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[[Image:The_Death_of_Gaston_de_Foix_in_the_Battle_of_Ravenna.jpg|thumb|left|200px|The death of French general [[County of Foix|Gaston de Foix]] at the [[Battle of Ravenna]] (1512)]]
Después de la muerte de la [[reina Isabella]], Ferdinand como el monarca único de España adoptó una política más agresiva que ello teni ya como marido de Isabella, agrandando la influencia de España en [[Italia]] y contra [[Francia]]. La primera inversión de Ferdinand de fuerzas españolas vini ya en la guerra de la liga de Cambrai contra Venecia, en donde los soldados españoles se distinguieron en el campo junto a sus aliados franceses en la batalla de Agnadello (1509). Solamente un año más adelante, Ferdinand sinti bene a la parte de la liga santa contra Francia, viendo una ocasión en tomar Milano - a cuál él llevó a cabo una demanda dynastic - y Navarre. La guerra ay ya menos de un éxito que eso contra Venecia, y en 1516, Francia convenidos una tregua que Milano izquierda en su control y el reconocido el control español de de [[Navarre]] superior.
[[Image:Balboa südsee.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Vasco Núñez de Balboa claiming the Pacific Ocean and adjoining lands for the Spanish Crown.]]Upon the settlement of [[Hispanola]] which was successful in the early [[1500s]], the colonists began searching elsewhere to begin new settlements. Those from the less prosperous Hispaniola were eager to search for new success in a new settlement. From there [[Juan Ponce de León]] conquered [[Puerto Rico]] and [[Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar|Diego Velázquez]] took [[Cuba]]. The first settlement on the mainland was [[Darien|Darién]] in [[Panama]], settled by [[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]] in [[1512]].
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.
This Castilian Empire abroad became the source of Spanish wealth and power in Europe, and initially stimulated trade and industry and a rapid growth of Spain's few large cities, but ultimately contributed to [[price revolution|inflation]] in the last decades of the 16th century as imports of [[silver]] grew rapidly, which undermined local industry. Instead of fueling the Spanish economy, the silver ultimately made Spain dependent on foreign sources of [[raw material]]s and [[manufactured goods]].
The wealthy preferred to invest their fortunes in [[public debt]] (''juros'') rather than production.
[[Aristocrat]]ic prejudice made manual work dishonorable.
The silver and gold whose circulation helped facilitate the economic and social revolutions taking place in France and England and other parts of Europe helped stifle them in Spain. The problems caused by inflation were discussed by scholars at the [[School of Salamanca]] and ''[[arbitrista]]s'' but they had no impact on government policy.
==The Golden Age of Spain: The Sun Never Sets (1521–1643)==
The [[16th century|16th]] and [[17th century|17th]] centuries are sometimes called "the Golden Age of Spain" (in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], ''{{lang|es|[[Siglo de Oro]]}}''). During the sixteenth century, Spain held the equivalent of [[USD|US$]]1.5 trillion ([[1990]] terms) in [[gold]] and silver received from [[New Spain]]. It was often said during this time that it was [[The empire on which the sun never sets|the empire on which the sun never set]]. The unwieldy empire of this Golden Age was controlled, not from distant inland Madrid, but from [[Seville]]. The [[Habsburg]] dynasty squandered the American and Castilian riches in wars across Europe for Habsburg interests, defaulted on their debt several times, and left Spain bankrupt (with the tensions between the Empire and the people of Castile exploding in the popular rebellion of the [[Castilian War of the Communities]] ([[1520]]–[[1522|22]]). The Habsburg political goals were several:
*Access to [[Americas|American]] ([[gold]], [[silver]], [[sugar]]) and [[Asia]]n products ([[porcelain]], [[spice]]s, [[silk]])
*Undermining the power of [[France]] and containing it in its eastern borders.
*Maintaining [[Catholic]] Habsburg [[hegemony]] in [[Germany]], defending [[Catholicism]] against the [[Reformation]]
*Defending [[Europe]] against [[Islam]], notably the [[Ottoman Empire]].
As a result of the marriage politics of the ''{{lang|es|Reyes Católicos}}'', their grandson [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles]] inherited the Castilian empire in America, the [[Aragonese Empire]] in the [[Mediterranean]] (including a large portion of modern [[Italy]]), as well as the crown of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and of the [[Low Countries]] and [[Franche-Comté]]. Thus this Empire was constituted from the inheritance of territories, and not through conquest. After his defeat of the Castilian rebels in the Castilian War of the Communities, Charles became the most powerful man in Europe, his rule stretching over an empire in Europe unrivalled in extent until the [[Napoleon]]ic era. Charles attempted to quell the [[Protestant Reformation]] at the [[Diet of Worms]] but [[Martin Luther|Luther]] refused to recant his "[[heresy]]." However, Charles's piety could not stop his mutinying troops from plundering the [[Holy See]] in the ''[[Sacco di Roma]]''.
After Columbus, the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|colonization of the New World]] was led by a series of warrior-explorers called the [[Conquistadors]]. The Spanish forces exploited the rivalries between competing local peoples and states, some of which were only too 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 greatly facilitated by the spread of diseases (e.g. [[smallpox]]) common in Europe but unknown in the New World, which decimated the native American populations. This caused a labour shortage and so the colonists initiated the [[Atlantic slave trade]] where [[slavery|slave]]s were shipped directly from [[Africa]] to the Americas by Portuguese slave traders; very few ever saw Spain; ''see [[Population history of American indigenous peoples]]''.
[[Image:Inca-Spanish confrontation.JPG|thumb|left|300px|Emperor Atahualpa is shown surrounded on his palanquin at the '''[[Battle of Cajamarca]]'''.]]
