Enlightenment in Spain in the context of "José Moñino, 1st Count of Floridablanca"

The Treaty of The Hague was signed on 17 February 1720 between Spain and the Quadruple Alliance, established by the 1718 Treaty of London. Its members included Britain, France, the Dutch Republic and Austria.

By signing, Spain joined the Alliance, ending the War of the Quadruple Alliance and accepting the terms of the Treaty of London. As previously agreed at Utrecht in 1713, Philip V confirmed his renunciation of the French throne and Spanish claims to their former Italian possessions. In exchange, Emperor Charles VI renounced his claim on the Spanish throne and four-year-old Charles of Spain was recognised as heir to the Duchies of Parma and Tuscany.

The Bourbon Reforms (Spanish: Reformismo borbónico, lit. 'Borbonic reformism') were a series of political and economic changes promulgated by the Spanish Crown beginning with Charles III and continuing under various kings of the House of Bourbon, mainly in the 18th century. The beginning of the new Crown's power with clear lines of authority to officials contrasted to the complex system of government that had evolved under the Habsburg monarchs. The crown pursued state control over the Catholic Church in Spain and throughout the global Spanish Empire, pushed economic reforms, and placed power solely into the hands of civil officials, paving the way for the Enlightenment in Spain. The reforms resulted in significant restructuring of administrative structure and personnel. The reforms were intended to modernise Spain through stimulating manufacturing and technology.

In Spanish America, the reforms were designed to make the administration more efficient and to promote economic development. In terms of the relationship between the Spanish Crown and its American colonies, the reforms functionally aimed to transform juridically semi-autonomous groups into proper colonies. Specifically, the reforms sought to increase commercial agriculture, mining, and trade. The system became much more hierarchal, forcing the colonies to become more dependent on Spain and serve as a market for Spanish manufactured goods. The crown ordered these changes in hopes that it would have a positive effect on the economy of Spain. Furthermore, the Bourbon Reforms were intended to limit the power of Criollos and re-establish peninsular supremacy over the colonies.

French involvement in the American Revolutionary War of 1775–1783 began in 1776 when the Kingdom of France secretly shipped supplies to the Continental Army of the Thirteen Colonies upon its establishment in June 1775. France was a long-term historical rival with the Kingdom of Great Britain, from which the Thirteen Colonies were attempting to separate. Having lost its own North American colony to Britain in the Seven Years' War, France sought to weaken Britain by helping the American insurgents.

A Treaty of Alliance between the French and the Continental Army followed in 1778, which led to French money, matériel and troops being sent to the United States. An ignition of a global war with Britain started shortly thereafter. Subsequently, Spain and the Dutch Republic also began to send assistance, which, along with other political developments in Europe, left the British with no allies during the conflict (excluding the Hessian mercenaries). Spain openly declared war in 1779, Spain joined its ally France in the war (but did not make a formal treaty with the Americans), and war between the British and Dutch followed soon after.

Robert Jenkins (fl. 1730s – c. 1740s) was a Welsh master mariner from Llanelli, famous as the protagonist of the "Jenkins's ear" incident, which became a contributory cause of the War of Jenkins' Ear between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Spain in 1739.

Returning home from a trading voyage in the West Indies in command of the smuggling brig Rebecca in April 1731, Jenkins' ship was stopped and boarded by the Spanish guarda-costa or privateer La Isabela on suspicion of smuggling. According to some accounts, her commander, Juan de León Fandiño, had Jenkins bound to a mast, then sliced off his left ear with his sword and allegedly told him to say to his King "the same will happen to him (the king) if caught doing the same". Another account, in the Pennsylvania Gazette for 7 October 1731, attributes the assault to the Spanish lieutenant Dorce, who "took hold of his left Ear, and with his Cutlass slit it down; and then another of the Spaniards took hold of it and tore it off, but gave him the Piece of his Ear again, bidding him carry it to his Majesty King George".

The War of the Quadruple Alliance, 1718 to 1720, was a conflict between Spain and a coalition of Austria, Great Britain, France, and Savoy, with the addition of the Dutch Republic in 1719. Military operations focused primarily on Sicily and Spain, with minor engagements in North America. The Spanish-backed Jacobite rising of 1719 in Scotland is considered a related conflict.

The Treaty of Aranjuez (1801) was signed on 21 March 1801 between France and Spain. It confirmed a previous secret agreement in which Spain agreed to exchange Louisiana for territories in Tuscany. The treaty also stipulated Spain's cession of Louisiana to be a "restoration", not a retrocession.

Napoleon wanted Louisiana as the hub of a new French empire in North America, to replace that lost after the 1763 Treaty of Paris. While Spanish chief minister Manuel Godoy was happy to transfer the territory, he demanded six French ships of the line and compensation in Italy to make it politically acceptable to Charles IV of Spain.

In the history of the Dominican Republic, the period of Era de Francia ("Era of France", "French Era", "Age of France" or "French Period") occurred in 1795 when France acquired the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, annexed it into Saint-Domingue and briefly came to acquire the whole island of Hispaniola by the way of the Treaty of Basel, allowing Spain to cede the eastern province as a consequence of the French Revolutionary Wars.

Despite its brevity, it produced important changes in society, especially in the demographic aspect, as there was a massive emigration of settlers (especially those with greater resources) to Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Cuba, some out of loyalty to Spain, and others as a result of the Haitians invasions perpetrated by Haitian forces commanded by Toussaint L'ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines in 1801 and 1805, respectively. The colony lost two-thirds of its population and almost all of the oldest and most traditional aristocratic families on the island; in addition, the population on the Spanish side went from being predominantly white to being essentially mulatto. The establishment of French settlers and the return of some emigrants barely attenuated this population decline.