1.
Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict, and the culmination of a political and social process which ended the rule of Spain in 1821 in the territory of New Spain. September 16 is celebrated as Mexican Independence Day, the movement for independence was inspired by the Age of Enlightenment and the liberal revolutions of the last part of the 18th century. By that time the elite of New Spain had begun to reflect on the relations between Spain and its colonial kingdoms. Changes in the social and political structure occasioned by Bourbon Reforms, political events in Europe had a decisive effect on events in most of Spanish America. In 1808, King Charles IV and Ferdinand VII abdicated in favor of French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, the same year, the ayuntamiento of Mexico City, supported by viceroy José de Iturrigaray, claimed sovereignty in the absence of the legitimate king. That led to a coup against the viceroy, when it was suppressed, despite the defeat in Mexico City, small groups of conspirators met in other cities of New Spain to raise movements against colonial rule.
From 1810 the independence movement went through stages, as leaders were imprisoned or executed by forces loyal to Spain. Secular priest José María Morelos called the separatist provinces to form the Congress of Chilpancingo, after the defeat of Morelos, the movement survived as a guerrilla war under the leadership of Vicente Guerrero. By 1820, the few rebel groups survived most notably in the Sierra Madre del Sur, the reinstatement of the liberal Constitution of Cadiz in 1820 caused a change of mind among the elite groups who had supported Spanish rule. Monarchist Creoles affected by the constitution decided to support the independence of New Spain, agustín de Iturbide led the military arm of the conspirators and in early 1821 he met Vicente Guerrero. Both proclaimed the Plan of Iguala, which called for the union of all insurgent factions and was supported by both the aristocracy and clergy of New Spain and it called for monarchy in an independent Mexico. Finally, the independence of Mexico was achieved on September 27,1821, after that, the mainland of New Spain was organized as the Mexican Empire.
This ephemeral Catholic monarchy changed to a republic in 1823, due to internal conflicts. After some Spanish reconquest attempts, including the expedition of Isidro Barradas in 1829, after the suppression of that mid-16th-century conspiracy, elites raised no substantial challenge to royal rule until the Hidalgo revolt of 1810. Elites in Mexico City in the century did force the removal of a reformist viceroy. The crowd was reported to shout, Long live the King, the attack was against Gelves as a bad representative of the crown and not against the monarchy or colonial rule itself. There was a conspiracy in the mid-seventeenth century to unite creole elites, blacks. The man pushing this notion called himself Don Guillén Lampart y Guzmán, lamports conspiracy was discovered, and he was arrested by the Inquisition in 1642, and executed fifteen years for sedition
2.
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with seismic and volcanic activity. Southeast Asia consists of two regions, Mainland Southeast Asia, known historically as Indochina, comprising Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar. Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Indonesia, East Malaysia, Philippines, East Timor, Cocos Islands, definitions of Southeast Asia vary, but most definitions include the area represented by the countries listed below. All of the states are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the area, together with part of South Asia, was widely known as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia includes, Maritime Southeast Asia includes, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Southeast Asia.
Eastern Bangladesh and the Seven Sister States of India are culturally part of Southeast Asia, the eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania. Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago, homo floresiensis lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the population in Indonesia, Brunei, East Timor. Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years and their vessels, such as the vinta, were ocean-worthy. Magellans voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships, Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar by the Austronesian people, as well as commerce between West Asia and Southeast Asia.
Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome and this was replaced by Hinduism. Theravada Buddhism soon followed in 525, in the 15th century, Islamic influences began to enter. This forced the last Hindu court in Indonesia to retreat to Bali, in Mainland Southeast Asia, Burma and Thailand retained the Theravada form of Buddhism, brought to them from Sri Lanka. This type of Buddhism was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture, very little is known about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the 2nd century BCE onwards. Prior to the 13th century CE, Hinduism and Buddhism were the religions in Southeast Asia
3.
