HISTORY
Having long since been established back in 1139 following the Battle Of Ourique by Afonso I, Portugal had since rose to become a major naval power in Europe since the late Reconquista period, having already spearheaded European colonialism by distinguished discoveries of far-flung territories in the east and west. Their exploration in the East soon reached a new point with Vasco Da Gama's who found a new trade route from Europe to Asia which was through Cape Of Good Hope and India in order to bypass the Muslim domination of the inland spice route. One of their earliest conquests and settlements in the east would be the conquest of Goa(1510) under Afonso de Albuquerque and his following conquest of the capital city of Malacca a year later.
Upon his grandfather, Ferdinand II's death in 1516, his domains which consisted of both Castille and Aragon were inherited by the young Miguel who then ruled as Miguel I of Castille and Aragon. Eventually, his own father's death 5 years later officially confirmed his succession as the King of Portugal, thus bringing the Iberian peninsula under one monarch.
Miguel I's first challenge after successfully uniting Iberia was the rising threat of the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the worsening economical situation of his inherited Portuguese Empire. Facing a new series of constant naval attacks from the Turks under Suleiman I, Miguel sought for a radical change towards his empire, resulting in loads of replacement of the previous ineffective governors who had ruled Portugal's colonies poorly. Though the solutions proved little, coupled with the comparable military might of the Ottomans, his inherited wealth from Spain enabled for a steady reduction in debts alongside the expansion of a formidable navy focused in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean.
Following the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517, the newly-formed Iberian empire inevitably went into a collision course against the rising power of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. With their rising and powerful naval supremacy being unchallenged under the legendary command of the Ottoman admiral, Hayreddin Barbarossa, the Iberian navy's once uncontested naval supremacy started to waver. Between 1518-1520, the Iberian navy of Miguel I faced a series of repeated victories alongside defeats against the Ottoman navy. On late 1520 however, an Ottoman raid consisted of 15 ships on Palma was decisively repulsed by a local fleet of 7 ships under Joan De Ferrasio. The constant naval skirmishes between the two would last until 1549 when a 115 strong fleet under Álvaro de Bazán checked the rising Ottoman naval power at Cagliari.
Due to the previous naval conflicts against the Ottomans, Iberian expansion overseas was stalled to concentrate on the accumulated resources on the Mediterranean front. Miguel I, who then passed away on 1552 had spent the remaining years after the victory at Cagliari in redistributing and reforming the Iberian armada across their vast colonial empire. Under his successor Manuel II, their expansion program was resurrected, marked by their first contacts with China under the Ming dynasty. However, the rising power of the neighboring Moroccans under the Saadi dynasty had placed their coastal forts on the area at serious danger. Consequently, he inherited a small remnants of his father's coastal forts and territories due to the successful conquests of the Moroccan sultan, Mohammed ask-Sheikh. The geopolitical situation remained unchanged until the early 1600's when Charles I(not to be confused with the historical Charles I) invaded the Saadians who were in sudden decline after the death of Ahmad Al-Mansur on 1603, resulting in the acquisition of several strategic coastal cities and forts alongside the coast and Ceuta which was lost in 1561.
Benefiting from this, overseas exploration continued into the Americas and Asia, to which the conquest of the Aztec, Inca and Mayas had been done under his predecessor around 1530. A short war against the kingdom of Ormuz back in 1583 had guaranteed the Iberians lucrative trade wealth of the Persian Gulf, coupled with a mutual alliance with the Safavid Shah, Abbas I against the Ottomans. Rivalry with the Mughal Empire which persisted until the late 16th century remained mostly in Portuguese favour which resulted in several further acquisitions of coastal forts and wealth from the Mughal treasury.
Owing to their long-standing territorial rivalry against France's victory from the Italian Wars, Charles I regardless had been contempt on maintaining peace between the 2 countries. However, the ineffectiveness of the French king, Henry III and the French Wars of Religion which had plagued France since then offered some territorial gains for the Iberian crown. Though the Iberian king had no intent for any exhausting wars against France, but with the formation of the Catholic League in 1576 and the strong pressure from the nobility, bent on a war against France, Iberia reluctantly offered extensive military and intelligence support for their primary candidate, Henry I, Duke Of Guise for the seat of heir on the throne of France.
With France plagued by the Religious Wars, Morocco sealed with a peace treaty and the Ottomans busy against the Habsburgs in Austria, Charles invaded on 1583, bringing 45,000 men alongside a young general, Carlos Coloma. Consequently, Lower Navarre was overran after 3 weeks of seiging and Paris was now underway. For the French, England's internal problems which countered their ability to respond to their uneasy ally, the Spanish's invasion proved devastating at the Fall Of Paris(1584).Despite a quick victory, the Protestant answer to the invasion, the 8 Years' War and the internal dissent in France that would last for atleast 15 years proved devastating.
