Geographic HistoryMap of the Spanish Empire
On the Geographic History map, the Spanish Empire appears from 1517 to 1968. It reaches its largest mapped extent in 1787: about 12 million km² across 286 provinces.
The Spanish Empire began with Columbus's voyage of 1492 and grew into one of the largest empires in history, covering most of South and Central America, Mexico, large parts of North America, the Philippines and outposts in Africa. Silver from Potosi and Mexico paid for Spain's wars in Europe. Most of its American colonies won independence in the 1810s and 1820s, and Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines in 1898.
Mapped area over time
The Spanish Empire on the world maps
Largest other states in 1787
| State | Mapped area |
|---|---|
| Russia | 14 million km² |
| Qing | 11 million km² |
| Kingdom of Portugal | 7.5 million km² |
| Kingdom of Great Britain | 3.5 million km² |
| Ottoman Empire | 3.4 million km² |
| Kazakh Khanate | 2.2 million km² |
| United States of America | 1.2 million km² |
| Denmark | 1.1 million km² |
About this map
Territory comes from the Chronas historical dataset used by the Geographic History app. Areas are approximate, computed from about 2,400 province shapes, and describe this map rather than official historical figures - border data for the ancient and medieval world is necessarily a reconstruction.
Every year has a map
Drag a timeline across 2,500 years in the free Geographic History app - every province, ruler and battle, also offline.
