils of state, including, eventually, the Consejo de Indias and Casa de Contratación, the two highest bodies in metropolitan Spain for the government of the empire in the New World. Many of the medieval universities in Western Europe were born under the aegis of the Catholic Church, usually as cathedral schools or by papal bull as Studia Generali. In the early medieval period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools, usually when these schools were deemed to have become primarily sites of higher education. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries. Nonetheless, a few ancient schools survived as secondary schools throughout the existence of the Spanish Empire. From the Imperial School to St. Bartholomew 's College or Our Lady of Mount Zion, the Spanish set up a solid educational system as well as one of the first prominent fee - paying schools in Europe. Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, was one of the many English boarding schools founded by Spanish Jesuits under the Empire, and was originally established in the Spanish Netherlands in 1593. The aim of these schools was to provide English boys with a Roman Catholic education during the rule of Elizabeth I. High - ranking army men and senior administrators of the empire usually pursued a rigorous education for their sons in Spain. The aim was to continue producing future leaders to serve the Spanish Empire and its interests, often resulting in a well - developed final product of colonial governors. Most of these schools were established by catholic orders such as the Jesuits, with the intention of emphasizing catholic values at heart, since the Catholic Church was arguably the greatest promoter of the Spanish Empire. The Spanish Bourbons : reform and recovery ( 1700 -- 1808 ) Main article : Enlightenment in Spain The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718 Under the Treaties of Utrecht ( 11 April 1713 ), the European powers decided what the fate of Spain would be, in terms of the continental balance of power. The French prince Philippe of Anjou, grandchild of Louis XIV of France, became the new Bourbon king Philip V. He retained the Spanish overseas empire but ceded 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. Moreover, Philip V granted the British the exclusive right to slave trading in Spanish America for thirty years, the so - called asiento, as well as licensed voyages to ports in Spanish colonial dominions, openings, as Fernand Braudel remarked, for both licit and illicit smuggling. 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. ) Critically, this recovery was not then translated into institutional improvement because of the incompetence 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 in the War of the Quadruple Alliance ( 1718 -- 1720 ). 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. Bourbon reforms Main article : Bourbon Reforms At the beginning of his reign, King Philip V, who was French, reorganized the government to strengthen the executive power of the monarch as in France, in place of the deliberative, polysynodial system of Councils. The Spanish Bourbons ' broadest intentions were to break the entrenched power of the criollos ( locally born colonials of European descent ) in Spain 's American colonies. They also sought to gain control of the Guarani Misiones ( in modern Paraguay, then virtually independent under Jesuit priests. The Jesuits were expelled from Spanish America in 1767. The established consulados of Mexico City and Lima were firmly controlled by criollos, so a new consulado was set up at Veracruz. Immediately, Philip 's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies ( 1714 ) and created first a Honduras Company ( 1714 ), a Caracas company, the Guipuzcoana Company ( 1728 ), and -- the most successful one -- a Havana Company ( 1740 ). In 1717 -- 1718, 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. Cádiz became the one port for all Indies trading ( see flota system ). 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 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 prosperity San Felipe de Barajas Fortress Cartagena de Indias. In 1741, the Spanish defeated 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 crucial victory in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias against a massive British fleet and army in the Caribbean port of Cartagena de Indias, one of a number of successful battles, helped Spain secure its dominance of America until the 19th century. That British Armada was the biggest ever gathered before the Normandy landings which even exceeded in more than 60 ships Philip 's II Great Armada. The British fleet formed by 195 ships, 32,000 soldiers and 3,000 artillery pieces was defeated by the Admiral Blas de Lezo. The Battle of Cartagena de Indias was one of the best Spanish victories against the unsuccessful British attempts to take control of The Spanish Americas. There were many successful battles that helped Spain secure its dominance of America until the 19th century. With a Bourbon monarchy came a repertory of Bourbon mercantilist ideas based on a centralized state, put into effect in America slowly at first but with increasing momentum during the century. Shipping grew rapidly from the mid-1740s until the Seven Years ' War ( 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 end of Cádiz 's monopoly of trade with America brought about a rebirth of Spanish manufactures. Most notable was 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 plantations, and a renewed growth of precious metals mining 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. Agricultural 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 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 travelled 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, ( 1811 ) he says that the Indians of New Spain lived in better conditions 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 the advanced Northern Europe. Humboldt also published a comparative analysis of bread and meat consumption in New Spain ( México ) compared to other cities in Europe such as Paris. The city of México 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. Overseas expansion A Spanish army captures British Pensacola in 1781. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris returned all of Florida to Spain for the return of the Bahamas. Bourbon institutional reforms bore fruit militarily when Spanish forces easily retook Naples and Sicily from the Austrians in 1734 during War of the Polish Succession, and during the War of Jenkins ' Ear ( 1739 -- 42 ) thwarted British efforts to seize the strategic cities of Cartagena de Indias and Santiago de Cuba by defeating a massive British army and navy led by Edward Vernon, which ended Britain 's ambitions in the Spanish Main. Moreover, though Spain was severely defeated during the invasion of Portugal and lost some territories to British forces towards the end of the Seven Years ' War ( 1756 -- 63 ), Spain promptly recovered these losses and seized the British naval base in the Bahamas during the American Revolutionary War ( 1775 -- 83 ). Spain contributed to the independence of the British Thirteen Colonies together with France. Despite France taking all the glory, the Spanish intervention in the American Revolution was decisive. The Spanish governor of Louisiana ( New Spain ) Bernardo de Gálvez carried out an anti-British policy due to the numerous British attacks to take control of the riches of the Spanish Empire over the past century. Spain and France were allies because of the Bourbon Pacte de Famille carried out by both countries against Britain. Bernardo de Gálvez took measures against British smuggling in the Caribbean sea and promoted trade with France. Under royal order from Charles III of Spain Gálvez continued the aid operations to supply the American rebels. The British blockaded the colonial ports of the Thirteen Colonies, and the route from New Orleans up to the Mississippi river was an effective alternative to supply the American rebels. Spain actively supported the thirteen colonies throughout the American Revolutionary War, beginning in 1776 by jointly funding Roderigue Hortalez and Company, which was a trading company that provided critical military supplies, throughout financing the final Siege of Yorktown in 1781 with a collection of gold and silver from Havana. Spanish aid was supplied to the colonies via four main routes : From French ports with the funding of Roderigue Hortalez and Company ; Through the port of New Orleans and up the Mississippi river ; From warehouses in Havana ; and From Bilbao, through the Gardoqui family trading company, which supplied the patriots with 215 bronze cannon, 30,000 muskets, 30,000 bayonets, 51,314 musket balls, 300,000 pounds of powder, 12,868 grenades, 30,000 uniforms, and 4,000 field tents during the war. The aid from New Orleans began in 1776, when general Charles Lee sent two officers of the Continental Army to request supplies from the New Orleans governor Luis de Unzaga. Unzaga concerned about overtly antagonizing the British before the Spanish were prepared for war, and they agreed to assist the rebels covertly. Unzaga authorized the shipment of desperately needed gunpowder in a transaction brokered by Oliver Pollock. Bernardo de Gálvez became governor of New Orleans in January 1777 and continued and expanded supply operations. Benjamin Franklin reported from Paris to the Congressional committee of secret correspondence in March 1777 that the Spanish court quietly granted the rebels direct admission to the rich, previously restricted port of Havana under most favored nation status. Franklin also noted in the same report that three thousand barrels of gunpowder were waiting in New Orleans, and that the merchants in Bilbao Had orders to ship for us such necessaries as we might want. Britain blockaded the American colonies economically, so the American public debt increased dramatically. Spain, through the Gardoqui family, sent 120,000 silver 8 real coin, known as a Spanish dollar, the coin upon which the original United States dollar was based, and it remained legal tender in the United States until the coinage act of 1857 ( in fact the Spanish dollar or Carolus became the first global currency in the 18th century ). The American army that won the Battles of Saratoga was equipped and armed by Spain. Spain had the chance to recover territories lost to Britain in the Seven Years ' War, specially Florida. Bernardo de Galvez gathered an army from all corners of Spanish America, around 7000 men. The Governor of Spanish Louisiana prepared an offensive against the British at the Gulf Coast campaign to control the lower Mississippi and Florida. Gálvez completed the conquest of West Florida in 1781 with the successful Siege of Pensacola. Painting of Gálvez at the Siege of Pensacola by Augusto Ferrer - Dalmau Shortly thereafter, Galvez conquered New Providence island in the Bahamas, aborting the last British resistance plan, which kept the Spanish dominion over the Caribbean and accelerated the triumph of the American army. Jamaica was the last British stronghold of importance in the Caribbean. Gálvez organized a landing on the island, however the Peace of Paris ( 1783 ) arrived in that moment. 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 Amazon River in 1541 -- 42 by Francisco de Orellana. 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 Paraná, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo, and forts on the northeastern coast threatened by the French and Dutch. As Portuguese - Brazilian settlement expanded, following in the trail of the Bandeirantes 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. The Portuguese - Brazilian slavers, the Bandeirantes, 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. Spanish territorial claims in the West Coast of North America, 18th century In time, there were in effect a self - funding force of occupation. By the 18th century, much of the Spanish territory was under de facto 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 Treaty of Madrid. This settlement sowed the seeds of the Guaraní War in 1756. The California mission planning was begun in 1769. The Nootka Crisis ( 1789 -- 1791 ) involved a dispute between Spain and Great Britain about the British settlement in Oregon to British Columbia. In 1791, the king of Spain gave Alessandro Malaspina an order to search for a Northwest Passage. The Spanish empire had still not returned to first - rate power status, but it had recovered and even extended its territories 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. Spanish Empire at its greatest extent ( 1790 ) 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 confederation 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 French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Twilight of the global Empire ( 1800 -- 1899 ) The first major territory Spain was to lose in the 19th century was the vast and wild Louisiana Territory, which 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 ( Louisiana Purchase, 1803 ). Churruca 's Death, oil on canvas about the Battle of Trafalgar by Eugenio Álvarez Dumont, Prado Museum. The destruction of the main Spanish fleet, under French command, at the Battle of Trafalgar ( 1805 ) undermined Spain 's ability to defend and hold on to its empire. The British invasions of the Río de la Plata attempted to seize the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1806. The viceroy retreated hastily to the hills when defeated by a small British force. However, the Criollos militias and colonial army eventually repulsed the British. La Reconquista de Buenos Aires The later intrusion of Napoleonic forces into Spain in 1808 ( see Peninsular War ) cut off the effective connection with the empire. But it was internal tensions that ultimately ended the empire in the Americas. The Second of May 1808 : The Charge of the Mamelukes, by Francisco de Goya ( 1814 ). Napoleon 's sale in 1803 of the Louisiana Territory to the United States 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, led to their eventual cession to the United States, along with the sale of all of Florida in the Adams -- Onís Treaty ( 1819 ). In 1806 Baron Nikolai Rezanov attempted to negotiate a treaty between the Russian - American Company and Viceroyalty of New Spain but his unexpected death in 1807 ended any treaty hopes. In 1808, Napoleon forced the abdication of the Spanish King ( Abdications of Bayonne ) and placed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, on the throne, however this provoked an uprising from the Spanish people and a grinding guerrilla warfare, which Napoleon dubbed his `` ulcer '' : the Peninsular War, ( famously depicted by the painter Goya ) ensued, followed by a power vacuum lasting up to a decade and turmoil for several decades, civil wars on succession disputes, a republic, and finally a liberal democracy. Resistance coalesces around juntas, emergency ad - hoc governments. A Supreme Central and Governing Junta of the Kingdom, ruling in the name of Ferdinand VII, is created on 25 September to coordinate efforts among the various juntas. Spanish American independence Main articles : Spanish American wars of independence and Junta ( Peninsular War ) In North America, Mexico, led by Agustin de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero, declared its independence in 1821. The Battle of Ayacucho, 9 December 1824. The defeat of the Spanish army at Ayacucho in Peru signalled the end of Spain 's empire in South America. Juntas emerged in Spanish America as a result of Spain facing a political crisis due to the abdication of Ferdinand VII and Napoleon Bonaparte 's invasion. Spanish Americans reacted in much the same way the Peninsular Spanish did, legitimizing their actions through traditional law, which held that sovereignty retroverted to the people in the absence of a legitimate king. The majority of Spanish Americans continued to support the idea of maintaining a monarchy under Ferdinand VII, but did not support retaining absolute monarchy. Spanish Americans wanted self - government. The juntas in the Americas did not accept the governments of the Europeans -- neither the government set up for Spain by the French nor the various Spanish Governments set up in response to the French invasion. The juntas did not accept the Spanish regency, isolated under siege in the city of Cadiz ( 1810 -- 1812 ). They also rejected the Spanish Constitution of 1812 although the Constitution gave Spanish citizenship to natives of the territories that had belonged to the Spanish monarchy in both hemispheres. The Constitution of 1812 recognised indigenous peoples of the Americas as Spanish citizens. But the acquisition of citizenship for any casta of Afro - American peoples of the Americas was through naturalization -- excluding slaves. A long period of wars followed in America from 1811 to 1829. In South America this period of wars led to the independence of Argentina ( 1810 ), Venezuela ( 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, Perú and Bolivia ( then Alto Perú ). In North America, a free - thinking secular priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, declared Mexican freedom in 1810 in the Grito de Dolores. Independence actually won in 1821 by royalist army officer turned insurgent, Agustín de Iturbide, in alliance with insurgent Vicente Guerrero and under the Plan of Iguala. The conservative Catholic hierarchy in New Spain supported Mexican independence largely because the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812 was abhorrent to it. Central America became independent via Mexico 's independence in 1821 and joined Mexico for a brief time ( 1822 -- 23 ), but chose their own path when Mexico became a republic. Panama declared independence in 1821 and merged with the Republic of Gran Colombia ( from 1821 to 1903 ). Royalist guerrillas continued the war in several countries, and Spain launched attempts to retake Venezuela in 1827 and Mexico in 1829. Spain finally abandoned all plans of military re-conquest at the death of King Ferdinand VII in 1833. Santo Domingo likewise declared independence in 1821 and began negotiating for inclusion in Bolivar 's Republic of Gran Colombia, but was quickly occupied by Haiti, 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 which Spain recolonized. After 1865, then, only Cuba and Puerto Rico -- and on the far side of the globe, the Philippines, Guam and nearby Pacific islands -- remained in Spanish hands in the New World. Changes and reaction See also : Spanish -- American War and German -- Spanish Treaty ( 1899 ) The Spanish Empire in 1898. 