2. History of Spain The history of Spain involves all the other peoples and nations within the Iberian peninsula formerly known as Hispania, and includes still today the nations of Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain The Kingdom of Spain was created in 1492 with the unification of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon It was the most powerful state in Europe and the foremost global power during the 16th century and the greater part of the 17th century The native peoples whom the Romans met at the time of their invasion in what is now known as Spain were the Iberians, inhabiting from the southwest part of the Peninsula through the northeast part of it, and then the Celts, mostly inhabiting the north and northwest part of the Peninsula The peninsula's economy expanded under Roman tutelage The first Germanic tribes to invade Hispania arrived in the 5th century, as the Roman Empire decayed
3. History of Spain The period of rule by the Visigothic Kingdom saw the spread of Arianism briefly in Spain The impact of Visigothic rule was not widely felt on society at large, and certainly not compared to the vast bureaucracy of the Roman Empire Medieval Spain was the scene of almost constant warfare between Muslims and Christians Despite the decline in Muslim-controlled kingdoms, it is important to note the lasting effects exerted on the peninsula by Muslims in technology, culture, and society As the Reconquista continued, Christian kingdoms and principalities developed By the 15th century, the most important among these were the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon The rulers of these two kingdoms were allied with dynastic families in Portugal, France, and other neighboring kingdoms
4. History of Spain Castilian(spanish) gained more and more prominence in the Kingdom of Castile as the language of culture and communication The Spanish Empire was one of the first modern global empires It was also one of the largest empires in world history Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries reached its height and declined under the Habsburgs The Habsburg dynasty became extinct in Spain and the War of the Spanish Succession ensued in which the other European powers tried to assume control of the Spanish monarchy Spain initially sided against France in the Napoleonic Wars, but the defeat of her army early in the war led to Charles IV's pragmatic decision to align with the revolutionary French Spain broke off from the Continental System temporarily, and Napoleon—aggravated with the Bourbon kings of Spain—invaded Spain in 1808 and deposed Ferdinand VII
5. Habsburg Spain Charles inherited the Castilian empire in America, the Aragonese Empire in the Mediterranean Charles became the most powerful man in Europe, his rule stretching over an empire in Europe unrivalled in extent until the Napoleonic era The Habsburg dynasty spent the Castilian and American riches in wars across Europe on behalf of Habsburg interests, defaulted on their debt several times, and left Spain bankrupt several times The Habsburgs' political goals were several: Access to the resources of the Americas and products of Asia Undermining the power of France and containing it in its eastern borders Maintaining Catholic Habsburg hegemony in Germany, defending Catholicism against the Protestant Reformation Defending Europe against Islam, notably the Ottoman Empire
6. Habsburg Spain Spain retook Naples in 1648 and Catalonian 1652, but the war came to an end at the Battle of the Dunes (1658) The French army under Viscount 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 and Artois Spain still had a huge overseas empire, but France was now the superpower in Europe and the United Provinces were in the Atlantic 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 The final decades of the 17th century saw utter decay and stagnation in Spain
7. The Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire consisted of the territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power In the 16th century, Spain settled the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, and took over large areas on mainland North and South America overrunning the Aztecs and Incas 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 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 Upon the settlement of Hispanola which was successful in the early 16th century, the colonists began searching elsewhere to begin new settlements
8. The Spanish Empire Under the Treaties of Utrecht, the European powers decided what the fate of Spain would be, in terms of the continental balance of power Spain's economic and demographic recovery had begun slowly in the last decades of the Habsburg reign, as was evident from the growth of its trading convoys and much more rapid growth of illicit trade during the period Following the war, the new Bourbon monarchy would take a much more cautious approach to international relations, built upon a family alliance with Bourbon France, and continuing to follow a program of institutional renewal At the beginning of the Philip V's reign and due to the War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish king Philip V initiated organizational reforms headed for a government more executive, giving priority to the direct decision of themonarch, opposite to the deliberative way of the polisynodial system of Councils Philip's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies and created first a Honduras Company
9. The Spanish Empire 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 until the Seven Years' War, reflecting in part the success of the Bourbons in bringing illicit trade under control 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 destruction of the main Spanish fleet, under French command, at the Battle of Trafalgar undermined Spain's ability to defend and hold on to its empire Napoleon's sale in 1803 of the Louisiana Territory to the United States caused border disputes between the United States and Spain
10. Sources History of Spain PDF Spanish Colonization of the Americas PDF Spanish Empire PDF
