Imperial Spain

Abstract

Spanish historians have always found it surprising that the greatest colonial loss ever suffered by a European monarchy did not bring about an intellectual reflection in the 1820s and 1830s similar to that which followed the loss of a handful of islands in the Caribbean and the China Sea in 1898. In fact, neither Ayacucho (the last battle in Peru in 1824) nor the hopeless resistance of Spanish troops in San Juan de Ulúa, Mexico, after 1821, produced a reaction of a national mourning or reflections on the place of Spain and Spanish civilization in the world. On the contrary, if there was any common ground in the analyses made at the time, it was the emphasis on the inevitability of the process understood as emancipation. Whilst some questioned the more or less opportune timing of the event, it was generally felt that the maturing of the American territories was always, sooner or later, going to lead to their independence, like a son who leaves home, guardianship and dependence on paternal authority to begin his own life. It is not surprising therefore that upon independence war gave way to expressions of familial reconciliation. During the negotiations for mutual diplomatic recognition between Mexico and Spain, finally established in 1836, such language was clearly expressed by the Spanish delegate: ‘This [negotiation between Spain and Mexico] must be entered into, not as a treaty of peace, recognition and commerce between two different nations, but adopting the principle of the reconciliation of two members of the same family by means of which we may obtain commercial advantages greater than those enjoyed by more privileged nations … .’