The Spanish Empire traces its founding to Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on 12 October 1492 and endured, in steadily diminishing form, until Spain's withdrawal from Spanish Sahara in 1976. Governed for most of its history from Madrid, after an earlier itinerant royal court, the empire at its greatest extent in the late 1700s and early 1800s covered about 13.7 million square kilometers across the Americas, Africa, parts of Asia and Oceania, and territories in Europe, becoming known as the empire on which the sun never sets. It was founded under the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, grew further under the Habsburg emperor Charles V and his son Philip II, and later passed to the Bourbon dynasty beginning with Philip V in 1700. Most of Spanish America won independence in a wave of wars between 1808 and 1826, and Spain lost most of its remaining major overseas possessions, including Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, in the 1898 Spanish-American War; the empire's final vestige, Spanish Sahara, was ceded in 1976, during the reign of Juan Carlos I.
Facts
Government TypeComposite monarchy (evolving through absolute, constitutional and parliamentary monarchy, republic and dictatorship over its history) 1 The infobox lists successive forms across the empire's nearly five centuries: composite monarchy (1492-1700), then absolute, constitutional and parliamentary monarchy, republic and dictatorship in turn; composite monarchy is recorded as the founding form. Government type (class) Classification
Status (Extant or Former) Spanish Empire
Filter Results2 entries
FAQs
How did the Spanish Empire lose its American colonies?
Napoleon placed his brother on the Spanish throne in 1808, colonial juntas moved toward autonomy and independence, and rebellions spread from 1810.
The loss began in Spain itself. When Charles IV abdicated in 1808, Napoleon mediated between claimants to the Spanish throne and then put his brother Joseph at the head of the Spanish Empire, which set off the chain of events that led to its disintegration over the next two decades. Loyalists of Ferdinand VII established juntas throughout Spain and in the colonies. In the Americas these movements often professed loyalty to a legitimate Spanish monarch while in fact working for colonial autonomy and even independence. By 1810 insurgencies had erupted in Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina, and the wars of independence lasted for over a decade, leaving a collection of independent republics where a far-reaching colonial dominion had stood.
Connections
Associated With
Vespucci sailed on an early voyage of exploration to the New World on behalf of Spain, part of the Age of Discovery, before also sailing for Portugal.
Source Wikipedia: Amerigo Vespucci
In Era
Source Wikipedia: Spanish Empire
Source Wikipedia: Spanish Empire
In the Other Atlases
Government Type
Also in Society and Culture Atlas: the government type of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Spanish Empire
WikipediaIntroduction
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976.
Infobox
Composite monarchy (1492-1700)
Spanish Empire: Status
It was founded under the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, grew further under the Habsburg emperor Charles V and his son Philip II, and later passed to the Bourbon dynasty beginning with Philip V in 1700.
In Era: The Early Modern Period, lead paragraph and infobox, existence dates
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery.
In Era: The Contemporary Period, lead paragraph and infobox, existence dates
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery.
View the Source Wikipedia: Amerigo Vespucci
WikipediaAssociated With: Amerigo Vespucci, Second paragraph, voyagesQuote, Associated With: Amerigo Vespucci, Second paragraph, voyages
Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery between 1497 and 1504, first on behalf of Spain (1499-1500) and then for Portugal (1501-1502).
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