Treaty of Paris Signed: Spanish Empire Ends
Spain ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States under the Treaty of Paris, ratified by the Senate on February 6, 1899, by a single vote more than the required two-thirds majority. The US paid Spain million for the Philippines, a transaction that turned America into a colonial power controlling territories across two oceans. Cuba was granted nominal independence under the Platt Amendment, which gave the US the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and maintain a naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The Philippines resisted American rule immediately: the Philippine-American War broke out three days before the treaty was ratified and killed over 200,000 Filipino civilians through combat, disease, and famine. The treaty ended four centuries of Spanish colonial presence in the Americas and Pacific, transferring that imperial burden to a nation that had fought its own revolution against colonial rule 123 years earlier.
February 6, 1899
127 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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