The Spanish Empire: History, Geography, Military, Politics, Religion, Economy, Tools, Trade, Social Life, Culture, Contributions

This report provides an overview of the Spanish Empire, the largest empire in history. It covers its history, geography, military, politics, religion, economy, tools, trade, social life, culture, and contributions. The empire controlled a large part of the overseas territory in the Philippines and the new world, known as 'The Indies'. The main source of income was silver mined in Peru and Mexico. The empire had a strong land army and excellent naval forces. The religion followed was Catholic Church. The economy was highly benefited after the overseas invasion, and the taxation system was harsh. The culture was highly declined towards the Spanish Old world. The empire made valuable contributions towards developing societies in the 'New world', expansion of Christianity, and established schools and regional governments.

The Spanish Empire

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Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................2
Introduction to the empire......................................................................................................2
Geography of the empire........................................................................................................3
Military...................................................................................................................................3
Political structure....................................................................................................................3
Rulers......................................................................................................................................3
Religion..................................................................................................................................4
Economy.................................................................................................................................4
Tools.......................................................................................................................................4
Trade.......................................................................................................................................4
Social life................................................................................................................................4
Culture....................................................................................................................................5
Famous Contributions............................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................5
INTRODUCTION
In various parts of the world many kingdoms came and gone. Spain had an excellent history
as compared to many European nations. Spanish Kingdom is one of the largest empires the
world has ever seen. From late 15t century to late 19th century, this empire had a control over
the larger part of the overseas territory in the Philippines and the new world. They were

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called as “The Indies”. This report presented by me revolves around the Spanish Kingdom
and illustrates about the findings that I have made about them.
Introduction to the empire
I found that Spanish Empire was once the largest empire in the history. They controlled very
large part of the overseas land which is known as “The Indies”. The main source of income
for the empire was silver that was mined in Peru and Mexico. Because of its jurisdiction over
the overseas land in Philippines and Americas, Castile became the dominant empire in
Liberia (Tindall & Shi, 2016). A major factor in the Spanish empire formation was the
dynastic union among Ferdinand II of Argon and Isabella I of Castile which was known as
Catholic Monarchs. This started social, religious and political cohesion but was unable to do
political unification. The Iberian Union were in power in that place till 1640, when it was
overthrown by Portugal and again established independence under the House of Braganza.
Geography of the empire
As per my study it was the largest region over which any empire ever ruled. The Spanish
Empire ruled the very large part of the north and South America, Philippines, some parts of
Africa and Europe (Valdeón, 2014). Most of the parts of the empire were beyond the Atlantic
sea. They have captured it from the great civilisations of Maya, Inca and Aztec. Across the
pacific oceans they have captured Philippines which were a source of capital for the whole
empire.
Military
According to my research since it was having a collaborative force of two kingdoms. They
were having a very strong land army as well as their naval forces were excellent which
helped them in reaching to the heights they were at. In the Battle with Aztec and Inca
Empires, I found that a much larger army of theirs were able to defeat the larger one. For
example Cortes had around 600 men while Pizarro had 160. Sebastian de Benalcazar had 200
Spanish and around 3000 Canari allies and they fought with the 50,000 warriors. There were
two types of Spanish conquistador i.e. cavalry, horsemen and infantry or foot soldiers.
Political structure
As per my study in different period of Spanish empire, there was a change noticed in the
empire in terms of the type of government they had. According to the type of political
government they had, structure also changed accordingly. The type of political structure they

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had over the years was Republic, absolute monarchy, monarchy, hereditary monarchy
(Paquete, 2015).
Rulers
In the almost 5 centuries of their rule there were many rulers who have ruled in the Spanish
Empire.
House Ruler Year of rule
Trastamara Ferdinand V & II 1475-1504
Isabella I 1474-1504
Joanna 1504-1555
Philip 1 1506-1506
Habsburg Charles I 1516-1156
Philip II 1556-1598
Philip III 1598-1621
Philip IV 1621-1165
Charles II 1665-1700
Archduke Charles of Austria 1685-1740
Bourbon Philip V 1700-1724
Louis I 1724-1724
Philip V 1724-1746
Ferdinand VI 1746-1759
Charles III 1759-1788
Charles IV 1788-1808
Ferdinand VII 1808-1808
Bonaparte Joseph I 1808-1813
Bourbon Ferdinand VII 1813-1833
Isabella II 1833-1868
Savoy Amadeo I 1870-1873
Republic President of republic 1873-1874
Bourbon Alfonso XII 1874-1885
Alfonso XIII 1886-1931

