How did the end of the Habsburg dynasty in Spain affect the Spanish and Portuguese territories in the Americas?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
Spain’s Habsburg dynasty ended when Charles II died without an heir in 1700. After thirteen years of conflict involving the major European powers, Philip of Bourbon, grandson of Louis XIV of France, gained the Spanish throne. Under Philip V and his heirs, Spain reorganized its administration and tax collection and liberalized colonial trade policies. Spain also created new commercial monopolies and strengthened its navy to protect colonial trade. For most of the Spanish Empire, the eighteenth century was a period of remarkable economic expansion associated with population growth. Amerindian populations began to recover from the early epidemics; the f low of Spanish immigrants increased; and the slave trade to plantation colonies was expanded. Mining production increased, with silver production rising steadily into the 1780s. Agricultural exports also expanded, especially exports of tobacco, dyes, hides, chocolate, cotton, and sugar. The Spanish and Portuguese kings also sought to reduce the power of the Catholic Church while at the same time transferring some church wealth to their treasuries. These efforts led to a succession of confrontations between colonial officials and the church hierarchy. To the kings of Portugal and Spain, the Jesuits symbolized the independent power of the church. In 1759 the Portuguese king expelled this powerful order from his territories, and the Spanish king imitated this decision in 1767. In practice these actions forced many colonial-born Jesuits from their native lands and closed the schools that had educated many members of the colonial elite.