Spain lost her possessions on the mainland of America with the independence movements of the early 19th century, during the power vacuum of the Peninsula War. At the end of the century most of the remaining Spanish Empire ( Cuba, Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam ) was lost in the Spanish American War in 1898.

Independence from Spain came suddenly for most of Latin America. Between 1810 and 1825, most of Spain’s former colonies had declared and won independence and had divided up into republics. Napoleon, seeking to expand his empire, attacked and defeated Spain, and he put his elder brother Joseph on the Spanish throne.

The origins of the Latin American independence movements of the early 1800s might be traced to changes in imperial administration. After many years of semi-autonomous local rule and limited metropolitan intervention, new bureaucratic reforms in the eighteenth century caused some discomfort in the American colonies.

Following a half a decade of battles and skirmishes with provincial royalist forces within the former Vice-royalty along with military expeditions across the Andes to Chile, Peru and Bolivia led by General José de San Martín to finally end Spanish rule in America, a formal declaration was signed on July 9, 1816 by an …

Locations of selected countries that gained independence during the 1800s

• Mexico.
• Haiti.
• Colombia.
• Venezuela.
• Brazil.

Spain lost control of its main colonies in America essentially for the same reasons as England lost the US: the colonies liberated themselves. It so happened that when the competition for the colonies was fiercest (in 19th century), Spain experienced a decline, and could not compete with the strongest European powers.

France and Spain had a strong mutual hatred and the French would befriend any of Spain’s enemies. It became more of a war between France and Spain. Spain lost the war and territories and the right to be called a world power, bringing about the decline of the Spanish empire which the Anglo Spanish war helped cement.

Many different factors, including the decentralized political nature of Spain, inefficient taxation, a succession of weak kings, power struggles in the Spanish court and a tendency to focus on the American colonies instead of Spain’s domestic economy, all contributed to the decline of the Habsburg rule of Spain.

Of course later wars (such as the terrible War of Spanish Succession and, a century later, the even worse war against the French occupation during the Napoleonic period) did terrible harm to Spain – but the real cause of decline was internal, the economy being crushed by endless taxes and famous stranglehold of state …

Since the 1590s Spain experienced an absolute decline that only became relative in the early nineteenth century. Spain’s decline has its roots in the seventeenth century while its backwardness deepened in the first half of the nineteenth century.

In order to control its new empire, Spain created a formal system of government to rule its colonies. todemand labor or taxes from Native Americans. The Spanish forced Native Americans to work in the gold and silver mines. Native Americans received harsh treatment from Spaniards.

In the 1500s, during the Age of Exploration, Spain became the most powerful country in Europe and likely the world. This was due to their colonies in the Americas and the gold and great wealth they acquired from them. However, in 1588 in a battle of the world’s great navies, the British defeated the Spanish Armada.

The Spanish empire in the Americas was formed after conquering indigenous empires and claiming large stretches of land, beginning with Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean Islands.

While there was no Biblical name for Spain, the people of the New Testament, in the later Roman period, would probably be familiar with the terms “Iberia” and “Hispania”, being part of the empire themselves. That’s probably the closest you’ll get for a “Biblical name for Spain” if we discount the Tarshish theory.

In fact, Spain held 35 colonies at various points in history, exacting its power so widely it was called “the empire on which the sun never sets,” an expression that also began to be used in reference to Great Britain when the latter’s prominence overcame Spain’s.

Amerigo Vespucci

In 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs and Mexico became a Spanish colony. For 300 years Spain ruled the land until the early 1800s. At that time the local Mexicans revolted against Spanish rule. Father Miguel Hidalgo declared Mexico’s independence with his famous cry of “Viva Mexico”.

“The Spanish colonial period in the Philippines lasted longer than that of a lot of countries in Latin America, including Mexico,” Ocampo said. “You can’t just forget the three-and-a-half century Spanish influence in the Philippines.”

Ireland

Switzerland had no colonies – yet some Swiss worked hand in hand with the colonial powers and profited from their seizure of land and resources on other continents.

Netherlands: The Dutch Empire held sway over a number of colonies on the African continent, Asia and the Americas. It reached its height in the 17th century, managing to take some Portuguese colonies (some of which would later be reconquered).

Are there still any countries that have colonies? There are 61 colonies or territories in the world. Eight countries maintain them: Australia (6), Denmark (2), Netherlands (2), France (16), New Zealand (3), Norway (3), the United Kingdom (15), and the United States (14).