During the early 16th Century, Spain was a European powerhouse. The 16th century, Spain was considered to be in its "Golden Age," because during that time the Spanish Empire expanded their empire into the New World, and really banked on that. Spain also rose to power in many different ways during the 16th century, not only by expanding their empire through conquest but also through political standpoints and economic. The 16th Century Spain was one of the most strongest powers in Europe. During that time, Spain was able to collect copious amounts of wealth from their land in the New World. For example, Christopher Columbus discovered many areas in the Caribbean as well as South America. Spain then owned them, which then allowed Spain's empire to increase their presence into the New World. Spain's new land provided them with many riches such as gold, silver, and a lot of raw goods to fuel their economy. Spain was truly a rising empire. Exploration was very key in Spain's empire, and it fueled their rising as well. Many explorers contributed to Spain's success as an amazing empire by the discovering new lands. The most prestigious discoveries and conquests made by these explorers were, the conquest of the Incan Empire and the discovering of Mexico, the conquest of the Aztec Empire, and the Bahamas, which Spain all claimed. One of the most important things that helped Spain tremendously is Spain taking control of the gold and silver mines in their new lands which increased Spain's wealth and resources. From all the riches that their new lands provided Spain was truly the strongest among the other empires at this time. Spain had many problems that led to their downfall as the most powerful empire. One of the main reasons was the poor decisions made by the monarchy and government at the time which could have been greatly prevented if assessed more carefully. The main issue that Spain experienced was not trading with other countries beca