Trade restrictions and monopolies established by the Spanish crown are credited for having held back economic development for much of the colonial times.

In the context of emerging western imperialism and economic competition between European kingdoms seeking wealth through the establishment of trade routes and colonies, Columbus's speculative proposal, to reach the East Indies by sailing westward, eventually received the support of the Spanish crown, which saw in it a promise, however remote, of gaining the upper hand over rival powers in the contest for the lucrative spice trade with Asia.

Columbus's strained relationship with the Spanish crown and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and dismissal as governor of the settlements on the island of Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over the benefits which Columbus and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown.

By 1534 the Spanish crown had determined to split the region in two parallel lines, forming the governorship of " Nueva Castilla " ( from the 1 ° to the 14 ° latitude, close to Pisco ), and that of " Nueva Toledo " ( from the 14 ° to the 25 ° latitude, in Taltal, Chile ), assigning the first to Francisco Pizarro and the second to Diego de Almagro.

In 1774, he was asked, on behalf of the Spanish crown, by the German artist Anton Raphael Mengs, to undertake the series.

Here he was to receive any British buildings and lands returned by the Spanish from claims by Francisco de Eliza for the Spanish crown.

This ensured for the first time that all the realms of the Iberian peninsula ( save for Portugal ) would be united by one monarch under one nascent Spanish crown, with the founding territories retaining their separate governance codes and laws.

The Iberian Union with Portugal in 1580 not only unified the peninsula, but added that country's worldwide resources to the Spanish crown.

For over fifty years the Spanish crown took over the role of the dukes of Brabant in the joint sovereignty over Maastricht.

In 1632 the city was conquered by Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and the Dutch States General replaced the Spanish crown in the joint government of Maastricht.

Many heirs of Emperor Moctezuma II were acknowledged by the Spanish crown, who granted them titles including Duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo.

Galileo proposed this method to the Spanish crown ( 1616 – 1617 ) but it proved to be impractical, because of the inaccuracies of Galileo's timetables and the difficulty of observing the eclipses on a ship.

Panama was part of the Spanish Empire for over 300 years ( 1513 – 1821 ) and her fortunes fluctuated with the geopolitical importance of the isthmus to the Spanish crown.

But the remoteness of New Granada's capitol Santa Fe de Bogotá proved a greater obstacle than the Spanish crown anticipated as the authority of the new Viceroyalty was contested by the seniority, closer proximity, previous ties to the Viceroyalty of Peru in Lima and even Panama's own initiative.

In the 1520s and 1530s, the Spanish crown had ordered surveys of the isthmus to determine the feasibility of such a canal, but the idea was soon abandoned.

Paraguay's colonial history was one of general calm punctuated by turbulent political events ; the country's economy at the time made it unimportant to the Spanish crown, and the distance of its capital from other new cities on the South American continent led to isolation.

Although this revolt failed, it was one of the earliest and most serious risings against Spanish authority in the New World and caused the crown to question its continued support for the Jesuits.

As medieval Spanish kings often could not offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in the 12th century against bandits and other rural criminals, and against the lawless nobility or to support one or another claimant to the crown.

Some institutions are restored historical bodies of government of the previous kingdoms or regional entities within the Spanish crown — like the Generalitat of Catalonia — while others are entirely new creations.

* 1829 – Surrender of the expedition led by Isidro Barradas at Tampico, sent by the Spanish crown in order to retake Mexico, This was the final consummation of Mexican independence.

Philip quickly revived Spanish ambition ; taking advantage of the power vacuum caused by Louis XIV's death in 1715, Philip announced he would claim the French crown if the infant Louis XV died and attempted to reclaim Spanish territory in Italy, precipitating the War of the Quadruple Alliance in 1717.

The Spanish Empire claimed the islands by discovery in the early 16th century, but never settled them, and subsequent years saw the English, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Danish all jostling for control of the region, which became a notorious haunt for pirates.

A variety of people settled on the islands: pirates, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors, and slaves.

The Spanish settled along the north coast of today's Colombia in the early 16th century, but their first permanent settlement, at Santa Marta, was not established until 1525.

Diego Garcia had no permanent inhabitants when discovered by the Spanish explorer Diego García de Moguer in the 16th century and remained so until settled as a French colony in 1793.

Conflicting claims to the mainland were settled in 1900 by the Treaty of Paris, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively under Spanish rule.

The Spanish delegation retorted that it was only the lazy and unenterprising Goths who had remained in Sweden, whereas the heroic Goths had left Sweden, invaded the Roman empire and settled in Spain.

El Greco, a respected Greek artist from the period, settled in Spain, and infused Spanish art with the styles of the Italian renaissance and helped create a uniquely Spanish style of painting.

Francia had a particular dislike of foreigners, and the recently pre-independence settled Spanish had to intermarry with either the old colonists or the Guarani, to create a single Paraguayan people.

The Spanish settled in Jamaica in 1509 and held the island against many privateer raids from their main city, now called Spanish Town, which served as capital of Jamaica from its founding in 1534 until 1872.

The Carson family settled on a tract of land owned by the sons of Daniel Boone, who had purchased the land from the Spanish prior to the Louisiana Purchase.

In the west and highland areas where the Spanish settled, the indigenous population was almost completely wiped out by the rapid spread of new diseases brought by the Spaniards, for which the native population had no immunity, and the virtual enslavement of the remainder of the indigenous people.

The city, along with most of the settled areas of the state, was abandoned by the Spanish for 12 years ( 1680 – 1692 ) as a result of the successful Pueblo Revolt.

Some areas are drug markets, others are settled by Spanish workers residing there since 20 years ago, and others have families of recently arrived immigrants.

Trinidad remained in Spanish hands until 1797, but it was largely settled by French colonists.

In 1783, the proclamation of a Cedula of Population by the Spanish Crown granted 32 acres ( 129, 000 m² ) of land to each Roman Catholic who settled in Trinidad and half as much for each slave that they brought.

The patria of the Ulpii was Italica, in Spanish Baetica, where their ancestors had settled late in the 3rd century BC.

* The Philippine Revolution is settled with Spanish promises to reform.

The Spanish colonists came to South Carolina in the early 16th century and settled at Santa Elena.

The Spanish claimed the islands by original discovery, but did nothing to enforce their claims, and never settled the Territory.

In 1508, Juan Ponce de León settled Puerto Rico, and reports in Spanish journals suggested that the settlement used the Virgin Islands for fishing, but nothing else.

Vieques was periodically settled by the British, but on each occasion they were driven off by Spanish soldiers from nearby Puerto Rico.

The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 settled the War of the Spanish Succession.