<Li> Exploiting the resources of the Americas (gold, silver, sugar) and trading with Asia (porcelain, spices, silk) </Li> <Li> Excluding other European powers from the possessions it claimed in the New World </Li> <P> Spain came across an imperial reality without finding profits at the beginning . It did stimulate some trade and industry, but the trading opportunities encountered were limited . Therefore, Spain started to invest in America with the creation of cities, because Spain was in America due to religious reasons . Matters began to change in the 1520s with the large - scale extraction of silver from the rich deposits of Mexico's Guanajuato region, but it was the opening of the silver mines in Mexico's Zacatecas and Potosí in Upper Peru (modern - day Bolivia) in 1546 that became legendary . During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US $1.5 trillion (1990 terms) in gold and silver received from New Spain . These imports contributed to inflation in Spain and Europe from the last decades of the 16th century . The vast imports of silver also made local manufactures uncompetitive and ultimately made Spain overly dependent on foreign sources of raw materials and manufactured goods . "I learnt a proverb here", said a French traveler in 1603: "Everything is dear in Spain except silver". The problems caused by inflation were discussed by scholars at the School of Salamanca and the arbitristas . The natural resource abundance provoked a decline in entrepreneurship as profits from resource extraction are less risky . The wealthy preferred to invest their fortunes in public debt (juros). The Hapsburg dynasty spent the Castilian and American riches in wars across Europe on behalf of Hapsburg interests, and declared moratoriums (bankruptcies) on their debt payments several times . These burdens led to a number of revolts across the Spanish Hapsburg's domains, including their Spanish kingdoms, but the rebellions were put down . </P> <P> With the death of Ferdinand II of Aragon, and the supposed incompetence to rule of his daughter, Queen Juana of Castile and Aragon, Charles of Ghent became Charles I of Castile and Aragon . He was the first Hapsburg monarch of Spain and co-ruler of Spain with his mother . Charles had been raised in northern Europe and his interests remained those of Christian Europe . The continuing threat of the Ottoman Turks in the Mediterranean and Central Europe also occupied the monarch . While not directly an inheritance, Charles was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire after the death of his grandfather Emperor Maximilian thanks to prodigious bribes paid to the prince - electors . Charles became the most powerful Christian ruler in Europe, but his Ottoman rival, Suleiman the Magnificent, challenged Charles for primacy in Europe . France made an unprecedented but pragmatic alliance with the Muslim Ottomans against Hapsburg political power and the Ottomans assisted German Protestant princes in the religious conflicts tearing Christian unity apart in Northern Europe . Simultaneously, the overseas lands claimed by Spain in the New World proved to be a source of wealth and the crown was able to assert greater control over its overseas possessions in the political and religious spheres than was possible on Iberian peninsula or in Europe . The conquests of the Aztec Empire and the Inca Empire brought vast indigenous civilizations into the Spanish Empire and the mineral wealth, particularly silver, were identified and exploited, becoming the economic lifeblood of the crown . Under Charles, Spain and its overseas empire in the Americas became deeply entwined, with the crown enforcing Catholic exclusivity; exercising crown primacy in political rule, unencumbered by claims of an existing aristocracy; and defending its claims against other European powers . In 1558 he abdicated his throne of Spain to his son, Philip, leaving the ongoing conflicts to his heir . </P>

Which enterprise in the spanish colonies was most profitable