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Spanish Empire

colonial empire governed by Spain between 1492 and 1976

73 dated entries naming Spanish Empire, drawn from 56 separate years between 1503 CE and 1834 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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16th century

  • 1503December 29 – Third Italian War: The Battle of Garigliano takes place near Gaeta in Italy. Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat a French–Italian mercenary army under Marchese Ludovico II of Saluzzo; the French forces, who suffer 4,000 casualties, withdraw to Gaeta.source
  • 1503February 23 – Third Italian War: Battle of Ruvo – The Spanish defeat the French in Italy.source
  • 1503May 13 – Naples is captured by the Spanish.source
  • 1505Bermuda is discovered by Spanish explorer Juan de Bermúdez.source
  • 1509May 2 – Juan Ponce de León obtains authorization to bring his family from Spain to his home in the Casa de Contratación in Caparra, Puerto Rico.source
  • 1511Juan de Agramonte, a sailor from Spain, is thought possibly to have travelled to Newfoundland.source
  • 1512April 11 – War of the League of Cambrai – Battle of Ravenna: French troops under Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours, assisted by the Duchy of Ferrara, defeat the Spanish and Papal States troops led by Ramón de Cardona. Gaston is killed in the pursuit as the Spanish retreat, and at least 3,000 of his troops are killed. More than 9,000 Spanish and Papal troops are killed, and 17,000 civilians in and around the city of Ravenna are massacred.source
  • 1513December – Louis attempts to make peace with Spain by offering King Ferdinand the hand of his daughter Renée for one of his grandsons along with renouncing his claims on Naples. The proposal is never accepted.source
  • 1513October 7 – Battle of La Motta (War of the League of Cambrai): Spanish and imperial troops under Ramón de Cardona decisively defeat those of the Republic of Venice under Bartolomeo d'Alviano in Schio.source
  • 1520July 7 – Otumba near Lake Texcaco: The Spaniards defeat the Aztecs.source
  • 1521August 13 – Fall of Tenochtitlan: Cuauhtémoc surrenders to Cortés, thus incorporating the Aztec Empire into the Spanish Empire and ending the Late Postclassic period in Mesoamerica.source
  • 1521June 30 – Battle of Esquiroz: French forces under André de Foix, fighting for the exiled King of Navarre Henri d'Albret, are defeated by the Spanish, and forced to abandon their attempt to recover Henri's kingdom.source
  • 1521November 23 – Spanish–German–Papal forces under Prospero Colonna force French Marshal Odet de Lautrec to abandon Milan.source
  • 1522April 27 – In the Battle of Bicocca, French and Swiss forces under Odet de Lautrec are defeated by the Spanish in their attempt to retake Milan, and are forced to withdraw into Venetian territory.source
  • 1524April 30 – Battle of the Sesia: Spanish forces under Charles de Lannoy defeat the French army in Italy, under William de Bonnivet. The French, now commanded by François de St. Pol, withdraw from the Italian Peninsula.source
  • 1524March 7 – Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado destroys the Kʼicheʼ kingdom of Qʼumarkaj, taking the capital, Quiché.source
  • 1525February 24 – Battle of Pavia: German and Spanish forces under Charles de Lannoy and the Marquis of Pescara defeat the French army, and capture Francis I of France, after his horse is wounded by Cesare Hercolani. While Francis is imprisoned in Lombardy and then transferred to Madrid, the first attempts to form a Franco-Ottoman alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent against the Habsburg Empire are made.source
  • 1526July 24 – Milan is captured by the Spanish.source
  • 1526July 25 – The Spanish ship Santiago, from García Jofre de Loaísa's expedition, reaches the Pacific Coast of Mexico and drops anchor at the Gulf of Tehuantepec, becoming the first ship to sail from Europe to the west coast of North America.source
  • 1527May 6 – Sack of Rome: Spanish and German troops led by the Duke of Bourbon sack Rome, forcing the Medici Pope Clement VII to make peace with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, marking the end of the High Renaissance. The Pope grows a beard in mourning.source
  • 1528Spain takes direct control of Acapulco.source
  • 1529April 22 – The Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between the Spanish and Portuguese empires, stipulating that the dividing line should lie 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas.source
  • 1536Battle of Reynogüelén: Spanish conquistadors defeat a group of Mapuches in Chile, during the expedition of Diego de Almagro.source
