Colonial expansion under the crown of Castile was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions. Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus and continuing for over four centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across most of present day Central America, the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, and much of the rest of North America including the Southwestern, Southern coastal, and Californias Pacific Coast regions of the United States. In the early 19th century the revolutionary movements resulted in the independence of most Spanish colonies in the Americas, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico, given up in 1898 following the Spanish-American War, together with Guam and the Philippines in the Pacific. Spains loss of these last territories politically ended Spanish colonization in the Americas.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 14:37:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015