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 Alfonso XII of Spain 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 nationalist, anti-colonial uprisings in various colonies culminated with the Spanish -- American War of 1898, fought primarily over Cuba. Military defeat was followed by the independence of Cuba and the session, for US $20 million, of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States. On 2 June 1899, the second expeditionary battalion `` Cazadores '' of Philippines the last Spanish garrison in the Philippines, located in Baler, Aurora, was pulled out, effectively ending around 300 years of Spanish hegemony in the 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 ) A map of Equatorial Guinea. By the end of the 17th century, only Melilla, Alhucemas, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera ( which had been taken again in 1564 ), Ceuta ( part of the Portuguese Empire since 1415, has chosen to retain its links to Spain once the Iberian Union ended ; the formal allegiance of Ceuta to Spain was recognized by the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668 ), Oran and Mazalquivir remained as Spanish territory in Africa. The latter cities were lost in 1708, reconquered in 1732 and sold by Charles IV in 1792. In 1778, Fernando Poo Island ( 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 conquered the Islas Chafarinas. The Earl of Reus at the Battle of Tétouan. In 1860, after the Tetuan War, Morocco 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 Western Sahara jointly. Spain claimed a protectorate over the coast of Guinea from Cape Bojador to Cap Blanc, too. 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. Spanish artillery in Africa in 1913. Following a brief war in 1893, Spain expanded its influence south from Melilla. In 1911, Morocco was divided between the French and Spanish. The Rif Berbers rebelled, led by Abdelkrim, a former officer for the Spanish administration. The Battle of Annual ( 1921 ) during the Rif War 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 ''. After the disaster of Annual the Alhucemas landing took place on September 1925 at the bay of Alhucemas. 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. 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. Five 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 invaded Spanish Sahara in 1957 ( 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. 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 without Value Added Tax. Morocco still claims Ceuta, Melilla, and plazas de soberanía even though they are internationally recognized as administrative divisions of Spain ( despite Plazas de Soberania which is a territory of Spain ). Isla Perejil was occupied on 11 July 2002 by Moroccan Gendarmerie and troops, who were evicted peacefully by Spanish naval forces. Legacy The Renaissance Cathedral of Lima is a legacy of the Spanish settlement in that city. The Spanish Empire left a huge cultural, urban and architectural legacy in the Western Hemisphere. Hundreds of towns and cities in the Americas were founded during the Spanish rule. 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. 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. Another cultural legacy of the Spanish empire overseas is the Catholic Church, which remains the main religion in the Spanish Americas. The cultural legacy is also present in the music, architecture, cuisine and fashion of much of Spanish America. The Spanish language ( the second most widely spoken language in the world ) and the Roman Catholic faith were brought to America, parts of Africa and the Spanish East Indies, 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 Spanish America resulted in a mixing of the peoples. Many Hispanics in the Americas have mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, while some others have African ancestry. A painting showing a Spanish man with a Native American wife and their child. Mixed - race European Amerindians were referred to as Mestizos. In concert with the Portuguese Empire, 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 and vice versa. Some that were introduced to America included wine, 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, agave and so on. The result of these exchanges, known generally as the Columbian Exchange, was to significantly improve the agricultural potential of not only in America, but also that of Europe and Asia. 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 so evident today in the former colonial areas. See also Bourbon Reforms Historiography of Colonial Spanish America History of Spain History of the Americas History of the Philippines ( 1521 -- 1898 ) Latin American economy Monarchy of Spain New Spain Spain in the 17th century Spain in the 18th century Spanish colonization of the Americas Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire Spanish American wars of independence Spanish -- American War Viceroyalty of Mexico Viceroyalty of New Granada Viceroyalty of Peru Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata References Notes Jump up ^ Elliott, J.H. Spain and Its World, 1500 - 1700, New Haven : Yale University Press 1989, p. 7. Jump up ^ Lockhart, James and Stuart B. Schwartz, Early Latin America, New York : Cambridge University Press 1983, p. 19. Jump up ^ Tracy, James D. ( 1993 ). The Rise of Merchant Empires : Long - Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350 -- 1750. Cambridge University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 45735 - 4. Jump up ^ Ricard, Robert. The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press 1966. Jump up ^ Thomas, Hugh. Rivers of Gold : The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan. New York : Random House 2003, p. 218. Jump up ^ Burkholder, Mark A. and Lyman L. Johnson. Colonial Latin America seventh edition. New York : Oxford University Press 2010, p. 107. Jump up ^ Altman, Ida et al. The Early History of Greater Mexico. Prentice Hall 2003, p. 116. Jump up ^ Rodriguez O., Jaime. The Emergence of Spanish America. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press 1975, p. 2. Jump up ^ Gibson, Charles, Spain in America, New York : Harper & Row 1966, p. 4. Jump up ^ Gibson, Spain in America, pp. 90 - 91 Jump up ^ Lockhart, James and Stuart B. Schwartz, Early Latin America. New York : Cambridge University Press 1983, p. 250 Jump up ^ Lach, Donald F. ; Kley, Edwin J. Van ( 1993 ). Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III : A Century of Advance. Book 1 : Trade, Missions, Literature. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 46753 - 5., page 9 Jump up ^ Kamen 2003, p. 403 Jump up ^ Gibson, Spain in America, pp. 76 - 77. Jump up ^ Mecham, J. Lloyd, Church and State in Latin America : A History of Politico - Ecclesiastical Relations, revised edition. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press 1966, pp. 4 - 6. Jump up ^ Haring, Clarence, The Spanish Empire in America. New York : Oxford University Press 1947, pp. 181 - 82. Jump up ^ Burkholder, `` Spanish Empire '', pp. 167 - 68. Jump up ^ John Lynch, Caudillos in Spanish America 1800 - 1850. Oxford : Clarendon Press 1992, pp. 402 -- 403. Jump up ^ Mark A. Burkholder, `` Spanish Empire '' in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 5, p. 167. New York : Charles Scribner 's Sons 1996. Jump up ^ Castañeda Delgado, Paulino ( 1996 ), `` La Santa Sede ante las empresas marítimas ibéricas '' ( PDF ), La Teocracia Pontifical en las controversias sobre el Nuevo Mundo, Universidad Autónoma de México, ISBN 968 - 36 - 5153 - 4, archived from the original ( PDF ) on 27 September 2011 Jump up ^ Burkholder, `` Spanish Empire '', p. 167. Jump up ^ Hernando del Pulgar ( 1943 ), Crónica de los Reyes Católicos, vol. I ( in Spanish ), Madrid, pp. 278 -- 279. Jump up ^ Jaime Cortesão ( 1990 ), Os Descobrimentos Portugueses, vol. III ( in Portuguese ), Imprensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda, p. 551, ISBN 9722704222 Jump up ^... In August, the Duke besieged Ceuta ( The city was simultaneously besieged by the moors and a Castilian army led by the Duke of Medina Sidónia ) 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. Jump up ^ 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 ( Portuguese ), he decided to withdraw... Jump up ^ 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 Jump up ^ 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 ). Jump up ^ The Canary 's campaign : Alfonso de Palencia, Decada IV, Book XXXI, Chapters VIII and IX ( `` preparation of 2 fleets '' ( to Guinea and to Canary, respectively ) `` so that with them King Ferdinand crush its enemies '' ( the Portuguese )... ). 