Collection of facts about the Spanish Empire

This post is a collection of facts about the Spanish Empire (1492-1976). There are 14 facts listed below. Source: Wikipedia

• Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas (1492)
• Treaty of Tordesillas divided the world into Spanish and Portuguese claims (1494)
• Conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519-1521)
• Magellan circumnavigated the Earth (1519-1522)
• Conquest of the Maya (1524-1697)
• Conquest of the Inca Empire (1532-1572)
• Spanish East Indies (Philippines) established in 1565
• Portugal personal union with Spain forming the Iberian Union in 1580
• Portugal regained independence in 1640
• Occupied Louisiana Territory 1762-1803
• South American countries gained independence from Spain: Argentina (1810), Gran Colombia (1810), Chile (1810), Paraguay (1811), Uruguay (1815), Peru (1821), Panama (1821), Mexico (1821)
• Central American countries gained independence from Spain by 1823: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
• Lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines in Spanish-American War (1898)
• Withdrew from Spanish Sahara in 1976