Spanish Empire
3:01
The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire
3:57
Why did Spain Decline? (Short Animated Documentary)
2:34
The History of the Spanish Empire
2:44
The Spanish - Pirates of the Caribbean
3:58
The Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire, historically known as the Hispanic Monarchy and as the Catholic Monarchy was one of the largest empires in history. From the late 15th century to the early 19th, Spain controlled a huge overseas territory in the New World and the Asian archipelago of the Philippines, what they called "The Indies". It also included territories in Europe, Africa and Oceania. The Spanish Empire was the first global empire in history, the world's most powerful empire during the 16th and early 17th centuries, reaching its maximum extension in the 18th century. The Spanish Empire was the first empire to be called "the empire on which the sun never sets"
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Country facts
Catholic Monarchs and origins of empire
Campaigns in North Africa
Navarre and Struggles for Italy
Canary Islands
Rivalry with Portugal
New World Voyages and the Treaty of Tordesillas
Papal Bulls and the Americas
First settlements in the Americas
Assertion of Crown control in the Americas
The Spanish Habsburgs 1516–1700
Charles I of Spain/Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1516–1558)
Struggles for Italy
Ottoman Turks during Charles V's rule
Religious conflicts in the Holy Roman Empire
Early Spanish America
Philip II (r. 1556–1598)
Ottoman Turks, the Mediterranean, and North Africa during Philip II's rule
Conflicts in North-West Europe
Spanish America
The Philippines, the Sultanate of Brunei and Southeast Asia
Portugal and the Iberian Union 1580–1640
Philip III (r. 1598–1621)
Philip IV (r. 1621–1665)
Charles II and the End of the Spanish Habsburg Era
Explorers, conquerors, and expansion of empire
Ordering colonial society – social structure and legal status
Imperial economic policy
The Spanish Bourbons, 1700–1808
Bourbon reforms
18th-century economic conditions
Military recovery
Role in the American Revolution
Contestation in Brazil
Rival empires in the Pacific Northwest
Loss of Spanish Louisiana
Other challenges to the Spanish Empire
Destabilization of the empire (1808–1814)
Spanish American conflicts and independence (1810–1833)
Santo Domingo
Spanish–American War
Territories in Africa (1885–1975)
Legacy