The Chincha Islands War (Spanish: Guerra Hispano-Peruana, Guerra Hispano-Chilena, Spanish-Peruvian War or Spanish-Chilean War, the name changing depending on the nationality of the author) was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru and Chile from 1864 to 1866, that began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's ...
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The Chincha Islands War (Spanish: Guerra Hispano-Peruana, Guerra Hispano-Chilena, Spanish-Peruvian War or Spanish-Chilean War, the name changing depending on the nationality of the author) was a series of coastal and naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru and Chile from 1864 to 1866, that began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a series of attempts by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost influence in its former South American empire.
Military expenditure had greatly increased during Isabel's reign, with Spain becoming as a consequence the world's fourth naval power. Isabel's reign saw Spain engaged in colonial adventures in the 1850s and 1860s in regions as disparate as Morocco, Indochina, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic (which it briefly reoccupied.)
At the end of 1862, Isabel sent a "scientific expedition" to South American waters, with a second, hidden purpose of backing the financial and legal claims of Spanish...
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