Philippine peso
The Philippine peso is the official currency of the Philippines. It is subdivided into 100 céntimos, as a former colony of the United States, the country used English on its currency, with the word peso appearing on notes and coinage until 1967. Since the adoption of Filipino language for banknotes and coins, the term piso is now used, the peso is usually denoted by the symbol ₱. Other ways of writing the Philippine peso sign are PHP, PhP, Php, P$, the ₱ symbol was added to the Unicode standard in version 3.2 and is assigned U+20B1. The symbol can be accessed through some word processors by typing in 20b1 and pressing the Alt and this symbol is unique to the Philippines as the symbol used for the peso in countries like Mexico and other former colonies of Spain in Latin America is $. The Philippine coins and banknotes are minted and printed at the Security Plant Complex of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Quezon City, the inconvenience of barter however led to the use of some objects as a medium of exchange.
The teston became the de facto unit of trade between Spaniards and Filipinos before the founding of Manila in 1574, the native Tagalog name for the coin was salapi. The monetary situation in the Philippine Islands was chaotic due to the circulation of many types of coins, with differing purity and weights, value equivalents of the different monetary systems were usually difficult to comprehend and hindered trade and commerce. An attempt to remedy the confusion was made in 1848. Overseeing the conversion was Fernándo Norzagaray y Escudero, governor general in the period 1857-60, conversion to the decimal system with the peso fuerte as the unit of account solved the accounting problem, but did little to remedy the confusion of differing circulating coinage. The mint was inaugurated on March 19,1861, despite the mintage of gold and silver coins and South and Central American silver still circulated widely. The Isabelline peso, more known as the peso fuerte, was a unit of account divided into 100 céntimos.
Its introduction led to the Philippines brief experiment with the gold standard, the peso fuerte was a unit of exchange equivalent to 1.69 grams of gold,0.875 fine, equivalent to ₱1,390.87. Coin production at the Casa de Moneda de Manila began in 1861 with gold coins of three denominations,4 pesos,2 pesos, and 1 peso. On March 5,1862, Isabel II granted the mint permission to produce silver fractional coinage in denominations of 10,20, minting of these coins started in 1864, with designs similar to the Spanish silver escudo. The coin, which was to be known as the Spanish-Filipino peso, was minted in Madrid in 1897. The specifications of the coin was 25 grams of silver.900 fine and this configuration was used in the creation of the Puerto Rican provincial peso in 1895 giving both coins the equivalency of 5 pesetas. The new monetary standard finally established the peso as 25 grams silver,0.900 fine, the Spanish-Filipino peso remained in circulation and were legal tender in the islands until 1904, when the American authorities demonetized them in favor of the new US-Philippine peso
4.
Amadeo I of Spain
Amadeo I was the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy. He was the son of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and was known for most of his life as the Duke of Aosta. He was elected by the Cortes as Spains monarch in 1870, following the deposition of Isabella II, amadeos reign was fraught with growing republicanism, Carlist rebellions in the north, and the Cuban independence movement. He abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873, and the First Spanish Republic was declared as a result, Prince Amedeo of Savoy was born in Turin. He was the son of King Vittorio Emanuele II and of Archduchess Adelaide of Austria. He was styled the Duke of Aosta from birth, in 1867 his father yielded to the entreaties of parliamentary deputy Francisco Cassins, and on 30 May of that year, Amedeo was married to Donna Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo. The King initially opposed the match on the grounds that her family was of insufficient rank, despite her princely title, Donna Maria Vittoria was not of royal birth, belonging rather to the Piedmontese nobility.
In March 1870, the Duchess appealed to the King to remonstrate with his son for marital infidelities that caused her hurt and embarrassment. But the King wrote in reply that, while understanding her feelings, he considered that she had no right to dictate her husbands behaviour and that her jealousy was unbecoming. The wedding day of Prince Amedeo and Donna Maria Vittoria was marred by the death of a stationmaster who was crushed under the wheels of the honeymoon train, after the Spanish revolution deposed Isabella II, the new Cortes decided to reinstate the monarchy under a new dynasty. The Duke of Aosta was elected King as Amadeus on 16 November 1870 and he swore to uphold the constitution in Madrid on 2 January 1871. The election of the new King coincided with the assassination of General Marqués de los Castillejos and he could count on the support of only the progressive party, whose leaders were trading off in the government thanks to parliamentary majority and electoral fraud. The progressives divided into monarchists and constitutionalists, which made the instability worse, there was a Carlist uprising in the Basque and Catalan regions, and after that, republican uprisings happened in cities across the country.