Under Charles I's successor, Charles II who professed a heavily neutral based foreign policy, the empire reached its Golden Age following the last of the Protestant dissenters in France cleared and the opposing royal family was brought into separate incarceration and exile. In all of its history, tolerance for the non-Catholics truly began to blossom under his rule though persecutions of Protestants under the Habsburgs prevailed.Amassing a huge empire at his hands, the "Trastamara Empire" as it unofficially came to be was the strongest empire in Europe. Following the revoking of the encomienda system in mid 1621, the Spanish overseas colonies including France were permitted to grow by self-sufficiency.France and its overseas possessions would continue to remain under the Spanish Trastamara branch until the reign of Anne I when France was voluntarily ceded to Prince Louis of Spain who then posthumously became Louis XIII.
Having reached its greatest territorial expansion while also amassing a sizable debt following wars against the Ottomans throughout the first half of the 16th century, the Spanish Empire had managed to mostly consolidate Algiers under a puppet ruler whilst earning several small islands in a heated yet common partnership with the Venetian Republic. During the Ottoman's war with the Safavids under Abbas I, 2 notable attempts to land in the Aegean peninsula failed decisively despite aid from Christian nations.A foiled attempt in intriguing the Egyptian Mamlukes to rebel also failed. Nevertheless, they were reluctantly granted the ownership of Crete following the near bankruptcy of the Venetian government.
Despite the immense wealth of Algiers, France and a renewed trading power in the Mediterranean, their costly decisions led to a state of economical disrupt in 1621 that was later solved in 2 years following a coup and general cease of hostilities by Philip II who aimed to consolidate and to improve the situation back home.
With France in a relatively stable condition under Charles II, though it owed largely to his son Philip's de-facto administration, Trastamara dominance had began to slowly steer them at odds with the Habsburgs for both houses saw themselves as the sole defenders of Catholiclism. Nevertheless, under the reign of the two Philips, the empire achieved gradual stability, added with the reinstatement of James II and VII, a key Spanish ally on the throne.
Entering into the 17th century, the Spanish Empire had underwent one economical crisis, and atleast two wars following their conquest of France in 1583 but their immense size resulting from their multi-national union under Anne I proved risky. Overtime, the empire's durability to control such a large empire proved uneasy when after successfully ousting Charles out of Britain, the new anti-Trastamara government spearheaded the formation of the Northern League in 1708 to combat Spanish dominance. Despite the breaking of the "Trastamara Empire" into the Spanish and French branches, led by Anne I and Charles X and III respectively, in the Northern League War(1708-1713), the Trastamaras once again came out victorious.
Though the Spanish Empire had managed to became relatively stagnant with some traditional wars against the Ottomans and the Moroccans. The emergence of liberalism in the late-17th and early-18th centuries began to shook the very foundation of the Trastamara kingdoms. However, opposed to their French counterpart, the Spanish branch under John III, popularly known as "The Kind" slowly began to transition to a more constitutional form with the official mark being proclaimed by Philip VI in 1890.
Despite achieving relative peace in the long run, the Spanish Empire's might was tested with a series of revolutionary uprisings, namely the 1820's Italian revolutions and the Bolivarian uprising in Spanish South America where local rebels under Simón Bolívar initially secured a small independent state in the first round against the Spanish but was later costly defeated and re-annexed into the Spanish domains. However, these events would indirectly shape the later half of the empire's 18th century history as reformist rulers sought to both maintain their power while giving in to liberal demands. All these eventually led to the formation and inauguration of a constitution in 1890 and the subsequent decolonization of its overseas colonies in the later 19th century.
Overtime, the Trastamara's rule over both Portugal and Spain began to came under question. At a mass convention attended by Spanish and Portuguese bureaucrats and politicians, ideas or suggestions that either voiced the establishment of two separate republics or two separate kingdoms went into a collision course.In all, the union between Spain and Portugal was formally disbanded on 1907 with Ferdinand III who would style himself under the House Of Aviz to appeal to the Portuguese more ruling Portugal while his sister, Maria I ruling Spain. For their overseas possessions, in the ushering of a new era of decolonization, they were formally granted independence, with Mexico being the first in 1910 and Brazil being the last Portuguese colony to gain independence in 1952.In Africa, Mozambique was the last Portuguese African colony to gain independence in 1951, with the first being Angola 10 years prior.
