Spain kept control of two colonies in its empire in America: Cuba and Puerto Rico. It also held onto the Philippines and some preserved islands in Oceania, including the Caroline Islands (including the Palau Islands) and the Marianas (including Guam). However, when Spain lost the Spanish-American War of 1898, it lost almost all of these last territories. Spain kept control only of small islands of Oceania (not including Guam). Spain sold these islands to Germany in 1899 .
Spain still kept territories in Africa. Spain controlled Morocco, Western Sahara, and Equatorial Guinea, until decolonization in the 1960s and 1970s. The last colony to gain independence was the Western Sahara, in 1975.
The "Spanish Empire" generally means Spain's overseas provinces in the Americas, Africa, the Pacific and Europe. For instance, traditionally, territiories such as the Low Countries or Spanish Netherlands were included as they were part of the possessions of the King of Spain, governed by Spanish officials and defended by Spanish troops. Many historians use both "Habsburg" and "Spanish" when they speak of the empire of Charles V or Philip II. However, the Low Countries were effectively part of Spain during that period.
The Portuguese colonial empire joined Spain and was ruled by the same monarch in "personal union", but Portugal remained a separate state. The Portuguese empire continued to be ruled from Lisbon during this period. Therefore, there was a joint Spanish-Portuguese rule for some time. These jointly run empires have sometimes been called the Spanish-Portuguese Empire.
The 1469 marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile created a dynastic union of Aragon and Castile. Spain became a modern state in the early modern period with the union of the Catholic Monarchs.
In 1492, Spain finished a 781 years period of Reconquest with the fall of the last Moorish kingdom of Granada. that same year the Catholic monarchs financed Christopher Columbus voyage to reach India by sailing westwards. Columbus instead found America. That was the start of the Spanish colonization of the continent.
By the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, the globe was divided into two hemispheres between Spain and Portugal. Therefore, Spain had the right to start colonies in all of the New World from Alaska to Cape Horn (except Brazil), as well as Asia. The Castilian Empire was the result of a period of rapid colonial expansion into the New World, as well as the Philippines and colonies in Africa: Melilla was captured by Castile in 1497 and Oran in 1509.
The Spanish language and the Roman Catholic Church were brought to the Americas and to the Spanish East Indies (Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marianas, Palau and the Philippines) by the Spanish colonization which began in the 15th century. Together with the Portuguese empire, the Spanish empire laid the foundations of a globalised trade and culture by opening up the great trans-oceanic trade routes. The laws of the Indies regulated social, political and economic life in the Americas over centuries to protect the indigenous native people of the Americas which started a miscegenation process that other "so called" "Empires" never reached. the mix between Spaniards, Native Americans and Black people could be seen nowadays in most of the countries that became part of that Universal Catholic Spanish Monarchy also called Spanish Empire.
The Spanish monarchy or the Spanish Empire never created "Colonies" but Viceroyalties or Overseas provinces.
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 some of the peoples. Most Hispanics in the Americas have mixed European and Indigenous ancestry. While some might also have African ancestry.
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. 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 wheat, barley, apples, cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys, and many others. The Old World received from America such things as maize, potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, squash, cacao (chocolate), vanilla, avocados, pineapples, chewing gum, rubber, peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, pecans, blueberries, strawberries, quinoa, amaranth, chia, and agave. The result of these exchanges, 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.
Viceroyalty of New Spain
The Viceroyalty of New Spain was the name of the viceroy-ruled territories of the Spanish Empire in North America and its peripheries in Asia from 1521 to 1821. New Spain was the name that the Spanish gave to the area that today is central and southern Mexico, and since the capital city of the Viceroyalty was in Mexico City, the name was also used for the viceroyalty.
The Viceroyalty of New Spain's territory included what is the Bay Islands "(until 1643)", Cayman Islands "(until 1670)", Central America (as far as the southern border of Costa Rica until 1821), Cuba, Florida, Hispaniola (including Haiti until 1700), Jamaica "(until 1670)" Mariana Islands, Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, nearly all of the southwestern United States (including all or parts of the modern-day U.S. states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida). Spain claimed areas as far north as British Columbia and Alaska, but the northern boundary of New Spain was redefined by the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. New Spain also included Venezuela before it was annexed to the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717.
The territories were separated into provinces. Provinces were led by a governor, who was responsible for the administration of the province and often also led the province's army and militias. The provinces were grouped together under five high courts, called "Audiencias" in Spanish, at Santo Domingo, Mexico City, Guatemala, Guadalajara and Manila. Both the high courts and the governors had autonomy from the viceroy and carried out most duties on their own. Only on important issues did the viceroy become involved in ruling the provinces directly.