French Wars of Religion
Approximately 3,000,000 people perished as a result of violence and disease in what is accounted as the second deadliest European religious war. Unlike all other wars at the time, the French wars retained their religious character without being confounded by dynastic considerations. At the conclusion of the conflict in 1598, Huguenots were granted rights and freedoms by the Edict of Nantes. The wars weakened the authority of the monarchy, already fragile under the rule of Francis II and Charles IX, apart from previously mentioned names, the wars have been variously described as the Eight Wars of Religion, or simply the Wars of Religion. However, the Massacre of Vassy in 1562 is agreed to begin the French Wars of Religion, during this time, complex diplomatic negotiations and agreements of peace were followed by renewed conflict and power struggles. Humanism, until the late 1520s, served as a ground for the French Protestant Reformation. The spirit of the Renaissance interested Francis I and he encouraged the study of the classics by establishing royal professorships in Paris, equipping more people with the knowledge necessary to understand the classics.
Francis I had no qualms with the religious order. Through the Concordat of Bologna, Pope Leo X increased the power of the king over the church, nomination of clergy depended upon the kings choice, in France, unlike in Germany, the nobles supported the policies and the status quo of their time. The establishment of the college and the spread of the printing press served the purposes of the Reformation. The printing press made mass production of inexpensive and fueled the spread of knowledge in all disciplines. Interest in the classics soared and literature was available to a wider audience. The accessibility coupled with romanticism for the knowledge from the past that built empires, precise language and eloquence were valued among scholars and true understanding of the classics meant studying them from the originals. Theological and religious thoughts were disseminated at an unprecedented pace, ideas about the Reformation were widespread in France by 1519. John Froben, a humanist printer, published a collection of Luther’s works, in one correspondence, he reported that 600 copies of such works were being shipped to France and Spain and were sold in Paris.
The humanist perspective on understanding Scriptures had theological and ecclesiastical implications, studying Scriptures in the original flourished in the Renaissance period. This contrasted the heavy reliance of the church on the Vulgate - the Latin translation of the Bible. The Meaux Circle was formed by a group of humanists including Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Guillaume Briçonnet, bishop of Meaux, in the effort to reform preaching, the Meaux circle was joined by Vatable, a Hebraist and Guillaume Budé the classicist and librarian to the king
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat.
An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast.
In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
Treaty of Tordesillas
This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde islands and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage, named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia. The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Castile, the treaty was signed by Spain,2 July 1494 and by Portugal,5 September 1494. Originals of both treaties are kept at the Archivo General de Indias in Spain and at the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo in Portugal. This treaty would be observed fairly well by Spain and Portugal, despite considerable ignorance as to the geography of the New World and those countries generally ignored the treaty, particularly those that became Protestant after the Protestant Reformation. The Treaty of Tordesillas was intended to solve the dispute that had been created following the return of Christopher Columbus and his crew, on his way back to Spain he first reached Lisbon, in Portugal. There he asked for another meeting with King John II to show him the newly discovered lands, the Portuguese King stated that he was already making arrangements for a fleet to depart shortly and take possession of the new lands.
After reading the letter the Catholic Monarchs knew they did not have any power in the Atlantic to match the Portuguese. The bull did not mention Portugal or its lands, so Portugal could not claim newly discovered lands even if they were east of the line. The Portuguese King John II was not pleased with that arrangement, feeling that it gave him far too little land—it prevented him from possessing India, by 1493 Portuguese explorers had reached the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese were unlikely to go to war over the islands encountered by Columbus, the treaty effectively countered the bulls of Alexander VI but was subsequently sanctioned by Pope Julius II by means of the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis of 24 January 1506. Even though the treaty was negotiated without consulting the Pope, a few sources call the line the Papal Line of Demarcation. Very little of the divided area had actually been seen by Europeans. Castile gained lands including most of the Americas, which in 1494 had little proven wealth, the easternmost part of current Brazil was granted to Portugal when in 1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral landed there while he was en route to India.
