Spanish Hegemony (1 Jan 1520 Jahr – 1 Jan 1829 Jahr)

Beschreibung:

The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio Español; Latin: Imperium Hispanicum), historically known as the Hispanic Monarchy (Spanish: Monarquía Hispánica) and as the Catholic Monarchy (Spanish: Monarquía Católica[1]), 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, the Asian archipelago of the Philippines, what they called "The Indies" (Spanish: Las Indias) and territories in Europe, Africa and Oceania. It was one of the most powerful empires of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Spanish Empire became known as "the empire on which the sun never sets" and reached its maximum extent in the 18th century.

Castile became the dominant kingdom in Iberia because of its jurisdiction over the overseas empire in the Americas and the Philippines. The structure of empire was established under the Spanish Habsburgs (1516–1700), and under the Spanish Bourbon monarchs the empire was brought under greater crown control and increased its revenues from the Indies. The crown's authority in The Indies was enlarged by the papal grant of powers of patronage, giving it power in the religious sphere. An important element in the formation of Spain's empire was the dynastic union between Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, known as the Catholic Monarchs, which initiated political, religious and social cohesion but not political unification. Iberian kingdoms retained their political identities, with particular administration and juridical configurations.

Although the power of the Spanish sovereign as monarch varied from one territory to another, the monarch acted as such in a unitary manner over all the ruler's territories through a system of councils: the unity did not mean uniformity. In 1580, when Philip II of Spain succeeded to the throne of Portugal (as Philip I), he established the Council of Portugal, which oversaw Portugal and its empire and "preserv[ed] its own laws, institutions, and monetary system, and united only in sharing a common sovereign." The Iberian Union remained in place until in 1640, when Portugal reestablished the independence under the House of Braganza.

The Spanish empire in the Americas was formed after conquering indigenous empires and claiming large stretches of land, beginning with Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean Islands. In the early 16th century, it conquered and incorporated the Aztec and Inca empires, retaining indigenous elites loyal to the Spanish crown and converts to Christianity as intermediaries between their communities and royal government. After a short period of delegation of authority by the crown in the Americas, the crown asserted control over those territories and established the Council of the Indies to oversee rule there. The crown then established viceroyalties in the two main areas of settlement, Mexico and Peru, both regions of dense indigenous populations and mineral wealth. The Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation—the first circumnavigation of the Earth—laid the foundation for the Pacific oceanic empire of Spain and of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines.

The structure of governance of its overseas empire was significantly reformed in the late 18th century by the Bourbon monarchs. Although the crown attempted to keep its empire a closed economic system under Habsburg rule, Spain was unable to supply the Indies with sufficient consumer goods to meet demand, so that foreign merchants from Genoa, France, England, Germany, and the Netherlands dominated the trade, with silver from the mines of Peru and Mexico flowing to other parts of Europe. The merchant guild of Seville (later Cadiz) served as middlemen in the trade. The crown's trade monopoly was broken early in the seventeenth century, with the crown colluding with the merchant guild for fiscal reasons in circumventing the supposedly closed system. Spain was unable to defend the territories it claimed in the Americas, with the Dutch, the English, and the French taking Caribbean islands, using them to engage in contraband trade with the Spanish populace in the Indies. In the seventeenth century, the diversion of silver revenue to pay for European consumer goods and the rising costs of defense of its empire meant that "tangible benefits of America to Spain were dwindling...at a moment when the costs of empire were climbing sharply." The Bourbon monarchy attempted to expand trade within the empire, by allowing commerce between all ports in the empire, and took other measures to revive economic activity to the benefit of Spain. The Bourbons had inherited "an empire invaded by rivals, an economy shorn of manufactures, a crown deprived of revenue... [and tried to reverse the situation by] taxing colonists, tightening control, and fighting off foreigners. In the process, they gained a revenue and lost an empire."

The Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian peninsula in 1808 upended the Spanish empire. Within two decades the empire lost the majority of its most valuable overseas components. The slow decline of the Spanish monarchy ended suddenly in 1808 when Napoleon forced the legitimate monarch Ferdinand VII to abdicate; he then placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. In Spain and Spanish America, juntas arose asserting that in the absence of the legitimate monarch, sovereignty was in the hands of the people. A Supreme Central Junta was called in Spain to coordinate the provincial juntas, and a representative cortes was called. The Cortes of Cádiz was unusual, since it had representatives not only from Iberia, but also from Spanish America and the Philippines. A major achievement in Spain's political history was the cortes's drafting of the Spanish Constitution of 1812. It was strongly influenced by liberal ideas, but also retained traditional elements. When Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne in 1814, he repudiated the constitution and re-asserted absolutist rule. A military coup in 1820 led by Rafael del Riego forced Ferdinand to accept the constitution again, which went back into force until Ferdinand raised troops in 1823, and re-asserted absolutist rule again. Spanish American wars of independence (1808–1826) resulting in the independence of the Spanish Empire's most valuable components. The reinstatement of the constitution was a major factor in propelling New Spain's elites to support independence in 1821. By 1826, the remnants of empire were Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines and some possessions in Africa. In Spanish America among the legacies of its relationship with Iberia, Spanish is the dominant language, Catholicism the main religion, and political traditions of representative government can be traced to the 1812 constitution.

Zugefügt zum Band der Zeit:

Datum: