The year 1492, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, witnessed also the discovery of America, as well as the capture of Granada. Spain had now become consolidated into one empire, from the Pyrenees to the strait of Gibraltar, civil wars were at an end; and a splendid continent, teeming with riches, had been opened up for Spanish adventure and enterprise. But, as the most active spirits among the Spaniards now crowded to the new world, the soil of Spain, and its mineral treasures, both inexhaustible sources of wealth, were neglected for the riches of the fancied El Dorado, where, as was every where believed, gold was more plentiful than iron was in the old country. Besides the drain upon the country from emigration, the expulsion of the Jews and Moors was pro ductive of the direst results; and the decline of the splendid Spanish empire, upon which the sun even then never set, may be said to have had its origin in the event which raised the country to the height of its magnificence. Charles I. (Charles V. of Germany, q.v.) succeeded Ferdinand, and in his reign Mexico (q.v.) and Peru (q.v.) added to the possessions of Spain. Philip 11. (q.v.), by his enormous war expenditure and seal administration, laid a sure foundation for the decline of the country. Industry, com merce, and agriculture, may be said to have been extinguished at the expulsion of the Moriscoes (see Moons); and the reigns of Philip III. and Philip IV. witnessed a fearful accel-, eration in the decline of Spain by the contests with the Dutch, and with the German Protestants in the thirty years' war, the intermeddling of Olivarez (q.v.) in the affairs of northern Italy, the rebellion of the Catalans, whom the minister wished to deprive of their liberties, the wars with France, and the rebellion of Portugal (1640), which had been united to Spain by Philip II. That of Charles II. was still more unfortunate, and the death of the latter was the occasion of the war of the Spanish succession (see SUC CESSION, Wmt OF). Philip V. (q.v.) was the first of the Bourbon dynasty who occupied the throne of Spain. Under Charles III. (1739-88), a wise and enlightened prince, dine sec ond great revival of the country commenced; and trade and commerce began to show signs of returning activity. During the inglorious reign of Charles IV. (1788-1808), who left the management of affairs in the hands of the incapable Godoy (see ALCUDIA), a war (1796-1802) broke out with Britain, which was productive of nothing but disaster to the Spaniards, and by the pressure of the French another arose in 1804, and was attended with similar ill success. Charles abdicated in favor of his eldest son, the prince of Asturias, who ascended the throne as Ferdinand VII. Forced by Napoleon to resign all claims to the Spanish crown, Ferdinand became a prisoner of the French in the year of his accession, and in the same year Joseph, the brother of the French emperor, was declared king of Spain and the Indies, and set out for Madrid, to assume the kingdom assigned to him. But before this time, an armed resistance had been organized throughout the whole country. The various provinces elected juntas or councils, consisting of the most intiu cutlet inhabitants of the respective neighborhoods, and it was the business of these jun tas to administer the government, raise troops, appoint officers, etc. The supreme junta; that of Seville, declared war against Napoleon and France on June 6, 1808. In July, England, on solicitation. made peace with Spain, recognized Ferdinand VII. as king, and sent an army to aid the Spanish insurrection. Joseph, on July 9, entered Spain, defeated (through 11 iS lieut. Bessieres) the Spaniards at Rio Seco, and entered Mad. rid on the 20th hut the defeat of Dupont at Baylen by the veteran Spanish gen. Cas t:tilos, somewhat altered the position of affairs, and Joseph, after a residence of 10 days in his capital, was compelled to evacuate it, and retire n. to Vitoria. The noble defense of Palafox of the city of Zaragoza against Lefebvre, and the return of the marquis de la Romana with 7,000 regular troops who had been wiled from the country by Napoleon, did much to inspirit the patriots. On July 12, 1808, sir Arthur Wellesley, afterward duke
of Wellington (q.v.), at the head of the British auxiliary force, landed (Aug. 5) at Mon dego bay, and began the peninsular war by defeating the French at Roliza and Vimiero (q.v.); but in spite of his opposition the convention of Cintra was sigued, and the French transported to their own country. In Nov., 1808, Napoleon, who had been preceded by Ney (q.v.) with 100.000 men, entered Spain, and at once assumed the command. For a time his armies were completely successful; Sonit utterly routed the Spanish gen. Bel vedere, Nov. 10, and annihilated Blake at Reynosa on the 13th. Castaims tvere routed at Tudela by Lances, and in the be,ginning of December, Napoleon entered Madrid. At this time, the British forces were under the command of sir Jolla Moore (q.v.), who, aware of his great inferiority in numbers and resources, retreated west from Sala manca. whither he had conic to assume the command of the allied forms, and reached Coruna (q.v.) on Jan. 11, 1809. On April 22, gen. Wellesley arrived in Portugal, and at Once commencing operations, drove Soult from Oporto, and took possession of then, favored by the disunity of action which subsisted between the three or four French armies who held Spain, he directed his attacks upon the unity of the center, retreating when any of the others came to its aid, and by dint of masterly generalship and bold enterprise, succeeded, after four campaigns, in driving the French from the country. To this result, the co-operation of the Portuguese and of the Spanish guerrillas, the revengeful] hatred of the peasantry toward their tyrannical oppressors, and the drafts from the Spanish armies so frequently made by Napoleon for his wars in central Europe, largely contributed. See WELLINGTON, SOULT, VICTOR, etc. Napoleon, loath to lose his hold of the peninsula, sent Soult, his most trusted gen., to stop tire ingress of the British into France; but the battles of tire Pyrenee•(July 24—Aug 1, 1813), and of tire Nivelle, Orthez, and Toulouse, in tire beginning of 1814, brought to a victorious conclu sion this long and obstinate contest.
In 1812 a constitution, on the whole liberal, had been devised for the country by the tortes of Cadiz. It was abrogated, however, by Ferdinand VII. (q.v.), who treated the subjects who had shown such devoted loyalty to him with infamous ingratitude, and obtained the aid of France to establish despotism. The reign of his daughter, Isa belle II. was disturbed by the Carlist rebellion in 1834-39, in which the British aided the queen with an .army under sir De Lacy Evans. See atutos. The next event of importance was tire contest between Espartero (q.v.), the regent, and the queen-dowager Christina, for the supreme power during the minority of the queen. Espartero was successful from 1840 to 1843, but was compelled to flee before O'Donnell and Narvaez, and was not restored till 1847. The constituent tortes of 1437 drew up it new consti tution, based on that of Cadiz. In 1815, another constitution was promulgated by Narvaez (q.v.), duke of Valencia. Frequent changes of ministry, occasional revolts, the banishment of queen Christina (1854), the formation of the O'Donnell ministry (1858), the war with the Moors (see Moaocco), the annexation of Sr.. Domingo in 1861, and the quarrels between Spain and her former colonies, Peru (1864-63) and Chili (1865), were tire most marked events in the more recent history of Spain prior to 1868. In 1868 Isabella was driven from tire throne by a general revolt; and tire codes, in Nov. 1870, elected prince Amadeo of Italy to be king. the task of ruling constitu tionally hopeless, Amadeo abdicated early in 1873, upon which the form of government was changed into a repnblic. During the remainder of 1373, and the whole of 1874, ?pain was the scene of general anarchy and much bloodshed. resulting from the mutual opposition of the Carlists and republicans. On Dec. 31, 1874, Alphonso, son of the ex-queen Isabella, was declared king of Spain at Santander.