The joint rule of Isabella I and Ferdinand II is historiographically considered the foundation of a unified Greater Spain. The conquest of Granada, and the first voyage of Columbus, both in 1492, made that year a critical inflection point in Spanish history. The voyages of the explorers and conquistadors of Spain during the subsequent decades helped establish a Spanish colonial empire which was among the largest ever. King Charles I established the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Under his son Philip II the Spanish Golden Age flourished, the Spanish Empire reached its territorial and economic peak, and his palace at El Escorial became the center of artistic flourishing. However, Philip's rule also saw the calamitous destruction of the Spanish Armada, numerous state bankruptcies and the independence of the Northern Netherlands, which marked the beginning of the slow decline of Spanish influence in Europe. Spain's power was further tested by its participation in the Eighty Years' War, whereby it tried and failed to recapture the newly independent Dutch Republic, and the Thirty Years' War, which resulted in continued decline of Habsburg power in favor of the French Bourbon dynasty. Matters came to a head during the reign of Charles II of Spain; upon his death, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out between the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs. The Bourbons prevailed, resulting in the ascension of Philip V of Spain, who took Spain into the various wars to recapture the Spanish-controlled lands in Southern Italy recently lost.
The joint rule of Isabella I and Ferdinand II is historiographically considered the foundation of a unified Greater Spain. The conquest of Granada, and the first voyage of Columbus, both in 1492, made that year a critical inflection point in Spanish history. The voyages of the explorers and conquistadors of Spain during the subsequent decades helped establish a Spanish colonial empire which was among the largest ever. King Charles I established the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Under his son Philip II the Spanish Golden Age flourished, the Spanish Empire reached its territorial and economic peak, and his palace at El Escorial became the center of artistic flourishing. However, Philip's rule also saw the calamitous destruction of the Spanish Armada, numerous state bankruptcies and the independence of the Northern Netherlands, which marked the beginning of the slow decline of Spanish influence in Europe. Spain's power was further tested by its participation in the Eighty Years' War, whereby it tried and failed to recapture the newly independent Dutch Republic, and the Thirty Years' War, which resulted in continued decline of Habsburg power in favor of the French Bourbon dynasty. Matters came to a head during the reign of Charles II of Spain; upon his death, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out between the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs The Bourbons prevailed, resulting in the ascension of Philip V of Spain, who took Spain into the various wars to recapture the Spanish-controlled lands in Southern Italy recently lost