Spain

Spain grew from the crowns of Castile and Aragon, separate Iberian kingdoms in 1337. Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon married in 1469, joining the two crowns.

In 1492 they conquered Granada, ending the last Muslim rule in Iberia, and sponsored Columbus's Atlantic voyage. The Habsburg monarchy ruled a vast overseas empire from 1516; Charles II's death in 1700 triggered a succession war and brought Bourbon Philip V to the throne. After Napoleon's invasion, American independence wars cost Spain most mainland possessions by the 1820s.