"Spanish society drove itself," historian J.H. Elliot writes,
"on a ruthless, ultimately self-defeating quest for an unattainable
(racial and religious) purity." (after 1492.)
The seeds of Spain’s downward spiral began
quite early at the DIET OF
WORMS headed by Emperor Charles V, later Charles I king of Spain. It took place in Worms,
Germany, a
small town on the Rhine
river, from January 28 to May 25, 1521. On May 25, the Edict
of Worms declared Luther to be an outlaw and the reading or possession of
his writings was banned. The Protestants then slowly developed the Industrial
Revolution and the PROTESTANT ETHIC
; the Catholics floundered into poverty.
“After 1525 all residents of Spain were officially Catholic, but forced conversion and nominal orthodoxy were not sufficient for complete integration into Spanish society. Purity of blood (pureza de sangre) regulations were imposed on candidates for positions in the government and the church, to prevent Moriscos from becoming a force again in Spain and to eliminate participation by Conversos whose families might have been Christian for generations. Many of Spain's oldest and finest families scrambled to reconstruct family trees.”
"The years
from 1610 to 1630 were the last period in which Spain clearly dominated
Europe." ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA
lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/estoc.html
scroll down to see:
CASTILE AND ARAGON
THE GOLDEN AGE
Ferdinand and Isabella
Charles V and Philip II
Spain in Decline
www.st-and.ac.uk/~jewsoc/histspain.html
Portugal ethnology today: homogeneous Mediterranean stock; citizens of black
African descent who immigrated to mainland during decolonization in 1975 number
less than 100,000.
Before 1975 few Blacks from Africa were allowed in Portugal but some mestizos
and mulattos from Brazil were allowed.
Spain ethnology today: Spain: composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types
Spain has kept a "Christian-whites only" policy throughout her
history since 1492.
After 1939 (Franco) some moors allowed.
Netherlands ethnology today: Dutch 91%, Moroccans, Turks, and other 9% (1999
est.)
SPAIN'S ECONOMIC DECLINE
By the mid 1600s, Spain had spent ALL its new world looted gold in foolish
intrigues and military and royal maneuvers ignoring her economy
After 1630, Spain could not handle the EXPENSES of:
-----1. its colonies,
-----2. a standing army,
-----3. a first class navy,
-----4. The Spanish
Armada debacle 1588.
-----5. Royal wars and intrigue by incompetent alien monarchy in the 1600s in
Europe involving France, Germany, Austria, Holland and the TWO SICILIES, and
-----6. the THIRTY
YEARS WAR war 1618-1648 and the war of the SPANISH
SUCCESSION 1701-1714.
-----7. THE
SPANISH INQUISITION
www.onwar.com/aced/nation/sat/spain/findex.htm
Spain after 1630 also had multiple politically currupt monarchies and a
deteriorating internal and international infrastructure.
Spain was also cursed by "LA
LEYENDA NEGRA."
In a diabolic quirk of fate, after leading the European nations in adapting to the
AGE OF DISCOVERY since 1492 for over a 100 years, Spain became dreadfully poor
150 years later becoming just like all the arab countries to the south in
northern africa.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA: The Leyenda Negra (Black Legend) propagated by critics
of Spanish policy still contributes to the general belief that Spain exceeded
other nations in cruelty to subject populations; on the other hand, a review of
Spain's record suggests that it was no worse than other nations and, in fact,
produced a greater number of humanitarian reformers. When Dominican zeal
declined, the new and powerful Jesuit order became the major Indian protector
and led in missionary activity until its expulsion from the Spanish Empire in
1767; the Jesuits took charge of large converted native communities, notably in
the area of the viceroyalty of Río de la Plata that is now Paraguay, in their
paternalism often imposing stern discipine.
Many intellectuals of that era in England, France and Germany as well as most
of Europe would say about Spain's non-existent industrialization, Spain's lack
of funds, lack of modernization and the harsh mistreatment of all its colonies
-- "Europe ends at the Pyrenees." This phrase would haunt Spain for
300 years.
www.chosin.com/iberia.html
In 1776 the British philosopher and economist Adam Smith declared in his
classic economic study, The Wealth of Nations, that slavery was uneconomical
because the plantation system was a wasteful use of land and because slaves
cost more to maintain than free laborers."
saxakali.com/caribbean/shamil.htm
scroll down
Spain had never benefited economically long term from the "riches" of
the new world. Spain by the time of the "1800s" remained almost
completely rural and had become desperately poor. Spain was reluctant to free
the Black slaves in her colonies.
