ДЄfter the Spanish victory at the War of Portuguese Succession, Philip II of Spain obtained the Portuguese crown, and Portugal and its overseas territories came under his rule with the so-called Iberian Union, considered by many historians as a Spanish conquest. The crown's authority in the Indies was enlarged by the papal grant of powers of patronage, giving it power in the religious sphere. The structure of empire was further defined under the Spanish Habsburgs (1516вЂ“1700), and under the Spanish Bourbon monarchs the empire was brought under greater crown control and increased its revenues from the Indies. Castile became the dominant kingdom in Iberia because of its jurisdiction over the overseas empire in the Americas and the Philippines.

ДЄn important element in the formation of Spain's empire was the dynastic union between IsabellaВ I of Castile and FerdinandВ II of Aragon, known as the Catholic Monarchs, which initiated political, religious and social cohesion but not political unification. It was one of the world's most powerful empires of the early modern period, becoming known as ' the empire on which the sun never sets', and reached its maximum extent in the 18th century. One of the largest empires in history, it was, in conjunction with the Portuguese, the first to usher the European Age of Discovery and achieve a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, the archipelago of Philippines, various islands in the Pacific and territories in Western Europe and Africa. The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio EspaГ±ol) also known as Hispanic Monarchy (Spanish: MonarquГa HispГЎnica) or (historically) as the Catholic Monarchy (Spanish: MonarquГa CatГіlica) for the Early Modern period, was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predecessor states between 14.

United States Military Government of the Philippine Islands

Medieval 2 total war conquistadores