Some historians contend that the Portuguese already knew of the South American bulge that makes up most of Brazil before this time, the line was not strictly enforced—the Spanish did not resist the Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian. However, the Catholic Monarchs attempted to stop the Portuguese advance in Asia, by claiming the meridian line ran around the world, Portugal pushed back, seeking another papal pronouncement that limited the line of demarcation to the Atlantic. This was given by Pope Leo X, who was friendly toward Portugal and its discoveries, for a period between 1580 and 1640, the treaty was rendered meaningless, as the Spanish King was King of Portugal. It was superseded by the 1750 Treaty of Madrid which granted Portugal control of the lands it occupied in South America, the latter treaty was immediately repudiated by the Catholic Monarch. The First Treaty of San Ildefonso settled the problem, with Spain acquiring territories east of the Uruguay River, the Treaty of Tordesillas only specified the line of demarcation in leagues from the Cape Verde Islands
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean. Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures spanning from the Norte Chico civilization in Caral, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty with its capital in Lima, ideas of political autonomy spread throughout Spanish America and Peru gained its independence, which was formally proclaimed in 1821. After the battle of Ayacucho, three years after proclamation, Peru ensured its independence, the country has undergone changes in government from oligarchic to democratic systems. Peru has gone through periods of political unrest and internal conflict as well as periods of stability, Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions.
It is a country with a high Human Development Index score. Its main economic activities include mining, manufacturing and fishing, the Peruvian population, estimated at 31.2 million in 2015, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Europeans and Asians. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua or other native languages and this mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine and music. The name of the country may be derived from Birú, the name of a ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama. When his possessions were visited by Spanish explorers in 1522, they were the southernmost part of the New World yet known to Europeans, when Francisco Pizarro explored the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Perú. An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer Inca Garcilasco de la Vega, son of an Inca princess, the Spanish Crown gave the name legal status with the 1529 Capitulación de Toledo, which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of Peru.
Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of Peru, the earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 9,000 BC. Andean societies were based on agriculture, using such as irrigation and terracing, camelid husbandry. Organization relied on reciprocity and redistribution because these societies had no notion of market or money, the oldest known complex society in Peru, the Norte Chico civilization, flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BC. These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures that developed mostly around the coastal, the Cupisnique culture which flourished from around 1000 to 200 BC along what is now Perus Pacific Coast was an example of early pre-Incan culture. The Chavín culture that developed from 1500 to 300 BC was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, on the coast, these included the civilizations of the Paracas, Nazca and the more outstanding Chimu and Mochica.
Their capital was at Chan Chan outside of modern-day Trujillo, in the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America with their capital in Cusco
Expulsion of the Moriscos
The Expulsion of the Moriscos was decreed by King Philip III of Spain on April 9,1609. The Moriscos were descendants of Spains Muslim population that converted to Christianity by coercion or by Royal Decree in the early 16th century, between 1609 through 1614, the Crown systematically expelled Moriscos through a number of decrees affecting Spains various kingdoms, meeting varying levels of success. Dadson estimates that, out of a total Morisco population of 500,000, of those permanently expelled, the majority finally settled in the Maghreb or the Barbary coast, with between 30,000 and 90,000 ultimately returning to Spain. Those who avoided expulsion or who managed to return to Spain merged into the dominant culture, the last mass prosecution against Moriscos for crypto-Islamic practices took place in Granada in 1727, with most of those convicted receiving relatively light sentences. By the end of the 18th century, indigenous Islam and Morisco identity were considered to have been extinguished in Spain.
While some Moriscos did hold influence and power, and even had positions in the clergy, particularly in Valencia, where sectarian conflict existed, old Christian communities suspected the Moriscos of not being sincere in their Christianity. The Moors who remained Muslims were known as Mudéjar, as such the conflict between Old Christians and New Christians was an ethnically inspired one. After the suppression of the revolt, Philip ordered the dispersal of the Moriscos of Granada to other areas, Philip expected that this would break down the Morisco community and facilitate their assimilation into the rest of the Christian population. This may have happened to a degree to Granadas Moriscos, but not in Valencia or Aragon, at around the same time, Spain recognized the loss of more than half of its holdings in the Low Countries to the Protestant Dutch Republic. The ruling class already thought of Spain as the defender of Catholic Christendom, and this helped lead to a radicalization of thinking.
