| 1516 | Charles I, a Habsburg, becomes king of Castile and Aragon. After the death of his grandfather Maximilian i he inherits the Habsburg territories and in 1519 becomes holy Roman Emperor as Charles V (coronation in Rome 1530). He is now ruler of Spain, the Netherlands, Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, Milan, Franche-Comté and numerous American colonies. He hands over the Habsburg possessions in Germany to his brother Ferdinand in 1521. |
| 1519-35 | Establishment of colonial rule in America. the Spanish conquistadors Cortes and Pizarro conquer Mexico (1519-21), Peru (1531-34) and Chile from 1535). Vast quantities of gold and silver are brought back to Spain. |
| 1520-21 | The rising of the Comuneros (the towns of Castile) is repressed, and absolutism prevails; the Cortes lose their importance. |
| 1521-56 | Charles V fights five wars against France in order to maintain Spanish hegemony in Italy and Burgundy. |
| 1534 | Ignacio de Loyola founds the Jesuit order (the society of Jesus). |
| 1535-41 | Charles V's forces occupancy Tunis and Algiers. |
| 1556 | Charles V abdicates and withdraws to the monastery of Yuste. |
| 1556-98 | Philip II, Charles's son, assumes the leadership of the counter-reformation in Europe. With the help of the Inquisition he fights heresy in Spain and has the Christianised Moors (Moriscos) in Andalusia almost completely exterminated. |
| 1559 | The treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis ends the war with France for supremacy in Italy and Burgundy. |
| 1563-84 | Building of the Escorial. |
| 1565-72 | Conquest of the Philippines. |
| 1571 | In the naval battle of Lapanto the Turkish fleet is annihilated by Spanish warships. |
| 1580 | Spain is united with Portugal in a personal union (which lasts until 1640). The acquisition of the Portuguese colonial possessions brings the Spanish empire to its greatest extent. |
| 1581 | The fanatical severity with which Philip II and his general the Duke of Alba seek to repress the Protestant and patriotic rising in the Netherlands leads to the secession of the northern Netherlands under William of Orange. |
| 1588 | With the destruction of the Armada in the Channel, Spain loses the fights with Britain for command of the sea. |
| 1609-10 | Expulsion of the last Moriscos and Jews (about 600,000) from southern Spain in the reign of Philip III. |
| 1618-48 | Spain takes part in the Thirty Years' War on the side of the Austrian HabsBurgs. |
| 1621 | resumption of the fight against the free Netherlands (whose independence Spain has later to recognise under the treaty of Westphalia). |
| 1640 | Portugal dissolves its union with Spain. |
| 1652 | A Catalan rising (which had begun in 1640) is repressed. |
| 1659 | Under the Peace of the Pyrenees, Spain cedes Roussillion, Cerdaña (Cerdagne) and part of Flanders to France. |
| 1678 | Spain finally cedes Franche-Comté to France. |
| 1701-13 | In the War of the Spanish Succession the Bourbon claimant, Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV, fights for recognition against the Austrian Habsburgs, Britain and the Netherlands. |
| 1713 | Under the treaty of Utrecht, Philip V cedes Spanish territory in the Netherlands, Milan and Naples to Austria, Sicily to Savoy, Minorca and Gibraltar to Britain, but retains the Spanish colonies. |
| 1717-30 | Unsuccessful conflict with Austria for Sardinia and Sicily. |
| 1735 | the kingdom of Naples and Sicily passes to a collateral line of the Spanish bourbons, as does the Duchy of Palma and Piacenza in 1748. |
| 1959-88 | The Bourbon Charles III (Duke of Palma 1731-35, king of Naples and Sicily 1723-59) rules in the spirit of enlightened absolutism. |
| 1763 | At the end of the Seven Years' War Spain loses Florida to Britain but acquires western Louisiana from France. |
| 1767 | Expulsion of the Jesuits. |
| 1783 | Under the treaty of Versailles at the end of the War of American Independence, Spain recovers Florida and Minorca from Britain. |
| 1788-1808 | Advised by his favourite Manuel de Godoy, Charles IV leads Spain into total dependence on Napoleon. |
| 1801 | Return of Louisiana to France. |
| 1805 | Destruction of the French and Spanish fleet by Nelson at Trafalgar. |
| 1808 | A rising in Aranjuez overthrows the Francophile Godoy and compels Charles IV to abdicate in favour of his son Ferdinand (Fernando) in March. Seeing his interests in the Iberian peninsula in jeopardy, Napoleon occupies Spain and compels both Charles and Ferdinand VII to abdicate. Napoleon's brother Joseph becomes king of Spain, his brother-in-law Marshal Murat kin of Naples.
A revolt by the people of Madrid against Murat's troops on May 2nd marks the beginning of a Spanish national rising. Juntas (committees) are formed to organise a guerrilla war against French Rule. A French army surrenders at Bailén in July, and Joseph flees from Madrid. A British army commanded by general Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) supports the Spanish war of liberation, and Napoleon then intervenes personally in the war. |
| 1808-09 | Napoleon occupies Madrid, takes Zaragoza and enables Joseph to return. Spain is almost completely occupied. |
| 1810-25 | The Spanish colonies in South America declare their independence. |
| 1812 | The Cortes, meeting in Câdiz, adopt the first Spanish constitution. |
| 1813 | Wellington's victory in the decisive battle of Victoria frees Spain from foreign rule. |
