HABSBURG

The Habsburg dynasty reigned from 15th to 20th century over most of Europe. By marriage and conquest it achieve and empire which strechted from Hungary to Peru. In 1600 the Habsburg were at their greatest power.

The name derived from the family seat Habichtsburg (Hawk's Castle) in Switzerland. The family was founded by Albert, Count of Habichtsburg.

HABICHTSBURG

The first of the Habsburg powerful family was Rudolf I, king of the Romans from 1273 to 1291. He conquered Austria and the province Styria which was passed on to two sons in 1282. The Habsburg made their name in history not to declare war and conquer but to marry. Austria became the Habsburg power base in 1278.

In 1438 Albert II was the first Habsburg who became Holy Roman Empire.  Fredrick III and Maximilian I were his successors and secured the family hold on the imperial crown.

 In late 15th century Maximilian I marriage brought the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Burgundy. Maximilian's son Philip gained through marriage Castle, Aragon, and the Spanish New World Possessions.

HABSBURG REGALIA

The Holy Roman Empire was under the control of the

Habsburg family. The height of their power was in the 16th century. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was also Charles I king of Spain. Charles inherited the Holy Roman Empire and the family’s Austrian base in 1519.  Charles was King of Spain, its territories in the New World and Naples, Burgundy and The Netherlands.

CHARLES V

He added Peru, Mexico, Hungary and Bohemia to his vast Empire.

Such great Empires always attract enemies and threats of war to be able to gain some territories for their own countries.  Charles was different to the previous Habsburgs. During his whole reign he was at war.

King Francis I, from France was determined to be become Holy Roman Emperor and was at war most of the time with Charles V. In Spain he had to face troubles because he was born in Burgundy and was to Spaniards a foreigner.  From East the Ottoman Turks tried to conquer Hungary and laid siege to Vienna but was unsuccessfully.  Even within the empire he had trouble. At that time the Reformation became established and tried to get hold of more power.  Charles V was a Roman Catholic and defender of it.  In 1555 he was forced to a partial defeat and had to give religious tolerance to the Protestant prince at the Peace of Augsburg.

As the years went on Charles realise it was too much for one man and let his younger brother Ferdinand rule the Austria as Empire of Regent.  Charles abdicated in 1556 and went to live in a monastery.  He divided the huge Empire between Ferdinand and his son Philip.

After Charles died in 1559, the division became permanent and his brother Ferdinand ruled Germany and Austria. Ferdinand's son Philip II ruled over Spain. During the 30 Year War, from 1618, the Habsburg dynasty lost some power but managed to add Portugal to their empire.

In the 18th century the Austrian Habsburg came to new heights under Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II. Austria lost Netherlands and then the title of Holy Roman Emperor at the end of the Napoleon war.

They survived the revolution in 1848 but after 1866 Austrian-Prussian war Habsburg had to make concession to the Hungarian nationalism. They formed the monarchy Austria-Hungary.

EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH 

The emperor Franz Joseph went against Russia because of their control of the Balkan and allied with Germany in 1879. The Nationalists became more and more powerful. The final spark to the more than explosive situation came from Crown Prince and his wife being shot at Sarajevo and the First World War broke out. After the war the empire was broken up.

1918 the last Habsburg monarch Charles I of Austria renounced his title.

PALACE SCHOENBRUNN IN VIENNA - HABSBURG'S FAMILY SEAT

ARCHDUKE OTTO VON HABSBURG -- ELDEST SON OF THE LAST EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA

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.

ANCIENT EMPIRES IN AFRICA

It is a general belief that empires in Africa, apart from the Egyptian, didn't exist. The main reason for this luck of earlier knowledge is the unknown continent of Africa or the dark continent as it was called. Till the middle of 16th century Africa was hardly visited by Europeans which resulted into this assumption.

For European to visit Africa was only possible by ship and land at one of their natural harbours. These existed only along the Red Sea and some on the east coast. Africa did not have many natural harbours south of the Sahara therefore trade was established across the land. Along the trade routes settlements were built and slowly kingdoms developed. These kingdoms were not known to Europeans because their explorers did not reach them.

There were three ancient kingdoms of West Africa = Ghana, Mali and Songhay - which were based on the trade of goods at that time. The area was rich on gold and slaves. Gold was found and traded from Ashante and Senegal. Slaves were traded from states further south and then taken by Arab traders across the Sahara.

                   AFRICA'S EMPIRES BEFORE THE COLONIZATION

The Arab people are legendary for trade and crossed the Sahara in large groups called caravans. They were the main reason for establishing different cultures and African empires. Most of the empires vanished completely but only one survived till the 20th century - the Ethiopian empire.

The Arabian people also were shipping goods along the coasts of East Africa and the Red Sea. Their style of ships are called dhows were also going down the Nile.

Caravans crossing the Sahara encouraged towns like Timbuktu, Gao and Walata being built and were their resting places. These major centres were then growing in to African kingdoms.

Crossing the Sahara was not only difficult and dangerous because of the very high temperature, sandstorms and starvation but also of the Tuaregs. They attacked the caravans for their precious goods of gold, ivory, gum, spices, salt and slaves.

These trade routes brought Christianity and then later on Islam. Islam spread right across Africa. Islam also brought a rich tradition of art and learning. Knowledge was encouraged in the universities of the Mali and Songhay empires.

The goods were sold in Mediterranean countries and the Near East. On their return journeys they brought back the vital salt and woollen and other luxurious goods from Europe. These riches brought a life style not known before. By the end of the Middles Ages the Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East were thriving because of the African Gold.

The kingdom of Benin started at the 14th century and was at its glory in the 15th century. The City of Benin had walls 40km long. The people became famous for their art. A beautiful ivory mask was discovered which was made for one of the kings of Benin.

Two kings became famous for their splendour and their kingdoms. They were Mansa Mus of Mali and Sonni Ali of Songhay. Their name carried through Islam and Christendom. Their walled cities Timbuktu and Jenne had a very lively trade of all nations. The universities became famous and attracted scholars and poets from all over the world.

Mansa Musa, the king of Mali was so wealthy he gave away so much gold on the way of a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 it effected the economy in Cairo.

The kings and emperors ruled both by military force and keeping on the right side of the local leaders. These were the royal judges and royal bureaucracies for taxes and control of trade. The kings and emperors were aware that these local leaders were the backbone of their prosperity.

The empire of Knem-Borno grew alongside Lake Chad in the Middle of Africa. It prospered because of the eastern trade route. It started in the 11th century but reached their peak in the 16th century under the rule of King Idris.

South of Africa the kingdom of Zimbabwe flourished between 13th and 15th century. Their riches came from their gold mines and trading with Arabs along their coast and through the port of Sofala.