This assertion, made by Felipe Fernández-Armesto and Manuel Lucena Giraldo in “How the Spanish Empire Was Built: A 400-Year History,” seems bold at first, almost audacious. Yet within the ...

The limestone buildings shimmer in the blazing Texas sun. A Franciscan friar emerges from the parish office behind the church. I briefly wonder whether he’s melting under his brown habit. I know I am, ...

Since its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1493, Cuba was considered the "Pearl" of the Spanish Empire--not only for its beauty, but also its sugar plantations. However, by the middle of the ...

In the fall of 1896, Filipino nationalists revolted against the Spanish rule that had controlled the Philippines since the sixteenth century. Led by Emilio Aguinaldo (1869-1964), the 1896 revolt ...

The British Empire stretched over 13 million square miles across several continents—23 percent of the world's land—at its height in 1922, whence comes the phrase: "The sun never sets on the ...