1.
War of the Quadruple Alliance
–
It saw the defeat of Spain by an alliance of Britain, France, Austria, and the Dutch Republic. Savoy later joined the coalition as the fifth ally, although fighting began as early as 1717, war was not formally declared until December 1718. It was brought to an end by the Treaty of The Hague in 1720, Charles II of Spain died in 1700 leaving no heirs to succeed him. By his will, he named Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France, by the Treaty of Utrecht, Spain lost all its possessions in Italy and the Low Countries. The Spanish Netherlands, Duchy of Milan, Naples and Sardinia were given to Emperor Charles VI of Austria, while Sicily was awarded to the Duke of Savoy and Prussia received the Spanish Guelders. These lands had been under Spanish Habsburg control for two centuries, and their loss was perceived as a great blow to the country in both practical and prestige terms. However, the first priority for Spain was the restoration of the country after 13 years of war, the main architect of this operation was Giulio Alberoni. Alberoni was an Italian cardinal and steward of the archbishop of Piacenza, in 1714, Alberoni had arranged the marriage of the widowed Philip V to the 21-year-old Italian Elisabeth Farnese. In the process, Alberoni became the adviser of the new queen. In 1715, Alberoni became prime minister and reformed the countrys finances and he also initiated the rebuilding of the Spanish fleet and reformed the army. In 1717, Alberoni became a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, the Queen, who had several dynastic claims to advance in Italy, stimulated the Italian ambitions of her husband and their sons, supported by Alberoni. Philip V nevertheless claimed the French throne in the event of the death of the infant Louis, opposition to Philips ambitions led France, Great Britain, and the Dutch Republic, to join together in the Triple Alliance on 4 January 1717. Great Britain, in particular, had become concerned by Spanish ambitions in the Mediterranean Sea and Russian expansion in the Baltic. The French navy was badly weakened from the recent war, later in the year, to strengthen the Treaty of Utrecht, Britain, France, and Austria contemplated ceding Sicily to Emperor Charles VI. This arrangement displeased Spain, which wanted to regain Sicily, in August 1717 Philip attacked Austria, which was heavily engaged in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18. Spain invaded Sardinia, which was subdued by November 1717, finally, on 21 July 1718, the Treaty of Passarowitz ended the war with the Ottoman Empire. On 2 August, the Emperor joined the Triple Alliance, which became the Quadruple Alliance for which the war is named. Meanwhile, in July 1718 the Spanish, this time with 30,000 men again led by the Marquis of Lede, had also invaded Sicily and they took Palermo on 7 July and then divided their army in two
2.
Great Plains
–
The region is known for supporting extensive cattle ranching and dry farming. The Canadian portion of the Plains is known as the Prairies, some geographers include some territory of northern Mexico in the Plains, but many stop at the Rio Grande. The term Great Plains is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the even more vast Interior Plains physiographic division and it also has currency as a region of human geography, referring to the Plains Indians or the Plains States. There is no region referred to as the Great Plains in The Atlas of Canada, in terms of human geography, the term prairie is more commonly used in Canada, and the region is known as the Prairie Provinces or simply the Prairies. The region is about 500 mi east to west and 2,000 mi north to south, much of the region was home to American bison herds until they were hunted to near extinction during the mid/late 19th century. It has an area of approximately 500,000 sq mi, current thinking regarding the geographic boundaries of the Great Plains is shown by this map at the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The term Great Plains, for the region west of about the 96th or 98th meridian, nevin Fennemans 1916 study, Physiographic Subdivision of the United States, brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Before that the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, today the term High Plains is used for a subregion of the Great Plains. The Great Plains are the westernmost portion of the vast North American Interior Plains, during the Cretaceous Period, the Great Plains were covered by a shallow inland sea called the Western Interior Seaway. However, during the Late Cretaceous to the Paleocene, the seaway had begun to recede, leaving thick marine deposits. During the Cenozoic era, specifically about 25 million years ago during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, existing forest biomes declined and grasslands became much more widespread. The grasslands provided a new niche for mammals, including many ungulates and glires, traditionally, the spread of grasslands and the development of grazers have been strongly linked. The vast majority of animals became extinct in North America at the end of the Pleistocene. In general, the Great Plains have a variety of weather through the year, with very cold and harsh winters and very hot. Wind speeds are very high, especially in winter. Grasslands are among the least protected biomes, humans have converted much of the prairies for agricultural purposes or to create pastures. The Great Plains have dust storms mostly every year or so, the 100th meridian roughly corresponds with the line that divides the Great Plains into an area that receive 20 in or more of rainfall per year and an area that receives less than 20 in. The region is subjected to extended periods of drought, high winds in the region may then generate devastating dust storms
3.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
4.