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. Jump up ^ Alfonso de Palencia, Decada IV, book XXXII, chapter III : on 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 Prince John to use the Canary Islands as an `` exchange coin '' in the peace treaty of Alcáçovas. Jump up ^ Pulgar, Hernando del ( 1780 ), Crónica de los señores reyes católicos Don Fernando y Doña Isabel de Castilla y de Aragon ( 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. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^... 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..., in Laughton, Leonard ( 1943 ), The Mariner 's mirror, vol. 29, Society for Nautical Research, London, p. 184 Jump up ^... 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, The expansion of Europe, 1400 -- 1660 ( 1966 ), Longmans, p. 48 Jump up ^ Waters, David ( 1988 ), Reflections Upon Some Navigational and Hydrographic Problems Of The XVth Century Related To The Voyage Of Bartolomeu Dias, 1487 -- 88, p. 299, in the Separata from the Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, vol. XXXIV. Jump up ^... the Treaty of Alcáçovas was an important step in defining the expansion areas of each kingdom... The Portuguese triumph in this agreement is evident, and in addition deserved. Efforts and perseverance developed over the last four decades by Henry the Navigator during the Discoveries in Africa reached their fair reward. In Donat, Luis Rojas ( 2002 ), España y Portugal ante los otros : derecho, religión y política en el descubrimiento medieval de América ( in Spanish ), Ediciones Universidad del Bio-Bio, p. 88, ISBN 9567813191 Jump up ^... Castile undertakes not to allow any his subject navigate waters reserved to the Portuguese. From the Canary 's Parallel onwards, the Atlantic Ocean would be a Mare clausum to the Castilians. The treaty of Alcáçovas represented a huge victory for Portugal and resulted tremendously damaging to Castile. In Espina Barrio, Angel ( 2001 ), Antropología en Castilla y León e iberoamérica : Fronteras, vol. III ( In Spanish ), Universidad de Salamanca, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas de Castilla y León, p. 118, ISBN 8493123110 Jump up ^ Davenport, Frances Gardiner ( 2004 ), European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., p. 49, ISBN 978 - 1 - 58477 - 422 - 8 Jump up ^... Castile accepted a Portuguese monopoly on new discoveries in the Atlantic from the Canaries southward and toward the African coast. In Bedini, Silvio ( 1992 ), The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, vol I, Simon & Schuster, p. 53, ISBN 978 - 0 - 13 - 142670 - 2 Jump up ^... This boundary line cut off Castile from the route to India around Africa..., in Prien, Hans - Jürgen ( 2012 ), Christianity in Latin America : Revised and Expanded Edition, Brill, p. 8, ISBN 978 - 90 - 04 - 24207 - 4 Jump up ^... With an eye to the Treaty of Alcáçovas which only permitted westerly expansion by Castile, the Crown accepted the proposals of the Italian adventurer ( Christopher Columbus ) because if, contrary to all expectation, he were to prove successful, a great opportunity would arise to outmanoeuvre Portugal..., in Emmer, Piet ( 1999 ), General History of the Caribbean, vol. II, UNESCO, p. 86, ISBN 0 - 333 - 72455 - 0 Jump up ^ 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 ), The original Australians : Story of the Aboriginal people, p. 1, ISBN 1 74114 872 3 Jump up ^ Burbank, Jane ; Frederick Cooper ( 2010 ). Empires in World History : Power and the Politics of Difference. Princeton University Press. pp. 120 -- 121. ISBN 978 - 0 - 691 - 12708 - 8. Jump up ^ Fernández Herrero, Beatriz ( 1992 ). La utopía de América : teoría, leyes, experimentos ( in Spanish ). Anthropos Editorial. p. 143. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7658 - 320 - 3. Jump up ^ McAlister, Lyle N. ( 1984 ). Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492 -- 1700. U of Minnesota Press. p. 69. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8166 - 1218 - 5. Jump up ^ Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. 1992. p. 189. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. Jump up ^ Fernández Herrero, Beatriz ( 1992 ). La utopía de América : teoría, leyes, experimentos ( in Spanish ). Anthropos Editorial. p. 141. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7658 - 320 - 3. Jump up ^ Diffie, Bailey Wallys ; Winius, George Davison ( 1977 ). Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415 -- 1580. University of Minnesota Press. p. 173. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8166 - 0782 - 2. Jump up ^ Vieira Posada, Édgar ( 2008 ), La formación de espacios regionales en la integración de América Latina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, p. 56, ISBN 978 - 958 - 698 - 234 - 4 Jump up ^ Sánchez Doncel, Gregorio ( 1991 ), Presencia de España en Orán ( 1509 -- 1792 ), I.T. San Ildefonso, p. 122, ISBN 978 - 84 - 600 - 7614 - 8 Jump up ^ Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. ( 1981 ), Los Trastámara y la Unidad Española, Ediciones Rialp, p. 644, ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2100 - 5 CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Bethell, Leslie ( 1984 ). The Cambridge History of Latin America. 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 289. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 23223 - 4. Jump up ^ Sánchez Bella, Ismael ( 1993 ). Instituto de investigaciones jurídicas UNAM, ed. `` Las bulas de 1493 en el Derecho Indiano '' ( PDF ). Anuario Mexicano de Historia del Derecho ( in Spanish ). 5 : 371. ISSN 0188 - 0837. ^ Jump up to : Sánchez Prieto, Ana Belén ( 2004 ). La intitulación diplomática de los Reyes Católicos : un programa político y una lección de historia ( PDF ) ( in Spanish ). III Jornadas Científicas sobre Documentación en época de los Reyes Católicos. p. 296. ^ Jump up to : Hernández Sánchez - Barba, Mario ( 1990 ). La Monarquía Española y América : Un Destino Histórico Común ( in Spanish ). Ediciones Rialp. p. 36. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2630 - 7. Jump up ^ Roca Tocco, Carlos Alberto ( 1993 ). `` De las bulas alejandrinas al nuevo orden político americano '' ( PDF ). Anuario Mexicano de Historia del Derecho ( in Spanish ). Instituto de investigaciones jurídicas UNAM. 5 : 331. ISSN 0188 - 0837. Jump up ^ Salinas Araneda, Carlos ( 1983 ). `` El proceso de incorporacion de las indias a castilla ''. Revista de Derecho de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso ( in Spanish ). Ediciones Universitarias de Valparaíso. 7 : 23 -- 26. ISSN 0718 - 6851. Jump up ^ Memoria del Segundo Congreso Venezolano de Historia, del 18 al 23 de noviembre de 1974 ( in Spanish ). Academia Nacional de la Historia ( Venezuela ). 1975. p. 404. Jump up ^ Elliott, John Huxtable ( 2007 ). Empires of the Atlantic World : Britain and Spain in America 1492 -- 1830. Yale University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978 - 0 - 300 - 12399 - 9. Jump up ^ Anuario de estudios americanos -- Volumen 32. 1975. Jump up ^ Historia y sociabilidad. 2007. ISBN 9788483716540. Jump up ^ Anuario de estudios americanos -- Volumen 32. 1975. Jump up ^ James Lockhart and Stuart Schwartz, Early Latin America. New York : Cambridge University Press 1983, pp. 61 -- 85. Jump up ^ James Lockhart and Stuart Schwartz, Early Latin America. New York : Cambridge University Press 1983, p. 62. Jump up ^ Lockhart and Schwartz, Early Latin America p. 63 Jump up ^ Diego - Fernández Sotelo, Rafael ( 1987 ). Las capitulaciones colombinas ( in Spanish ). El Colegio de Michoacán A.C. p. 139. ISBN 978 - 968 - 7230 - 30 - 6. Jump up ^ Diego - Fernández Sotelo, Rafael ( 1987 ). Las capitulaciones colombinas ( in Spanish ). El Colegio de Michoacán A.C. pp. 143 -- 145. ISBN 978 - 968 - 7230 - 30 - 6. Jump up ^ Diego - Fernández Sotelo, Rafael ( 1987 ). Las capitulaciones colombinas ( in Spanish ). El Colegio de Michoacán A.C. p. 139. ISBN 978 - 968 - 7230 - 30 - 6. Jump up ^ Diego - Fernández Sotelo, Rafael ( 1987 ). Las capitulaciones colombinas ( in Spanish ). El Colegio de Michoacán A.C. pp. 147 -- 149. ISBN 978 - 968 - 7230 - 30 - 6. Jump up ^ Sibaja Chacón, Luis Fernando ( 2006 ). El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica ( in Spanish ). EUNED. p. 117. ISBN 978 - 9968 - 31 - 488 - 6. Jump up ^ Lynch, John ( 2007 ). Los Austrias ( 1516 -- 1700 ) ( in Spanish ). Editorial Critica. p. 203. ISBN 978 - 84 - 8432 - 960 - 2. Jump up ^ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal ( 2005 ). José Antonio Barbón Rodríguez, ed. Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España : Manuscrito `` Guatemala '' ( in Spanish ). UNAM. p. 656. ISBN 978 - 968 - 12 - 1196 - 7. Jump up ^ Edwards, John ; Lynch, John ( 2005 ). Edad Moderna : Auge del Imperio, 1474 -- 1598 ( in Spanish ). 4. Editorial Critica. p. 290. ISBN 978 - 84 - 8432 - 624 - 3. Jump up ^ Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 7. Ediciones Rialp. 