The two major regional areas of Spain came together in 1469 when Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile, and more territory was added yet again, or re-won, in 1492 with the completion of the "reconquista" when all Muslims and Jews were run out of Spain. Another renowned event of the same year was the accidental discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus who had sought to establish a route to the Indies. Following this remarkable discovery, colonists

Both nations suffered from an absence of banks, a lack of commercial intelligence, as well as a lack of efficient government planning. After looking at the fates suffered by both Spain and France because of an inability early on to make good financial decisions, I believe it is safe to agree with Spodek in his statement: "To build and sustain wealth, countries must be able to use wealth effectively." Both of these nations did poorly in this area.

· Dramatic population expansion from 1730 to 1770.

About the time that Spain was beginning to decline in power, another great nation was in the making. It appeared that after decades of civil war, that France would finally be getting its act together. Under Louis XIII, nobles began to invest in foreign trade both by land and sea, armies were built up, and allies were even cultivated among some of France's neighbors. His successor, Louis XIV, in his long and forceful reign, was said to have made France "the strongest country in Europe. "France set the standard throughout Europe for administration, war, diplomacy, language, thought, literature, architecture, fashion, cooking, and etiquette." France too, like Spain, began to establish oversea colonies used to gain more power and money. They began to trade in India, Madagascar, the American Great Lakes, and the Mississippi River, to establish colonies in the West Indies, and to stake a claim to Canada. They even lightly settled the inland waterways of the St. Lawrence River, as well as the Gulf Coast Louisiana. At home the story was no different. By 1690, Louis XIV had raised an army of 400,000 men. But all was not well in France.

But when Napoleon came to power following both the first and the second revolutions in 1799, it seemed that France might have a savior. By 1810, he had conquered or entered into alliances with all the major powers and regions of Europe except Portugal, the Ottoman-held Balkans, and Britain. Napoleon also helped the country to recover financially by establishing a national bank, the Bank of France, in 1803. But unfortunately, flaws in Napoleon's policies finally brought his rule, as well as the hope of France once again being a world power, to an end. Napoleon, although perhaps radical in some of his policies and views, was essentially France's last chance at regaining all that it had lost. Even his efforts appear to be too little too late though.

· Spain had no banks and instruments of exchange to store and transmit money. They lacked commercial intelligence as well as

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Approximate Word count = 1709
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)