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I imagine because gold, silver, and precious metals was shiped from there.
Correct. The Spanish mercantile system required that all colonial goods be transported from only certain ports and that those ports could only trade with Spain proper. Cartagena was one of those ports.
As a side note, one of the greatest British defeats occurred at the Battle of Cartagena des Indias, well worth the read up as the Spanish admiral who led their forces is quite the character.
Yes, they have to be Castilian harbours with a franchise. Not the Spanish empire, America was a Castilian empire.
After reading some of your posts and doing a little brief research I have realized that my knowledge of the "Spanish Empire" is superficial at best. There is a lot more to it then meets the eye and what you will gain through a casual reading of the subject.
For instance, I always knew that "Spain" was a collection of kingdoms that all had their own laws and traditions to an extent, but I didn't realize how far this had permeated into everything the Spanish did.
Although there was a possibility for the Spanish Empire to save itself it now seems through additional reading based on what you said that it was a remote possibility at best and the entire Spanish system was doomed for a long time before Napoleon ever came around.
In 1498, Spain became a "Confederacy" between Castile and Aragon. Both Kingdoms had their own laws.
America was discovered by Castile, and it was a Castilian territory, and as such it was called New Castile. Inhabitants of Aragon could not charter ships to America from Aragonese harbours (Barcelona, Valencia, etc) until 1715.
Aragon had their own empire; Sicily, Naples, and they also held parts of Greece during some time. Aragon (Catalonia, Valencia, Aragon) collapsed because of five consecutive plagues, beginning in the XIVth Century and ending in the XVIIth Century. The Aragonese fleet rot in the harbour, and the Catalan Parliament could not meet because there was no quorum.
Castile became a wasteland. Most men went to fight as mercenaries in European wars, or they went to America. There were no crops, no industry. The books written by Quevedo, Cervantes and Lope during the "Golden Century", XVth and XVIth Century, portray a collapsed society in which some very wealthy aristocrats supported armies of beggars, harlots and there was also an army of "hidalgos", extremely poor aristocrats, that were practically starving to death. Their only way out of misery was the Army or America.
Yes, Spain was a very backwards country during the XVIIth Century, some sort of European Afghanistan. Napoleon troops suffered much in Spain, Napoleon said that Spanish were a bunch of fanatics leaded by crazy priests.
Neng - I knew about the union or confederacy of the kingdoms and that they each maintained their own laws and traditions, the interesting part for me was exactly how deep the divide was. For instance I did not realize that the various colonial and European holdings were actually divided among the various kingdoms that composed Spain. Very interesting information and worthy of more study.
Side note here: the Spanish language that everyone considers as such is Castillian (sp), not Catalon (Barcelona), Basque, etc. Never mind that the latter tongues were also 'Spanish' languages as in (mostly) indigenous to Spain.
It is well known that even in today's Spain, the divide is still strong. Spaniards are still debating how much power should belong to the "autonomous communities" versus the federal government in Madrid. Even Franco (which saw large scale migrations of Castilians to otherparts of Spain) failed to truely create one Spain. We can even seen the division win terms of linguistics in Spain. The Catalans speak their own langauge. Ditto the Basques. Ditto teh Galicians. The Anducians speak Castilian but with a different dialect. Ditto the Canary Islanders. The Valencians and Balearic Islanders actually speak a dialect of Catalan.
Now this is all evry interesting but we are getting off topic. From what I read from the other posts, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Cuba (when sugar was grown), the Philippines and coastal Colombia were the most important parts of the empire. Does everyone agree on this? The rest were relatively unimportant. Agree?
Oh before I forget...the Low Countries were a part of Spain until the 1640's. Since Spain fought so long and hard to hang onto these territories, I have to place them in the "important" category.
It is well known that even in today's Spain, the divide is still strong. Spaniards are still debating how much power should belong to the "autonomous communities" versus the federal government in Madrid. Even Franco (which saw large scale migrations of Castilians to otherparts of Spain) failed to truely create one Spain. We can even seen the division win terms of linguistics in Spain. The Catalans speak their own langauge. Ditto the Basques. Ditto teh Galicians. The Anducians speak Castilian but with a different dialect. Ditto the Canary Islanders. The Valencians and Balearic Islanders actually speak a dialect of Catalan.
Now this is all evry interesting but we are getting off topic. From what I read from the other posts, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Cuba (when sugar was grown), the Philippines and coastal Colombia were the most important parts of the empire. Does everyone agree on this? The rest were relatively unimportant. Agree?
Oh before I forget...the Low Countries were a part of Spain until the 1640's. Since Spain fought so long and hard to hang onto these territories, I have to place them in the "important" category.
I think that list of colonies is pretty accurate as far as which ones were key for the longest periods of time.
As for the Low Countries, Spain did lose the 7 Provinces that composed the United Provinces aka The Netherlands in 1640. However, they did maintain control over Flanders until the early 1700's when the possessions were given to Austria at the conclusion of the war of Spanish Succession.
During this time period Spain held numerous European territories including most of Italy. However, it is debatable on how "Spanish" these territories really were as most of them were run as completely autonomous states.
Spain overextended themselves in the late 1500s going into Italy and the situation in the Netherlands and Holy Roman Empire. That caises extreme decay to the Spanish Empire.
Spain overextended themselves in the late 1500s going into Italy and the situation in the Netherlands and Holy Roman Empire. That caises extreme decay to the Spanish Empire.
I don't think Spain "went" into any of those territories. They were inherited titles and lands from the Habsburgs. Charles V ruled all of the lands united and was the only monarch to ever rule all of the Habsburg possessions.
After his reign the possessions were split between his descendants who who recieved Spain and the colonies, the Netherlands and Italy (Naples and Milan) and his younger brothers descendants who recieved Austria, Bohemia and Hungary and were elected as Holy Roman Emperor.
So, it's not as if Spain conquered these territories, they were simply handed down. Many of them were ruled as and considered autonomous states.
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