Perhaps the most successful conquistador leader was [[Hernán Cortés]], who with a relatively small Spanish force but also crucially the support of around two hundred thousand [[Amerindian]] allies, overran the mighty [[Aztec]] empire in the campaigns of [[1519]]–[[1521|21]] to bring [[Mexico]] into the Spanish empire as the basis for the colony of [[New Spain]]. Of comparable importance was the 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]], [[El Dorado]] in [[South America]]) caused several more expeditions to be sent out, but many of those returned without having found their goal, or having found it, finding it much less valuable than was hoped. Indeed, the American colonies only began to yield a substantial part of the crown's revenues with the establishment of mines such as that of [[Potosi]] ([[1546]]).
In [[1521]], [[Francis I of France]], who found himself surrounded by Habsburg territories, invaded the Spanish possessions in Italy and inaugurated a second round of Franco-Spanish conflict. The war was a disaster for France, which suffered defeat at [[Battle of Biccoca|Biccoca]] ([[1522]]), [[Battle of Pavia|Pavia]] ([[1525]], at which Francis was captured), and [[Battle of Landriano|Landriano]] ([[1529]]) before Francis relented and abandoned Milan to Spain once more.
[[Image:Battle of Pavia.jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Battle of Pavia]] ([[1525]])]]
===Battle of Pavia to the Peace of Augsburg (1525–1555)===
Charles's victory at the [[Battle of Pavia]], [[1525]], surprised many Italians and Germans and elicited concerns that Charles would endeavor to gain ever greater power. [[Pope Clement VII]] switched sides and now joined forces with France and prominent Italian states against the Habsburg Emperor, in the [[War of the League of Cognac]]. In [[1527]], Charles grew exhausted with the pope's meddling in what he viewed as purely secular affairs, and [[Sack of Rome|sacked Rome]] itself, embarrassing 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 [[Henry VIII of England]]'s marriage was a direct consequence of his unwillingness to offend the emperor and have his capital sacked for perhaps a second time. The [[Peace of Barcelona]], signed between Charles 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 [[Florence|Florentine]] Republic.
The Portuguese [[Ferdinand Magellan]] died while in the Philippines commanding a Castilian expedition to [[Circumnavigation|circumnavigate]] the [[earth|globe]] in [[1522]]. [[Juan Sebastián Elcano]] would led the expedition to success.
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 [[mark]]s the first loan from Genoese banks to Charles (Braudel 1984).
Further Spanish settlements were progressively established in the New World: [[New Granada]] (modern [[Colombia]]) was colonized in the [[1530s]] and [[Buenos Aires]] was established in [[1536]].
Spain did pass some laws for the protection of the [[indigenous peoples]] of its American colonies, the first such in [[1542]]; the legal thought behind them was the basis of modern [[international law]]. Taking advantage of their extreme remoteness, the European colonists revolted when they saw their power being reduced, forcing a partial revoking of these [[New Laws]]. Later, weaker laws were introduced to protect the indigenous peoples but records show they had little effect. The restored ''{{lang|es|[[Encomienda|Encomenderos]]}}'' exploited the Indians rather than taking care of them.
In [[1543]], the king of France [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] announced his unprecedented alliance with the [[Ottoman empire|Ottoman]] sultan, [[Suleiman the Magnificent]], by occupying the Spanish-controlled city of [[Nice]] in concert with [[Ottoman Empire|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 in his invasion of France. Although the Spanish army was soundly defeated at the [[Battle of Ceresole]] in [[Savoy]] the French were unable to seriously threaten Spanish controlled Milan, whilst suffering defeat in the north at the hands of Henry, thereby being forced to accept unfavourable terms. The Austrians, led by Charles's younger brother [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]], continued to fight the Ottomans in the east. Charles went to take care of an older problem: the [[Schmalkaldic League]].
[[Image:Habsburg Map 1547.jpg|thumb|right|450px|A map of the dominion of the [[Hapsburgs]] following the [[Battle of Mühlberg]] ([[1547]]) 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 [[Sardinia|the islands]] were retained by the [[Spanish Habsburgs]].]]
The 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 [[Saxony|Saxon]] [[Prince-elector|elector]] [[Maurice of Saxony|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 ''{{lang|la|[[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.
Charles had preferred to suppress the Ottomans through a considerably more maritime strategy, hampering Ottoman landings on the [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] territories in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]]. Only in response to raids on the eastern coast of Spain did Charles personally lead attacks against the African mainland ([[1545]]).
===St. Quentin to Lepanto (1556–1571)===
Charles V's only legitimate son, '''[[Philip II of Spain]]''' (r. [[1556]]–[[1598|98]]) parted the Austrian possessions with his uncle [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand]]. Philip treated Castile as the foundation of his empire, but the population of Castile (that was about a third of France's) was never great enough to provide the soldiers needed to support the Empire. When he married [[Mary I of England|Mary Tudor]], England was allied to Spain.
[[Image:Cateau-Cambresis.jpg|thumb|300px|The celebrations following the [[Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis]] (1559) between Spain and France]]
Spain was not yet at peace, as the aggressive [[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 (1557)|Battle of St. Quentin]] in [[Picardy]] in [[1558]] and defeating Henry again at the [[Battle of Gravelines (1558)|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 removed from effectively competing with Spain and the Habsburg family in European power games. Freed from effective French opposition, Spain saw the [[wikt:apogee|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 [[Fugger]]s 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.
