United Empire of the Spains (The Legacy of the Glorious)

The United Empire of the Spains is a sovereign state located in southwestern Europe in the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British territory of Gibraltar; to the north by France and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.

History
See Kingdom of Spain (The Legacy of the Glorious) for events between 1868 and 1890

For centuries after the independence of Portugal in the 12th century, many attempts were made to re-unify all nations in the Iberian Peninsula under the same flag. The one attempt that could have been most successful was the birth of Miguel da Paz, descendant of both the Catholic Monarchs and the Kings of Portugal, but who died at the age of two. The Iberian Union under kings Felipe II and Felipe III was another attempt, but the Portuguese managed to win their independence back in 1640.

It would not be until the late 19th century that another chance could happen. During the Portuguese Civil War, a good part of the Portuguese Royal Family died at the hands of the Republican rebels, and the last male direct heir, Afonso VII, was killed a few months after the end of the war. The nearest heir was Queen Antonia of Spain, aunt of Afonso VII, and the two nations' governments decided to hold a referendum to let the people vote on whether they wished to unite in one nation. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of unification, and after a Constitutional Convention to write a new Carta Magna, the United Empire of the Spains was formed.