Of the European maritime empires of the 15th to 18th centuries, the Spanish Empire was perhaps the strongest during the first half of maritime supremacy. Commanding a massive armada, extreme wealth, and brutally efficient colonization methods, the Spanish Empire rapidly expanded during the 16th century, controlling territories across the globe. But how had the Spanish Maritime Empire expanded so quickly and efficiently when it faced such fierce competition from the English, French, Dutch, and their Iberian neighbor, the Portuguese?
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Sign up for freeWhich was NOT a classification of race in the American colonies of the Spanish Empire?
During which monarch's reign was the Spanish Maritime Empire at its peak?
Why did the Spanish Empire have a head start in imperial expansion into the Americas?
What were the two dominant American empires before the Spanish Conquistadors brought them low for the Spanish Empire?
Which was NOT a classification of race in the American colonies of the Spanish Empire?
During which monarch's reign was the Spanish Maritime Empire at its peak?
Why did the Spanish Empire have a head start in imperial expansion into the Americas?
What were the two dominant American empires before the Spanish Conquistadors brought them low for the Spanish Empire?
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Team Spanish Maritime Empire Teachers
The history of Spanish maritime imperialism begins with an Italian. Financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus was given his long-awaited chance to travel west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a new route to India. In 1492, Columbus did not find a new route to India but an entirely new continent unknown to the Europeans at the time; he discovered America.
Imperialism:
The extension of a country's influence over new territories through diplomacy or force.
Through Columbus, Spain was given a head start in its colonial efforts. Only two years after the Europeans discovered America, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, essentially dividing America between them.
Treaty of Tordesillas:
1494 treaty between Spain and Portugal that divided territorial claims in America and Africa, based on both nations being Catholic. Spain claimed most new lands in the Americas, but Portugal claimed Brazil.
Named after Christopher Columbus, the Columbian Exchange saw plants, animals, technology, and especially diseases cross between the New World and Old World (America and Europe). The diseases brought to America were particularly devastating, wiping out large portions of the indigenous populations and destabilizing their societies.
In the early 16th century, two wealth-seeking Spaniards sailed for the New World with small military forces. Named Conquistadores (translated as "conquerors"), these exploratory soldiers rallied local resistance movements against the two greatest empires in South and Central America.
Conquistador Hernan Cortez led the first Spanish force into the mighty Aztec Empire, eventually arriving in the splendorous capital Tenochtitlan. Intent on acquiring gold and fame, Cortez led a siege on Tenochtitlan that ended in 1521 with the fall of the Aztec capital. Ravaged by infighting, disease, and hunger, the Aztec Empire fell.
I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart which can be cured only with gold.
–Hernan Cortez
Inspired by Cortez, Conquistador Francisco Pizzaro made his expedition into the New World. Traveling to the Incan Empire on the West Coast of South America with less than 200 men, Pizarro managed to capture the Incan ruler and use him as a puppet to destabilize the empire. By 1532, the Incan Empire was brought to destruction, and the Americas were open to further imperialistic efforts by the Spanish Empire.
Spanish imperialism (and the process of Spain becoming an empire) did not begin with the conquest of America. It began with the Reconquista, a nearly millennia-long crusade by Christian Catholics against the Islamic Moors of the Iberian Peninsula. Completed in 1492 with the capture of Granada under King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain only continued its imperial expansionism.
Colonial expeditions into North Africa began in the early 16th century before the Conquistadors traveled across the Atlantic. When Ferdinand Magellan's surviving fleet returned to Spain in 1522 after circumnavigating the globe, Spanish colonial interest then turned to the Philippines.
Many historians claim that Spain possessed the greatest navy of the European maritime empires during the first half of the Early Modern Period (1450-1750). But how did Spain develop such an impressive navy? Firstly, the Spanish owe thanks to their Iberian neighbor, Portugal.
The Portuguese designed the caravel, a highly maneuverable ship utilizing lateen sails (triangular sails) to better catch the wind. The much larger Portuguese carrack ship, often used in the Mediterranean Sea Trade, inspired two Spanish captains to design the galleon, the primary warship of the Spanish armada that could both transfer cargo and pack a 60-cannon punch.
Fig. 3 - Model of a Spanish galleon warship.
Spain didn't just owe its maritime success to Portugal, but also to the Islamic inventors of the Middle East. From the Islamic Caliphates and Turks came innovations in astronomy and navigation, compass technology, mathematics, and of course, weaponry. Developments in rifle and cannon technology from the Middle East were soon incorporated into the Spanish military, giving Spain the strength it needed to combat its European enemies and conquer much of South America.
