Spain

=What if Spain had conquered the Americas?= Farthest extent of Spanish colonization in America.
 * Map:**


 * Red**: Farthest extent of Spanish colonies under the House of Bourbon in the 1790s.
 * Pink**: Disputed claims of Spanish colonial administration.
 * Purple**: Portuguese colonies under dual Spanish colonial administration during 1580-1640.

Spain was a major colonizing force during the colonial period. They had control over vast areas of land in the American continents. It stretched from California, Florida, all the way down to South America in modern countries such as Chile, Uruguay, and the Aztec, Inca, and Maya Civilizaations.

Reasons:

 * At the time, spain was clearly one of the best cloning forces in the Americas
 * they had extensive amounts of power, resources, and wealth, and were regarded as "kings in Europe"
 * Spain was taking over some of the biggest Native American tribes, and they were doing it alone.
 * The Spanish found America in 1492 with Columbus, and even before that accidently!



History of Spain:
From North America to South America, the Spaniards have done it all! They have been on many expeditions in the "New World" as conquistadors. They have searched tirelessly for their famous rumors of "Golden Cities" and the hopes of instantly rich Natural Resources. They have done this even before and during the expedition of other nations in the Americas. No nation has tried to even challenge Spain for land until much later in its history. ===All of these expeditions showed one thing, that Spain had the resources, the wealth, and the power to go after all of this land, and to claim it all. They knew that barely anyone would challenge them, and no one barely did.===
 * **North America:**Francisco Coronado commanded an expedition that left from Mexico in 1540. He was searching for the "Seven Golden Cities" of Cibola.
 * He traveled through what is now modern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas
 * He split up his men, and they discovered the Grand Canyon
 * He kept marching east, and not giving up and found the Buffalo and the Grassy Plains
 * He put a claim to all the land that he located and believed that it was soon to be settled in
 * Hernando De Soto and 15 of his men traveled into Florida in 1539. They also traveled North toward Georgia, but then turned West
 * He was searching Tirelessly for Gold, but ended up mostly short
 * Claimed Florida and the little of Land that he explored and settlements soon came up.
 * Central America: Vasco Nunez de Balboa was a famous explorer of France who went into moder day Panama as an explorer, but discovered the Pacific Ocean.
 * It took them 45 days to travel into the jungle across Panama, and when they finally did it, they located the Pacific Ocean
 * Balboa was a unique character and claimed all the land that touched the Pacific for Spain
 * Hernando Cortes was a Spanish explorer who discovered the famous civilization of the Aztecs. His brutal campaign that brought him from Cuba made him conquer the Aztecs, and also made them tirelessly mine for Gold, and send that Gold back into France.
 * He claimed all the land that he discovered
 * **South America:**Francisco Pizarro was yet another famous explorer that went in search for the "fountain of youth" and also to conquer Native American settlements.
 * He got permission from Spain to conquer Peru and he did
 * He brought down with it the Inca Empire which stretched from Peru to Bolivia to parts of Chile
 * He claimed all the land that he conquered.

What-IF.......


After all that information, here is the what-if part based on factual evidence and educated guesses that were important in understand what could, what would, and what might have happened if the British have never colonized North America.



Overall Idea:

 * Basically, the Spanish empire would continue to grow
 * They would realize that no nation is colonizing the Northern Territories and they would expand.
 * They might have some interactions with the French, but overall they would have unpreceded growth
 * France might never go to war with the British, and so Spain and France might each control half of the present day United States
 * Spain and France will most likely clash with the though of space and expansion
 * If this were the case then the Spain would mostly likely have the upper down because of the major Spanish resources and the French approach to war
 * Louisiana might also be handed to Spain since France did give it to the Spaniards in the late 18th to earlier 19th century
 * Spain would have about half of North America, and present day United States
 * France would probably have the 13 colonies to their reign, but Spain will own the western side of the United States.
 * Mexico might be a powerful nation, and it might be the nation that controlled all the way up to Michigan or Nebraska --> to westward

What the Present Might Look Like?

 * Thesis:**
 * Mexico might control most of the western half of North America
 * That means there would be spanish/Mexican economy (but bigger and greater)
 * Spanish religion
 * spanish culture
 * and spanish festivities etc.

Spanish Religion and how North America would be today:
Spain was a predominantly a catholic nation, especially during the time of the of the colonizational period in which they explored the Americas. During that time, their colonies were mostly Roman Catholic, and they forced Native Americans to attend missionaries and to learn the catholic ways. Spanish culture was also very festive, and very decorative, they would have many festivals honoring different saints. Religion played a big part in everyday life, which is why Spanish nations are very religious. It would be hard to forget religion if it were part of everyday life. The Spanish America would be predominantly Roman Catholic, but there would also be some tolerance for other religions, not as much as the US, but modern times would allow it.

Spanish Culture and how North America would be today:
The Spanish culture is very festive, it is very "artsy" and plays alot of emphasis in the arts. North America would be just as touristic as today, maybe even more so. The people would be speaking in the **Spanish Language which would be a mixture of South American Spanish and also Castilian Spanish.** They would be having many festivals and parades, and they would place a high value on entertainment. The national pastime of the nation may also change from baseball to the dominant sport of most spanish nations, and that is futbol or soccer.Family life would be important, and many people would end up living witht their extensive family.


 * Spanish Economy:** The economy would be predominantly capitalist because many nations that speak the spanish language are mostly capitalist.


 * Mexico might become the world power because of its wealth, and natural resources that it will gain from the North American Territory.**