Puebloans
–
The Pueblo peoples speak languages from several different groups and are also divided culturally by their kinship systems and agricultural practices, although all cultivate varieties of corn. In addition to differing kinship systems, the peoples have differing marriage practices and those who have a matrilineal system, in which children are considered born into the mothers clan and her line is used for inheritance and descent, are the Hopi, Keres, Towa and Zuni. The non-Towa Tanoan have a system, with clan membership, inheritance. All the Pueblo peoples have traditional economies based on agriculture and trade, at the time of Spanish encounter beginning in the 16th century, these peoples were living in complex, multi-story villages often built around a central courtyard. The Spanish called these pueblos, meaning towns, and applied the name to all the living in such complexes. In the 21st century there are 21 surviving pueblos in the Southwest of the United States, Taos, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are the best-known. The main pueblos are located primarily in the states of New Mexico. Anthropologists have studied these peoples extensively and published various classifications of their subdivisions, in 1950, Fred Russell Eggan contrasted the peoples of the Eastern and Western Pueblos, based largely on their subsistence farming techniques. The Western or Desert Pueblos of the Zuñi and Hopi specialize in dry farming, in 1954, Paul Kirchhoff published a division of the Pueblo peoples into two groups based on culture, one includes the Hopi, Zuni, Keres and Jemez. They each have matrilineal kinship systems, children are considered born into their mothers clan and must marry a spouse outside it and they maintain multiple kivas for sacred ceremonies. Their creation myth tells that humans emerged from the underground and they emphasize four or six cardinal directions as part of their sacred cosmology, beginning in the north. Four and seven are considered significant in their rituals and symbolism. In contrast, the Tanoan-speaking Pueblos have a kinship system. They practice endogamy, or marriage within the clan and they have two kivas or two groups of kivas in their pueblos. Their belief system is based in dualism, the creation story recounts the emergence of the people from underwater. They use five directions, beginning in the west and their ritual numbers are based on multiples of three. The Pueblo peoples speak languages from different language families, demonstrating their diverse ethnic origins. The Hopi language is Uto-Aztecan, Zuni is an isolate, and Keresan is a dialect continuum that includes Acoma, Laguna, Santa Ana, Zia, Cochiti, Santo Domingo
5.
