Spanish Empire.

The Spanish Empire was one of the first global powers to emerge during the Age of Exploration in the fifteenth century. Under the rule of Ferdinand II and Isabella I, Spain began to claim areas of Europe, Africa, and the East Indies. Later monarchs seized vast territories in North and South America looking for gold and seeking to spread the Catholic faith. Thriving for several centuries, the empire reached its peak during the reign of the Spanish Habsburgs, from the early sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century, but then began a decline as weak leadership and conflicts in Europe eroded its territories.