Spanish Empire

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     Territories of the Portuguese empire during the Iberian Union (1581–1640).      Territories lost before or due to the Treaties of Utrecht-Baden (1713–1714).      Territories lost before or during the Spanish American wars of independence (1811–1828).      Territories lost following the Spanish-American War (1898–1899).      Territories granted independence during the Decolonization of Africa (1956–1976).

The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio Español) consisted of the territories and colonies administrated directly by Spain in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. In the peak of its power, it was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It lasted from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century. Spain had emerged as a unified monarchy in 1492 following the reconquista of the Iberian peninsula; that very year, Christopher Columbus commanded the first Spanish exploratory voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, leading to Europe's eventual colonial engagement with the Americas. The Western Hemisphere thereby became the focus of the Spanish crown.

During the Age of Discovery, Spain began to settle the Caribbean islands and conquistadors soon toppled native empires such as the Aztecs and Incas on mainland America. Later expeditions established an empire that stretched from present-day Canada in North America to the Falklands in South America. The Spanish expedition of world circumnavigation started by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519, and completed by Juan Sebastian Elcano in 1522, achieved what Columbus had longed for, a westward route to Asia, and brought the Far East to Spain's attention, where it established colonies in Guam, the Philippines and surrounding islands. During its Siglo de Oro, the Spanish Empire comprised the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Italy, parts of Germany, parts of France, territories in Africa, Asia and Oceania, as well as large areas in the Americas. By the 17th century Spain controlled an empire on a scale and world distribution that had never been approached by its predecessors[1].

Some of Spain's European possessions were given up at the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713, but Spain retained its vast overseas empire. The French occupation of Spain in 1808 under Napoleon cut off its American colonies temporarily, and a number of independence movements between 1810 and 1825 resulted in a chain of newly independent Spanish American republics in South and Central America. The remainder of Spain's then–four hundred year empire, namely Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the Spanish East Indies, continued under Spanish control until the end of the 19th century, when most of these territories were annexed by the United States after the Spanish-American War. The remaining Pacific islands were sold to Germany in 1899.

By the early 20th century Spain only held territories in Africa, namely Spanish Guinea, Spanish Sahara and Spanish Morocco. Spain withdrew from Morocco in 1956 and granted independence to Equatorial Guinea in 1968. When Spain abandoned Spanish Sahara in 1976, the colony was annexed by Morocco and Mauritania at first, and wholly by Morocco in 1980, though according to the United Nations it is still technically under Spanish administration. Today, the Canary Islands and two enclaves on the North African coast, Ceuta, and Melilla, are administrative divisions of Spain.

Definition

The land of the Iberian peninsula was commonly called Hispania since Roman times, and consisted of four realms: Castile, Aragon, Navarre and Portugal. The Kingdom of Portugal was established in 1139 and the three remaining realms united to form what is today's Spain, but continued to have their own particular administrations.

The Spanish Empire includes Spain's overseas colonies in the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa, but some disputes exist as to which European territories are to be counted. For instance, normally the Dutch Republic or Seven United Netherlands are included as they were part of the possessions of the King of Spain, governed by Spanish officials, and defended by Spanish troops. However, authors like the British historian Henry Kamen contend that these territories were not fully integrated into a Spanish state and instead formed part of the wider Habsburg possessions. Some historians use "Habsburg" and "Spanish" almost interchangeably when referring to the dynastic inheritance of Charles V or Philip II.

Similarly, it seems to be a matter of preference whether one counts as "Spanish" the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples in the 18th century, which, while dynastically and military aligned with Spain, remained a constitutionally separate state.

Independently of the denominations [2] given to the "dynastic union" [3][4] between 1580–1640, the scholars argue that the Portuguese Empire kept its own administration and jurisdiction over its territory as the other kingdoms and realms ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs.[5] But whereas some historians assert that at that time, Portugal was a kingdom which formed part of the Spanish Monarchy [6][7][8][9][10]; others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Empire.[11][12]

The origins of the empire (1402–1521)

Aragonese Empire at its greatest extent during the 1380s.

Castile, under the reign of Henry III began the colonization of the Canary Islands in 1402, authorizing under feudal agreement to Norman noblemen Jean de Béthencourt. The conquest of the Canary Islands, inhabited by Guanche people, was only finished when the armies of the Crown of Castille won, in long and bloody wars, the islands of Gran Canaria (1478–1483), La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496).

The marriage of the Reyes Católicos (Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile) created a confederation of reigns, each with their own administrations, but ruled by a common monarchy. According to Henry Kamen, it was only after centuries of a common rule that this separated realms formed a fully unificated state.

Surrender of Granada's king, Muhammad XII, known as Boabdil to the Spanish, in the presence of the Catholic Monarchs.

In 1492, Spain drove out the last Moorish king of Granada. After their victory, the Catholic monarchs negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu 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. Columbus instead "inadvertently" discovered the Americas, inaugurating the Spanish colonization of the continent. The Indies were reserved for Castile.

Columbus and the Catholic Kings (The return of Columbus to Spain)

Spain's claim to these lands was solidified by the Inter caetera papal bull of 1493, and by the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, in which the globe was divided into two hemispheres between Spanish and Portuguese claims. These actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from Alaska to Cape Horn (except Brazil), as well as the easternmost parts of 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: Castile captured Melilla in 1497, Mers el-Kebir in 1505, and neighbour Oran in 1509.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Monarchs had developed a marriage politics aiming at isolating their traditional enemy: France. The Monarchs' children got married with the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars from 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 the European battlefields, the forces of the kings of Spain acquired a reputation for invincibility that would last until the mid-17th century.

The death of French general Gaston de Foix at the Battle of Ravenna (1512).