What was the Spanish Empire?

If you Google that, the first answer would tell you that it was also known as the Catholic Monarchy or that it was known for its colonies in America. But is that it?

The Spanish Empire was a union of forces, resources, and determination, and it all started with two people that refused to be told what to do.

Do you know what I am talking about? The two people that made the Empire possible were Isabel I and Ferdinand II. Isabel was told not to marry Ferdinand in exchange for the throne of Castile. But she did as she pleased and united the two most powerful kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula.

After reading this article, you will know the most important facts about the Spanish Empire and how it lost its power.

What was the Spanish Empire?

The Spanish Empire was the fifth-largest empire in history, covering 13.7 million square kilometers around the world. It was also known as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, responsible for spreading their culture and religion in America, Africa, and Asia.  

When did the Spanish Empire begin?

The official date given to the beginning of the Spanish Empire is 1492, when Christopher Columbus arrived in America. However, we should go a few years back to the event that planted the seed. 

In 1469, Isabel I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon married and united the two biggest kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula. It’s important to know that the Kingdom of Aragon included the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Sicily, and Naples. 

Also, by joining their forces, Isabel and Ferdinand’s kingdom took over Granada, the last part of the territory controlled by the Moors. The latter won them the title of Catholic King. 

The monarchs had several plans for their kingdom, one of which was to find an alternative route to Asia. Finding a way to Asia was a race with the Portuguese Empire, who were advantaged after Queen Isabel I negotiated the Portuguese throne and the African sea routes to Asia for the throne of Castile with her niece Joanna. 

So, the Spanish needed a new way to get to Asia, and Christopher Columbus had an interesting proposal to win the race. The admiral didn’t know that there was a continent in the way. 

Christopher Columbus’s unforeseen mistake gave the Catholics Kings a new channel of resources and an entire continent to expand their ideas, culture, religion, and power. 

How many kings and queens ruled during the Spanish Empire?

The Spanish Empire had five royal houses that ruled throughout the empire. These were the Trastámara, Habsburg, Bourbon, Bonaparte, and Savoy. The Bourbon Royal family has the most monarchs in Spanish history, including the present king Felipe VI. 

The Spanish Empire had twenty-two monarchs until the 1930s. After that came the Republic, Franco’s dictatorship, and the latter restarted the monarchy with Juan Carlos I.  

The Spanish Empire had three royals that ruled for over forty years. The first was Joanna, the Mad, who led for fifty years. Although her father, Ferdinand the Catholic, and her son Charles I, imprisoned her because of supposed mental issues, she still co-ruled with her son. Then comes Phillip the V, who was in power for forty-five years, with a short gap when he abdicated for his son Louis I but returned right after his sudden death. And the third long-standing royal was Alfonso XIII, who carried the title of king for forty-four years. 

The monarch with the shortest period on the throne was Phillip the Handsome of House Habsburg, who had a sudden death at age of 28 years old. Phillips was king consort with Joanna the Mad for 75 days.

If you want to know more about the role of the monarchy in Spain, check out these articles:

What does the Spanish Monarchy Do? Role and Influence in Spain’s Society

Spain Monarchy 101: A Complete Journey of the Spanish Royal Crown

What were the important periods of the Spanish Empire?

A United Spain: 1469 - 1492

The union between Isabel I and Ferdinand II began one of the most important periods of the Spanish Empire.

After uniting their kingdoms, these monarchs annexed Navarra and Granada, creating the territory that today is Spain. On top of that, they expanded the Empire overseas with the Columbus expeditions, which gave the Empire an infinite amount of new resources which were taken from the native lands. 

Treaty of Tordesillas 

By the end of the 15th century, the Spanish and Portuguese Empires were taking over the world. The fight for new land escalated, so the Pope had to divide the world. Divide the world!

So, in September 1494, the two superpowers signed the treaty. The pact determined that everything east from the Greenwich meridian belonged to the Portuguese and all the land to the west to the Spanish. 

“The treaty established an imaginary longitudinal, from the North Pole to the South, passing by 370 leagues to the west of the Cape Verde Islands, (46º 37’ West longitude).”

Even though these lines weren’t 100% perfect, the Spanish and Portuguese respected them. But that was not the case for other European power who also wanted to expand their control. 

For instance, the Portuguese controlled Indonesia until the Dutch took over, in addition to western Australia which they called “New Holland.” Something similar happened to Spain when the British James Cook took over Eastern Australia in 1770. 

Conquest of the Aztecs and Incas

Aztecs

Anyone would think that the guns and the number of men in the Spanish army were the reasons for Empire to conquer the great Technotitlan, but there are more variables to this piece of history. 

The Aztec-Spanish War lasted two years, from 1519 to 1521. It all started with an act of disobedience. In 1518, Hernán Cortez was sent by Diego Velazquez from Cuba to the mainland of modern-day Mexico to establish contact with the natives. 

But, Vortez had bigger plans. He wanted to conquer the land; Velazquez was displeased by his attitude and tried to replace him, but Hernán’s replacement was mysteriously killed. 

Cortez sailed and arrived at the Mayan city of Cozumel, then he continued his journey and captured the Potonchán, the capital of the Mayas. Cortez was rewarded with women, one of them “La Melinche,” a key translator and partner for the conquest of the Aztecs. 

