Spanish colonization of the Americas

The Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the Western Hemisphere of Christopher Columbus in 1492. From early small settlements in the Caribbean, the Spanish Empire gradually expanded over four centuries to include Central America, most of South America, Mexico, the South of what today is Southern United States, the Western part of what today is Central United States, the Southwestern part of what today is British Columbia in Canada, and even reaching Alaska. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Spanish possessions in America began a series of independence movements, which culminated in Spain's loss of all of its colonies on the mainland of North, Central and South America by 1825. The remaining Spanish colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines were occupied by the United States following the Spanish-American War (1898), ending Spanish rule in the Americas. The Spanish settled in many different places all over America.
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