Spanish Empire: Did you mean...?

A 17th-century painting by Juan de la Corte showing a Spanish galleon under attack. (Museo del Prado, Madrid)

François L'Olonais (also spelt L'Olonnais or L'Ollonais, c. 1630-1668), real name Jean-David Nau, was a French buccaneer and pirate who operated from Tortuga on Hispaniola. In 1667, he famously attacked Venezuela, then part of the Spanish...

Sir Richard Grenville (1542-1591 CE) was an Elizabethan adventurer, mariner, and privateer whose life story is as entertaining as any fictional sailor. His early career saw him become a Member of Parliament, a soldier in Hungary, and a plantation...

A map illustrating the changing balance of colonial power among the Spanish, English, and French Empires in the 1700s along the coastlines of the Americas, specifically in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. This region, referred to...

Hernando de Soto (c. 1500-1542) was a Spanish conquistador who fought in Panama and Nicaragua and accompanied Francisco Pizarro (c. 1478-1541) in the conquest of the Inca civilization in Peru. He famously explored North America, including...

Did you know that the Spanish Armada was defeated as much by storms as by the English navy? This video is all about King Philip II of Spain’s Enterprise of England, and his defeat at the hands of The Royal Navy of Elizabeth I of England in...

A map illustrating one of the most significant processes of the early modern period - the rise and decline of Spain between the late fifteenth and the late seventeenth centuries. From a patchwork of kingdoms in the north of the Iberian peninsula...

The Manila galleons were Spanish treasure ships which transported precious goods like silk, spices, and porcelain from Manila in the Philippines to Acapulco, Mexico, between 1565 and 1815. The Atlantic treasure fleets then shipped some of...

The Roman Empire, at its height (c. 117), was the most extensive political and social structure in western civilization. Building upon the foundation laid by the Roman Republic, the empire became the largest and most powerful political and...

The Western Roman Empire is the modern-day term for the western half of the Roman Empire after it was divided in two by the emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305 CE) in c. 285/286 CE. The Romans themselves did not use this term. At its height (c...