Empire and the colonial Americas

El imperio y la América colonial

1492–1808. From 1492 Castile, and then the Spanish monarchy, built an empire across the Americas and the Pacific.

What happened

From 1492 Castile, and then the Spanish monarchy, built an empire across the Americas and the Pacific. Conquest, epidemics and forced labour devastated Indigenous peoples, while Spanish, Indigenous and African people and cultures mixed in new societies. Silver from the Americas fed world trade, and Spanish writers and painters had their Golden Age. Spanish became the language of a continent, taking in words from Taíno, Nahuatl and Quechua on the way.

Within it

• The Catholic Monarchs (1469–1516)
• The conquest (1492–1575)
• The viceroyalties (1535–1808)
• The first Bourbons (1700–1808)

Its events

1. 12 October 1492: Columbus reaches America
2. 1512: The Laws of Burgos
3. c. 16 November 1519: Havana is founded
4. 1535: The Viceroyalty of New Spain is created
5. 1585–28 January 1596: Drake raids the Spanish Caribbean
6. 26 March 1713–1750: The slave asiento goes to Britain
7. 7 June 1762–1763: The British take Havana
8. c. 1765–1788: The Bourbon reforms