EMPIRES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

VASCO DA GARMA

With the advantage from explorers Vasco da Garma and Christopher Columbus discovering new sea route the Portuguese and Spanish were able to build a huge empire. They became the richest and most powerful nations in the West.

When the Turks invaded Constantinople in 1453 they cut off the trade route to the Far East. This action forced many countries to find a seas route to the East, mainly for spices. Portugal was the first country to achieve it and then Spain.  It gave these countries an enormous rich trade and due to that it they became the powerful nations. Till the reign of Ling Ferdinand of Aragon married the Queen Isabella of Castille these countries were separate kingdoms. After that they drove the last Muslim invader from Granada and united the country.

Prince Henry ‘the Navigator’ was the perfect leader in Portugal, 1394-1450. The prince received that name because he encourage a lot of expeditions and design improvement on ships and instruments. Yet, he himself never left Portugal.

START OF EMPIRES

With the great encouragement by Prince Henry Portugal let the way. They discovered the tip of Africa in1488 and 10 years late India. These discoveries made Portugal the leader of the spice trade.  In 1500 Pedro Cabral was blown off its course to India in the Atlantic Ocean. This led to the discovery of Brazil. He straight away claimed it for the King of Portugal.

In the meantime, Spain put all its effort into discover India sailing across the Atlantic. In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean; claim the West Indies for Spain believed he discovered India.

All these discoveries and growing rich and powerful worried the Roman Catholic Church.  To avoid a war between the two great powers the Pope demanded to sign the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The treaty divided the whole world into east and west. The east was signed to Portugal and the west to Spain. This treaty gave Cabral the advantage to claim Brazil for Portugal because it was on the eastern sides.

THE PORTUGESE EMPIRE

Although Brazil was now a colony of Portugal it still was trading with the East. The trade was gold from China, silver from Japan and then conquered Timor and the Molucca Islands (nowadays Indonesia) for the great variety of spices. Although it looks easy to receive these trade routes it wasn’t. Japan was already a powerful nation and only allowed Portuguese ships into Nagasaki because they brought goods from China. The Portuguese were only useful to Japan because the Emperor of China banned all trade between China and Japan

In order to protect these routes the Portuguese established trading posts all the way.  Countries like Goa, Mozambique and Angola only got their independence in the 20^th century.

From West Africa (Ghana) the Portuguese got gold from the Gold Coast and slaves. The slaves were used in sugar plantations which were established in Sao home in the Gulf of Guinea and in Brazil. The Portuguese start to colonise Brazil in 1533 because they feared that the English and French would move in.

FERDINAND AND ISABELLA

THE SPANISH EMPIRE

The colonization by Spain was mainly in the Caribbean at first. They began bloody campaign through Central and South America. Spain conquered countries between Mexico and Oeru within 30 years. Thus destroyed many ancient civilizations.

Spain reached it height of a golden era when in 1516 Charles V inherited Spain, southern Italy and American colonies form his grandparents Ferdinand and Isabella. Charles’s mother was mad and therefore was out as a successor. Three years later, Charles other grandfather Emperor Maximilian I died and he inherited Austria, parts of France, many regions of Germany and the Netherlands. It is now the most powerful country in the West.

Spaniards went in droves to settle in South America when they heard stories of gold found there. It was organized by Spanish troops. They establish huge sugar plantations and became the envy of the world. Two viceroys were ruling the Spanish colonies; one in Mexico and one in Peru.

They made the natives slaves and called them Indian because they thought they reached India. They were forced into slave labourer on what had been their land to mine gold and silver to make Spain rich. The cruel treatment and illnesses like measles which came from Europe and they had no resistance killed millions of the natives. It is estimated that in Mexico alone 24 millions died with 80 years of Spanish rules.

CHARLES V

GOLDEN ERA OF SPAIN

Charles V ruled for 40 years and the country was at its height. His possessions were so huge that it provoked envy amongst other European rulers and a few wars broke out but they never brought any great results. Eventually Charles V started to believe he was not capable and abdicated in 1556. I went into a monastery for the rest of his life.

Spain realized to rule such a big country was impossible. It was split into two. Charles V’s brother received Germany and Austria.  His son Philip II received Spain, the American colonies, Naples, Sicily and the Netherlands.

PHILIP  II

Philip expanded the Spanish colonies. In 1571, he added what is known today as the Philippines. In 1578, the Kind of Portugal died in a battle in Morocco. Philip inherited the whole Portuguese Empire. It lasted in Spanish hands for 60 years.

Even Spain kept expanding but Philip was not successful in Europe. It wars with France, the Netherlands and England. All paid for by the riches from the colonies. A great defeat was in 1588 when the pride and envy the Armada was destroyed. By the time Philip dies the wars ate most of the wealth from the New World.  The Spanish Empire was still the biggest but it was under great thread form France, England and the Netherlands.

Philip II was solemn and very religious. He was very gifted with administration and was a hard working man to control his vast kingdom. At the end of his life he suffered a terrible skin disease.

There was a further power growing from the Protestants and it became a force to be reckoned with.