The
Spanish Golden Age ( , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise and decline of the
Spanish Habsburg dynasty.
El Siglo de Oro does not imply precise dates and is usually considered to have lasted longer than an actual century. It begins no earlier than 1492, with the end of the
Reconquista (Reconquest), the sea voyages of
Christopher Columbus to the
New World, and the publication of
Antonio de Nebrija's
Gramática de la lengua castellana (Grammar of the Castilian Language). Politically, it ends no later than 1659, with the
Treaty of the Pyrenees, ratified between France and
Habsburg Spain. The last great writer of the period,
Pedro Calderón de la Barca, died in 1681, and his death usually is considered the end of
El Siglo de Oro in the arts and literature.