REASONS FOR SPAIN'S ECONOMIC DECLINE
-----1. Spain had not embraced the INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION.
-----2. Spain let northern Europe and the USA advance from SLAVERY, COLONIALISM
AND MERCANTILISM
into a new age of INVENTION,
UNIVERSAL EDUCATION,
INDUSTRY, CAPITALISM
and a MARKET ECONOMY
unchallenged.
-----3. Spain did not attempt to adapt to the world-wide economic change all
around her by improving the literacy rate especially in rural areas.
-----4. Spain did not integrate the Basques, Catalans, and Galicians
politically.
-----5. Spain lacked foresight and innovation becoming a poor nation BEFORE the
1700s, poorer still in the 1800s and progressively poorer becoming one of the
poorest in Europe by the 1900s before and after the Spanish Civil War until the
death of Generalisimo Franco in 1975.
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9820/franco.html
-----6. AFTER the drastic economic decline in the era of Francisco Franco,
Spain was painfully slow in industrializing from a backward rural economy with
an undeveloped infrastructure and was woefully inept in keeping down civil
unrest.
-----7. Spain has always in good times or in bad times had a chronic problem
with unemployment.
www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/spain.htm
Spain CIVIL problems 1980-1986
http://lark.cc.ku.edu/~ronfran/data/Spain80-83.txt.
http://lark.cc.ku.edu/~ronfran/data/Spain84-86.txt.
Spain became a full member of the European Union Communities on 1 January 1986.
The European Union (EU) is the result of a process of cooperation and
integration which began in 1951 between six countries (Belgium, Germany,
France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands).
After nearly fifty years, with four waves of accessions (1973: Denmark, Ireland
and the United Kingdom; 1981: Greece; 1986: Spain and Portugal; 1995: Austria,
Finland and Sweden), the EU today has fifteen Member States and is preparing
for its fifth enlargement, this time towards Eastern and Southern Europe.
europa.eu.int/index_en.htm
Spain has made a slow but remarkable political recovery from dictatorship to
royalty-plus-democracy "the Spanish model" since joining the EU in
1986 but still remains unremarkably economically BELOW par today 2002 over 16
yrs later compared to most of the industrious European countries of the EU.
Spain has never been able to resolve its high unemployment rate.
www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sp.html
Spain CIVIL problems AFTER joining EU.
lark.cc.ukans.edu/~ronfran/data/Spain87-89.txt
lark.cc.ukans.edu/~ronfran/data/Spain87-89.txt
lark.cc.ukans.edu/~ronfran/data/Spain93-95.txt
Spain economy in 1993
National product *****real growth rate: -1% (1993) *****
National product per capita: $12,700 (1993)
National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $498 billion (1993)
www.gae.unican.es/general/Spain.html
*****Spain -1% real growth rate in 1993, seven yrs AFTER joining the EU
compared to +4% in 2000 seven yrs later.
Spain economy $18,000 GDP per capita. (2000 est.)
Spain GDP: purchasing power parity - $720.8 billion (2000 est.)
GDP — *****real growth rate: 4% (2000 est.) *****
Italy ecconomy - $22,100 GDP per capita (2000 est.)
Italy GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.273 trillion (2000 est.)
France economy - 24,400 GDP - per capita: - $(2000 est.)
France GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.448 trillion (2000 est.)
Spain remains economically BELOW par also when compared to parts of the NEW
WORLD
Mexico economy GDP: purchasing power parity - $915 billion (2000 est.)
Brazil:GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.13 trillion (2000 est.)
USA economy GDP per capita $36,000 (2000 est.)
USA GDP: purchasing power parity - $9.963 trillion (2000 est.)
Spain economic progress 1965-1996
www.ifc.org/factsheets/Factsheets/Spain_fs/spain_fs.html
www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSServlet?pcont=details&eid=000094946_01081604003645
Spain farm products
www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/V3-416.html
www.jrnet.com/vino/home.php3
www.allfromspain.com/