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Religion
In my research I have found that the religion which this empire was following was Catholic
Church (Borucki, Eltis & Wheat, 2015). The people in the South American region also get
converted into Christianity in large numbers.
Economy
In the starting phase of the establishment of the Spanish Empire the condition of the economy
was not so much good. After the overseas invasion they were highly benefited. Their major
income was coming from the overseas possessions especially the silver mines in Peru and
Mexico (National park service, 2018). In my study I found that the rulers tried to maintain the
closed mercantile system, classic and warding off competitors as well as keeping money
within the Europe. In my view the taxation system was too harsh especially on farmers. In the
conquest and Caribbean era, the rulers tried to control the trade among Indies and Spain by
the help of restrictive policies in Seville was enforced by house of trade. With the large
amount of cash inflow from the South American region it became the global power in the
European region. It has restructured itself so as to establish a closed trading system.
Tools
In the early Spanish empire they were taking use of the traditional weapons like the sword
and lances and other artefacts but in the later centuries the use of modern machineries were
higher in use. Lances were wooden spear with steel or iron points at the ends. In a close battle
swords were mainly used (Minster, 2018). These weapons were made with high quality
inspection. They were also using harquebus which was very effective against native soldiers.
They also have a good metal shield covering each and every part of the body.
Trade
It was the colonial rule hence there were large amount trade which was done between the
different colonial states. A large amount of minerals were extracted from the different mines
in the colonial territory and was traded in many parts of the world (Cañeque, 2013). They
wanted all the valuable items from different regions of the world. When there were large
number of loots was done in the ocean voyage, the crown developed a treasury fleet for
safeguarding the valuable trade items in the journey.
Social life
There was mix kind of people in the colonial Spain. The rulers understood that if they had to
rule for a longer time they need to literate population and they started converting them into

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Christians. Indigenous people were divided in around 100 different tribes (Yun-Casalilla,
2014). In order to increase the catholic population Spanish men were marrying with native
women. Till late 1500s, the number of Spanish households which were present in new world
was around 25000. By the mid of 17th century the mixed people were higher in number as
compared to Spanish people.
Culture
In my research I found that there were two kinds of people one that migrated from Spain and
believed in Catholics and the others who were natives and was following tribal customs
(Stolley, 2013). It was a complex and diverse society as they created their own set of
identities, cuisines and traditions. But still the culture was highly declined towards the
Spanish Old world.
Famous Contributions
According to my research they have made famous contribution in the world’s history. One of
the most valuable contributions was towards developing the societies in the “New world”
which helped them in their development. It was one of the first of its kind that rule was
established in many parts of the world across the oceans. They highly contributed towards the
expansion of the Christianity (Jim, Lucia, Matthew & Alex Buie, 2018). Spain established 23
universities in the colonial America. They established schools and regional governments.
CONCLUSION
From the above report I can be say that Spanish Empire was the largest of all time. The
society was one of the most advanced societies in the whole Europe. They had a very good
infantry and cavalry that helped them in their conquest to “New world”. They were following
catholic religion and made a mix society in the colonial America. They used one of the best
Swords and lances that would help them in winning battles against the native tribes. This was
a good experience of mine to learn all these about the Spanish Empire.

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REFERENCES
Borucki, A., Eltis, D., & Wheat, D. (2015). Atlantic history and the slave trade to Spanish
America. The American Historical Review, 120(2), 433-461.
Cañeque, A. (2013). The King's living image: The culture and politics of viceregal power in
Colonial Mexico. Routledge.
Jim, Lucia, Matthew & Alex Buie, (2018). Retrieved from:
https://exploringeuropeandrussia.wordpress.com/2015/07/14/spanish-empires-huge-
impact-on-the-world/comment-page-1/
Minster, C. (2018). Retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/armor-and-weapons-of-
spanish-conquistadors-2136508
National park service, (2018). Retrieved from:
https://www.nps.gov/casa/learn/historyculture/spanish-colonial-culture.htm
Paquete, G. (2015). The reform of the Spanish empire in the age of the Enlightenment. The
Spanish Enlightenmen revisited, Voltaire Foundation, Oxford University.
Stolley, K. (2013). Domesticating Empire: Enlightenment in Spanish America. Vanderbilt
University Press.
Tindall, G. B., & Shi, D. E. (2016). America: A narrative history. WW Norton & Company.
Valdeón, R. A. (2014). Translation and the Spanish Empire in the Americas (Vol. 113). John
Benjamins Publishing Company.
Yun-Casalilla, B. (2014). The Spanish Empire, Globalization, and Cross-Cultural
Consumption in a World Context, c. 1400-c. 1750. In Global Goods and The Spanish
Empire, 1492–1824 (pp. 277-306). Palgrave Macmillan, London.