Imperial Iberia Flashcards
Key points/purpose/uses of the Reconquista
Useful narrative of sacred duty to spread Christianity
Fighting over land, territory, family, prestige
God and aristocracy as key centres of power
Portugal and empire dependence
becomes dependent on empire - rich aristocrats investing money abroad
leads to long term stagnation in economy
key time when Spain lost some of its European empire
late 17thc/early 18thc - loses european lands
1654 - England siezes Jamaica
loses netherlands and Portugal
Disadvantages to an empire
cost, European entanglements
Spanish people felt dragged into issues not to do with Spain
military might spread - 1520: 1/5 defending Italy against France; 1560s 1/6 fighting in Germany
How was empire gained?
hereditary, not military aggression
Carlos I - son of Philip = German – german lands, Austria
Reasons for expansion
questions of civilisation religious reasons silver when discovered homogenisation of European ideals Portugal and Africa - slaves, gold - Brazil, colonise and exploit wealth
Portugal falling under Spanish rule
Cortes only approved it on condition that language, currency etc would stay the same, advisors would stay Portuguese, that Spain wouldn’t encroach on slave territories
has access to more money
trying to secure a closer working relationship with spain
but only lasted 60 years
Reasons for Portuguese revolt against Spain
1640
taxes on portugal, annoyed at being asked to pay to put down Catalonia revolt
Spain wanted to conscript them
gradual erosion of promises made by Philip II - spanish encroaching on Portuguese culture and bases - trying to standardise
realisation of disadvantages to union to spain - enemies, wars
Portugal and Africa
angola bought income from slave trade
from 1836, greater attention paid to angola, vs british/dutch/german movement into southern africa
want to expand eastwards in africa, but britian stops that
portugal never seeks any more colonies
