Changes

Philip III, a lover of art, literature and, particularly, hunting left the government in the hands of Royal favourites (''validos''): the Duque de Lerma and then his son, the Duque de Uceda, as Louis XIII would do in France with Cardinal Richelieu. Shortly before his death, his father, Philip II, had sealed the peace of Vervins with France, which he would consolidate by marrying his daughter Anne of Austria to the French king. He signed the peace with England in 1604 and suspended the war in the Netherlands (Twelve Years’ Truce) in 1609. Thus, the ''Pax Hispanica'' reigned throughout Europe. The fight only continued against the Turks, who harassed the Habsburg territories on the Danube and the Spanish coasts through the North African pirates. This was the excuse for the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609. About three hundred thousand would leave, especially from the ancient kingdoms of Murcia and Valencia, with great damage to the production of orchards and rice fields, which would not be overcome even with the introduction of new crops.<br>

A subsistence agriculture employed more than 90% of the population, with the three traditional crops for the winery, the oil mill and the mill, that is, wine, oil and wheat. However, there were still innovations, such as the substitution of oxen for mules, corn brought from America or industrial crops: esparto grass and hemp (sails and ropes), linen and mulberry (textiles); for dyes, indigo and madder (red dyes and pharmacy) as well as the ''barrilla'' for glass, soaps and pharmacy. Nonetheless, everything was declining due to the dreadful tax pressure on industrial production, which prevented profits and technical innovation. In 1679, with Colbert-like criteria for state intervention, the General Board of Commerce (''Junta General de Comercio'') was created, which attracted some foreign capital for the manufacture of glass, ceramics, soap and, above all, paper, which the expansive administration consumed without limit. Shipyards were promoted in America, such as the one in Havana, where the largest ship in the world, the ''Trinidad'', was built in the 18^th century with four decks, 140 cannons and a capacity for 1,140 sailors. Notwithstanding, the exhausted Spain demanded much more: economic weakness, wars, emigration to America (600,000 people?) and three appalling epidemics led to a decrease in the population, especially in the centre of the Peninsula.<br>

It is true that, in the 18^th century, the Bourbons managed to maintain the façade of the Spanish political edifice. Albeit, as a significant symbol, the ''Trinidad'' was sunk by the English in the Trafalgar battle at the beginning of the 19^th century (1805).