Despite the final dissolution of the Trastamara Empire, relations between the three countries ruled by the same dynasties remained persistently friendly. Officially, the three countries united together against German aggression in both WW1 and WW2 which saw the final dissolution of the German Empire into a modern republic. On 5 June 1970, the Trastamara monarchs:Alfonso XIII of Portugal, John IV of Spain and Charles XI of France officially inaugurated the Western European Co-Operation Treaty(WECOT), centered on economical, political and defensive co-operation.
Upon his grandfather, Ferdinand II's death in 1516, his domains which consisted of both Castille and Aragon were inherited by the young Miguel who then ruled as Miguel I of Castille and Aragon. Eventually, his own father's death 5 years later officially confirmed his succession as the King of Portugal, thus bringing the Iberian peninsula under one monarch.
Miguel I's first challenge after successfully uniting Iberia was the rising threat of the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the worsening economical situation of his inherited Portuguese Empire. Facing a new series of constant naval attacks from the Turks under Suleiman I, Miguel sought for a radical change towards his empire, resulting in loads of replacement of the previous ineffective governors who had ruled Portugal's colonies poorly. Though the solutions proved little, coupled with the comparable military might of the Ottomans, his inherited wealth from Spain enabled for a steady reduction in debts alongside the expansion of a formidable navy focused in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean.
Following the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517, the newly-formed Iberian empire inevitably went into a collision course against the rising power of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. With their rising and powerful naval supremacy being unchallenged under the legendary command of the Ottoman admiral, Hayreddin Barbarossa, the Iberian navy's once uncontested naval supremacy started to waver. Between 1518-1520, the Iberian navy of Miguel I faced a series of repeated victories alongside defeats against the Ottoman navy. On late 1520 however, an Ottoman raid consisted of 15 ships on Palma was decisively repulsed by a local fleet of 7 ships under Joan De Ferrasio. The constant naval skirmishes between the two would last until 1549 when a 115 strong fleet under Álvaro de Bazán checked the rising Ottoman naval power at Cagliari.
Due to the previous naval conflicts against the Ottomans, Iberian expansion overseas was stalled to concentrate on the accumulated resources on the Mediterranean front. Miguel I, who then passed away on 1552 had spent the remaining years after the victory at Cagliari in redistributing and reforming the Iberian armada across their vast colonial empire. Under his successor Manuel II, their expansion program was resurrected, marked by their first contacts with China under the Ming dynasty. However, the rising power of the neighboring Moroccans under the Saadi dynasty had placed their coastal forts on the area at serious danger. Consequently, he inherited a small remnants of his father's coastal forts and territories due to the successful conquests of the Moroccan sultan, Mohammed ask-Sheikh. The geopolitical situation remained unchanged until the early 1600's when Charles I(not to be confused with the historical Charles I) invaded the Saadians who were in sudden decline after the death of Ahmad Al-Mansur on 1603, resulting in the acquisition of several strategic coastal cities and forts alongside the coast and Ceuta which was lost in 1561.
Benefiting from this, overseas exploration continued into the Americas and Asia, to which the conquest of the Aztec, Inca and Mayas had been done under his predecessor around 1530. A short war against the kingdom of Ormuz back in 1583 had guaranteed the Iberians lucrative trade wealth of the Persian Gulf, coupled with a mutual alliance with the Safavid Shah, Abbas I against the Ottomans. Rivalry with the Mughal Empire which persisted until the late 16th century remained mostly in Portuguese favour which resulted in several further acquisitions of coastal forts and wealth from the Mughal treasury.
Owing to their long-standing territorial rivalry against France's victory from the Italian Wars, Charles I regardless had been contempt on maintaining peace between the 2 countries. However, the ineffectiveness of the French king, Henry III and the French Wars of Religion which had plagued France since then offered some territorial gains for the Iberian crown. Though the Iberian king had no intent for any exhausting wars against France, but with the formation of the Catholic League in 1576 and the strong pressure from the nobility, bent on a war against France, Iberia reluctantly offered extensive military and intelligence support for their primary candidate, Henry I, Duke Of Guise for the seat of heir on the throne of France.
With France plagued by the Religious Wars, Morocco sealed with a peace treaty and the Ottomans busy against the Habsburgs in Austria, Charles invaded on 1583, bringing 45,000 men alongside a young general, Carlos Coloma. Consequently, Lower Navarre was overran after 3 weeks of seiging and Paris was now underway. For the French, England's internal problems which countered their ability to respond to their uneasy ally, the Spanish's invasion proved devastating at the Fall Of Paris(1584).Despite a quick victory, the Protestant answer to the invasion, the 8 Years' War and the internal dissent in France that would last for atleast 15 years proved devastating.
