Submitted by Taps Coogan on the 15th of July 2019 to The Sounding Line.

As part of our ongoing series of historical video-maps, we present: ‘The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire,’ from YouTube creator EmperorTigerstar.

Beginning in 1479 with the merging of the crowns of Argon and Castile, the following video shows the changing borders of the Spanish Empire every year until the present time. The Spanish Empire began almost immediately after Columbus’s discovery of the New World in 1492. Santo Domingo, the present day capital of the Dominican Republic, was founded by the younger brother of Christopher Columbus in 1496 and remains the oldest continuously inhabited European Settlement in the Americas. Spanish colonization of the Americas progressed rapidly and by the 1520s Spain had established colonies throughout the Caribbean, Cuba, and Central America. Spain’s colonization of the Philippines begins in 1521 and by the time of Britain’s first (and failed) attempt to establish a New World colony at Roanoke in North Carolina, the Spanish had already colonized most of the Caribbean, Central America, and Western South America. While the territorial size of Spain’s empire would continue to expand until the late 1700s, it’s power began to decline by the mid 1600s as Britain, France, and Portugal began to aggressively contest Spain’s territorial claims around the world. Napoleon’s reconquest of Spain’s Louisiana Territory and subsequent sale to the United States put the Spanish Empire into conflict with the US. Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808 eventually led to revolutions in most of Spain’s colonies and the decline of the empire.

To see other interesting historical maps check out:
The History of the Greeks
Every Year of the Roman Empire
Every Other Day of the Napoleonic Wars
Every Day of World War I
Every Day of World War II
The History of the World Every Year
The Five Largest Cities Throughout History
Every Major Plague Epidemic in History
The Evolution of Modern Government
The Rise of Religions Throughout History
The History of Communism Since 1850
The History of Urbanization
The History of South America
How the World Got Obese
The History of North America
The History of China Every Year
Every Nuclear Explosion in History
Every Year in The History of the Ottoman Empire
The History of the Middle East
The Loss of Native American Lands Within the US Every Year
Every Ruler in Europe Since 400 BC
Every Day of the Korean War
The Results of Every US Presidential Election in History
Every Week of the American War of Independence
The Rise and Fall of the Mongol Empire
The Population of Every Civilization in Europe Every Year Since 400 BC
The Rise and Fall of the French Empire
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire

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