1992. p. 232. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2119 - 7. Jump up ^ Gómez Gómez, Margarita ( 2008 ). El sello y registro de Indias : imagen y representación ( in Spanish ). Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. p. 84. ISBN 978 - 3 - 412 - 20229 - 3. Jump up ^ Mena garcía, Carmen ( 2003 ). `` La Casa de la Contratación de Sevilla y el abasto de las flotas de Indias ''. In Antonio Acosta Rodríguez ; Adolfo Luis González Rodríguez ; Enriqueta Vila Vilar. La Casa de la Contratación y la navegación entre España y las Indias ( in Spanish ). Universidad de Sevilla. p. 242. ISBN 978 - 84 - 00 - 08206 - 2. Jump up ^ Gómez Gómez, Margarita ( 2008 ). El sello y registro de Indias : imagen y representación ( in Spanish ). Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. p. 90. ISBN 978 - 3 - 412 - 20229 - 3. Jump up ^ Brewer Carías, Allan - Randolph ( 1997 ). La ciudad ordenada ( in Spanish ). Instituto Pascual Madoz, Universidad Carlos III. p. 69. ISBN 978 - 84 - 340 - 0937 - 0. Jump up ^ Martínez Peñas, Leandro ( 2007 ). El confesor del rey en el Antiguo Régimen ( in Spanish ). Editorial Complutense. p. 213. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7491 - 851 - 9. Jump up ^ Arranz Márquez, Luis ( 1982 ). Don Diego Colón, almirante, virrey y gobernador de las Indias ( in Spanish ). CSIC. pp. 89 -- 90. ISBN 978 - 84 - 00 - 05156 - 3. Jump up ^ Arranz Márquez, Luis ( 1982 ). Don Diego Colón, almirante, virrey y gobernador de las Indias ( in Spanish ). CSIC. p. 97. ISBN 978 - 84 - 00 - 05156 - 3. Jump up ^ Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. ( 1992 ). Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. p. 195. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Arranz Márquez, Luis ( 1982 ). Don Diego Colón, almirante, virrey y gobernador de las Indias ( in Spanish ). CSIC. p. 101. ISBN 978 - 84 - 00 - 05156 - 3. Jump up ^ Kozlowski, Darrell J. ( 2010 ). Colonialism. Infobase Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4381 - 2890 - 0. Jump up ^ Sibaja Chacón, Luis Fernando ( 2006 ). El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica ( in Spanish ). EUNED. p. 39. ISBN 978 - 9968 - 31 - 488 - 6. Jump up ^ Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. ( 1992 ). Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. p. 174. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. ( 1992 ). Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. p. 186. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. ( 1992 ). Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. p. 195. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Sibaja Chacón, Luis Fernando ( 2006 ). El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica ( in Spanish ). EUNED. p. 36. ISBN 978 - 9968 - 31 - 488 - 6. Jump up ^ Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. ( 1992 ). Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. p. 197. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Carrera Damas, Germán ( 1999 ). Historia general de América Latina ( in Spanish ). UNESCO. p. 457. ISBN 978 - 92 - 3 - 303151 - 7. Jump up ^ Mena García, María del Carmen ( 1992 ). Pedrarias Dávila ( in Spanish ). Universidad de Sevilla. p. 29. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7405 - 834 - 5. Jump up ^ Sibaja Chacón, Luis Fernando ( 2006 ). El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica ( in Spanish ). EUNED. p. 50. ISBN 978 - 9968 - 31 - 488 - 6. Jump up ^ Sibaja Chacón, Luis Fernando ( 2006 ). El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica ( in Spanish ). EUNED. pp. 55 -- 59. ISBN 978 - 9968 - 31 - 488 - 6. Jump up ^ Sibaja Chacón, Luis Fernando ( 2006 ). El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica ( in Spanish ). EUNED. p. 32. ISBN 978 - 9968 - 31 - 488 - 6. Jump up ^ Rialp, Ediciones, S.A. ( 1992 ). Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. p. 165. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Sibaja Chacón, Luis Fernando ( 2006 ). El cuarto viaje de Cristóbal Colón y los orígenes de la provincia de Costa Rica ( in Spanish ). EUNED. pp. 36 -- 37. ISBN 978 - 9968 - 31 - 488 - 6. Jump up ^ Colón de Carvajal, Anunciada ; Chocano Higueras, Guadalupe ( 1992 ). Cristóbal Colón : incógnitas de su muerte 1506 -- 1902 ( in Spanish ). CSIC. p. 40. ISBN 978 - 84 - 00 - 07305 - 3. Jump up ^ Carrera Damas, Germán ( 1999 ). Historia general de América Latina ( in Spanish ). UNESCO. p. 458. ISBN 978 - 92 - 3 - 303151 - 7. Jump up ^ Ring, Trudy ( 2014 ). Middle East and Africa : International Dictionary of Historic Places. Routledge. p. 558. Jump up ^ Clarence Haring, The Spanish Empire in America. New York : Oxford University Press 1947, pp. 102 -- 118. Jump up ^ Quoted in Fernand Braudel, The Wheels of Commerce, vol. II of Civilization and Capitalism 15th -- 18th Century 1979 : 171. Jump up ^ Baten, Jörg ( 2016 ). A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 159. ISBN 978 - 1 - 107 - 50718 - 0. Jump up ^ Presa González, Fernanado ; Grenda, Agnieszka Matyjaszczyk ( 2003 ). Madrid a los ojos de los viajeros polacos : un siglo de estampas literarias de la Villa y Corte ( 1850 -- 1961 ) ( 1. ed. ). Madrid : Huerga & Fierro. ISBN 9788483744161. Jump up ^ Braudel 1984 Jump up ^ Archer 2002, p. 251 Jump up ^ Tellier, Luc - Normand ( 2009 ), Urban world history : an economic and geographical perspective, PUQ, p. 308, ISBN 2 - 7605 - 1588 - 5 Extract of page 308 Jump up ^ Quoted by Braudel 1984 Jump up ^ 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. ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Chapter 15 : A History of Spain and Portugal, Stanley G. Payne Jump up ^ For a general account, see Kennedy, Rise and Fall, pp. 40 -- 93. Jump up ^ J.H. Elliott, The Count - Duke Olivares : The Statesman in an Age of Decline. New Haven : Yale University Press 1986. Jump up ^ Brown & Elliott 1980, p. 190 Jump up ^ Kenneth J. Andrien, `` Unión de Armas, '' in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 5, p. 293. New York : Charles Scribner 's Sons 1996. Jump up ^ Elliott, The Count - Duke Olivares, pp. 244 - 77. Jump up ^ Payne, Stanley G. ( 1973 ), `` The Seventeenth - Century Decline '', A History of Spain and Portugal, 1, Madison, Wisconsin : University of Wisconsin Press, retrieved 2008 - 10 - 08 Jump up ^ `` Cross and Crescent ''. Jump up ^ `` When Europeans were slaves : Research suggests white slavery was much more common than previously believed '', Ohio State Research Communications, Ohio State University, 8 March 2004, archived from the original on 25 July 2011, retrieved 8 October 2008 Jump up ^ The Tempest and Its Travels -- Peter Hulme -- Google Libros. Books.google.es. Retrieved on 2013 - 07 - 29. ^ Jump up to : `` Conquest in the Americas ''. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2013. ^ Jump up to : Mann, Charles C. ( 2012 ). 1493 : Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. Random House Digital, Inc. pp. 33 -- 34. ISBN 978 - 0 - 307 - 27824 - 1. Retrieved 28 August 2012. Jump up ^ Axtell, James ( September -- October 1991 ), `` The Columbian Mosaic in Colonial America '', Humanities, 12 ( 5 ) : 12 -- 18, archived from the original on 17 May 2008, retrieved 8 October 2008 Jump up ^ J.H. Parry, The Sale of Public Office in the Spanish Indies Under the Habsburgs. University of California Press, Ibero - Americana 37, 1953 p. 4. Jump up ^ Delamarre - Sallard, Catherine ( 2008 ). Manuel de civilisation espagnole et latino - américaine ( in Spanish ). Editions Bréal. p. 130. ISBN 978 - 2 - 7495 - 0335 - 6. Jump up ^ Sanz Ayán, Carmen ( 1993 ). Sevilla y el comercio de Indias ( in Spanish ). Ediciones AKAL. p. 23. ISBN 978 - 84 - 460 - 0214 - 7. Jump up ^ Cano, José ( 2007 ). `` El gobierno y la imagen de la Monarquía Hispánica en los viajeros de los siglos XVI y XVII. De Austrias a Borbones ''. La monarquía de España y sus visitantes : siglos XVI al XIX Colaborador Consuelo Maqueda Abreu ( in Spanish ). Editorial Dykinson. pp. 21 -- 22. ISBN 9788498491074. Jump up ^ Jiménez Núñez, Alfredo ( 2006 ). El gran norte de México : una frontera imperial en la Nueva España ( 1540 -- 1820 ) ( in Spanish ). Editorial Tebar. p. 41. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7360 - 221 - 1. Jump up ^ `` 1512 -- 1513 : Laws of Burgos '', Colonial Latin America, Peter Bakewell, 1998, retrieved 2008 - 10 - 08 Jump up ^ Esparza, José Javier ( 2015 ). La cruzada del océano : La gran aventura de la conquista de América. La Esfera de los Libros. ISBN 9788490602638. Jump up ^ Scott, James Brown ( 2000 ). The Spanish origin of international law ( 4. print. ed. ). Union, N.J : Lawbook Exchange. ISBN 1 - 58477 - 110 - 0. Jump up ^ Dumont, Jean ( 1997 ). El amanecer de los derechos del hombre : la controversia de Valladolid. Madrid : Encuentro. ISBN 8474904153. Jump up ^ Andreo García, Juan ( 2007 ). `` Su Majestad quiere gobernar : la Administración española en Indias durante los siglos XVI y XVII ''. In Juan Bautista Vilar ; Antonio Peñafiel Ramón ; Antonio Irigoyen López. Historia y sociabilidad : homenaje a la profesora María del Carmen Melendreras Gimeno ( in Spanish ). EDITUM. p. 279. ISBN 978 - 84 - 8371 - 654 - 0. Jump up ^ Góngora, Mario ( 1998 ). Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica ( in Spanish ). p. 99. ISBN 978 - 956 - 11 - 1381 - 7. Jump up ^ Lagos Carmona, Guillermo ( 1985 ). Los títulos históricos ( in Spanish ). Editorial Andrés Bello. p. 119. OCLC 320082537. Jump up ^ Lagos Carmona, Guillermo ( 1985 ). Los títulos históricos ( in Spanish ). Editorial Andrés Bello. p. 122. OCLC 320082537. Jump up ^ Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 7. Ediciones Rialp. 1992. p. 601. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2119 - 7. Jump up ^ Góngora, Mario ( 1998 ). Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica ( in Spanish ). Editorial Universitaria. p. 97. ISBN 978 - 956 - 11 - 1381 - 7. Jump up ^ Muro Romero, Fernando ( 1975 ). Las presidencias - gobernaciones en Indias ( siglo XVI ) ( in Spanish ). CSIC. p. 177. ISBN 978 - 84 - 00 - 04233 - 2. Jump up ^ Malberti de López, Susana ( 2006 ). `` Las instituciones políticas en la región de Cuyo ''. In Instituto de Historia Regional y Argentina `` Héctor Domingo Arias ''. Desde San Juan hacia la historia de la región ( in Spanish ). effha. p. 141. ISBN 978 - 950 - 605 - 481 - 6. ^ Jump up to : Bushnell, Amy ( 1981 ). The King 's Coffer : Proprietors of the Spanish Florida Treasury 1565 -- 1702. Gainesville, Florida : University Presses of Florida. pp. 1 -- 2. ISBN 0 - 8130 - 0690 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Chipman, Donald E. ( 2005 ). Moctezuma 's Children : Aztec Royalty under Spanish Rule, 1520 -- 1700 ( Individual e-book ( no page numbers ) ed. ). Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 292 - 78264 - 8. Retrieved 22 October 2013. Jump up ^ Parry, John Horace ( 1966 ). The Spanish Seaborne Empire ( First paperback 1990 ed. ). Berkeley, California : University of California Press. pp. 202 -- 203. ISBN 0 - 520 - 07140 - 9. Retrieved 22 October 2013. Jump up ^ Jiménez Núñez, Alfredo ( 2006 ). El gran norte de México : una frontera imperial en la Nueva España ( 1540 -- 1820 ) ( in Spanish ). Editorial Tebar. p. 41. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7360 - 221 - 1. Jump up ^ Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. 1992. p. 473. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. Jump up ^ Delgado de Cantú, Gloria M. ( 2002 ). Historia de México, ( in Spanish ). 1. Pearson Educación. p. 266. ISBN 978 - 970 - 26 - 0275 - 0. Jump up ^ Silva Galdames, Osvaldo ( 2005 ). Atlas de Historia de Chile ( in Spanish ). Editorial Universitaria. p. 50. ISBN 978 - 956 - 11 - 1776 - 1. Jump up ^ Vicente Villarán, Manuel ( 1998 ). Lecciones de derecho constitucional ( in Spanish ). Fondo Editorial PUCP. p. 472. ISBN 978 - 9972 - 42 - 132 - 7. ^ Jump up to : Góngora, Mario ( 1998 ). Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica ( in Spanish ). p. 100. ISBN 978 - 956 - 11 - 1381 - 7. ^ Jump up to : Garavaglia, Juan Carlos ; Marchena Fernández, Juan ( 2005 ). América Latina de los orígenes a la Independencia ( in Spanish ). Editorial Critica. p. 266. ISBN 978 - 84 - 8432 - 652 - 6. ^ Jump up to : Bosco Amores, Juan ( 2006 ). Historia de América ( in Spanish ). Editorial Ariel. p. 276. ISBN 978 - 84 - 344 - 5211 - 4. ^ Jump up to : Muro Orejón, Antonio, ed. ( 1977 ). Cedulario americano del siglo XVIII : Cédulas de Luis I ( 1724 ), Cédulas de Felipe V ( 1724 -- 46 ) ( in Spanish ). 3. CSIC. p. 32. ISBN 978 - 84 - 00 - 03735 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Celso, Ramón Lorenzo ( 1994 ). Manual de historia constitucional Argentina ( in Spanish ). 1. Editorial Juris. p. 28. ISBN 978 - 950 - 817 - 022 - 4. ^ Jump up to : Bridikhina, Eugenia ( 2007 ). Theatrum mundi : entramados del poder en Charcas colonial ( in Spanish ). Plural Editores. p. 38. ISBN 978 - 99954 - 1 - 080 - 3. Jump up ^ Lohmann Villena, Guillermo ( 1999 ). `` La nueva estructura política ''. In Carrera Damas, Germán. Historia general de América Latina ( in Spanish ). 2. UNESCO. p. 464. ISBN 978 - 92 - 3 - 303151 - 7. Jump up ^ Martínez Ruiz, Enrique ( 2007 ). Diccionario de historia moderna de España, ( in Spanish ). 2. Ediciones AKAL. p. 188. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7090 - 353 - 3. Jump up ^ Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. 1992. p. 611. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. Jump up ^ Muro Romero, Fernando ( 1975 ). Las presidencias - gobernaciones en Indias ( siglo XVI ) ( in Spanish ). CSIC. p. 103. ISBN 978 - 84 - 00 - 04233 - 2. Jump up ^ Fernández Álvarez, Manuel ( 1979 ). España y los españoles en los tiempos modernos ( in Spanish ). Universidad de Salamanca. p. 513. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7481 - 082 - 0. Jump up ^ Bridikhina, Eugenia ( 2007 ). Theatrum mundi : entramados del poder en Charcas colonial ( in Spanish ). Plural Editores. p. 41. ISBN 978 - 99954 - 1 - 080 - 3. Jump up ^ Pinet Plasencia, Adela ( 1998 ). La Península de Yucatán en el Archivo General de la Nación ( in Spanish ). UNAM. p. 34. ISBN 978 - 968 - 36 - 5757 - 2. Jump up ^ Góngora, Mario ( 1998 ). Estudios sobre la historia colonial de hispanoamérica ( in Spanish ). p. 103. ISBN 978 - 956 - 11 - 1381 - 7. Jump up ^ Vicente Villarán, Manuel ( 1998 ). Lecciones de derecho constitucional ( in Spanish ). Fondo Editorial PUCP. p. 473. ISBN 978 - 9972 - 42 - 132 - 7. Jump up ^ Andreo García, Juan ( 2007 ). `` Su Majestad quiere gobernar : la Administración española en Indias durante los siglos XVI y XVII ''. In Juan Bautista Vilar ; Antonio Peñafiel Ramón ; Antonio Irigoyen López. Historia y sociabilidad : homenaje a la profesora María del Carmen Melendreras Gimeno ( in Spanish ). EDITUM. p. 282. ISBN 978 - 84 - 8371 - 654 - 0. Jump up ^ Diego - Fernández, Rafael ( 2007 ). `` Estudio introductorio ''. In Juan Bautista Vilar ; Antonio Peñafiel Ramón ; Antonio Irigoyen López. Historia y sociabilidad : homenaje a la profesora María del Carmen Melendreras Gimeno ( in Spanish ). EDITUM. p. xxix. ISBN 978 - 84 - 8371 - 654 - 0. Jump up ^ de Blas, Patricio ( 2000 ). Historia común de Iberoamérica ( in Spanish ). EDAF. p. 208. ISBN 978 - 84 - 414 - 0766 - 4. Jump up ^ Szászdi, Adam ( 2002 ). `` Virreyes y Audiencias de Indias en el reinado de don Felipe II : Algunos señalamientos necesarios ''. In Feliciano Barrios. Derecho y administracion pub'lica en las Indias hispánicas : Actas del XII Congreso Internacional de Historia del Derecho Indiano, Toledo ( in Spanish ). 2. Universidad de Castilla La Mancha. p. 1709. ISBN 978 - 84 - 8427 - 180 - 2. Jump up ^ Rubio Mañé, Ignacio José ( 1992 ). El Virreinato ( in Spanish ). 1. UNAM. p. 45. ISBN 978 - 968 - 16 - 1354 - 9. Jump up ^ Rubio Mañé, Ignacio José ( 1992 ). El Virreinato ( in Spanish ). 1. UNAM. p. 50. ISBN 978 - 968 - 16 - 1354 - 9. Jump up ^ Morón, Guillermo ( 1995 ). Medina, José Ramón, ed. Obra escogida ( in Spanish ). Fundacion Biblioteca Ayacucho. p. 65. ISBN 978 - 980 - 276 - 313 - 9. Jump up ^ Pinet Plasencia, Adela ( 1998 ). La Península de Yucatán en el Archivo General de la Nación ( in Spanish ). UNAM. p. 33. ISBN 978 - 968 - 36 - 5757 - 2. Jump up ^ Garavaglia, Juan Carlos ; Marchena Fernández, Juan ( 2005 ). América Latina de los orígenes a la Independencia ( in Spanish ). Editorial Critica. p. 267. ISBN 978 - 84 - 8432 - 652 - 6. Jump up ^ Méndez Salcedo, Ildefonso ( 2002 ). La Capitanía General de Venezuela, 1777 -- 1821 ( in Spanish ). Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Universidad de los Andes. p. 69. ISBN 978 - 980 - 244 - 299 - 7. Jump up ^ Cornejo Franco, José ( 1993 ). Testimonios de Guadalajara ( in Spanish ). UNAM. p. viii. ISBN 978 - 968 - 36 - 2671 - 4. Jump up ^ de Blas, Patricio ( 2000 ). Historia común de Iberoamérica ( in Spanish ). EDAF. p. 210. ISBN 978 - 84 - 414 - 0766 - 4. Jump up ^ Bennassar, Bartolomé ( 2001 ). La América española y la América portuguesa : siglos XVI - XVIII ( in Spanish ). Akal. p. 98. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7600 - 203 - 2. Jump up ^ Delgado de Cantú, Gloria M. ( 2005 ). El mundo moderno y contemporáneo ( in Spanish ). 1. Pearson Educación. p. 90. ISBN 978 - 970 - 26 - 0665 - 9. Jump up ^ Orduña Rebollo, Enrique ( 2003 ). Municipios y provincias : Historia de la Organización Territorial Española ( in Spanish ). INAP. p. 238. ISBN 978 - 84 - 259 - 1249 - 8. Jump up ^ De Blas, Patricio ( 2000 ). Historia Común de Iberoamérica ( in Spanish ). EDAF. p. 202. ISBN 978 - 84 - 414 - 0766 - 4. Jump up ^ Bennassar, Bartolomé ( 2001 ). La América española y la América portuguesa : siglos XVI - XVIII ( in Spanish ). Akal. p. 99. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7600 - 203 - 2. Jump up ^ Orduña Rebollo, Enrique ( 2003 ). Municipios y provincias : Historia de la Organización Territorial Española ( in Spanish ). INAP. p. 237. ISBN 978 - 84 - 259 - 1249 - 8. Jump up ^ Historia general de España y América ( in Spanish ). 10. Ediciones Rialp. 