The artillery corps of the went on strike, and the government instructed the King to discipline them. With the possibility of reigning without popular support, Amadeus issued an order against the artillery corps, at ten oclock that same night, Spain was proclaimed a republic, at which time Amadeo made an appearance before the Cortes, proclaiming the Spanish people ungovernable. Completely disgusted, the ex-monarch left Spain and returned to Italy and they had one child, who died of the flu during the First World War. Amadeo remained in Turin, Italy until his death on 18 January 1890 and his friend Puccini composed the famous elegy for string quartet Crisantemi in his memory. Lake Amadeus in central Australia is named after him, as is the Philippine municipality of Amadeo, by Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta Marshal of Italy married to Princess Hélène of Orléans and had issue
5.
Iloilo City
Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo, is a highly urbanized city on southeastern tip of Panay island in the Philippines. It is the city of the province of Iloilo where it is geographically situated but, in terms of government and administration. In addition, it is the center of the Iloilo-Guimaras Metropolitan Area, in the 2015 census, Iloilo City had a population of 447,992, with a 1. 02% population annual growth rate. For the metropolitan area, the population is 946,146. Iloilo City is bordered by the towns of Oton in the west, Pavia in the north, Leganes in the northeast and the Iloilo Strait in its eastern and southern coastline. The city was a conglomeration of towns, which are now the geographical districts consisting of, Molo, La Paz, Mandurriao. The district of Lapuz, a part of La Paz, was declared a separate district in 2008. According to ancient legends, some of the inhabitants of Panay island were originally from other islands, including Borneo, Panay might be named after the kingdom of Pannai which is located in Sumatra, since i and y are interchangeable in Spanish.
Proof for this is corroborated by linguistic evidence, local tradition refers to the name as a shortening of the Ati word, Ananipay. Probably, it was what the Atis had come to use for the name given by the Malay settlers to their newly found home, one of these ethnic groups was subjugated there and they were unable to flee for various circumstances. Someone speaking pampango found out that they were not speaking pampango among themselves, but they donned the old pampango ethnic costume. And when he addressed an old man among them, the replied, You are descendants of the lost, that in times past left this place to settle in other lands and this resonates the local Panay tradition regarding the arrival of ten Datus from Borneo. The kingdom of Pannai was a militant-nation allied under the Srivijaya Mandala that defended the conflict-ridden Strait of Malacca, the Visayan lore says that in the 13th century, ten Bornean datus came to the island which they named Panay, Pani or Panae. This, after they dissented from the unjust rule of a certain Rajah Makatunao and it was said that it was a way of the ten Bornean datus to barter the flat lands of Panay from the Ati.
One datu, named Paiburong, was given the territory of Irong-Irong. In Panay, according to Friar Gaspar de San Agustín, O. S. A. in the ancient times, there was a trading center and a court of the most illustrious nobility in the whole island. By the 14th century, under Datu Padojinog, this state had grown so powerful militarily and economically, so much so, that the Chuan-chou gazeeter specifically reported that the Pisheya/Bisaya consistently made devastating raids against the Empires commerce. In 1566, as the Spanish conquest of the Philippines was underway and moving north toward Manila, the people fervently accepted Christianity as they supplied the bulk of the mercenaries used in the conquest of partially islamized Manila, whose rulers were related to the Sultan of Brunei
6.
Cebu
Cebu is a 1st provincial income class island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consisting of the main island itself and 167 surrounding islands and islets. Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines, Cebu City forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area together with four neighboring cities and eight other local government units. Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Mactan Island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines, Cebu is one of the most developed provinces in the Philippines, with Cebu City as the main center of commerce, trade and industry in the Visayas. In a decade it has transformed into a hub for shipping, furniture-making, business processing services. The name Cebu came from the old Cebuano word sibu or sibo and it was originally applied to the harbors of the town of Sugbu, the ancient name for Cebu City. Alternate renditions of the name by traders between the 13th to 16th centuries include Sebu, Zubu, or Zebu, among others, Sugbu, in turn, was derived from the Old Cebuano term for scorched earth or great fire.