Some critiques of Spain from Protestant countries included insults of the Spanish as corrupted by the Muslims and crypto-Muslims amongst them, the situation further deteriorated in the early 17th century. A recession struck in 1604 as the amount of gold and treasure from Spains American holdings fell, the reduction in the standard of living led to increased tension between the Moriscos and Old Christians for precious jobs. The number of Moriscos in Spain at the time of expulsion is unknown, figures of between 300,000 and 400,000 are often cited. However, modern studies estimate between 500,000 and one million moriscos present in Spain at the beginning of the 17th century out of a population of 8.5 million. The rich and those who lived in the cities were mostly Christians, while the Moriscos occupied the outlying countryside, in the Crown of Castile, which included the Guadalquivir valley in present Andalusia the situation was considerably different. Local sympathies for Moriscos meant that Castile and Andalusia experienced only half-hearted efforts at identifying and expelling them, in the region of Valencia, which held the bulk of Aragons Morisco population, the situation was radically different to Castile.
Valencian moriscos were the majority of the landless peasantry and lived segregated to Christian populations. Economic and social rivalry was a driver of resentment towards the them
Piracy in the Caribbean
The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1660s to 1730s. Piracy flourished in the Caribbean because of the existence of pirate seaports such as Port Royal in Jamaica, Tortuga in Haiti, Pirates were often former sailors experienced in naval warfare. The buccaneers were chased off their islands by colonial authorities and had to seek a new life at sea, beginning in the 16th century, pirate captains recruited seamen to loot European merchant ships, especially the Spanish treasure fleets sailing from the Caribbean to Europe. This officially sanctioned piracy was known as privateering, from 1520 to 1560, French privateers were alone in their fight against the Crown of Spain and the vast commerce of the Spanish Empire in the New World, but were joined by the English and Dutch. The Caribbean had become a center of European trade and colonization after Columbus discovery of the New World for Spain in 1492. In the 1493 Treaty of Tordesillas the non-European world had been divided between the Spanish and the Portuguese along a north-south line 270 leagues west of the Cape Verde and this gave Spain control of the Americas, a position the Spaniards reiterated with an equally unenforceable papal bull.
In the 16th century, the Spanish were mining extremely large quantities of silver from the mines of Zacatecas in New Spain, to combat this constant danger, in the 1560s the Spanish adopted a convoy system. A treasure fleet or flota would sail annually from Seville in Spain, carrying passengers and this cargo, though profitable, was really just a form of ballast for the fleet as its true purpose was to transport the years worth of silver to Europe. This made the returning Spanish treasure fleet a tempting target, although pirates were more likely to shadow the fleet to attack stragglers than to engage the main vessels. South and west of these lines, respectively, no protection could be offered to non-Spanish ships, English and French pirates and settlers moved into this region even in times of nominal peace with the Spanish. These laws allowed only Spanish merchants to trade with the colonists of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and this arrangement provoked constant smuggling against the Spanish trading laws and new attempts at Caribbean colonization in peacetime by England and the Netherlands.
Whenever a war was declared in Europe between the Great Powers the result was always widespread piracy and privateering throughout the Caribbean, the Anglo-Spanish War in 1585–1604 was partly due to trade disputes in the New World. However, very profitable trade continued between Spains colonies, which continued to expand until the early 19th century, as Spains military might in Europe weakened, the Spanish trading laws in the New World were violated with greater frequency by the merchants of other nations. Additional problems came from shortage of supplies because of the lack of people to work farms. England especially began to turn its peoples maritime skills into the basis of commercial prosperity, as for the Dutch Netherlands, after decades of rebellion against Spain fueled by both Dutch nationalism and their staunch Protestantism, independence had been gained in all but name. The Netherlands had become Europes economic powerhouse, each possessed a large population and a self-sustaining economy, and was well-protected by Spanish defenders.
