Origin of the empire
In 1504, Queen Isabella died, King Ferdinand ruled Isabella’s side of Spain with their eldest surviving child Joanna of Castile, who also known as “The mad”. In 1516, Ferdinand’s death led to a new chapter of Spain, Joanna and Phillip I’s son Charles ruled the Spanish empire and created the Holy Roman Empire. In 1556, he stepped down and passed the Holy Roman Empire to his brother, Ferdinand. The Spanish empire to his only surviving son Phillip II who after a succession crisis in Portugal also became Phillip I of Portugal.
Politics
There are many reasons for the rise of Imperial Spain. First of all, political advantage was one of the main factor.1469 marked the union of two major dynasties, with the marriage of Ferdinand
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For Spain, Christopher Columbus motivated by economy competition and imperialism during that period, proposed to reach the East Indies, Spanish royalty saw the opportunities of spice trade with Asia countries so eventually supported him. The First voyage of Columbus he reached the New World which is Latin America. Spanish coveted one thing particular in this new world, gold. There was a silver mountain in Bolivia and mining produce 150000 tons of silver, making them the richest nation in Europe. This "Golden Age" allowed them to build one of the most modern societies ever, as well as the largest, most powerful military in the world. "There were also many other growing industries in the sixteenth -century Spain, such as the production of paper in Segovia, manufacture of leather of leather good in Cordoba and Ship building and iron founding in the Basque country". (Israel 1981, 174) "Rise and fall of Commercial Power in Spain History Essay." UKessays.com. 11 …show more content…
The linguistic advances of the 15th century, the development of new literary genres, the refinements of plateresque art all foreshadowed it. Isabel called scholars together, encouraged the importation of text hooks and printing” (Pierre Vilar, Robert Brian Tate 41). Technology played an important role that made Spanish powerful and the vanguard of the colonization. Before the exploration started, they improved or self-invented many essential things for navigation such as sextant and astrolabe. So Spanish exploration really success towards the end of 15th century due to the new technology of triangular sails, these sails allowed ships to sail into the wind further than ever before, which precipitated a major rise in explorative
In Imperial Spain, J.H. Elliot examines the history of early modern Spain from the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, to the reformation of the Spanish government by the first member of the Bourbon dynasty. According to the author, at the start of the 15th century, Spain was internally weak, hopelessly divided and isolated from the continent by the Pyrenees. Yet, by 1492, Spanish society experienced a tremendous transformation which allowed Isabella and Ferdinand to unify the country, secure the largest transoceanic empire the world has ever known, and for a
It was therefore not “entirely by accident” that Spain was united under the same realm but the death of the Catholic Kings Portuguese dynastic ties that meant the Hapsburg dynasty and not the Portuguese dynasty was united under the Spanish crown, which as Isabella had predicted caused friction amongst Cisneros and Castilian nobles who resented Ferdinand fruitless attempts to produce an alternative Spanish heir. Failing to promote his more desirable Spanish grandson; Ferdinand to the
In the midst of the Renaissance, world trade was prosperous and vast. Nations established personal control through the commercial contacts that they established. In an effort to shorten certain trading routes and obtain a more surmountable amount of natural resources, many nations entered the Age of Exploration circa 1500. Christopher Columbus, in an effort to discover a more efficient route from Western Europe to India, accidently unearthed the Americas in 1492. His discovery led many other European nations to pursue imperialistic endeavors in what had become known as the New World. Two Spanish conquistadors, Cortez and Pizarro, made a profound impact on the areas they conquered in the New World. In Mexico, the native Aztecs were overpowered by Cortez’ forces. A majority fell ill from susceptibility to European diseases, while the rest were placed into coercive labor systems. Similar fates were bestowed upon the Incas subjected to
The accumulation of wealth for individuals as well as nations, propelled European Exploration. For instance, Hernando Cortes travelled to Central America with a key motivation of obtaining gold. This can be exemplified in The Dispatches of Hernando Cortes to Emperor Charles V, 1519-1521, “‘I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart which can only
Victors and Vanquished, through excerpts of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, and indigenous testimonies from the Florentine Codex, shows the exchange of religious ideas between the Spanish and Nahuatl religions. During the Spanish conquest and exploration of Mesoamerica, religion became a focal point in Spanish observations of Nahuatl religions. Influenced by European biases and a colonial mindset, the Spanish criticized indigenous religion by condemning their practices and idols. Natives, on the other hand, hybridized elements of Christianity into their respective indigenous religions.
