Europe · Reformation to revolution
Iberian Union
1580–1640
The 60-year personal union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns under the Spanish Habsburgs. It arose from the Portuguese succession crisis: the young King Sebastian died at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir (Ksar-el-Kebir, 4 August 1578); his aged great-uncle Cardinal Henry succeeded but died childless (31 January 1580).
- Existed
- 1580–1640
- Shown on the map
- 1582–1639
- Peak area
- 815k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
The 60-year personal union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns under the Spanish Habsburgs. It arose from the Portuguese succession crisis: the young King Sebastian died at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir (Ksar-el-Kebir, 4 August 1578); his aged great-uncle Cardinal Henry succeeded but died childless (31 January 1580). Philip II of Spain, backed by the Duke of Alba's army (victory at Alcântara, 1580) and defeating rival claimant António, Prior of Crato, was crowned Philip I of Portugal (1581). Portugal kept its own laws, coinage, and administration. Resentment at the union's costs (Portugal was dragged into Spain's wars with the Dutch and English, losing Asian and Brazilian territory), and the crisis of 1640, produced the Portuguese Restoration: on 1 December 1640 the Duke of Braganza was acclaimed John IV, launching the Portuguese Restoration War (1640/1641–1668), recognised by Spain in the Treaty of Lisbon (1668).
Common questions
- What was the Iberian Union?
- The 60-year personal union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns under the Spanish Habsburgs. It arose from the Portuguese succession crisis: the young King Sebastian died at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir (Ksar-el-Kebir, 4 August 1578); his aged great-uncle Cardinal Henry succeeded but died childless (31 January 1580).
- When did the Iberian Union exist?
- The Iberian Union existed 1580–1640. On this map it is drawn 1582–1639.
- How large was the Iberian Union?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Iberian Union covered about 815,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each territory as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, EBSCO Research Starters, the New World Encyclopedia, UNESCO, and academic works including Henry Kamen's *Spain, 1469–1714* and Shaul Stampfer's study of Khmelnytsky-era Jewish casualties. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Iberian Union en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberian_Union
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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