Pawnee people
–
The Pawnee are a Plains Indian tribe who are headquartered in Pawnee, Oklahoma. Pawnee people are enrolled in the federally recognized Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, historically, they lived in Nebraska and Kansas. In the Pawnee language, the Pawnee people refer to themselves as Chaticks si Chaticks or Men of Men, historically, the Pawnee lived in large earth lodge villages with adjacent farmlands. With the arrival of horses, the Pawnee retained their agricultural lifestyle, in the early 19th century, the Pawnee numbered over 10,000 people and were one of the largest and most powerful tribes in the west. They had suffered losses due to diseases brought by the expanding Europeans. By 1860, the Pawnee population was reduced to 4000 and it further decreased, because of disease, crop failure and warfare, to approximately 2400 by 1873, at which time they were forced to move to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Many Pawnee warriors enlisted to serve as Indian scouts in the US Army to track, there are approximately 3200 enrolled Pawnee and nearly all reside in Oklahoma. Their tribal headquarters is in Pawnee, Oklahoma and their tribal area is in parts of Noble, Payne. The tribal constitution establishes the government of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and this government consists of the Nasharo Council, the Pawnee Business Council, and the Supreme Court. Enrollment into the tribe requires a minimum blood quantum. The Nasharo Council, also known as the Chiefs Council consists of eight members, each band has two representatives on the Nasharo Council selected by the members of the tribal bands, Chaui, Kitkehahki, Pitahawirata and Skidi. Current Pawnee Business Council, Marshall R. Gover, President Bruce Pratt, Vice President Misty M. Nuttle, the Pawnee operate two gaming casinos, three smoke shops, two fuel stations, and one truck stop. Their estimated economic impact for 2010 was $10.5 million, increased revenues from the casinos have helped them provide for education and welfare of their citizens. They issue their own vehicle tags and operate their housing authority. The Pawnee were divided into two large groupings—the Skidi living in the north and the South Bands, while the Skidi were the most populous group of Pawnee, the Chaui of the South Bands were generally the politically leading group, although each band was autonomous. As was typical of many Native American tribes, each band saw to its own, in response to pressures from the Spanish, French and Americans, as well as neighboring tribes, the Pawnee began to draw closer together. Archeology studies of ancient sites have demonstrated the people lived in this pattern for nearly 700 years, the Pawnee generally settled close to the rivers and placed their lodges on the higher banks. They built earth lodges that by historical times tended to be oval in shape, at earlier stages and they constructed the frame, made of 10–15 posts set some 10 feet apart, which outlined the central room of the lodge
6.
Otoe
–
The Otoe are a Native American people of the Midwestern United States. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa, historically, the Otoe lived as a semi-nomadic people on the Central Plains along the Missouri River in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. They lived in elm-bark lodges while they farmed, and used tipis while traveling and they often left their villages to hunt buffalo. In the early 19th century, many of their villages were destroyed due to warfare with other tribes, european-American encroachment and disease also played a role in their decline. Today, they are recognized as the Otoe tribes of Oklahoma. The Otoe were once part of the Siouan tribes of the Great Lakes region, at some point, a large group split off and began to migrate to the South and West. This group eventually split again, coalescing into at least three tribes, the Ioway, the Missouria and the Otoe. The Otoe settled in the lower Nemaha River valley and they adopted the horse culture and semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Great Plains, making the American bison central to their diet and culture. Following the Louisiana Purchase by the United States, the Lewis, the Otoe were the first tribe they encountered. They met at a place on the west bank of the Missouri River that would become known as the Council Bluff, like other Great Plains tribes, the Otoe periodically left their villages to hunt for buffalo. Between 1817 and 1841, the Otoe lived around the mouth of the Platte River in present-day Nebraska, during this time, the remaining families of the Missouria rejoined them. They gathered with others to trade for European goods, in the 1830s, the tribe was noted to have problems with alcohol, which was widely dispensed by traders. Some Otoe would trade vital supplies for alcohol, to the point of becoming destitute, as their dependence on alcohol grew, the men no longer hunted, but resorted to looting vacant Pawnee villages while the people were out hunting. Christian missionaries built a mission there, in 1854 the Otoe-Missouria ceded most of their lands south of the Platte River in eastern Nebraska to the U. S. by treaty. They retained the Oto Reservation along the Big Blue River on the present Kansas-Nebraska border and they struggled to adapt to reservation life. During the 1870s, the split into two factions. The Coyote band favored a move to Indian Territory, where they believed they could better perpetuate their traditional tribal life outside the influence of the whites. The Quaker band favored remaining on the Big Blue River land and they were willing to sell the western half of the reservation to whites to gain income for a tribal annuity
7.