1992. p. 615. ISBN 978 - 84 - 321 - 2102 - 9. Jump up ^ Pérez Guartambel, Carlos ( 2006 ). Justicia indígena ( in Spanish ). Universidad de Cuenca. pp. 49 -- 50. ISBN 978 - 9978 - 14 - 119 - 9. Jump up ^ Bosco Amores, Juan ( 2006 ). Historia de América ( in Spanish ). Editorial Ariel. p. 273. ISBN 978 - 84 - 344 - 5211 - 4. Jump up ^ Bennassar, Bartolomé ( 2001 ). La América española y la América portuguesa : siglos XVI - XVIII ( in Spanish ). Akal. p. 101. ISBN 978 - 84 - 7600 - 203 - 2. Jump up ^ Historia - Facultad de Derecho Universidad de Valladolid Jump up ^ `` education '', Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008, retrieved 2008 - 09 - 30 Jump up ^ http://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2012-02-19/el-pilar-un-colegio-de-dirigentes_232887/ Jump up ^ Robert Parsons, Catholic Encyclopaedia ( 1913 ) Jump up ^ Thomas, Hugh ; El Imperio Español de Carlos V ( 2010 ) Jump up ^ Braudel, 1984. p 418 Jump up ^ Albareda Salvadó, Joaquim ( 2010 ). La Guerra de Sucesión de España ( 1700 -- 1714 ). Editorial Critica. pp. 239 -- 241. ISBN 9788498920604. Jump up ^ Victoria, Pablo ( 2005 ). 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 '' ( 1a. ed. ). Barcelona : Áltera. ISBN 9788489779686. Jump up ^ Janota, Tom ( 2015 - 02 - 09 ). Alexander von Humboldt, un explorador científico en América. CIDCLI. p. 64. ISBN 9786078351121. Jump up ^ von,, Humboldt, Alexander ( 1 January 1811 ). `` Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain ''. Bio Diversity Library.org. Jump up ^ The biggest amphibious attack until the Invasion of Normandy in 1944 ( Victoria, Pablo ( 2005 ). 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 ''. Barcelona : Áltera. ISBN 84 - 89779 - 68 - 6. ) Jump up ^ `` In one short year the unfortunate Spaniards saw their armies beaten in Portugal, Cuba and Manilla torn from their grasp, their commerce destroyed, and their fleets annihilated. '' Prowse, D.W. A History of Newfoundland : from the English, Colonial and Foreign Records, Heritage Books Inc., 2007, p. 311. Jump up ^ Torres, Fernando Martínez Láinez, Carlos Canales ( 2008 ). Banderas lejanas : la exploración, conquista y defensa por España del territorio de los actuales Estados Unidos ( 1 ̇ed. ed. ). Madrid : Edaf. ISBN 9788441421196. CS1 maint : Extra text ( link ) Jump up ^ Victoria, Pablo ( 2007 ). España contraataca : relato sobre la derrota del Imperio inglés en Norteamérica ( 1a ed. ). Barcelona : Ediciones Altera. ISBN 9788496840058. Jump up ^ National Park Service, Diego de Gardoqui : Personal Information. Jump up ^ The Colonization of North America 1492 to 1783 - Herbert E. Bolton, Thomas Maitland Marshall. pg 507 Jump up ^ Victoria, Pablo ( 2008 ). Al oído del rey : la historia jamás contada sobre la rebelión americana y el genocidio bolivariano ( 1. ed. ). Barcelona : Ediciones Áltera. ISBN 9788496840287. Jump up ^ `` Spanish Empire -- New World Encyclopedia ''. www.newworldencyclopedia.org. Jump up ^ `` Spanish Silver Dollar, 1774 : Specifications ''. www.silentworldfoundation.org.au. Jump up ^ Cardelús, Borja ( 2007 ). La huella de España y de la cultura hispana en los Estados Unidos ( 2. ed. ). Madrid : Centro de Cultura Iberoamericana ( CCI ). ISBN 9788461150366. Jump up ^ An early bandeira in 1628, ( led by Antônio Raposo Tavares ), composed of 2,000 allied Indians, 900 Mamluks ( Mestizos ) and 69 white Paulistanos, 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 Guairá and the enslavement of 60,000 indigenous people. In response the missions that followed were heavily fortified. Jump up ^ Peña, Lorenzo ( 2002 ). Un Puente jurídico entre Iberoamérica y Europa : la Constitución española de 1812 ( PDF ) ( in Spanish ). Casa de América - CSIC. pp. 6 -- 7. ISBN 84 - 88490 - 55 - 0. Jump up ^ Dictionary of Battles and Sieges : A Guide to 8,500 Battles 2007 Cerezo finally surrendered with the full honours of war ( 1 July 1898 -- 2 June 1899 ) Jump up ^ La derrota más amarga del Ejército español -- ABC.es ( in Spanish ) Jump up ^ `` Desembarco en Alhucemas, el `` Día D '' de las tropas españolas en el norte de África ``. abc ( in Spanish ). 12 January 2014. Bibliography Anderson, James Maxwell ( 2000 ), The History of Portugal, Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood, ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 31106 - 2. Archer, Christon ; et al. ( 2002 ), World History of Warfare, Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 978 - 0 - 8032 - 4423 - 8. Brown, Jonathan ; Elliott, John Huxtable ( 1980 ), A Palace for a King. The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV, New Haven : Yale University Press, ISBN 978 - 0 - 300 - 02507 - 1. Kamen, Henry ( 2003 ), Empire : How Spain Became a World Power, 1492 -- 1763, New York : HarperCollins, ISBN 0 - 06 - 093264 - 3. Lach, Donald F. ; Van Kley, Edwin J. ( 1994 ), Asia in the Making of Europe, Chicago : University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 46734 - 4. Lockhart, James and Stuart B. Schwartz, Early Latin America. New York : Cambridge University Press 1983. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 29929 - 9. Further reading Library resources about Spanish Empire Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries Black, Jeremy ( 1996 ). The Cambridge illustrated atlas of warfare : Renaissance to revolution. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 521 - 47033 - 1 Braudel, Fernand ( 1972 ). The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, ISBN 0 - 06 - 090566 - 2 Brading, D.A.. Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763 - 1810. New York : Cambridge University Press 1971. Fernand Braudel, The Perspective of the World ( part iii of Civilization and Capitalism ) 1979, translated 1985. Brown, Jonathan ( 1998 ). Painting in Spain : 1500 -- 1700. New Haven : Yale University Press. ISBN 0 - 300 - 06472 - 1 Dominguez Ortiz, Antonio ( 1971 ). The Golden Age of Spain, 1516 -- 1659. Oxford : Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 - 297 - 00405 - 0 Edwards, John ( 2000 ). The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, 1474 -- 1520. New York : Blackwell. ISBN 0 - 631 - 16165 - 1 Elliott, J.H.. Empires of the Atlantic World : Britain and Spain in America 1492 - 1830. New Haven : Yale University Press 2006. Fisher, John. ( 1985 ). Commercial Relations Between Spain and Spanish America in the Era of Free Trade, 1778 - 1796. Liverpool. Haring, Clarence. The Spanish Empire in America. New York : Oxford University Press 1947. Herr, Richard. ( 1958 ). The Eighteenth - Century Revolution in Spain. Princeton, N.J. Kamen, Henry ( 1998 ). Philip of Spain. New Haven and London : Yale University Press. ISBN 0 - 300 - 07800 - 5 Kamen, Henry ( 2005 ). Spain 1469 -- 1714. A Society of Conflict ( third ed. ) London and New York : Pearson Longman. ISBN 0 - 582 - 78464 - 6 Lockhart, James and Stuart B. Schwartz. Early Latin America. New York : Cambridge University Press 1983. ISBN 0 - 521 - 23344 - 5 Lynch, John. ( 1964 ) Spain Under the Hapsburgs. 2 vols. New York. Lynch, John. ( 1983 ). The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808 - 1826. New York. Lynch, John. ( 1989 ). Bourbon Spain, 1700 - 1808. New York. Merriman, Roger Bigelow. The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and the New. 4 vols. New York 1918 - 34. Olson, James S. et al. Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Empire, 1402 -- 1975 ( 1992 ) online Paquette, Gabriel B. Enlightenment, governance, and reform in Spain and its empire, 1759 -- 1808. New York : Palgrave Macmillan 2008. Parker, Geoffrey ( 1997 ). The Thirty Years ' War ( second ed. ). New York : Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 12883 - 8 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 Parker, Geoffrey ( 1977 ). The Dutch revolt. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 8014 - 1136 - X Parker, Geoffrey ( 1978 ). Philip II. Boston : Little, Brown. ISBN 0 - 316 - 69080 - 5 Parker, Geoffrey ( 1997 ). The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century. New York : Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 16518 - 0 Parry J.H.. The Spanish Seaborne Empire. Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press 1966. ISBN 0 - 520 - 07140 - 9 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 Schmidt - Nowara, Christopher and John M. Nieto Phillips, eds. Interpreting Spanish Colonialism : Empires, Nations, and Legends. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2005. Stein, Stanley J. and Barbara H. Stein, Apogee of Empire : Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759 - 1789. Balitmore : The Johns Hopkins Press 2003. Stradling, R.A. ( 1988 ). Philip IV and the Government of Spain. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 521 - 32333 - 9 Thomas, Hugh ( 2004 ). Rivers of Gold : The Rise of the Spanish Empire 1490 -- 1522 Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0 - 297 - 64563 - 3 Thomas, Hugh ( 1997 ). The Slave Trade ; The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade 1440 -- 1870. London : Papermac. ISBN 0 - 333 - 73147 - 6 Wright, Esmond, ed. ( 1984 ). History of the World, Part II : The last five hundred years ( third ed. ). New York : Hamlyn Publishing. ISBN 0 - 517 - 43644 - 2. