It was not poorer than the North at all, between the renaissance and early industrial revolution, Spain minted the first global reserve currency, which was the 8 Real coin, it was the currency any occidental nation would use to trade with the oriental world, it was the coin China expected when trading with the west. Spain had produced some of the more important First Reich Kings (""""holy roman emperors""""") Architecture, Infrastructure, Education, Art, Spain was nearly matched with Florence and Rome in all of these in the 17th century, and well above France, all of them were well beyond any of the germanic shitholes in which your people lived. North America? You were a gigantic ghetto, mudstreets and literally shitholes (you had no sewage treatment plants in your cities) well until the early 19th century. It cannot be understated just how much shitter AngloAmerica was than HispanoAmerica, LusoAmerica and FrancoAmerica, you guys were clowned by pretty much everyone that matters, is just that you never read about it because you're historically illiterate.