[[Florida]] was colonized in [[1565]] by [[Pedro Menendez de Aviles]] when he founded [[Saint Augustine, Florida]] and then promptly defeated an illegal 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. On [[April 27]], [[1565]], the first permanent Spanish settlement in the [[Philippines]] was founded by [[Miguel López de Legaspi]] and the service of [[Manila Galleon]]s 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 fleet]]s, for shipment to Spain. The Spanish trading post of [[Manila]] was established to facilitate this trade in [[1572]].
[[Image:Battle_of_Lepanto_1571.jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|Battle of Lepanto]] ([[1571]]), marking the end of the [[Ottoman Empire]] as the dominant naval power in the [[Mediterranean]]]]
After Spain's victory over France and the beginning of France's religious wars, [[Phillip II of Spain|Philip II's]] ambitions grew. 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 [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] [[warship]]s, joined by volunteers across Europe, led by Charles's illegitimate son [[Don John of Austria]] annihilated the Ottoman fleet at the [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|Battle of Lepanto]], in one of the most decisive battles in 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 troubled kingdom (1571–1598)===
The time for rejoicing in Madrid was short-lived. In [[1566]], [[Calvinist]]-led riots in the Netherlands prompted the [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva|Duke of Alva]] to march into the country and restore order. In [[1568]], [[William the Silent]] led a failed attempt to drive Alva from the Netherlands. These battles are generally considered to signal the start of the [[Eighty Years' War]] that ended with the independence of the [[Dutch Republic|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. 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.
[[Image:Veen01.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Otto van Veen]]: ''The Relief of [[Siege of Leiden|Leiden]]'' ([[1574]]) after the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] had broken their [[dyke]]s in the [[Eighty Years' War]]]]
For Spain, the war became an endless [[wikt:quagmire|quagmire]], sometimes literally. In [[1574]], the Spanish army under [[Luis de Requeséns]] was repulsed from the [[Siege of Leiden]] after the Dutch broke the [[dyke]]s, 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 massive 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 the route of negotiation, and pacified most of the southern provinces again with the [[Union of Arras]] in [[1579]].
The Arras agreement required all Spanish troops to leave these lands. In [[1580]], this gave King Philip the opportunity to strengthen his position when the last member of the [[List of Portuguese monarchs|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, however, was 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 of Spain|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 a commentator, "for it is only by sea power that a single community can be created out of so many so far apart." A writer on tactics in [[1638]] observed, "The might most suited to the arms of Spain is that which is placed on the seas, but this matter of state is so well known that I should not discuss it, even if I thought it opportune to do so." (quoted by Braudel 1984)
[[Image:Defense of Cadiz Against the English 1634.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''The defense of [[Cádiz]]'', by [[Zurbarán]]]]
Portugal required an extensive occupation force to keep it under control, and Spain was still reeling from the [[1576]] bankruptcy. In [[1584]], William the Silent was assassinated by a half-deranged Catholic, and the death of the popular Dutch resistance leader was hoped to bring an end to the war. It did not. In [[1586]], Queen [[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 Ocean|Pacific]], along with a particularly aggressive attack on the port of [[Cadiz]]. In [[1588]], hoping to put a stop to Elizabeth’s meddling, Philip sent the [[Spanish Armada]] to attack England. Favorable weather, smaller more manœuverable English ships, and the fact that England had been warned by their spies in Netherland and were ready for the attack resulted in defeat for the outnumbered but more heavily armoured Armada of Spain. Nevertheless the defeat of the massive military attack, [[English Armada|The Drake–Norris Expedition, 1589]] marked a turning point in the [[1585]]–[[1604]] [[Anglo-Spanish War|Anglo–Spanish War]] in Spain's favour, and few can doubt that the Spanish fleet was the strongest in Europe until the Dutch fleet inflicted the defeat of the [[Battle of the Downs]] in [[1639]], when an increasingly exhausted Spain began to visibly weaken.
[[Image:Invincible_Armada.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The [[Spanish Armada]] leaving the Bay of [[Ferrol]] (1588)]]
Spain had invested itself in the religious warfare in France after Henry II’s death. In [[1589]], [[Henry III of France|Henry III]], the last of the [[Valois Dynasty|Valois]] lineage, died at the walls of Paris. His successor, [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV of Navarre]], the first [[Bourbon Dynasty|Bourbon]] king of France, was a man of great ability, winning key victories against the [[Catholic League]] at [[Battle of Arques|Arques]] (1589) and [[Battle of Ivry|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.
==="God is Spanish" (1596–1626)===
Faced with wars against [[England]], [[France]] and the [[Netherlands]], each led by extraordinarily capable leaders, already-[[bankrupt]]ed Spain was outmatched. Faced with continuing piracy against its shipping in the [[Atlantic]] and the disruption of its vital gold shipments from the New World, Spain was forced to admit bankruptcy again in [[1596]]. The Spanish attempted to extricate themselves from the several conflicts they were involved in, first signing the [[Treaty of Vervins]] with France in [[1598]], recognizing [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]] (since [[1593]] a Catholic) as king of France, and restoring many of the stipulations of the previous [[Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis]]. With a series of defeats at sea and an endless guerrilla war against Catholics in Ireland supported by Spain, an exhausted England agreed to the [[Treaty of London, 1604]], following the accession of the more tractable [[House of Stuart|Stuart]] King [[James I of England|James I]].
Peace with England and France implied that Spain could focus her energies on restoring her 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 (Netherlands)|Breda]]. Following the peace with England, the new Spanish commander [[Ambrosio Spinola]] pressed hard against the Dutch. Spinola, a general of abilities to match Maurice, was prevented from conquering the Netherlands only by Spain's renewed [[bankrupt]]cy in [[1607]]. Faced with ruined finances, in [[1609]], the [[Twelve Years' Truce]] was signed between Spain and the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]]. Spain was at peace, the ''{{lang|la|[[Pax Hispanica]]}}''.
