Censorship during the Spanish Empire
Censorship during the Spanish Empire refers to the efforts by the Spanish crown and the Roman Catholic Church to control the dissemination of ideas and information in its vast territories from the early fifteenth century until the late nineteenth century. This censorship was rooted in the desire to maintain royal authority and religious conformity, often justified by the empire's expansionist motives encapsulated in the phrase "God, Gold, and Glory." The government and church collaborated closely, employing various methods to suppress dissent, restrict education, and limit the circulation of literature deemed subversive.
Despite these efforts, the effectiveness of censorship waned in the late colonial period due to improved global communications, increased travel by colonial subjects, and the presence of foreign influences. Enlightenment ideas, which inspired revolutionary movements across the globe, infiltrated Spanish colonies, fueling independence aspirations. The Inquisition and the church's index of prohibited books were notable tools of control, yet both the government and the church struggled to enforce censorship consistently, especially as new ideas began to circulate more freely in society. Overall, the dynamic interplay of censorship and the evolving cultural landscape significantly impacted the Spanish Empire and its colonial subjects.
Censorship during the Spanish Empire
Description: Those parts of North and South America, the Caribbean Basin, Africa, and the Philippine Islands that Spain ruled for varying lengths of time between the early fifteenth and twentieth centuries
Significance: At its height one of the largest European colonial empires, the Spanish Empire played a major role in extending Spanish and Roman Catholic cultures and values to large parts of the world
Spain’s colonial empire began with its expansion into North Africa and the Canary Islands in the early fifteenth century. Its major growth came after Christopher Columbus’ American discoveries at the end of the century, when the crown of Spain claimed a monopoly over the entire Western Hemisphere. Unable to enforce these vast claims, Spain soon relinquished Brazil, the Lesser Antilles, and what later became Canada and the eastern United States to other European powers. The Spanish Empire later included the Philippines, several small Pacific islands, and parts of northwestern and equatorial Africa. Under Spain’s rule, the Roman Catholic religion and Spanish art, literature, government, and political and social values greatly influenced development throughout these regions.
Spain retained most of its empire for nearly three and a half centuries. Mexico and Spain’s Central American and South American possessions won their independence in the early nineteenth century. After the Spanish-American War of 1898 Spain lost the Philippines and Puerto Rico to the United States and Cuba became independent. Portions of Spain’s African territories remained under Spanish control until after World War II.
The motives for Spanish overseas expansion have been epitomized in the phrase “God, Gold, and Glory.” Although not all the Spanish conquerors concerned themselves with spreading Christianity, the Spanish crown consistently supported Roman Catholic missionary work in the colonies. Church and state collaborated closely to reinforce each other’s powers and prerogatives. Each believed that it held supreme power in its domain and did not hesitate to censor and coerce colonial subjects to conform to its demands. Through royal officials, the Spanish crown tried to suppress all opposition and ideas that would undermine its royal prerogatives. Spain also limited the immigration of outsiders into its colonies in order to keep out unwanted ideas.
In cooperation with the church, the government censored education, books, and discussion or circulation of any ideas that were deemed possibly subversive to either the government or the church. Such censorship was, however, less effective during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries than it had been earlier. Improved communications throughout the world, the ability of colonial subjects to travel outside of the empire, the presence of greater numbers of foreigners in the colonies, illegal trade, and the close proximity of other European colonies in the Caribbean Basin all contributed to making it impossible for Spain to control the exchange of new ideas. The same Enlightenment ideas that helped to inspire the American and French revolutions found their way into Spanish America and played a significant role in the development of early nineteenth century independence movements.
The Roman Catholic church used the Inquisition and its index of prohibited books as tools of censorship in Spain and its empire. Since the church financed and staffed the institutions of higher education, it was easy to censor education. In general, however, the church was no more successful in enforcing censorship in the late colonial period than was Spain’s government.