By 1600, Porto Bello had replaced Nombre de Dios as the Isthmus of Panamas Caribbean port for the Spanish Silver Train and the annual treasure fleet. Veracruz, the port city open to trans-Atlantic trade in New Spain
Real Audiencia
The Real Audiencia, or simply Audiencia, was an appellate court in Spain and its empire. The name of the institution literally translates as Royal Audience, the additional designation chancillería was applied to the appellate courts in early modern Spain. The first audiencia was founded in the Kingdom of Castile in 1371 at Valladolid, the Valladolid Audiencia functioned as the highest court in Castile for the next two centuries. Appeals from the Castilian audiencias could only be made to the Council of Castile after its creation in 1480, the second audiencia was moved to Granada in 1505. Under Charles V and Philip II, the system was extended first in Spain proper, with the Royal Audiencia of Aragon. Audiencias in cities and provinces that belong to Spain today included Seville, Las Palmas, Asturias, the audiencias and viceroys of the Crown of Aragon were overseen by the Council of Aragon, which had been established in 1494. Audiencias in the Spanish possessions in Europe included the Italian domains of Sardinia, in Italy, the Castilian institution of the audiencia was united with the Aragonese institution of the viceroy.
In 1555 a Council of Italy was created to oversee the viceroys, in the Indies, the two institutions were united, but with a different power relationship. The Crown of Castile early on introduced the audiencia into the Americas as part of its campaign to bring the area and its Spanish settlers and conquerors under royal control. With the vast conquests on the American mainland, which began in the 1520s, viceroys were therefore introduced, but without the judicial powers the office had enjoyed under the Aragonese Crown. In the New World, the audiencias were given a consultative and quasi-legislative role in the administration of the territories, both viceroys and audiencias were ultimately overseen by a Council of the Indies. Most of the dealing with the establishment of the 16th- and 17th-century audiencias can be found in Book II. The first audiencia in the Americas was established at Santo Domingo in 1511 with jurisdiction over the Caribbean islands and it was quickly suppressed due to opposition by the Spanish settlers, but was re-established permanently in 1526.
As the Spanish conquest of the continent continued, more audiencias were founded in the new areas of settlement. The first mainland audiencia was set up in Mexico City in 1527, just six years after the fall of Tenochtitlan and this audiencia was followed by the Audiencia of Panama,1538, overseeing Central America and the littoral regions of northern South America until its abolishment in 1543. It was reestablshed with jurisdiction only over Panama proper in 1564, settled earlier, remained under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo until the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in the early 18th century. The last colonial audiencias were created under the Bourbon kings as part of their administrative reforms, the new dynasty found no need for the second Audiencia of Panama and abolished it in 1751, transferring its jurisdiction to the one in Bogotá. New audiencias were established in, Caracas,1786 Cusco,1787 Buenos Aires,1783 and this meant that at the moment of Spanish American independence in the early 19th century, the overseas possessions of the Spanish Monarchy were overseen by twelve audiencias
Viceroyalty of Peru
The Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima. The Viceroyalty of Peru was one of the two Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the Spanish did not resist the Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian established by the Treaty of Tordesillas. The treaty was rendered meaningless between 1580 and 1640 while Spain controlled Portugal, the viceroyalty would dissolve, as with much of the Spanish empire, when challenged by national independence movements at the beginning of the nineteenth century. From September 2,1564 to November 26,1569 he was viceroy of Peru. In 1542, the Spanish created the Viceroyalty of New Castile, in 1544, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V named Blasco Núñez Vela Perus first viceroy, but the viceroyalty was not organized until the arrival of Viceroy Francisco Álvarez de Toledo. Toledo made a tour of inspection of the colony.