At that time, the Aztec Empire was dominated by Moctezuma II, and he had many enemies. So much, so states that surrounded the Aztec Empire united with the Spanish to defeat Moctezuma. 

In 1519, Cortez took over the holy city of Cholula, killed hundreds, and burned it down. After seeing this, Moctezuma decided to apply diplomacy and invited the Spanish to the capital, Technotitlan. However, the invitation ended in conflict, and Moctezuma was imprisoned. 

As I mentioned before, other factors helped the Spanish conquer the Aztecs. One of them is that the people were tired of their ruler. So, after attending some businesses regarding Velazquez, Cortez returned to Technotitlan and found that the people were in open rebellion against the Spanish because soldiers had killed Aztec nobility. 

The night of June 30th, 1520, known as “The Night of Sorrows,” is when the Aztecs drove the Spanish out of Technotitla. Moctezuma died before or during that conflict. But no one knows what side was responsible for his death. 

Here is when the second factor played an important role, the pox epidemic began killing many natives. The Spanish sought help from the native allies and enemies of the Aztecs, regrouped, built new boats, and attacked Technotilan in August 1521. The city was destroyed, people were cast out, and Cortez began creating what modern Mexico City is. 

Incas

The Spanish- Inca conflict lasted for over forty years, from 1532 to 1572.

In this case, the Spanish responsible for the Inca’s overall fall was Francisco Pizarro. He arrived in the capital of the Inca empire, Cuzco, after a civil war between two possible emperors, Atahualpa or Huascar.

Atahualpa won and became the leader of the Inca Empire that went from Ecuador to Northern Chile. But his reign didn’t last long. In 1532, Pizarro and his army arrived in Cuzco. The Spanish conquistador imprisoned the Inca Emperor, but Atahualpa offered him a generous negotiation: a room filled with gold in exchange for his freedom.

Atahualpa kept his promise, but the Spanish didn’t. After they had taken all the gold from the Empire, Pizarro ordered Atahualpa’s baptism and death.

Spanish ‘Golden Age’

The ‘Spanish Golden’ went from 1492 to 1659. The Spanish Empire went from 1492 to 1976, but the truth is that it ended even before. The Empire, as history knows it began declining with the invasion of France and suffered interruptions, especially in 1873 when the first Republic was established.

So, from the 15th to the 20th century, there must be one special period, the peak of the Spanish monarchy. And that is the ‘Golden Age.’ This period started with the end of the Reconquista, with Christopher Columbus’s discovery of valuable resources that belonged to America, and with Antonio Nebrija’s publication ‘Grammar of the Castilian Language.’

During this period, art, literature, and theater flourished. So much so that the death of a playwright marked the end of the ‘Golden Age.’ El Greco, Diego Velazquez, Fernando de Rojas, and Miguel de Cervantes were some of the most recognized artists of the time.

Conquest of the Philippines

Fernando Magallanes made the first contact with the Philippine islands in 1521, but not all the native chiefs of the islands were happy with his presence.

Most of the chiefs from the island of Cebu agreed to convert to Christianity and supply the Spanish with resources. But one resisted.

The chief Lapulapu, from the neighboring island of Mactan, refused Spanish colonization. Magallanes went to Mactan to use diplomacy to submit him, but Lapulapu met with battle and killed Magallanes.

The latter was the first attempt to colonize the Pacific Ocean archipelago.

Forty years later, the Spanish monarchy tried again. In 1565, Phillip II sent Miguel Lopez de Legazpi to the Philippines to reestablish a permanent colony.

By this point, Legazpi had to battle the Portuguese to get them out of the island. And in 1571, the city of Manila was erected, the capital of the Spanish East Indies.

In 1578, the Spanish fought against the Muslims over Brunei’s southern island; the Spanish were defeated. From then on, the Spanish conquerors found contact conflicts with the Muslims, the Dutch, and the Wokou pirates.

It wasn’t was in 1898 that the Propaganda movement spread ideas of freedom.

Spanish Colonies

These were all the Spanish colonies and annexed countries that were once under one ruler.

How did the Spanish Empire fall?

The decline of the Spanish Empire began in the 19th century, and it was over a century later.

It all began with Napoleon’s invasion of Spain. The supposed French ally persuaded Spain to let their troops go through the nation to attack Portugal. The Spanish agreed.

However, the troops never left, and Napoleon named his brother Joseph the new king of Spain. The Napoleonic rule lasted five years, from 1808 to 1813. The time during which Spain lost all control over its American colonies and the wars for independence began.

In addition, the Spanish Empire had gone broke, financing all the wars they got into. According to the national newspaper “El País,” the last day of the Spanish Empire was July 3rd, 1898, when the Spaniards lost Cuba.

After that, the Spanish Empire fell with the Carlist War, the first Republic, the Spanish- American War, a dictatorship, another dictatorship, and so on.

By the 20th century, after having Franco for almost forty years as a national leader, the monarchy was restored with Juan Carlos I, but it could never be the same.

And that was a summary of the Spanish Empire. It was so large that I could summarize the essential facts of the former-world superpower.

So, remember! The Spanish Empire officially began with the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America, but that happened thanks to the combined resources Isabel I and Ferdinand II had as kings of Castille and Aragon.