Neuzeitliche Kolonialismen: Das Kolonialreich Spanien. Der Aufstieg des spanischen Kolonialreiches an der Wende zur Frühen Neuzeit

Abstract

The following seminar-paper deals with the early modern colonialism by the example of the Spanish Empire. In this context the paper works on the question how and why the formerly small kingdom Castile-Aragón was successful in conquering the so called ‘new world’ and as a result in establishing one of the largest empires from global extent in world history from the 15^th to the 16^th century. Therefor the paper examines the conditions on the Iberian Peninsula at that time as well as the backgrounds of the oversea-conquest, including the impact on the indigenous population, to finally clarify the question of how the spanish colonialism was designed.