He improved the safety in the viceroyalty with fortifications, still, Luis Jerónimo de Cabrera, 4th Count of Chinchón sent out the third expedition to explore the Amazon River, under Cristóbal de Acuña. Many Pacific islands were visited by Spanish ships in the sixteenth century and these included New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands and the Marquesas Islands by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira. These groups had the advantage of remote geography and river access from the mouth of the Amazon, the Spanish were barred by their laws from slaving of indigenous people, leaving them without a commercial interest deep in the interior of the basin. One famous attack upon a Spanish mission in 1628 resulted in the enslavement of 60,000 indigenous people, in fact as time passed they were used as a self funding occupation force by the Portuguese authorities in what was effectively a low level war of territorial conquest. In 1617, Francisco de Borja y Aragón divided the government of Río de la Plata into two, Buenos Aires and Paraguay, both dependencies of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Viceroy Borja y Aragón established the Tribunal del Consulado, a special court, Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marquis of Guadalcázar reformed the fiscal system and stopped the interfamily rivalry that was bloodying the domain. Fernández de Cabrera suppressed an insurrection of the Uru and Mapuche Indians, viceroys had to protect the Pacific coast from French contraband and English and Dutch pirates. They expanded the naval forces, fortified the ports of Valdivia, Valparaíso, Arica and Callao and constructed city walls in Lima, the famous English privateer Henry Morgan took Chagres and captured and sacked the city of Panama in the early part of 1670. Also Peruvian forces repelled the attacks by Edward David, Charles Wager, the Peace of Utrecht allowed the British to send ships and merchandise to the fair at Portobello. In this period, revolts were common, around 1656, Pedro Bohórquez crowned himself Inca of the Calchaquí Indians, inciting the indigenous population to revolt. From 1665 until 1668, the rich mineowners José and Gaspar Salcedo revolted against the colonial government, the clergy were opposed to the nomination of prelates from Spain.
Viceroy Diego Ladrón de Guevara had to take measures against an uprising of slaves at the hacienda of Huachipa de Lima, there were terrible earthquakes and epidemics, too
Habsburg Spain
Habsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was ruled by kings from the House of Habsburg. The Habsburg rulers reached the zenith of their influence and power and this period of Spanish history has been referred to as the Age of Expansion. The Habsburg years were a Spanish Golden Age of cultural efflorescence, in some cases, these individual kingdoms themselves were confederations, most notably, the Crown of Aragon. Isabella and Ferdinand were bestowed the title of Most Catholic Monarchs by Pope Alexander VI in 1496, the Habsburg period is formative of the notion of Spain in the sense that was institutionalized in the 18th century. Her husband Philip I was the Habsburg son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, shortly thereafter Joanna began to lapse into insanity, though how mentally ill she actually was the topic of some debate. In 1506, Philip I was declared jure uxoris king, but he died that year under mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned by his father-in-law, Ferdinand II.
Since their oldest son Charles was only six, the Cortes reluctantly allowed Joannas father Ferdinand II to rule the country as the regent of Joanna, Spain was now in personal union under Ferdinand II of Aragon. He attempted to enlarge Spains sphere of influence in Italy, as ruler of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and the Republic of Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. The war was less of a success than that against Venice, Ferdinand would die that year. Ferdinands death led to the ascension of young Charles to the throne as Charles I of Castile and Aragon and his Spanish inheritance included all the Spanish possessions in the New World and around the Mediterranean. Upon the death of his Habsburg father in 1506, Charles had inherited the Netherlands and Franche-Comté, in 1519, with the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I, Charles inherited the Habsburg territories in Germany, and was duly elected as Holy Roman Emperor that year.
At that point and King Charles was the most powerful man in Christendom, the accumulation of so much power by one man and one dynasty greatly concerned Francis I of France, who found himself surrounded by Habsburg territories. In 1521 Francis invaded the Spanish possessions in Italy and Navarre, the war was a disaster for France, which suffered defeats at Biccoca and Landriano before Francis relented and abandoned Milan to Spain once more. Charless victory at the Battle of Pavia surprised many Italians and Germans, Pope Clement VII switched sides and now joined forces with France and prominent Italian states against the Habsburg Emperor, in the War of the League of Cognac. Henry VIII of England, who bore a grudge against France than he held against the Emperor for standing in the way of his divorce. Although the Spanish army was defeated at the Battle of Ceresole, in Savoy Henry fared better. The Austrians, led by Charless younger brother Ferdinand, continued to fight the Ottomans in the east, with France defeated, Charles went to take care of an older problem, the Schmalkaldic League.
The Protestant Reformation had begun in Germany in 1517, the German Peasants War broke out in Germany in 1524 and ravaged the country until it was brutally put down in 1526, even as far away from Germany as he was, was committed to keeping order
Coat of arms
