In Focus - Discover Spain: Experience the Best of Spain - page 578

Brilliant but ruthless conquistadors followed Columbus' trail, seizing vast tracts of
the American mainland for Spain. By 1600 Spain controlled Florida, all the biggest
Caribbean islands, nearly all of present-day Mexico and Central America, and a
large strip of South America. The new colonies sent huge cargoes of silver, gold
and other riches back to Spain. Seville enjoyed a monopoly on this trade and grew
into one of Europe's richest cities.
Two Spains
Spain was united for the first time in almost eight centuries after Fernando annexed
Navarra in 1512, and in 1519 Carlos I (Fernando's grandson) succeeded to the
Habsburg lands in Austria and was elected Holy Roman Emperor (as Charles V).
He ruled all of Spain, the Low Countries, Austria, several Italian states, parts of
France and Germany, and the expanding Spanish colonies in the Americas. But the
storm clouds were brewing. Colonial riches lined the pockets of a series of
backward-looking monarchs, a wealthy, highly conservative Church, and idle nobil-
ity. Although some of this wealth was used to foster a golden age of art, little was
done to improve the lot of ordinary Spaniards and food shortages were rife. At the
same time, a succession of monarchs squandered Spain's colonial wealth in ulti-
mately unsuccessful wars down through the centuries.
Spain's overseas possessions were ebbing away, but problems at home were
even more pressing. In 1812 a national Cortes (parliament) meeting at Cádiz drew
up a new liberal constitution for Spain, prompting a backlash from conservatives
(the Church, the nobility and others who preferred the earlier status quo) and liber-
als (who wanted vaguely democratic reforms). Over the next century, Spain altern-
ated between federal republic and monarchy, a liberal-conservative schism that saw
the country lurch from one crisis to the next. By the 1930s, Spain was teetering on
the brink of war.
The Spanish Civil War
On 17 July 1936, the Spanish army garrison
in Melilla, North Africa, rose up against the
left-wing government, followed the next day
by garrisons on the mainland. The leaders of
the plot were five generals, among them
Francisco Franco, who on 19 July flew from