Spain made a fair recovery during the truce, ordering her finances and doing much to restore her prestige and stability in the run-up to the last truly great war in which she would play as a leading power. Philip II's successor, [[Philip III of Spain|Philip III]], was a man of limited ability uninterested in politics, preferring to allow others to take care of the details. His chief minister was the capable [[Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma|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 Balthasar de Zúñiga]], a veteran ambassador to [[Vienna]]. He 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, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand II]], embarked on a campaign against the [[Protestant Union]] and [[Bohemia]]. Zúñiga encouraged Philip to join the Austrian Habsburgs in the war, and Ambrogio Spinola, the rising star of the Spanish army, was sent at the head of the [[Army of Flanders]] to intervene. Thus, Spain entered into the [[Thirty Years' War]].
[[Image:DiegoVelazquez SurrenderofBreda.jpg|thumb|300px|The Surrender of [[Breda (Netherlands)|Breda]] ([[1625]]) to [[Ambrosio Spinola]], by [[Velazquez]]. This victory came to symbolize the renewed period of Spanish military vigour in the [[Thirty Years' War]].]]
In [[1621]], the inoffensive and ineffective Philip III was replaced by the considerably more religious [[Philip IV of Spain|Philip IV]]. The following year, Zúñiga was replaced by [[Gaspar de Guzman, Count-Duke of Olivares]], a reasonably honest and able man who believed that the center of all Spain's woes rested in Holland. After certain initial setbacks, the Bohemians were defeated at [[Battle of White Mountain|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 [[Siege of Breda|Breda]] in [[1625]]. The intervention of [[Christian IV of Denmark]] in the war worried some (Christian was one of Europe's few monarchs who had no worries over his finances) but the victory of the Imperial general [[Albert of Wallenstein]] over the Danes at [[Battle of Dessau Bridge|Dessau Bridge]] and again at [[Battle of Lutter|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. Perfidious France was once again involved in her own instabilities (the famous [[Siege of La Rochelle]] began in [[1627]]), and Spain's eminence seemed irrefutable. The Count-Duke Olivares stridently affirmed "God is Spanish and fights for our nation these days" (Brown and Elliott, 1980, p. 190) and many of Spain's opponents may have grudgingly agreed.
===The road to Rocroi (1626–1643)===
Olivares was a man sadly out of time; he realized that Spain needed to reform, and to reform it needed peace. The destruction of the [[United Provinces of the Netherlands]] was added to his list of necessities because behind every anti-Habsburg coalition there was Dutch money: Dutch bankers stood behind the [[East Indies|East India]] merchants of [[Seville]], and everywhere in the world Dutch entrepreneurship and colonists undermined Spanish and Portuguese [[hegemony]]. Spinola and the Spanish army were focused on the Netherlands, and the war seemed to be going in Spain's favor.
[[1627]] saw the collapse of the Castilian economy. The Spanish had been [[debasement|debasing]] their currency to pay for the war and [[inflation|prices exploded]] in Spain just as they had in previous years in Austria. Until 1631, parts of Castile operated on a [[barter]] economy as a result of the currency crisis and the government was unable to collect any meaningful taxes from the peasantry, depending on its colonies. The Spanish armies in Germany resorted to "paying themselves" on the land. Olivares, who had backed certain tax measures in Spain pending the completion of the war, was further blamed for an embarrassing and fruitless [[War of the Mantuan Succession|war in Italy]] The Dutch, who during the Twelve Years' Truce had made their increasingly potent navy (''see [[Battle of Gibraltar]], [[1607]]'') a priority, devastated Spanish maritime trade, on which Spain was wholly dependent after the economic collapse. Spanish military resources were now fully stretched across Europe and also at sea protecting their maritime trade against the greatly improved Dutch fleet. In [[1628]] the Dutch captain [[Piet Pieterszoon Hein|Piet Hein]] captured the treasure fleet, badly undermining Spain's economy, while consolidating that of the Netherlands. The Spanish were simply no longer able to cope effectively with the growing naval threats, not only from the Netherlands but from France and England while still maintaining a strong naval presence in the Mediterranean to defend against the threat of the Ottoman navy and Muslim pirates. The Portuguese part of the empire was particularly afflicted by raids upon shipping and assaults upon trading posts and territories.
In [[1630]], [[Gustavus Adolphus]] of [[Sweden]], one of history's most noted commanders, landed in Germany and relieved the port of [[Stralsund]] that was the last stronghold on the continent held by German forces belligerent to the Emperor. Gustavus then marched south winning notable victories at [[Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)|Breitenfeld]] and [[Battle of Lützen (1632)|Lützen]], attracting greater support for the Protestant cause the further he went. The situation for the Catholics improved with Gustavus's death at Lutzen in [[1632]] and a key victory at [[Battle of Nordlingen|Nordlingen]] in [[1634]]. From a position of strength, the Emperor approached the war-weary German states with a peace in [[1635]]; many accepted, including the two most powerful, [[Brandenburg]] and [[Saxony]]. Then France entered.
[[Image:Rocroi.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Battle of Rocroi]] ([[1643]]), the symbolic end of Spain's grandeur; the decline sets in.]]