In Victors and the Vanquished, Schwartz poses the question of “How can we evaluate conflicting sources” (ix)? Through reading historical events such as the “Conquest of New Spain” there is an undeniably large amount of destruction of cultural material and bias testimonies of events recorded several years after they occurred. After analyzing the Spanish Conquest of Mesoamerica there is a debatable amount of evidence from the Mesoamericans and Spanish explanations of this event in history. The intentions of each explanation created a conflict to historians, art historians and anthropologists on which viewpoint holds to accuracy. There is also the issue of not only inaccuracies, but the motives behind each bias account. As many of these aspects are taken into consideration, interpreting each justification between both sides of history in Mesoamerica as a clash of ethnocentrism between two different cultures that causes an uncertainty of what actually happened in history.
Christopher Columbus is known for being an explorer and is said to have made one of the most important voyages in world history without even wanting to. Something else that is also believed is that he “opened up” the Americas to European nations, which changed the course of American history. Before he went on his voyage though, he was in need of resources. So he asked Portugal, France, Italy among many other countries but they all denied Columbus and thought his statement was incorrect. Columbus’ statement was that he had found a faster way to get to Asia than the Portuguese had, which was going around the continent of Africa. Columbus lived a majority of his life in Spain, so when it came to setting sail for the west, Spain was one of the first nations he asked for funding. Though it took Columbus a little more than a few years to convince a nation to fund his voyage, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand from Spain subsequently granted to endow him in 1492. He would then leave for “Asia” on August 3, 1492. There are many unanswered questions and thoughts on why Spain decided to finally fund Columbus’ voyage, especially since he was an explorer that was born in Italy.
Any student of history has come to recognize the fact that history is written by the victor and in lieu of this, research becomes essential to uncover where the truth lies. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, so ironically named, is a personal account for historical events leading up to the conquest of New Spain, formerly known as the City of Mexico. The author, Bernal Diaz, was a soldier of the conquering army who composed the document well after the events took place sometime between 1552 and 1557. Though the document did provide insight in regards to the victor’s perspective, it also served as a tool to rewrite the account of the conquered people.
Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés'
With the inventions of more efficient ships and the perfection of navigational instruments, the Spanish (as well as England and France) gained a curiosity to explore and find a way to Asia by water and
Political power acts as a foundation for society through persuasion. This influential ability controls the thoughts and actions of society as a whole, and who is in control heavily determines how successful their influences will be. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were the political rulers of Spain during the late 15th century, and remained in control up until the early 16th century. They craved unity for their country, and would do anything they could to achieve their desired conformity. Spain was to be united under one flag, one form of ruler, and one religion; those who did not oblige, became targets. For more than three hundred years, the Spanish Inquisition hovered over Spain, inciting fear and inflicting brutality upon those
Hence, The Spanish explorations were most notably able to occur due to the King and Queen’s efforts to unify the Spanish nation and the growing competition between the unified Spain and its neighboring country, Portugal (Nardo, 1947). The King and Queen did many other things to improve and fund exploration in Spain, and perhaps the most significant thing they did was sponsor Christopher Columbus after he proposed an exploration to India, guaranteeing that he could discover and establish valuable trade routes from India to Eastern Asia (Nardo, 1947). The King and Queen agreed to sponsor him because Spain often sought out trade opportunities and wanted to find gold and valuable spices from Asia, specifically from India, and this exploration almost guaranteed all of that (Nardo, 1947). Therefore, the reasons for Spanish exploration include the desire to establish trade routes between India and Eastern Asia, to find valuable resources, the empire’s competition with Portugal, and the King and Queen’s unification of their kingdoms and sponsorship of Christopher
1. Three arguments’ that Juan Gines de Sepulveda used to justify enslaving the Native Americans were for gold, ore deposits, and for God’s sake and man’s faith in him. 2. Three arguments that Bartolome de las Casas gave in attacking Spanish clonial policies in the New World were the Indians eating human flesh, worshiping false gods, and also, he believed that the Indians were cowardly and timid. 3. For comparisons that Sepulveda used, in lines 1-7, to express the inferiority of the Indians was their prudence, skill virtues, and humanity were inferior to the Spanish as children to adults, or even apes to men. Comparisons he used to dismiss the significance of the Indians
Before the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Moors were in control of much of the Iberian Peninsula. They desperately wanted to unite Spain and turn it into a
The Flow of cloth, grain, oil, wine, gold and silver greatly enriched Spain. This provided economic stability and caused a rise in Spain. In contrast, the Dutch and the English commenced trade with the Spanish colonies, which cut into profit made by Spain. In addition, Spanish colonies made industries in the Americas, which further lessened their need to buy from Spain. Spanish trade with the colonies fell 60 percent. This traumatized Spain’s revenues made from the New World and ended the period of Greatness. On top of it all Spain’s royal spending continued to exceed despite the fact that they were losing money so this eventually led to Bankruptcy. In all, Faith was completely lost in the Spanish which severely disabled their advancements.