Introduction
This chapter examines the Spanish expansion into the Mediterranean basin during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as the monarchy sought to forge a multicontinental empire at the heart of the Old World. It talks about the fact that the early modern Spanish Empire is often thought of as an Atlantic empire, one that arose as a result of the Castilian colonies of the Caribbean and, later, the American mainland. It also provides a reminder that during the early decades of overseas expansion, Spain looked to the east as much as it did to the west. The chapter seeks to address historical discrepancies by analyzing arguments that fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Spaniards developed in order to justify acts of war and conquest in the context of the Mediterranean. It connects Spain's Mediterranean imperial project to its Atlantic corollary, reviewing the ways in which the Mediterranean experience sometimes informed and influenced Spanish arguments justifying war and conquest in the Americas.