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Spanish Empire

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The overseas realm ruled by the Spanish crown, from Columbus's first voyage in 1492 to the end of Spanish control of the Spanish Sahara in 1976. It held much of the Americas until the 1810s and 1820s, and Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines until 1898.

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Key events

  1. Columbus, sailing for Ferdinand and Isabella, reaches an island in the Bahamas on 12 October and claims it for SpainDisputed

    Which island Columbus reached is still debated; San Salvador is the traditional identification, and other Bahamian islands have been proposed.

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  2. Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas on 7 June, dividing the Atlantic world along a line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands

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  3. Charles V issues the New Laws, which forbid enslaving Indians and curb the encomienda; colonists resist, and the crown later rescinds parts of them

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  4. Silver is found at Cerro Rico and Potosí grows into the main silver mine of the empire; from 1573 a forced-labour draft, the mita, supplies its workers

    The two sources date Toledo's mita to 1573 and to 1572-1575.

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  5. Philip II's Armada of 132 ships is attacked off Gravelines and loses more ships on the voyage home round Scotland

    Sources date the battle to 29 July (English calendar) or 8 August (the Gregorian calendar Spain used): the same day, in two calendars.

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  6. Sucre's army defeats the last royal army in South America at Ayacucho on 9 December, effectively ending Spanish rule on the mainland
  7. In the Treaty of Paris, signed 10 December, Spain gives up Cuba and cedes Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the United States, which pays 20 million dollars for the Philippines
  8. – Spain, Morocco and Mauritania sign the Madrid Accords on 14 November 1975, and Spain's control of the Spanish Sahara ends on 26 February 1976

    The status of Western Sahara is still contested. Morocco has held most of the territory since 1979.

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