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SPAIN - PREHISTORY - RENAISSANCE TO THE 19th CENTURY

Rise as a world power: From the Renaissance to the 19th century
The unification of the kingdoms of Aragón, Castile, León, and Navarre laid the basis for modern Spain and the Spanish Empire. Spain became Europe's leading power throughout the 16th century and first part of the 17th century, a position reinforced by trade and wealth from colonial possessions.

Spain reached its apogee during the reigns of the first two Spanish Habsburgs (Charles I (1516-1556) and Philip II (1556-1598)). Included in this period are the last Italian Wars, the Dutch revolt, military actions against the Ottomans, the Anglo-Spanish war and war with France.

The galleon became synonymous with the riches of the Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire expanded to include nearly all of South and Central America, Mexico, southern portions of today's United States, the Philippines in Eastern Asia, the Iberian peninsula (including the Portuguese empire ( from 1580 ), southern Italy, Sicily, as well as parts of modern Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

It was the first empire about which it was said that the sun did not set. This was an age of discovery, with daring explorations by sea and by land, the opening up of new trade routes across oceans, conquests and the beginning of European colonialism. Along with the arrival of precious metals, spices, luxuries, and new agricultural plants, Spanish explorers and others brought back knowledge that transformed the European understanding of the world.

Of note was the cultural efflorescence now known as the Spanish Golden Age and the intellectual movement known as the School of Salamanca?

A lingering "decline of Spain" set in during the 17th century, involving political, social and economic factors, but a key was the strain of continuing military efforts in Europe. Spain's military was generally successful in defending the scattered Habsburg Empire, but these commitments ultimately bankrupted Spain during the vast Thirty Years War.

By 1640, with forces stretched across Europe, Spain's reverses included the permanent loss of Portugal and its empire.

Controversy over succession to the throne consumed the first years of the 18th century. The War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), a wide ranging international conflict combined with a civil war, finally cost Spain its European possessions and its position as a leading power on the Continent (although it retained its overseas territories).

During this war, a new dynasty—the French Bourbons—was installed, and with it a true Spanish state was established when the first Bourbon king Philip V of Spain in 1707 unified the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon into a single, unified Kingdom of Spain, abolishing many of the regional privileges (fueros).

The 18th century saw a gradual recovery and increasing prosperity. The new Bourbon monarchy drew on the French system of modernizing administration and the economy. Towards the end of the century, trade finally began growing strongly. Spain's military assistance for the rebellious British colonies in the American War of Independence won Spain renewed international standing.

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