The reign of Spanish King Philip II (ruled 1556-1598) saw the Spanish Empire reach its peak. In the late 16th century, Spain controlled territories in North America and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. They traded with the powerful Ming Dynasty in China and crushed colonial rebellions across the globe.
But the height of the Spanish Empire's maritime domination would be short-lived. In a dispute over the Netherlands in 1588, King Phillip II decided to crush the reign of Queen Elizabeth in England. The impressive Spanish Armada, a fleet of over 150 ships and thousands of sailors, departed Lisbon for England. Unfortunately for the Spanish, an equally tempestuous storm, often called the "Protestant Winds," raged across the sea during the fleet's voyage. The Spanish fleet was ravaged, sparing and allowing England to rise to maritime dominance.
Across its history, Spain controlled as many as 35 colonies across the world. Although Spain did hold territories in the Philippines and Europe, it was from the New World colonies that Spain would generate most of its wealth and power. Spain had colonies in modern-day Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, the U.S. South–from California to Florida–and more. All of South America, except Brazil and the Caribbean, was primarily dominated by the Spanish Maritime Empire up to the 18th and 19th centuries.
Spain had colonial holdings in Europe as well as Asia, Africa, and the Americas during the age of the Maritime Empires. Luxemburg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy were all connected to Spain as parts of the Holy Roman Empire. During the first half of the 16th century, the Spanish Monarch Charles V was also the Holy Roman Emperor. Whereas the Spanish exploited native populations to extract natural resources in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, Spanish Imperial rule in Europe was far more humane.
With the native populations greatly diminished due to the introduction of European diseases, the Spanish Maritime Empire was free to extract the resources of the New World. But mining for gold and silver was complex and required many dispensable workers, and a large population of native Americans remained in the ashes of the Aztec and Incan Empires. Spain had to find new measures to govern their conquered territories.
To extract the wealth of silver and gold from the mountains of South America, the Spanish Empire introduced the Encomienda System, a brutal development of the Incan Empire's seasonal forced labor system that created the infrastructure of the now-fallen empire. The system was utilized by regional governors appointed by the Spanish Empire. The Spanish Crown introduced the system to prevent outright slavery in South America, but it only further promoted intense forced labor.
Encomienda:
"To trust"; the Spanish labor system of granting rights to colonists to subject indigenous populations to forced labor.
Nevertheless, the Encomienda system continued, seeing indigenous populations work to death near their homes. In various regions of South and Latin America during the 17th century, populations decreased by up to 90% from their height. When the population decreased extremely, the Spanish brought shipments of enslaved people from Africa to replace them.
In both intentional and unintentional ways, the Spanish Empire's culture melded with the New World's culture. Spanish Christian missionaries introduced their religion to South and Latin America, attempting to convert and syncretize the native populations to Spanish culture. These missionary trips were very successful. By 1531, the indigenous Mexican Juan Diego claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary (also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe), an essential figure in the Christian religion–successfully conflating her with Tonantzin, the Aztec goddess-mother.
The conquest of the Spanish missionaries is evident when we consider that to this day, South and Latin America are dominantly Catholic.
Continued reproduction between Spaniards, American natives, and imported Africans created a new set of classes called Creole, Mestizo, and Mulatto (specified in the chart below). Entirely new cultures were born in the New World as a merging of Spanish, African, and American traditions.
| Term | Definition |
| Creole | Classification of a person with a unique blend of populations in Latin America: indigenous South Americans, West Africans, and Spanish European descent |
| Mestizo | Classification of a person with a blend of European and Latin American descent |
| Mulatto | Classification of a person with a blend of European and African descent |
| Syncretism | Merging of two different religions, cultures, or ideas |
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When was the Spanish Empire founded?
The Spanish Empire can draw its roots in the Reconquista, a near millennia-long campaign against the Islamic Moors on the Iberian Peninsula. Spain's maritime imperial origins lie with the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus.
What did the Spanish Empire conquer?
The Spanish Empire conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula, most of South and Latin America, parts of Africa, and the Philippines.
How did Spain structure its American Empire?
The Spanish Crown implemented the Encomienda System as a means of organizing its labor in South and Latin America, but the system was abused by Spanish governors and taskmasters. Christian missionaries and reproduction between Spaniards, Africans, and American natives created new cultural and class structures within the Americas.
Where did Spain imperialize?
The Spanish imperialized most of the Iberian Peninsula, most of South and Latin America, parts of Africa, and the Philippines.
When did the Spanish empire fall?
The Spanish Empire lost much of its power in the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588, but it continued to be very powerful into the 19th century. Global colonial uprisings and revolutions saw the end of the Spanish global empire.
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