  • 1541May 8 – Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, naming it the Rio de Espiritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit").source
  • 1542February 14 – Guadalajara, Mexico, is founded by the Spaniards after three previous attempts failed, due to aggressive opposition from local tribes.source
  • 1543Indians in the Spanish Empire are declared free, against the wishes of local settlers.source
  • 1545April 1 – Potosí is founded by the Spanish as a mining town after the discovery of huge silver deposits in this area of modern-day Bolivia. Silver mined from Huayna Potosí Mountain provides most of the wealth on which the Spanish Empire is based until its fall in the early 19th century.source
  • 1550March 12 – Arauco War: Battle of Penco – Several hundred Spanish and indigenous troops under the command of Pedro de Valdivia defeat an army of 60,000 Mapuche in modern-day Chile.source
  • 1556The kings of Spain take control of what becomes the Flanders region, including the French département of Nord.source
  • 1556February 5 – Truce of Vaucelles: Fighting temporarily ends between France and Spain.source
  • 1556January 16 – Charles V abdicates the thrones of the Spanish Empire (including his colonies in the New World) in favor of his son, Philip II, and retires to a monastery.source
  • 1557Spain becomes bankrupt, throwing the German banking houses into chaos.source
  • 1557April 12 – The Spanish settlement of Cuenca, Ecuador, is founded.source
  • 1557April 30 – Arauco War – Battle of Mataquito: Spanish forces of Governor Francisco de Villagra launch a dawn surprise attack against the Mapuche (headed by their toqui Lautaro), in present-day Chile.source
  • 1558February 5 – Arauco War: Pedro de Avendaño, with sixty men, captures Caupolicán (the Mapuche Gran Toqui), who is leading their first revolt against the Spanish Empire (near Antihuala), encamped with a small band of followers.source
  • 1558July 13 – Battle of Gravelines: Near the border between the Kingdom of France and the Spanish Netherlands, Spanish forces led by Lamoral, Count of Egmont, and assisted by the English Navy, inflict a major defeat on the French forces of Marshal Paul de Thermes.source
  • 1559August 15 – Led by Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano, a Spanish missionary colony of 1,500 men, on 13 ships, arrives from Vera Cruz at Pensacola Bay, founding the oldest European settlement in the mainland U.S. (St. Augustine is founded in 1565.)source
  • 1561May 8 – Madrid is declared the capital of Spain, by Philip II.source
  • 1571May 25 – The Holy League is established as an alliance of the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Savoy, the Duchy of Urbino, the Kingdom of Naples and Kingdom of Sicily under the rule of the Spanish Empire and the Knights of Malta for mutual defense against attacks by the Ottoman Empire on ships in the Mediterranean Sea.source
  • 1573The first Spanish galleon, laden with silver for the porcelain and silk trade with the Ming Dynasty of China, lands at Manila in the Philippines. This occasion marks the beginning of the Spanish silver trade to China, that will trump that of the Portuguese, the latter of whom acted as an intermediary between the silver mines of Japan, and the luxury items in China to be purchased with that silver. Most of the silver entering China comes from what is now Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru in the New World.source
  • 1581July 27 – Capture of Breda: After a surprise attack the day before, Spanish troops under the command of Claude de Berlaymont, Lord of Haultepenne, take the walled city Breda in the Netherlands. Once inside the gates, the Spanish troops overcome the defenders and carry out the massacre of 584 citizens in the "Haultepenne Fury".source
  • 159712 million pesos of silver cross the Pacific. Although it is unknown just how much silver flowed from the Spanish base of Manila in the Philippines to the Ming Dynasty of China, it is known that the main port for the Mexican silver trade—Acapulco—shipped out 150,000 to 345,000 kg (4 to 9 million taels) of silver annually from this year to 1602.source
  • 1598December 21 – Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelantaro, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile; all Spanish cities south of the Bío Bío River eventually fall victim to the Destruction of the Seven Cities by the Mapuches, and all conquest of Mapuche territories by Europeans practically ceases, until the later 19th century Occupation of Araucanía.source
  • 1600July 2 – Eighty Years' War (Dutch War of Independence) – Battle of Nieuwpoort: The Dutch Republic gains a tactical victory over the Spanish Empire.source

