The Turn of Spain Old Spain was a far cry from present day minuscule, bankrupt Spain. The possessions of the Spanish Empire during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, which are regarded as the Golden Age of Spain, the “Siglo de Oro,” comprised territories in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The Spanish Empire originated during the Age of Exploration,from Christopher Columbus’s first voyages to the Americas in 1492, and in a short time became the foremost global power. By the end of the 16th century, there were already Spanish colonies and settlements in Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina, and Florida. In Europe, the Spanish Empire included the Netherlands (comprising Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg), Lombardy, Sicily, Sardinia and the southern part of Italy. In Asia, the Spanish Empire included the Philippines (named after the Spanish King Philip II), Guam and the Mariana Islands. The expansion of the Spanish Empire caused much jealousy in England, which continued to intervene in the Spanish affairs and the English pirates, such as Francis Drake, used to prey on Spanish ships transporting precious metals and goods from the Americas. England desired to curb the Spanish power in Europe and to replace Spain in the New World. Consequently, she fought seven wars against Spain in the period 1585-1808. The first of these wars (1585-1604) was in the era of the Spanish King Philip II, and it was famous for his attempt to invade England with the Spanish Grande Armada in 1588 to overthrow Elizabeth I and to put an end to the English involvement in the Spanish Netherlands and to the English piracy in the Atlantic and the Pacific. Unfortunately, this attempt failed due to the English spies who alerted their country in good time, and to severe storms that wrecked half of the Spanish Armada. In the third war (1655-1660), Cromwell took advantage of the fighting between France and Spain and seized Jamaica from Spain, and then England concluded an alliance with France against Spain. In the sixth war (1761-1763), which was a part of the Seven Years War, England, which was fighting France since 1756, first tried to persuade Spain to join her in fighting France, offering her Gibraltar, but when Spain refused and showed some sympathy towards France, England declared war on Spain. In this war Spain lost Florida to England. These wars were one of the main reasons for the disintegration of the Spanish Empire and the end of Spain as a world power. By the end of the 19th century, the grown up USA, now a century after her independence from England, was following in the footsteps of her former master with expansionism, and was becoming wicked herself. After having seized half of Mexico in the middle of the 19th century, the USA gave the coup de grâce to the already mutilated and toppling Spanish Empire in 1898, and seized Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Atlantic and the Philippines and Guam in the Pacific. That was how America repaid Spain for the assistance she received from her during the American War of Independence!
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:37:43 +0000