The Rajahnate of Cebu was a native kingdom which existed in Cebu prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. It was founded by Sri Lumay otherwise known as Rajamuda Lumaya and he was sent by the Maharajah to establish a base for expeditionary forces to subdue the local kingdoms, but he rebelled and established his own independent Rajahnate instead. The arrival of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 established a period of Spanish exploration and colonization, losing favor for his plan of reaching the Spice Islands from king Manuel I of Portugal, by sailing west from Europe, Magellan offered his services to king Charles I of Spain. On 20 September 1519, Magellan led five ships with a crew of 250 people from the Spanish fort of Sanlúcar de Barrameda en route to southeast Asia via the Americas and they reached the Philippines on 16 March 1521. Rajah Kolambu the king of Mazaua told them to sail for Cebu, arriving in Cebu City, with Enrique of Malacca as translator, befriended Rajah Humabon the Rajah or King of Cebu and persuaded the natives of allegiance to Charles I of Spain.
Humabon and his wife were given Christian names and baptized as Carlos, the Santo Niño was presented to the native queen of Cebu, as a symbol of peace and friendship between the Spaniards and the Cebuanos. On 14 April Magellan erected a wooden cross on the shores of Cebu. Afterwards, about 700 islanders were baptized, Magellan soon heard of datu Lapu-Lapu, a native king in nearby Mactan Island, a rival of the Rajahs of Cebu. It was thought that Humabon and Lapu–Lapu had been fighting for control of the trade in the area. On 27 April the Battle of Mactan occurred where the Spaniards were defeated, according to Italian historian and chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, Magellans body was never recovered despite efforts to trade for it with spice and jewels. Magellans second-in-command, Juan Sebastián Elcano took his place as captain of the expedition and sailed their fleet back to Spain, survivors of the Magellan expedition brought tales of a savage island in the East Indies with them when they returned to Spain.
Consequently, several Spanish expeditions were sent to the islands but all ended in failure, in 1564, Spanish explorers led by Miguel López de Legazpi, sailing from Mexico, arrived in 1565, and established a colony
7.
Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain, called the Prudent, was King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, and jure uxoris King of England and Ireland. He was Duke of Milan, from 1555, he was lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. Known in Spain as Felipe el Prudente, his empire included territories on every continent known to Europeans, during his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Golden Age, the expression, the empire on which the sun never sets, was coined during Philips time to reflect the extent of his dominion. During Philips reign there were separate state bankruptcies in 1557,1560,1569,1575 and this was partly the cause of the declaration of independence that created the Dutch Republic in 1581. The Ambassador went on to say He dresses very tastefully, the culture and courtly life of Spain were an important influence in his early life. He was tutored by Juan Martínez Siliceo, the future Archbishop of Toledo, Philip displayed reasonable aptitude in arms and letters alike.
Later he would study with more illustrious tutors, including the humanist Juan Cristóbal Calvete de Estrella, though Philip had good command over Latin and Portuguese, he never managed to equal his father, Charles V, as a polyglot. While Philip was a German archduke of the House of Habsburg, Philip felt himself to be culturally Spanish, he had been born in Spain and raised in the Castilian court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in Spain. This would ultimately impede his succession to the imperial throne, in April 1528, when Philip was eleven months old, he received the oath of allegiance as heir to the crown from the Cortes of Castile. Philip was close to his two sisters, María and Juana, and to his two pages, the Portuguese nobleman Rui Gomes da Silva and Luis de Requesens, the son of his governor Juan de Zúñiga. These men would serve Philip throughout their lives, as would Antonio Pérez, Philips martial training was undertaken by his governor, Juan de Zúñiga, a Castilian nobleman who served as the commendador mayor of Castile.
The practical lessons in warfare were overseen by the Duke of Alba during the Italian Wars, Philip was present at the Siege of Perpignan in 1542 but did not see action as the Spanish army under Alba decisively defeated the besieging French forces under the Dauphin of France. On his way back to Castile, Philip received the oath of allegiance of the Aragonese Cortes at Monzón. The king-emperors interactions with his son during his stay in Spain convinced him of Philips precocity in statesmanship, who had previously been made the Duke of Milan in 1540, began governing the most extensive empire in the world at the young age of sixteen. Charles left Philip with experienced advisors—notably the secretary Francisco de los Cobos, Philip was left with extensive written instructions that emphasised piety, patience and distrust. These principles of Charles were gradually assimilated by his son, who would grow up to become grave, self-possessed, Philip spoke softly and had an icy self-mastery, in the words of one of his ministers, he had a smile that cut like a sword.