Spanish conquest of Sardinia
–
The Spanish conquest of Sardinia, also known as the Spanish expedition to Sardinia, took place between the months of August and November 1717. It was the first military action between the Kingdom of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire after the War of the Spanish Succession, after the War of the Spanish Succession, with the Treaty of Rastatt, Spain lost all its possessions in Sardinia, Italy and the Low Countries. The Kingdom of Sardinia, the Spanish Netherlands, the Duchy of Milan and these territories had been under Spanish rule for nearly two centuries, and their loss was perceived as a great blow to the country in both practical and prestige terms. With this background, and the arrest in Milan of Spanish Grand Inquisitor Jose Molina by the Austrians, in July, the King of Spain ordered the Spanish fleet, prepared in Barcelona, to conquer Sardinia, initiating hostilities with Austria. The bulk of the Spanish expedition sailed from the port of Barcelona on July 24, the fleet, under the command of the Marquis de Mari, consisted of nine ships of the line, six frigates, three galleys, two fireships and 80 transport and merchant ships. The army was 8,500 infantry and 500 cavalry commanded by the Marquis of Lede, on 22 August, the Spanish forces landed in Sardinia, and in just two months reconquered the whole island, whose defenses were commanded by the Marquis of Rubi. Only the strongholds of Alghero and Castellaragonese and the important city of Cagliari resisted. But soon the Austrian troops in Cagliari commanded by Rubi, in the absence of reinforcements, decided to flee to the north of the island, and on 4 October, the Spanish took the city. A few days later, on 19 October, Spanish troops led by Lede and the Duke of Montemar laid siege to Alghero, Castellaragonese fell on 30 October, and the Spanish victory was complete. The Treaty of Passarowitz ended the war between the Ottoman Empire and Austria, and on 2 August, this led to the formation of the Quadruple Alliance, the Spanish forces captured Palermo on 7 July, and then divided their army in two. De Lede followed the coast to besiege Messina between 18 July and 30 September, while the Duke of Montemar conquered the rest of the island, the French, Austrians, and British demanded that the Spanish withdraw from Sicily and Sardinia. The attitude of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy was ambiguous, as he accepted negotiations with the Spanish Prime Minister, Cardinal Alberoni, armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón. EDAF ISBN 978-84-414-2121-9 Alonso Aguilera, Miguel Ángel, La Conquista y el dominio español de Cerdeña 1717-1720. Historia General de España Madrid Chandler, David G, the Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough. Spellmount Limited ISBN 0-946771-42-1 Suárez Fernández, Luis, historia general de España y América, La España de las reformas, Hasta el final del reinado de Carlos IV. ISBN 84-321-2119-3 Isabella Farnese List of viceroys of Sardinia List of viceroys of Sicily Triple Alliance Quadruple Alliance
8.
Battle of Cape Passaro
–
Tensions between Spain and Britain were high. The British fleet had landed a small Austrian army near Messina, the fleet was sailing in a scattered way and it sensed no danger when it caught sight of the British ships because it was unaware of the Quadruple Alliances ultimatum. HMS Canterbury, under George Walton was detached along with HMS Argyll, HMS Burford and four ships to chase the first group. These captured Spanish warships were laid up in Minorca. A shipwreck has been found just off Avola, near the tip of Sicily. Cannon have been raised from the wreck identifying it as a British ship, the location of the wreck helps to pinpoint the site of the battle. Four months later on 17 December 1718, France, Britain and Austria declared war on Spain, the Netherlands joined them later, declaring war on Spain in August 1719. Thwarted by Spanish interference, the besieging Austrian army captured Messina the next year and these events combined to eventually force the Spanish king to accept the terms of the Quadruple Alliance in 1720. Byng was rewarded handsomely for this victory by King George I of Great Britain, and given full power to negotiate with the various princes and states of Italy, on behalf of the British crown. On his return to England in 1721, he was made Rear-Admiral of Great Britain, a member of the Privy Council, in 1731 the British offered to return the other captured ships laid up in Minorca, but they were found to be rotten and were broken up instead. The British fleet also comprised 6 smaller vessels – the fireships Garland and Griffin, the storeship Success, the hospital ship Looe, the bomb-ketch Basilisk and an unnamed bomb tender. Real San Felipe 74 – Captured by Superbe and Kent, blew up after being towed to Mahon Principe de Asturias 70 – Captured by Breda, San Luis 60 – Escaped to Malta. Dutch antique nautical chart of Sicily with scenes from the Battle of Cape Passaro by cartographer Gerard van Keulen
Spain