[[Cardinal Richelieu]] 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 (1635)|Peace of Prague]] was contrary to French designs and declared war on the Holy Roman Emperor and Spain within months of the peace being signed. 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 [[Louis XIII of France|King Louis XIII]]'s ministers and topple Richelieu. In the ''"{{lang|fr|année de Corbie}}"'', [[1636]], Spanish forces advanced as far south as [[Corbie]], threatening [[Paris]] and quite nearly ending the war on their terms. After [[1636]], however, Olivares stopped the advance, fearful of provoking another disastrous bankruptcy. The hesitation in pressing home the advantage proved fateful. 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 adequately supply and reinforce their forces in the Netherlands. The Spanish Army of Flanders, which represented the finest of Spanish soldiery and leadership, faced a French invasion led by [[Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé]] in the Spanish Netherlands at [[Battle of Rocroi|Rocroi]] in [[1643]]. The Spanish, led by [[Francisco de Melo]], were devastated, with most of the Spanish infantry slaughtered or captured by French cavalry. The high reputation of the Army of Flanders was broken at Rocroi, and with it, the grandeur of Spain.
==The Empire of the last Spanish Habsburgs (1643–1713)==
Traditionally, historians mark the [[Battle of Rocroi]] ([[1643]]) as the end of Spanish dominance in Europe but the war was not finished. Supported by the French, the [[Catalonia|Catalans]], [[Naples|Neapolitans]], and [[Portugal|Portuguese]] rose up in revolt against the Spanish in the 1640s. With the Netherlands effectively lost 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]]–[[1652|52]] (''see [[Fronde|Wars of the Fronde]]'') the Spanish economy was so exhausted that it was unable to effectively cope with war on so many fronts. Yet the decline of Spanish power in this period has often been overstated. Spain retook Naples in [[1648]] and [[Catalonia]] in [[1652]], but the war came to an end at the [[Battle of the Dunes (1658)]] where the French army under Vicomte de [[Turenne]] defeated the remnants of the Spanish army of the Netherlands. Spain agreed to the [[Peace of the Pyrenees]] in [[1659]] that ceded to France [[Roussillon]], [[Foix]], [[Artois]], and much of [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]].
[[Image:Joao IV proclaimed king.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[John IV of Portugal|John IV of Braganza]] (r. [[1640]]–[[1657|57]]) being proclaimed [[King of Portugal]]]]
Portugal had rebelled in [[1640]] under the leadership of [[John IV of Portugal]], a [[Bragança (royal house)|Braganza]] pretender to the throne. He had received widespread support from the Portuguese people, and the Spanish — who had to deal with rebellions elsewhere, along with the war against France – were unable to respond, and the Spanish and Portuguese had existed in a ''de facto'' state of peace from [[1644]] to [[1657]]. When John IV died in [[1657]], the Spanish attempted to wrest Portugal from his son [[Alfonso VI of Portugal]], but were defeated at [[Battle of Ameixial|Ameixial]] ([[1663]]) and [[Battle of Montes Claros|Montes Claros]] ([[1665]]), leading to Spain's recognition of Portugal's independence in [[1668]].
Spain did have a huge overseas empire, but France was now the superpower in Europe, and the United Provinces in the [[Atlantic]].
[[Charles II of Spain|Charles II]] and his [[Regent|regency]] were incompetent in dealing with the [[War of Devolution]] that [[Louis XIV of France]] prosecuted against the Spanish Netherlands in [[1667]]–[[1668|68]], losing considerable prestige and territory, including the cities of [[Lille]] and [[Charleroi]]. In the [[Nine Years' War]] Louis once again invaded the Spanish Netherlands. French forces led by the [[François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg|Duke of Luxembourg]] defeated the Spanish at [[Battle of Fleurus (1690)|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 how vulnerable and backward the Spanish defenses and bureaucracy were, but the ineffective Spanish Habsburg government took no action to improve them.
[[Image:Batalladealmansa.jpg|thumb|rigth|300px| An artist's rendition of the ''[[Battle of Almansa]]''.]]
The final decades of the [[seventeenth century]] saw utter decay and stagnation in Spain; while the rest of western Europe went through exciting changes in government and society — the [[Glorious Revolution]] in England and the reign of the [[Louis XIV of France|Sun King]] in France — Spain remained adrift. The Spanish bureaucracy that had built up around the charismatic, industrious, and intelligent [[Charles I of Spain|Charles I]] and [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] demanded a strong and hardworking monarch; the weakness and lack of interest of [[Philip III of Spain|Philip III]] and [[Philip IV of Spain|IV]] contributed to Spain's decay. [[Charles II of Spain|Charles II]] was retarded and impotent. In his final will, the childless king of Spain left his throne to the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] prince [[Philip V of Spain|Philip of Anjou]], rather than to a member of the family that had tormented him throughout his life. This resulted in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]].
==The Bourbon Spanish Empire: Reform and Recovery (1713–1806)==
Under the '''[[Treaties of Utrecht]]''' ([[April 11]], [[1713]]), the European powers decided what the fate of Spain would be, in terms of the continental balance of power. The new Bourbon king [[Philip V of Spain|Philip V]] retained the Spanish overseas empire, but ceded the [[Spanish Netherlands]], [[Naples]], [[Milan]], and [[Sardinia]] to Austria; [[Sicily]] and parts of the [[Milanese]] to [[Savoy]]; and [[Gibraltar]] and [[Minorca]] to [[Great Britain]]. Thus the Empire largely turned its back on European territories (the disastrous showing in the [[War of the Quadruple Alliance]], [[1718]]–[[1720|20]], confirmed this reorientation). Moreover, he granted the British the exclusive right to [[slave trade|slave trading]] in [[Spanish America]] for thirty years, the so-called ''{{lang|es|[[asiento]]}}'', as well as licensed voyages to ports in Spanish colonial dominions, openings, as [[Fernand Braudel]] remarked, for both licit and illicit smuggling (Brudel 1984 p 418).
