The Last Territories

After losing almost all overseas territories -an irreversible fact by the end of 1825- the Spanish monarchy is reduced to a series of territories that were diverse in its structure and geographically distant from one another. The Philippine islands, Cuba and Puerto Rico continue belonging to the Spanish Monarchy until 1898 and Saint-Domingue, current Dominican Republic, returned to be transitorily part of the monarchy until 1865.

In 1795, due to the Treaty of Basel, Spain transfers Saint-Domingue to France. Years later, the Haitian invasion takes place in Saint-Domingue besieging the capital and performing a war of crops and cattle destruction to reduce Dominican supporters to starving. After a sad and destructive independence war against the French (1808-1809), Saint-Domingue was back at the Spanish Monarchy. Peace came, but the financial and commercial ruin continued. The metropolis had no conditions to help on the reconstruction of Saint-Domingue, since the Peninsular War in Spain and the Latin American Independence War wasted all possible resources. In 1822, a new Haitian invasion takes place followed by a period of political unity all over the island. In 1844 the Dominicans recover their independence, but the serious situation didnt find remedy having a real anarchy as a result. With the aim to overcome this, the reincorporation to Spain was solicited and in 1861, the Spanish government accepted it even though it had no financial means to remake the Dominican economy. In 1863, an anti Spanish uprising started and held a sad war. The blood of man and money, the fear of a North American intervention and the lack of resources fail on Madrids government to withdrawal from Saint-Domingue in 1865.

After the Hispanic-North American War in 1898 with the confrontation of both fleets at the Pacific and the Caribbean, Spain lost what was left of the Empire: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines and Guam Island. The Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898, certifies the finishing of the Spanish colonial empire, sinking the country in a financial disaster and creating a moral commotion that the thinkers of the Generación del 98 will have a lot to talk about.