History of Catalonia
The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 created a dynastic union between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile. However, both kingdoms kept their own laws, institutions, borders and currency. In 1492 the Spanish colonization of the Americas began, political power began to shift away towards Castile. The economic crisis, the peasants' revolt and tensions between Catalan institutions and the Monarchy caused the Reapers' War (1640–1652). The Principality of Catalonia maintained its political status, but it lost it after the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714). Following Catalan surrender on 11 September 1714, the king Philip V of Bourbon, inspired by the model of France, imposed a unifying administration across Spain. He suppressed the Crown of Aragon and enacted the Nueva Planta decrees, banning the main Catalan political institutions and rights. These led to the eclipse of Catalan as a language of government and literature. Catalonia experienced economic growth. This was reinforced in the late 18th century when Cádiz's trade monopoly with American colonies ended.