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 (see [[Enlightenment Spain]]). The Spanish Bourbons' broadest intentions were to break the power of the entrenched aristocracy of the ''[[Spanish Criollo peoples|Criollo]]s'' (locally born colonials of European descent), and, eventually, loosen the territorial control of the [[Society of Jesus]] over the virtually independent [[theocracy|theocracies]] of [[Guarani]] ''{{lang|es|[[Misiones]]}}'': the [[Suppression of the Jesuits|Jesuits were expelled]] from Spanish America in [[1767]]. In addition to the established ''{{lang|es|[[consulado]]s}}'' of [[Mexico City]] and [[Lima]], firmly in the control of local landowners, a new rival ''{{lang|es|consulado}}'' was set up at [[Vera Cruz]].
Immediately Philip's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies ([[1714]]) and created first a [[History of Honduras|Honduras Company]] (1714), a [[History of Venezuela|Caracas Company]] ([[1728]]) and — the only one destined to thrive — a [[History of Cuba|Havana Company]] ([[1740]]). In [[1717]]–[[1718|18]] the structures for governing the Indies, the ''{{lang|es|[[Consejo de Indias]]}}'' and the ''{{lang|es|[[Casa de Contratación]]}}'' that governed investments in the cumbersome escorted fleets were transferred from [[Seville]] to [[Cadíz]], which 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 between Cadíz and [[Havana]] and [[Puerto Rico]], and at longer intervals to the [[Rio de la Plata]], where an additional [[viceroy]]alty was created in [[1776]]. The contraband trade that was the lifeblood of the Habsburg empire declined in proportion to registered shipping (a shipping registry having been established in [[1735]]).
Two upheavals registered unease within Spanish America and at the same time demonstrated the renewed resiliency of the reformed system: the [[Tupac Amaru]] uprising in Peru in [[1780]] and the rebellion of the ''{{lang|es|comunidades}}'' of [[Venezuela]], both in part reactions to tighter, more efficient control.
As a result, in the [[18th century]] Spain was basically a [[client state]] of [[France]], and hardly a superpower. Its vast empire in the Americas made it relevant, but it is difficult — even in light of [[Floridablanca]]'s reforms — to say that it was anywhere near the ranks of [[Austria]] or [[Russia]], let alone France or [[Britain]]. Spain failed to recover [[Gibraltar]]. However 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. Rapid shipping growth from the mid-[[1740s]] was disrupted by a rampantly successful [[Royal Navy|British navy]] during the [[Seven Years' War]] ([[1756]]–[[1763|63]]). A gradual recovery from the wars end in 1763 was again disrupted by British attacks during Spain's involvement in the [[American Revolutionary War]] ([[1779]]–[[1783|83]]). But with the last ''{{lang|es|flota}}'' sailing in [[1778]], effectively bringing about [[Free Trade|free trade]] in the empire, shipping trade once again began growing, but this time at an extraordinary rate, in the [[1780s]].
The ending of Cadíz's [[trade monopoly]] 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 [[industrialisation]]. This saw the emergence of a small polically-active commercial class in [[Barcelona]]. Though the scale of such industry was absolutely tiny compared to the vast industry in [[Lancashire]], it was growing rapidly and was to become the biggest center of such industry in the Mediterranean the following century. However one must not exaggerate such scattered examples of local modernity, though they disprove the notion of economic stasis. Most of the improvement was in and around some major coastal cities and the major islands such as [[Cuba]], with its [[plantation]]s, and a renewed growth of [[precious metal]]s [[mining]] in the Americas. On the other hand most of rural Spain and its empire, where the great bulk of the population lived, many in remote communities served by poor roads over often extremely rugged terrain, lived in backward conditions that were reinforced by intransigent age old customs. [[Agriculture|Agricultural]] productivity remained low despite efforts to introduce new techniques to an uninterested, exploited peasant and landless labouring class. Governments were inconsistent in their policies. Nevertheless a quickening tempo of life in the latter part of the century, however patchy, is discernible.
[[Image:Spanish troops at Pensacola.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A Spanish army captures British [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]] in [[1781]]. In [[1783]] the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] returns all of [[Florida]] to Spain for the return of the [[Bahamas]].]]
These modernizing economic and institutional reforms were to bear some fruit militarily when Spanish forces easily retook [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]] and [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]] from the Austrians in [[1734]] ([[War of Polish Succession]]), thwarted British attempts to seize the strategic city of [[Cartagena de Indias]] and [[Cuba]] during the [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] ([[1739]]–[[1742|42]]) and, though Spain lost territories to greatly improved and rampantly successful amphibious British forces towards the end of the [[Seven Years' War]] ([[1756]]–[[1763|63]]), was to recover these losses and seize the British naval base in the [[Bahamas]] during the [[American Revolutionary War#Gulf Coast|American Revolutionary War]] ([[1775]]–[[1783|83]]), thus playing a not insignificant role in hampering British efforts in recovering their rebellious colonies.
The [[Spanish Missions of California|California mission]] planning was begun in [[1769]]. The [[Nootka Convention]] ([[1791]]) resolved the 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 considerably from the dark days at the beginning of the eighteenth century when it was totally at the mercy of other powers' political deals. The relatively 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 seventeenth century had been reversed. It was now a strong middle ranking power with great power pretensions that could not be ignored. But time was to be against it. The growth of trade and wealth in the colonies caused increasing political tensions as frustration grew with the improving but still restrictive trade with Spain. Malaspina's recommendation to turn the empire into a looser [[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. It would take just a generation to prove the wisdom of Malaspina's report. All was to be swept away by the tumult that was to overtake Europe at the turn of the century with the [[French Revolutionary Wars|French Revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]].
