Siglo de Oro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The siglo de oro (a Spanish-language phrase meaning "century of gold" or "golden century") is a term that refers to one of the following:

• The great age of Spanish wealth and power, roughly from the early-to-mid-16th century to early-to-mid-17th century. This term does not generally imply any great precision about dates, but it begins no earlier than 1492, with the completion of the reconquista and the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the New World, and ends no later than the independence of the Netherlands from the Habsburg Spain, recognized by Spain in 1648. See Spanish Empire for further information.

• A period of flourishing in arts and letters in Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, coinciding with the political decline and fall of the Habsburgs (Phillip III, IV and Charles II) in the 17th century. See Spanish Golden Age for further information.

• Many Jewish historians use the expression "Golden age" to refer to the period when Jewish culture and scholarship flourished in Spain under the rule of the Moors, between the ninth and eleventh centuries; however this period extends beyond a century. See Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.