Under Charles I's successor, Charles II who professed a heavily neutral based foreign policy, the empire reached its Golden Age following the last of the Protestant dissenters in France cleared and the opposing royal family was brought into separate incarceration and exile. In all of its history, tolerance for the non-Catholics truly began to blossom under his rule though persecutions of Protestants under the Habsburgs prevailed.Amassing a huge empire at his hands, the "Trastamara Empire" as it unofficially came to be was the strongest empire in Europe. Following the revoking of the encomienda system in mid 1621, the Spanish overseas colonies including France were permitted to grow by self-sufficiency.France and its overseas possessions would continue to remain under the Spanish Trastamara branch until the reign of Anne I when France was voluntarily ceded to Prince Louis of Spain who then posthumously became Louis XIII.
Having reached its greatest territorial expansion while also amassing a sizable debt following wars against the Ottomans throughout the first half of the 16th century, the Spanish Empire had managed to mostly consolidate Algiers under a puppet ruler whilst earning several small islands in a heated yet common partnership with the Venetian Republic. During the Ottoman's war with the Safavids under Abbas I, 2 notable attempts to land in the Aegean peninsula failed decisively despite aid from Christian nations.A foiled attempt in intriguing the Egyptian Mamlukes to rebel also failed. Nevertheless, they were reluctantly granted the ownership of Crete following the near bankruptcy of the Venetian government.
Despite the immense wealth of Algiers, France and a renewed trading power in the Mediterranean, their costly decisions led to a state of economical disrupt in 1621 that was later solved in 2 years following a coup and general cease of hostilities by Philip II who aimed to consolidate and to improve the situation back home.
With France in a relatively stable condition under Charles II, though it owed largely to his son Philip's de-facto administration, Trastamara dominance had began to slowly steer them at odds with the Habsburgs for both houses saw themselves as the sole defenders of Catholiclism. Nevertheless, under the reign of the two Philips, the empire achieved gradual stability, added with the reinstatement of James II and VII, a key Spanish ally on the throne.
Entering into the 17th century, the Spanish Empire had underwent one economical crisis, and atleast two wars following their conquest of France in 1583 but their immense size resulting from their multi-national union under Anne I proved risky. Overtime, the empire's durability to control such a large empire proved uneasy when after successfully ousting Charles out of Britain, the new anti-Trastamara government spearheaded the formation of the Northern League in 1708 to combat Spanish dominance. Despite the breaking of the "Trastamara Empire" into the Spanish and French branches, led by Anne I and Charles X and III respectively, in the Northern League War(1708-1713), the Trastamaras once again came out victorious.
Though the Spanish Empire had managed to became relatively stagnant with some traditional wars against the Ottomans and the Moroccans. The emergence of liberalism in the late-17th and early-18th centuries began to shook the very foundation of the Trastamara kingdoms. However, opposed to their French counterpart, the Spanish branch under John III, popularly known as "The Kind" slowly began to transition to a more constitutional form with the official mark being proclaimed by Philip VI in 1890.
Despite achieving relative peace in the long run, the Spanish Empire's might was tested with a series of revolutionary uprisings, namely the 1820's Italian revolutions and the Bolivarian uprising in Spanish South America where local rebels under Simón Bolívar initially secured a small independent state in the first round against the Spanish but was later costly defeated and re-annexed into the Spanish domains. However, these events would indirectly shape the later half of the empire's 18th century history as reformist rulers sought to both maintain their power while giving in to liberal demands. All these eventually led to the formation and inauguration of a constitution in 1890 and the subsequent decolonization of its overseas colonies in the later 19th century.
Overtime, the Trastamara's rule over both Portugal and Spain began to came under question. At a mass convention attended by Spanish and Portuguese bureaucrats and politicians, ideas or suggestions that either voiced the establishment of two separate republics or two separate kingdoms went into a collision course.In all, the union between Spain and Portugal was formally disbanded on 1907 with Ferdinand III who would style himself under the House Of Aviz to appeal to the Portuguese more ruling Portugal while his sister, Maria I ruling Spain. For their overseas possessions, in the ushering of a new era of decolonization, they were formally granted independence, with Mexico being the first in 1910 and Brazil being the last Portuguese colony to gain independence in 1952.In Africa, Mozambique was the last Portuguese African colony to gain independence in 1951, with the first being Angola 10 years prior.
Despite the final dissolution of the Trastamara Empire, relations between the three countries ruled by the same dynasties remained persistently friendly. Officially, the three countries united together against German aggression in both WW1 and WW2 which saw the final dissolution of the German Empire into a modern republic. On 5 June 1970, the Trastamara monarchs:Alfonso XIII of Portugal, John IV of Spain and Charles XI of France officially inaugurated the Western European Co-Operation Treaty(WECOT), centered on economical, political and defensive co-operation.