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spanish Empire. Library of Iberian Resources Online, Stanley G Payne A History of Spain and Portugal vol 1 Ch 13 `` The Spanish Empire '' The Mestizo - Mexicano - Indian History in the USA Documentary Film, Villa de Albuquerque The last Spanish colonies ( in Spanish ) Francisco José Calderón Vázquez ( 2008 ), Fronteras, identidad, conflicto e interacción. Los Presidios Españoles en el Norte Africano ( in Spanish ), ISBN 978 - 84 - 691 - 6786 - 1, archived from the original on 14 February 2009 The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake at the Library of Congress contains primary materials on Spanish colonialism. Spanish Empire Timeline Catholic Monarchs Habsburgs Golden Age Encomiendas New Laws in favour of the indigenous Expulsion of the Moriscos Eighty Years ' War Portuguese Restoration War Bourbons Napoleonic invasion Independence of Spanish continental Americas Liberal constitution Carlist Wars Spanish -- American War German -- Spanish Treaty ( 1899 ) Spanish Civil War Independence of Morocco ( Western Sahara conflict ) Territories Kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia Milan Union with Holy Roman Empire Netherlands Franche - Comté Portugal Philippines East Pacific ( Guam, Mariana, Caroline, Palau, Marshall, Micronesia, Moluccas ) Northern Taiwan Tidore Florida New Spain ( Western United States, Mexico, Central America, Spanish Caribbean ) Spanish Louisiana Coastal Alaska Haiti Belize Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago Venezuela, Northern and Western Guyana New Granada ( Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, a northernmost portion of Brazilian Amazon ) Peru ( Peru, Acre ) Río de la Plata ( Argentina, Paraguay, Charcas ( Bolivia ), Banda Oriental ( Uruguay ), Falkland Islands ) Chile Equatorial Guinea Spanish North Africa ( Ifni, Cape Juby, Spanish Morocco and Western Sahara ) Administration Archivo de Indias Council of the Indies Cabildo Trial of residence Laws of the Indies Royal Decree of Graces Exequatur Papal bull School of Salamanca Administrative subdivisions Viceroyalties New Spain New Granada Perú Río de la Plata Audiencias Bogotá Buenos Aires Caracas Charcas Concepción Cusco Guadalajara Guatemala Lima Manila Mexico Panamá Quito Santiago Santo Domingo Captaincies General Chile Cuba Guatemala Philippines Puerto Rico Santo Domingo Venezuela Yucatán Provincias Internas Governorates Castilla de Oro Cuba New Andalusia ( 1501 -- 1513 ) New Andalusia New Castile New Toledo Paraguay Río de la Plata Economy Currencies Dollar Real Maravedí Escudo Columnario Trade Manila galleon Spanish treasure fleet Casa de Contratación Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Military Armies Tercio Army of Flanders Spanish Armada Indian auxiliaries Legión Warriors Duke of Alba Antonio de Leyva Martín de Goiti Alfonso d'Avalos García de Toledo Osorio Duke of Savoy Álvaro de Bazán the Elder John of Austria Charles Bonaventure de Longueval Pedro de Zubiaur Ambrosio Spinola Bernardo de Gálvez Sailors Christopher Columbus Pinzón brothers Ferdinand Magellan Juan Sebastián Elcano Juan de la Cosa Juan Ponce de León Miguel López de Legazpi Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Sebastián de Ocampo Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca Alonso de Ojeda Vasco Núñez de Balboa Alonso de Salazar Andrés de Urdaneta Antonio de Ulloa Ruy López de Villalobos Diego Columbus Alonso de Ercilla Nicolás de Ovando Juan de Ayala Sebastián Vizcaíno Juan Fernández Felipe González de Ahedo Conquistadors Hernán Cortés Francisco Pizarro Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Hernán Pérez de Quesada Francisco Vázquez de Coronado Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar Pedro de Valdivia Pedro de Alvarado Martín de Ursúa Diego de Almagro Pánfilo de Narváez Diego de Mazariegos Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera Battles Old World Won Bicocca Landriano Pavia Tunis Mühlberg St. Quentin Gravelines Malta Lepanto Antwerp Azores Mons Gembloux Ostend English Armada Cape Celidonia White Mountain Breda Nördlingen Valenciennes Ceuta Bitonto Bailén Vitoria Tetouan Alhucemas Lost Capo d'Orso Preveza Siege of Castelnuovo Algiers Ceresole Djerba Tunis Spanish Armada Leiden Rocroi Downs Passaro Trafalgar Somosierra Annual New World Won Tenochtitlan Cajamarca Cuzco Bogotá savanna Reynogüelén Penco Guadalupe Island San Juan Cartagena de Indias Cuerno Verde Pensacola Lost La Noche Triste Tucapel Chacabuco Carabobo Ayacucho Guam Santiago de Cuba Manila Bay Asomante Spanish colonizations Canary Islands Aztec Maya Chiapas Yucatán Guatemala Petén El Salvador Honduras Nicaragua Chibchan Nations Colombia Peru Chile Other civil topics Spanish missions in the Americas Architecture Mesoamerican codices Cusco painting tradition Indochristian painting in New Spain Quito painting tradition Colonial universities in Latin America Colonial universities in the Philippines General Archive of the Indies Colonial Spanish Horse Castas Old inquisition Slavery in Spanish Empire British and American slaves granted their freedom by Spain Articles and topics related to Spanish Empire History of Europe Prehistory Paleolithic Europe Neolithic Europe Bronze Age Europe Iron Age Europe Classical antiquity Classical Greece Roman Republic Hellenistic period Roman Empire Early Christianity Crisis of the Third Century Fall of the Western Roman Empire Late antiquity Middle Ages Early Middle Ages Migration Period Christianization Francia Byzantine Empire Maritime republics Viking Age Kievan Rus ' Holy Roman Empire High Middle Ages Feudalism Crusades Mongol invasion Late Middle Ages Hundred Years ' War Kalmar Union Renaissance Early modern Reformation Age of Discovery Baroque Thirty Years ' War Absolute monarchy Ottoman Empire Portuguese Empire Spanish Empire Early 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Parthian Sasanian Kushan Mongol Xianbei Xiongnu Roman Western Eastern Teotihuacan Post-classical Arab Rashidun Umayyad Abbasid Fatimid Córdoba Aragonese Angevin Aztec Benin Bornu Bruneian Bulgarian First Second Byzantine Nicaea Trebizond Carolingian Chinese Sui Tang Song Yuan Ethiopian Zagwe Solomonic Georgian Hunnic Inca Indian Chola Gurjara - Pratihara Pala Eastern Ganga dynasty Delhi Vijayanagara Iranian Tahirid Samanid Buyid Sallarid Ziyarid Kanem Khmer Latin Majapahit Malaccan Mali Mongol Yuan Golden Horde Chagatai Khanate Ilkhanate Moroccan Idrisid Almoravid Almohad Marinid North Sea Oyo Roman Serbian Somali Ajuran Ifatite Adalite Mogadishan Warsangali Songhai Srivijaya Tibetan Turko - Persian Ghaznavid Great Seljuk Khwarezmian Timurid Vietnamese Ly Tran Le Wagadou Modern Ashanti Austrian Austro - Hungarian Brazilian Central African Chinese Ming Qing China Manchukuo Ethiopian French First Second German First / Old Reich Second Reich Third Reich Haitian First Second Indian Maratha Sikh Mughal British Raj Iranian Safavid Afsharid Zand Qajar Pahlavi Japanese Johor Korean Mexican First Second Moroccan Saadi Alaouite Russian USSR Somali Gobroon Majeerteen Hobyo Dervish Swedish Tongan Turkish Ottoman Karaman Ramazan Vietnamese Tay Son Nguyen Vietnam Colonial American Belgian British English Danish Dutch French German Italian Japanese Omani Norwegian Portuguese Spanish Swedish Lists Empires largest ancient great powers medieval great powers modern great powers Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spanish_Empire&oldid=821452121 '' Categories : States and territories established in 1492 States and territories disestablished in 1975 Spanish Empire Former empires History of European colonialism House of Habsburg Overseas empires Spanish colonization of the Americas 1492 establishments in the Spanish Empire 1492 establishments in Spain 1975 disestablishments in Spain Spanish Netherlands History of Burgundy History of Calabria History of Campania History of Franche - Comté History of Languedoc - Roussillon History of Lombardy Early Modern Luxembourg History of Hauts - de-France 2nd millennium in Spain Hidden categories : CS1 Spanish - language sources ( es ) CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list Articles needing more detailed references CS1 maint : Extra text Articles with Spanish - language external links Wikipedia indefinitely move - protected pages Use dmy dates from April 2013 Articles containing Latin - language text Former country articles requiring maintenance Articles containing Spanish - language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2018 Articles with unsourced statements from October 2014 Articles with unsourced statements from October 2008 Articles containing French - language text Articles with unsourced statements from August 2012 Articles with unsourced statements from June 2013 Pages using div col with deprecated parameters Talk Contents About Wikipedia 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Question: what did newly discovered land mean for spain in the 16th century
Answer: empire reached the peak of its military, political and economic power