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( Spanish Empire)
The Spanish Empire (Spanish Imperio Español) was one of the largest empires in history and one of the first global empires. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spain was in the vanguard of European global exploration and colonial expansion. Spain opened trade routes across the oceans, with trade flourishing across the Atlantic Ocean between Spain and America and across the Pacific Ocean between Asia-Pacific and Mexico via the Philippines. Conquistadors toppled the Aztec and Inca civilizations , and laid claim to vast stretches of land in North and South America. For over a century, the Spanish Empire was the foremost global power, dominating the oceans with its experienced navy and ruling the European battlefield with its infantry, the tercios. Spain enjoyed a cultural golden age in the 16th and 17th centuries. From the middle of the 16th century, silver and gold from American mines increasingly financed new exploration and the colonial enterprises of Habsburg Spain, as well as its military capability in its European and North African wars. From the late 15th through the early 19th centuries, the Spanish empire maintained the largest colonial empire in the world, although it suffered fluctuating military and economic fortunes from the 1640s. Confronted by the new experiences created by empire–building, Spanish thinkers formulated some of the first modern ideas on natural law, sovereignty, international law, war, and economics — even questioning the legitimacy of imperialism — in related schools of thought called the School of Salamanca. Constant contention with rival powers caused territorial and commercial conflict that increased Spain's military expenditure considerably. Certain strategic islands and coastal towns in the Americas and the Mediterranean Sea were occupied solely for defense. In the Mediterranean, Spain warred constantly with the Ottoman Empire; in Western Europe, France became comparably strong. Overseas, Spain was initially rivaled by Portugal, and later by the English and Dutch. In addition, English–, French–, and Dutch–sponsored piracy, extension of Spanish military commitments in its territories, increasing government corruption, and economic stagnation caused by military expenditures ultimately contributed to the empire's weakening from the mid–17th century.[citation needed]
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