The Spanish Empire  

The Spanish Empire

Spanish empire which started to decay in the 19th century was one of the first global empires.

No comments | 1500 - 1898

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The Spanish Empire

17 events | No comments | 1500 - 1898

1500

Spanish colonies

Since the fall of Rome, there has been no empire based in Europe which extends outside the continent. This situation changes abruptly in the 16th century, when Spain and Portugal become the pioneers in a new era of colonization...

1500

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1519

Cortes and Mexico

Hernán Cortes reaches the coast of Mexico, in March 1519, with eleven ships. They carry some 600 men, 16 horses and about 20 guns of various sizes. The Spanish party is soon confronted by a large number of Indians in a battle where the effect of horses...

1519

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1527

The Incas

Two small Spanish ships, commanded by Bartolomé Ruiz, sail southwards in the Pacific in 1527 towards Peru. Their journey brings them across the equator (they are the first Europeans to cross the line in this ocean)...

1527

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1555

Spanish silver

The wealth of Spain's new colonies in Latin America derives mainly from silver. In 1545 a prodigious source of the metal is discovered at Potosí, in modern Bolivia. This region, high in the Andes, is so rich in both silver and tin that it eventually...

1555

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1600

Catholic missionaries

In both Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Latin America the preaching orders of the Roman Catholic church - Franciscans, Dominicans and above all the Jesuits - play a prominent role. The voyages of conquest have from the start proclaimed one of their...

1600

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1700

Colonial administration

The Spanish monarch is the first to be confronted with the problem of administering large tracts of conquered territory on the other side of an ocean. From the start careful measures are taken to control a difficult situation...

1700

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1750

The Philippines and Spain

Like the other island groups of southeast Asia, the Philippines have very early human inhabitants - perhaps even as long as 60,000 years ago. In more recent history the main outside influences are Chinese, Hindu and - from the 15th century - Muslim...

1750

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1808

Colonial system before changes

The ideals of the American and French revolutions have led some, particularly among the Creoles, to idea of change. However, at first, there has been little sign of active rebellion. In the Spanish-American social hierarchy, an exceptionally...

1808

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1809

The first rebellions

The first two outbreaks of rebellion occur high in the Andes during 1809. In May in Chuquisaka (now Sucre, the capital of Bolivia) the governors of the university defy the Spanish authorities, proclaiming instead their loyalty to Ferdinand VII...

1809 - 1811

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1820

Mexico

While the various Spanish provinces in south America have been finding their own liberal way to independence, Mexico - the centre of Spanish power in the northern part of the continent - has been undergoing a very different transformation...

1820

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1821

Argentina, Chile, Peru and San Martín

Argentina takes its first step towards independence more easily than most other regions of the Spanish empire, partly because of the events of 1806-9 in Buenos Aires. When developments in Spain in 1808 force a choice of allegiance, a cabildo abierto...

1821

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1822

The Guayaquil Conference

Bolívar and San Martín later write differing interpretations of their conversation at Guayaquil, but a common theme emerges. It is succinctly put in a phrase of San Martín's: 'Bolívar and I together are too big for Peru...

1822

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1823

Bolivar and Gran Colombia

Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan by birth and the central figure in the story of the independence movements of Latin America, is a young officer in Caracas in 1810. He is part of the conspiracy by which a junta expels the Spanish governor of the province of...

1823

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1824

Agustín de Iturbide

In 1820 a coup in Spain against the reactionary Ferdinand VII forces him to bring in a liberal government (see Liberal and conservative). It is this development, profoundly unwelcome to Catholic and conservative circles in Mexico, which results in the...

- 1824

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1825

Sucre and Bolivar

Although unwilling to collaborate with San Martín, Bolívar has many reservations about advancing into Peru. There is much unrest and rivalry in his first liberated republic, Gran Colombia, and he considers for a while making terms with the Spanish in...

1825

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1868

Cuban wars

As two slave-owning societies, both Cuba and Puerto Rico are much affected by the great issue of the mid-19th century, the emancipation of the slaves. The decade of the Civil War in the neighbouring great power, the United States, leads to violent...

1868 - 1897

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1898

Spanish-American War

The Spanish repression of the Cuban independence movement, including the details of the concentration camps, is reported in the American press. Humanitarian outrage, combined with instinctive sympathy for a colonial people fighting for freedom, leads...

1898

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