17th century

  • 1602The Safavid Empire of Persia and the Spanish Empire conclude a defensive alliance and declare war on the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1604September 20 – After a bloody three-year siege. Ostend is finally captured by Spanish forces under Ambrogio Spinolasource
  • 1605October 28 – Eighty Years' War: Spanish troops under Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquess of Los Balbases, Captain-General of the Army of Flanders (newly appointed a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece), occupy Wachtendonk after a 20-day siege.source
  • 1607April 25 – Battle of Gibraltar: A Dutch fleet of 26 warships, led by Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck, stages a surprise attack on a Spanish fleet anchored in the Bay of Gibraltar. In the battle that ensues, Spain loses as many as 10 galleons and 12 smaller ships, and at least 300 men are killed. The disaster causes Spain to go into bankruptcy by October.source
  • 1607September 14 – Flight of the Earls: Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, flee Ireland for Spain with 90 followers, to avoid capture by the English crown, never to return.source
  • 1609April 9 – The Netherlands and Spain agree to the Twelve Years' Truce (which lasts until 1621) in the Eighty Years' War, with the signing of the Treaty of Antwerp, allowing the Dutch East India Company to trade within the Spanish Empire.source
  • 1612May 25 – A Sicilian–Spanish galley fleet defeats the Tunisians at La Goulette after a battle.source
  • 1615June 21 – The Peace of Asti is concluded between the Spanish Empire and Savoy.source
  • 1621Tamblot rallies an unknown, large number of people in Bohol, Captaincy General of the Philippines to revolt against the Spanish Empire.source
  • 1621April 9 – The Twelve Years' Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire expires, and both sides prepare to resume the Eighty Years' War.source
  • 1633October 17 – Thirty Years' War: Siege of Rheinfelden – Spain recaptures Rheinfelden from Sweden.source
  • 1637June 27 – The first English venture to China is attempted by Captain John Weddell, who sails into port in Macau and Canton during the late Ming dynasty with six ships. The voyages are for trade, which is dominated here by the Portuguese (at this time combined with the power of Spain). He brings 38,421 pairs of eyeglasses, perhaps the first recorded European-made eyeglasses to enter China.source
  • 1648January 30 – The Dutch and the Spanish sign the Peace of Münster, ending the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish Empire recognizes the Dutch Republic of United Netherlands as a sovereign state (governed by the House of Orange-Nassau and the States General), which was previously a province of the Spanish Empire. The treaty is ratified by the Netherlands on May 15.source
  • 1700Mission San Xavier del Bac is founded in New Spain near Tucson, as a Spanish Roman Catholic mission. Its location had first been scouted by the Spanish in 1692.source

18th century

  • 1738June 27 – The Spanish Empire's Council of the Indies votes, 6 to 4, to re-establish the Viceroyalty of New Granada, incorporating modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama. King Philip V issues the order on August 20, 1738.source
  • 1741May 9 – War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of Cartagena de Indias – Spain's defenders in New Grenada, under the command of General Blas de Lezo, defeat Edward Vernon's Royal Navy force, leading to a British retreat to Jamaica.source
  • 17511751–1775 – 13 per cent of appointees to audiencias in the Spanish Empire are Creoles.source
  • 1767April 2 – Suppression of the Jesuits begins, in the Spanish Empire and Kingdom of Naples.source
  • 1767February 27 – King Carlos III of Spain issues a decree expelling the Jesuits from the dominions of the Spanish Empire worldwide.source
  • 1767May 16 – Ahmed al-Ghazzal, the emissary from Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah of Morocco to the Spanish Empire, makes a triumphant return to Marrakesh with almost 300 Muslims who had been held captive in Spain, as well as sacred Islamic manuscripts that had been seized by the Spanish in 1612. The negotiation of the release had started with al-Ghazzal's meeting with Spain's King Carlos III on August 21, 1766.source
  • 1770June 9 – Falklands Crisis (1770): Some 1,600 Spanish marines, sent by the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires in five frigates, seize Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands. The small British force present promptly surrenders.source
  • 1783April 17 – American Revolutionary War: Colbert's Raid: A Spanish garrison under Captain Jacobo du Breuil defeats British irregulars at Arkansas Post.source
  • 1786September 25 – The mine of Huancavelica in the Peruvian Andes collapses killing more than a hundred people. The event is a major setback for quicksilver production in the Spanish Empire.source

19th century

  • 1807February 3 – Napoleonic Wars and Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Montevideo – The British Army captures Montevideo from the Spanish Empire, as part of the British invasions of the Río de la Plata.source
  • 1810August 6 – The city of Santa Cruz de Mompox, in modern-day Colombia, declares independence from the Spanish Empire.source
  • 1810July 20 – First Republic of New Granada: Patria Boba: A junta of seven patriots, led by José Acevedo y Gómez, assemble in Bogotá in the Viceroyalty of New Granada (modern-day Colombia), to declare its independence from the Spanish Empire, the first South American nation to break away from Spain as the third oldest independent republic state after Haiti.source
  • 1811May 14 – Paraguay declares independence from the Spanish Empire (recognised May 15).source
  • 1821July 28 – Argentine general José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from the Spanish Empire.source
  • 1834April 22 – Spain, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom sign the Quadruple Alliance.source

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