Editing Spanish Navy (section)

===Origins: the Middle Ages===
[[File:Bataille de la Rochelle.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Battle of La Rochelle]], 1372]]
The roots of the modern Spanish Navy date back to before the unification of Spain. By the late [[Middle Ages]], the two principal kingdoms that would later combine to form Spain, [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] and [[Crown of Castile|Castile]], had developed powerful fleets. Aragon possessed the third largest navy in the late medieval Mediterranean, although its capabilities were exceeded by those of [[Venetian Republic|Venice]] and (until overtaken in the 15th century by those of Aragon) [[Genoese Republic|Genoa]]. In the 14th and 15th centuries, these naval capabilities enabled Aragon to assemble the largest collection of territories of any European power in the Mediterranean, encompassing the [[Balearics]], Sardinia, [[Sicily]], southern Italy and, briefly, the [[Duchy of Athens]].

Castile meanwhile used its naval capacities to conduct its [[Reconquista]] operations against the [[Moors]], capturing [[Cádiz]] in 1232 and also to help the French Crown against England in the [[Hundred Years' War]]. In 1375, a Castilian fleet destroyed a large English fleet at Bourgneuf, and Castilian ships raided the English coast. As Castile developed long-lasting trade relationships with towns in the [[Low Countries]] of the Netherlands and [[Flanders]], the [[English Channel]] virtually became the "Spanish Channel."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Riddle |first1=John M. |title=A History of the Middle Ages, 300–1500 |date=2016 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |page=459}}</ref> In 1402, a Castilian expedition led by [[Juan de Bethencourt]] conquered the [[Canary Islands]] for [[Henry III of Castile]]. In 1419, the Castilians [[Battle of La Rochelle (1419)|defeated]] the German [[Hanseatic League]] at sea and excluded them from the [[Bay of Biscay]].

In the 15th century, Castile entered into a race of exploration with [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]], the country that inaugurated the European [[Age of Discovery]]. In 1492, two [[caravel]]s and a [[carrack]], commanded by [[Christopher Columbus]], arrived in America, on an expedition that sought a westward oceanic passage across the Atlantic, to the Far East. This began the era of trans-oceanic trade routes, pioneered by the Spanish in the seas to the west of Europe and the Portuguese to the east.