After living in the Netherlands in the years of his reign
8.
Spanish East Indies
The Spanish East Indies were the Spanish territories in Asia-Pacific from 1565 until 1899. They comprised the Philippines, the Mariana Islands, the Caroline Islands, Cebu was the first seat of government, transferred to Manila. From 1565 to 1821 these territories, together with the Spanish West Indies, were administered through the Viceroyalty of New Spain based in Mexico City, the King of Spain traditionally styled himself King of the East and West Indies. After Mexican independence, they were ruled directly from Madrid, administrative affairs of the Spanish East Indies were handled by the Captaincy General of the Philippines and the Real Audiencia of Manila. The few remaining islands were ceded to the United States when the Treaty of Washington was ratified in 1901, Spanish contact began on 6 March 1521, when a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan reached the Mariana Islands. He named Guam and the other islands Islas de los Ladrones because the natives came aboard his galleon, the expedition continued its journey west and reached the island of Homonhon in the eastern Philippines on 16 March, with only 150 crewmen.
There they were able to communicate with the local peoples because the Malayan interpreter, Enrique of Malacca, Miguel López de Legazpi set out from Mexico, and established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines in 1565, which became the town of San Miguel in present-day Cebu. In 1571, the city of Manila was founded and made seat of the Spanish Captaincy General of the Philippines and these and other Asian territories claimed by the Spanish crown were to be governed from the Viceroyalty of New Spain in Mexico City. The Manila-Acapulco galleons shipped products gathered from both Asia-Pacific and the Americas, such as silk, silver and other Asian-Pacific islander products to Mexico, in 1606, the Spaniards established some form of trade links with the Maluku Islands and remained until 1663. Contacts with Japan were established and Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent as ambassador in 1611, on the north eastern coastal region of Taiwan, the Spaniards built Fort Santo Domingo near Keelung in 1626 and a mission in Tamsui in 1628, which they occupied until 1642.
In 1668, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores established the first mission on Guam, in 1762 British troops briefly captured the city of Manila during the Seven Years War. The British promised support for an uprising led by Diego Silang and his wife Gabriela, under the peace settlement Manila was exchanged, along with British-occupied Havana, for Florida and Minorca. It was handed back to Spanish authorities in April 1764, the Seven Years War prompted Charles III to initiate extensive governmental reforms throughout the overseas possessions. An intendencia was established in Manila in 1784 to handle the government finances, in a similar vein, to promote innovation and education among the residents of the islands, Governor-General José Basco y Vargas established the Economic Society of the Friends of the Country. For over 256 years, the Spanish East Indies were governed by a general. All economic matters of the Philippines were managed by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in 1821 the New Spanish Viceroyalty collapsed following the Mexican War of Independence, which resulted in the First Mexican Empire.
In 1574 the Captaincy General of the Philippines was created as a dependency of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Islas Carolinas Islas Marianas Islas Palau The Spanish used several names that are not currently used. Gran Moluca for the island of Mindanao and Nueva Castilla for Luzon, because Spanish interest in the region was primarily focused on its use as a base for trade with East Asia, direct Spanish control over the area expanded slowly
9.
German New Guinea
German New Guinea was the first part of the German colonial empire. It was a protectorate from 1884 until 1914 when it fell to Australian forces following the outbreak of the First World War and it consisted of the northeastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups. The mainland part of German New Guinea and the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago. The Micronesian islands of German New Guinea are now governed as the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, the mainland portion, Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, was formed from the northeastern part of New Guinea. The islands to the east of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, on annexation, were renamed the Bismarck Archipelago, due to their accessibility by water, these outlying islands were, and have remained, the most economically viable part of the territory. With the exception of German Samoa, the German islands in the Western Pacific formed the Imperial German Pacific Protectorates. These were administered as part of German New Guinea and they included the German Solomon Islands, the Carolines, the Marianas, the Marshall Islands, the total land area of German New Guinea was 249,500 square kilometres.