==Twilight in the Global Empire (1808–1898)==
[[Image:Churruca death.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Cosme Damián de Churruca y Elorza|Churruca]]'s Death'', oil on canva about the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] by [[Eugenio Álvarez Dumont]], [[Prado]] Museum]]
The first major territory Spain was to lose in the [[19th century|nineteenth century]] was the vast and wild [[Louisiana Territory]], which stretched north to [[Canada]] and was ceded by France in [[1763]]. The French, under Napoleon, took back possession as part of the [[Third Treaty of San Ildefonso|Treaty of San Ildefonso]] in [[1800]] and sold it to the [[United States]] ([[Louisiana Purchase]], [[1803]]).
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 later intrusion of Napoleonic forces into Spain in [[1808]] (see [[Peninsular War]]) cut off effective connection with the empire. But it was internal tensions that ultimately ended the empire in the Americas.
Napoleon's sale in [[1803]] of the [[Louisiana Territory]] to the United States was to cause border disputes between the United States and Spain that, with rebellions in [[West Florida]] ([[1810]]) and in the remainder of Louisiana at the mouth of the [[Mississippi river|Mississippi]], led to their eventual cession to the United States, along with the sale of all of [[Florida]], in the [[Adams-Onís Treaty|Adams–Onís Treaty]] ([[1819]]).
[[Image:Francisco de Goya y Lucientes 026.jpg|right|thumb|350px|''[[The Second of May 1808|The Second of May, 1808: The Charge of the Mamelukes]]'', by [[Francisco de Goya]] (1814).]]
In [[1808]] the Spanish king was tricked and Spain was taken over by Napoleon without firing a shot, but the brutal French provoked a popular uprising from the Spanish people and the 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]]. Spain lost all the colonial possessions in the first third of the century, except for Cuba, Puerto Rico and, isolated on the far side of the globe, the [[Philippines]], [[Guam]] and nearby Pacific islands, as well as [[Spanish Sahara]], parts of [[Morocco]], and [[Spanish Guinea]].
[[Latin American revolutions|The wars of independence in the Americas]] were triggered by another failed [[British invasions of the Río de la Plata|British attempt]] to seize Spanish American territory, this time in 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 when the ''Criollos'' militias and colonial army thrashed the now reinforced British force in [[1807]] and, with the example of the North American revolutionaries very much in their minds, they quickly set about the business of winning their own independence and inspiring independence movements elsewhere in the Americas. A long period of wars began which led to the independence of [[Paraguay]] ([[1811]]), [[Uruguay]] ([[1815]], but subsequently ruled by [[Brazil]] until [[1828]]), [[Argentina]] ([[1816]]) and [[Chile]] ([[1818]]). Further north [[Simon Bolivar]] led forces that won independence for the area that is currently [[Venezuela]], [[Colombia]] (included [[Panama]] until [[1903]]), [[Ecuador]], [[Peru]] and [[Bolivia]] by [[1825]]. In [[1810]] a free thinking priest, [[Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla]], declared [[Mexico|Mexican]] independence, which was won by [[1821]]. [[Central America]] declared its independence in [[1821]] and was joined to Mexico for a brief time ([[1822]]–[[1823|23]]). [[Dominican Republic|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. Thus only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained in Spanish hands in the New World.
[[Image:Battle of Ayacucho.jpg|left|thumb|300px|''The [[Battle of Ayacucho]]'']]
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.
[[Image:Vizcayaexplodes.JPG|thumb|250px|right|''Vizcaya'' explodes in the [[Battle of Santiago de Cuba]]]]
An increasing level of [[nationalist]], anti-colonial uprisings in various colonies culminated with the [[Spanish-American War|Spanish–American War]] of 1898, fought primarily over [[Cuba]]. Military defeat was followed by the independence of Cuba and the cession, for [[US Dollar|US$]]20 million, of [[Puerto Rico]], the Philippines, and [[Guam]] to the United States. Her American presence ended, Spain then sold her [[Pacific Ocean]] possessions to Germany in [[1899]], retaining only her African territories.
==The last territories in Africa (1898–1975)==
[[Image: Marrocoprotectorate.png|250px|thumb|right]]
In [[1481]] the papal ''[[Papal bull|Bull]] [[Aeterni regis|Æterni regis]]'' had granted all land south of the [[Canary Islands]] to Portugal. Only this archipelago and the cities of [[Sidi Ifni]] ([[1476]]–[[1524]]), known then as "[[Santa Cruz de Mar Pequeña]]", Melilla (conquered by [[Pedro de Estopiñán]] in [[1497]]), [[Villa Cisneros]] (founded in [[1502]] in current [[Western Sahara]]), [[Mazalquivir]] ([[1505]]), [[Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera]] ([[1508]]), [[Oran]] ([[1509]]–[[1790]]), [[Algiers]] ([[1510]]–[[1529|29]]), [[Bugia]] ([[1510]]–[[1554|54]]), [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] ([[1511]]–[[1551|51]]), [[Tunis]] ([[1535]]–[[1569|69]]) and [[Ceuta]] (ceded by Portugal in [[1668]]) remained as Spanish territory in Africa.
In [[1778]], [[Fernando Póo (island)|Fernando Póo]] (now [[Bioko]]) Island, adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the [[Niger river|Niger]] and [[Ogoue]] 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 de Iradier]].
In [[1848]], Spanish troops conquered the [[Islas Chafarinas]].
In [[1860]], after the [[Spanish-Moroccan War (1859)|Tetuan War]], [[Morocco]] ceded [[Sidi Ifni]] to Spain as a part of the [[Treaty of Tangiers]]. 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]].
Following a [[Rif War (1893)|brief war]] in 1893 Spain expanded her influence south from Melilla.
