That Spain’s contribution to the independence of the United States is duly recognized in the official celebrations in 2026. This is the objective pursued by the Ramón Areces Foundation and the Spanish Queen Sofia Institute in their initiative “America&Spain250‘, opened yesterday the first days dedicated to the commemoration of 250 years of relations between the two countries. The event will be closed today by Queen Doña Sofía, after having chaired the annual meeting of the latter board yesterday.
Two days in total in which the most respected American and Spanish historians will present their views on a relationship that began when Charles III publicly declared his decision not to recognize the United States as a country, while at the same time supporting the colonists in their war for independence against Great Britain. The Spanish Prime Minister, Count of Floridablanca, warned even then: “The fate of the interests of the colonies is very important to us and we will do everything that circumstances allow us to do for them.” Since then, Spain has contributed decisively to the emancipation of the United States, although France went down in history as its great ally.
In conferences and round tables, scholars will analyse not only this period, but also such important aspects as shared history, the image each country has of the other, cultural relations and the challenges of teaching Spanish history, art, culture and language. The director of the Royal Academy of History, Carmen Iglesias, already presented the historical context of Spain’s involvement in this conflict yesterday.
The first day was also attended by the American historian Richard Kagan, one of the great specialists in modern Spain, who this Wednesday already raised one of the key points of the ABC conference: “As I will explain in my talk, the history of Spain should be studied as part of Europe and the Atlantic world. Its crises and splendours must be compared with what happened in other countries. The problem of classical Hispanism is that it sees Spain as if it were alone in the world, but no.
Today it is the historian’s turn Gonzalo M. Quinteroauthor of the biography “Bernardo Gálvez: a Spanish hero in the US War of Independence” (Allianz, 2021); the writer and diplomat Eduardo Garrigueswhich will analyse the future of both powers in the 18th century, and Manuel LucenaResearcher at the Higher Center for Scientific Research who will focus on the 19th and 20th centuries.
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