By the end of 1875, one German trader reported, German trade and German ships are encountered everywhere, the most important ones were the Kolonialverein of 1882 and the Society for German Colonization founded in 1884. But you know, my map of Africa is here and you see here is Russia, over there is France. And us, we are here – right in the middle between those two, despite his personal objections, it was Bismarck himself who eventually organised the acquisition of much of what would become the German colonial empire. The very first attempts at the new policy came in 1884 when Bismarck had to put German trading interests in southwestern Africa under imperial protection. Bismarck told the Reichstag on 23 June 1884 of the change in German colonial policy, annexations would now proceed, recent explorations had given the basis for reconsideration, it is considered useful by geology and biology people as holding in its forests the key to solve problems. A profitable field for cultivation but London had only sent missionaries to save souls, as we Germans have learnt a little about conducting colonial policy, and as our wishes and plans turn with a certain vivacity towards New Guinea.
He instructed the London Agent for Queensland to urge the Imperial Colonial Office to an act of annexation, when news of this reached London, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Derby promptly repudiated the act. Finsch encouraged them to pursue the founding of a colony on the north-east coast of New Guinea, on 3 November 1884, under the auspices of the Deutsche Neuguinea-Compagnie, the German flag was flown over Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the Bismarck Archipelago and the German Solomon Islands. Albert Hahl joined the German Colonial Office in 1895 and until 1914 played a part in New Guineas administration. After 1901 Hahl attempted to apply his system to the whole of New Guinea and he was forced to retire because of disagreements with Berlin officials, and became an active writer on New Guinea and was a leader in German colonial societies between the wars. By the mid-1880s German church authorities had devised a program for missionary work in New Guinea and assigned it to the Rhenish Mission, under the direction of Friedrich Fabri
10.
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. While he was the son of Philip V of Spain, he was the eldest son of Philips second wife. In 1731, the 15-year-old Charles became the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I, following the death of his childless granduncle Antonio Farnese. In 1734, as Duke of Parma, he conquered the kingdoms of Naples and of Sicily, and was crowned king on 3 July 1735, reigning as Charles VII of Naples and Charles V of Sicily until 1759. In 1738 he married Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, daughter of Polish king Augustus III, Charles and Maria Amalia resided in Naples for 19 years. Charles succeeded to the Spanish throne on 10 August 1759, after the death of his half-brother King Ferdinand VI of Spain who left no heirs. As King of Spain Charles III made far-reaching reforms such as promoting science and university research, facilitating trade and commerce and he tried to reduce the influence of the Church and avoided costly wars. His previous experience as King of Naples and Sicily proved valuable as King of Spain and he did not achieve complete control over the States finances, and was sometimes obliged to borrow to meet expenses.
Most of his reforms proved to be successful and his important legacy lives on to this day, historian Stanley Payne wrote that Charles III was probably the most successful European ruler of his generation. He had provided firm, intelligent leadership, personal life had won the respect of the people. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht concluded the War of the Spanish Succession and reduced the political and military power of Spain, which the House of Bourbon had ruled since 1700. Moreover, the House of Savoy gained the Kingdom of Sicily, and the Kingdom of Great Britain gained the island of Minorca, in 1700, Charles father, originally a French prince, became King of Spain as Philip V. For the remainder of his reign, he attempted to regain the ceded territories. Elisabeth and Philip married on 24 December 1714, she proved a domineering consort. On 20 January 1716, Elisabeth gave birth to the Infante Charles of Spain at the Real Alcázar of Madrid and he was fourth in line to the Spanish throne, after three elder half-brothers, the Infante Luis, Prince of Asturias, the Infante Felipe, and Ferdinand.
Because the Duke Francesco of Parma and his heir were childless, Elisabeth sought the duchies of Parma and she sought for him the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, because Gian Gastone de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was childless. He was a distant cousin of hers, related via her great-grandmother Margherita de Medici, the birth of Charles encouraged the Prime Minister Alberoni to start laying out grand plans for Europe. In 1717 he ordered the Spanish invasion of Sardinia, in 1718, Alberoni ordered the invasion of Sicily, which was ruled by the House of Savoy
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