[[Image:ColonialAfrica.png|thumb|left|250px|European claims in Africa, 1913]]
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 ''[[Disaster of Annual]]'' ([[1921]]) was a sudden, grave, and almost fatal, military defeat suffered by the Spanish army against Moroccan insurgents. A leading Spanish politician emphatically declared: "''We are at the most acute period of Spanish decadence''". The statement reflected the mood of the country. The rebellion exposed the utter corruption and incompetence of the military and destabilised the Spanish government, leading to dictatorship. A campaign in conjunction with the French suppressed the Rif rebels by [[1925]] but at a terrible cost to both sides. In [[1923]], [[Tangier]] was declared an international city under French–Spanish–British (and later Italian) [[condominium (international law)|joint administration]]. The African army, led by a veteran of the Moroccan campaign, [[Francisco Franco]], started the [[Spanish Civil War]] ([[1936]]–[[1939|39]]). Between [[1926]] and [[1959]], Bioko and Rio Muni were united as the colony of [[Spanish Guinea]]. 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 her African colonies during the first half of the [[20th century]]. However, through a [[Paternalism|paternalistic]] system, particularly on Bioko Island, Spain developed large [[cocoa]] plantations for which thousands of [[Nigerian]] workers were imported as laborers. The Spanish also helped Equatorial Guinea achieve one of the continent's highest [[literacy]] rates and developed a good network of health care facilities.
In [[1956]], when [[French Morocco]] became independent, Spain surrendered [[Spanish Morocco]] to the new nation, but retained control of Sidi Ifni, [[Tarfaya]] region and Spanish Sahara. Moroccan [[Sultan]] (later [[Monarch|King]]) [[Mohammed V of Morocco|Mohammed V]] was interested in these territories and [[Ifni War|invaded Spanish Sahara]] in [[1957]] (The '''[[Ifni War]],''' or, in Spain, the '''Forgotten War''', ''{{lang|es|la Guerra Olvidada}}''). In [[1958]], Spain ceded Tarfaya to Mohammed V and joined the previously separate districts of [[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 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 [[Equatorial Guinea|Equatoguinean]] representatives were seated in the [[Cortes Generales|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 independence to [[Equatorial Guinea]]. At independence in 1968, Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. 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. The future of this former Spanish colony remains uncertain.
The [[Canary Islands]] and the 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 the Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and ''{{lang|es|[[plaza de soberanía|plazas de soberanía]]}}'' to be part of Morocco (see [[Greater Morocco]] for further information) . [[Isla Perejil]] ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: '''{{lang|ar|Leila}}''' ("night")) was occupied on [[July 11]], [[2002]] by [[Moroccan Gendarmerie]] and troops, who were evicted without bloodshed by [[Spanish Navy|Spanish naval]] forces.
==Legacy==
The [[Spanish language]] and the [[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 of the Americas|Spanish colonization]] which began in the [[16th century]].
==The Spanish Empire in fiction==
The Spanish Empire has often been portrayed in fiction. Originally such works described the empire because it was a contemporary part of life. As example, the [[Sack of Rome (1527)]] is told in ''[[La Lozana Andaluza]]'' by [[Francisco Delicado]] and the [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire]] in [[Matthew Reilly]] novel ''[[Temple (novel)|Temple]]'',
[[The Adventurer]] by [[Mika Waltari]] includes several historical events.
Some references are made in a science fiction context, as in [[Small Gods]], (1992) one of the ''[[Discworld]]'' Novels by [[Terry Pratchett]] or [[Stephen Baxter]]'s 2003 novel ''[[Coalescent]]''.
==References==
*Armstrong, Edward (1902). ''The emperor Charles V''. New York: The Macmillan Company
*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'', trans. Siân Reynolds. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-090566-2
*[[Braudel, Fernand|Fernand Braudel]], ''The Perspective of the World'' (part iii of ''Civilization and Capitalism'') 1979, translated 1985.
*Brown, J. and Elliott, J. H. (1980). ''A palace for a king. The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV''. New Haven: Yale University Press
*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
*Harman, Alec (1969). ''Late Renaissance and Baroque music''. New York: Schocken Books.
*Kamen, Henry (1998). ''Philip of Spain''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07800-5
*Kamen, Henry (2003). ''Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763''. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-093264-3
*Kamen, Henry (2005). ''Spain 1469-1714. A Society of Conflict'' (3rd ed.) London and New York: Pearson Longman. ISBN 0-582-78464-6
*Parker, Geoffrey (1997). ''The Thirty Years' War'' (2nd 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
*Stradling, R. A. (1988). ''Philip IV and the government of Spain''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-32333-9
*Various (1983). ''Historia de la literatura espanola''. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel
*Wright, Esmond, ed. (1984). ''History of the World, Part II: The last five hundred years'' (3rd ed.). New York: Hamlyn Publishing. ISBN 0-517-43644-2.
==See also==
*[[Black Legend]]
*[[Consulado]]
*[[Colonialism]]
*[[History of Spain]]
*[[New Laws]]
*[[New Spain]]
*[[Population history of American indigenous peoples]]
*[[Valladolid debate]]
==External links==
*[http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/spainport1.htm Library of Iberian Resources Online, Stanley G Payne ''A History of Spain and Portugal'' vol 1 Ch 13 "The Spanish Empire"]
* [http://www.sonic.net/~doretk/ArchiveARCHIVE/NATIVE%20AMERICAN/TheMestizo-Mexicano-Indi.html The Mestizo-Mexicano-Indian History in the USA]
*[http://www.hostkingdom.net/earthrul.html Sizes of the largest Empires in History:"To Rule the Earth"]
*[http://www.knmetv.org/programming/villadeabq.php3/ Documentary Film, ''Villa de Albuquerque'']
{{Colonial Empires}}
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