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The Spanish Empire in its heyday used to be the most powerful empire the world had ever seen.

Over the centuries however, her power began to gradually erode away.

But the empire's lasting legacy, the Spanish language has remained a strong force in the modern world.

Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world.

Has more native speakers than English, and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Spanish is the majority language spoken in 21 different countries and territories around the world that largely mirror the historical borders of the old Spanish Empire.

So what would happen if all 21 of these countries united today and create a new and modern Spanish Empire of the 21st Century?

To begin with, the territory of this vast empire would make it the second largest country in the world.

Significantly behind Russia, in first place.

The empire would be home to a population of 452,346,000 people, which is 6% of everybody in the world.

However, that still only makes it the 3rd largest country in the world in terms of population.

Since India and China both have significantly greater numbers of people.

10% of the empire's population would live in Europe,

Less than 1% would live in Africa,

And the vast majority would live in the scattered territories of the Americas.

Mexico City would be by far the largest city in this new empire.

Followed by Buenos Aires, Bogota, Lima, and Santiago.

Out of the top 10 largest cities, only two - Madrid and Barcelona, would be located inside of Spain.

Mexico alone would count for over 1 out of 4 people in the empire *25%*.

And speaking of the population of this empire, the people who make it up would be an incredibly ethnically diverse group

Mestizos (people of mixed European and Amerindian heritage) make up the majority of this population at 60%.

While people that identify as exclusively white make up 18% of the population.

And people who identify as exclusively Amerindian or Indigenous make up a further 14%

People who identify as black make up 3%

And the remaining 5% is a mixed group of various other ethnicities.

The empire would also be overwhelmingly catholic, with 72% of this population adhering to this faith.

1 out of every 4 Catholics in the entire world would call the new Spanish Empire "home".

While a further 13% of the Empire's population would be Protestant.

And 10% would be Irreligious, Agnostic, or Atheist.

Of course, Spanish would be by far the most spoken language in the empire.

94% of the population would claim Spanish as their mother tongue.

While hundreds of various indigenous languages of the Americas would be spoken by a further 5% of the population

Economically speaking, the empire would have a GDP of 4.63 trillion US dollars, making it the fourth largest economy in the world

Behind Japan, China, and the United States

The Spanish Empire would also control the largest oil reserves in the world in modern day Venezuela.

So while gold and silver was the main commodity plundered in the New World by Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries,

oil would likely be the main commodity of the 21st century.

The Spanish Empire would also have one of the largest militaries in the world.

With 1,593,000 active duty troops,

and another 1,878,000 troops placed into reserves.

Combining the two, the Empire would have the 6th largest military in the world,

with more soldiers than either the United States or China.

The budget that would fund this military though, would be a bit lacking,

At only 51.9 billion US dollars,

The seventh largest budget in the world, ahead of the United Kingdom,

but remaining behind France, India, and Saudi Arabia.

The capitol of this new Spanish Empire might be Madrid for historical reasons,

but much more likely would actually be Mexico City,

owing to the fact that it would be the largest city in the empire,

is already the capitol city of Mexico, and is the largest city in the entire western hemisphere.

Which is where the majority of the Spanish Empire's territory and population would be located.