Sandra+G.+(2ºD)

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Spain.
Spain is a country located in Europe. Most part of Spain is on the Iberian Peninsula, except the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and two autonomous cities in the North of Africa: Ceuta and Melilla. It belongs to the European Union. Spain is divided into 17 different autonomous communities and 50 provinces. It is multilingual country. Its official language is the spanish and its co-official languages are:

Intruduction.
Gaspar de Guzmán and Pimentel Ribera and Velasco de Tovar was born the 6th of January of 1587 in Rome and died the 22nd of July of 1645 in Spain. He was a spanish noble and politician, the third Count of Olivares, the first Duke of Sanlúcar la Mayor, the fist Margrave of Heliche, the first Count of Arzarcóllar and the first prince of Aracena. He was known as Conde Duque de Olivares (Count Duke of Olivares).

[[image:openclassmariajesuscampos/conde.jpg width="147" height="185"]]
Portrait made by Diego Velazquez.

Family.
He was from a noble family. His father, Enrique de Guzmán, was embassador of Spain, Count of Olivares and Duke of Sanlúcar el Mayor. His mother was María Pimentel de Fonseca. He had two eldest brothers. His mother died young.

Count Enrique de Guzman (Count-Duke of Olivares' Father)

Early life.
In 1559 he became a student rector at Salamanca University, but as his two eldest brothers died very young, he became the heir of his family. In 1604 he had to leave his studies to help his father in the court of Philip III. When his father died in 1607, he married to his cousin Inés de Zúñiga y Velasco. After his marriage, he stayed eight years in Sevilla.

Count-Duke of Olivares when he was young

Rise to Power.
When Philip IV ascended the throne in 1621 he showed his confidence in Olivares by ordering that all papers requiring the royal signature should first be sent to the count-duke. Olivares told his uncle de Zúñiga that he was now "all" – the dominant force at court he had become what is known in Spain as a "valido", something more than a prime minister, the favourite and alter ego of the king.

Goverment.
Count-Duke of Olivares came to power with a desire to commit the monarchy to a 'crusade of reform' with his early recommendations being extremely radical. The heart of the problem, Olivares felt, was Spain's moral and spiritual decline. Olivares was concerned that Spain was too attached to the idea of limpieza de sangre, 'purity of blood', and worried about Castilians' disinclination for manual work. For Olivares, the concept of Spain was centred on the monarchy and Philip IV as a person. Over time, Olivares began to suffer under his tremendous workload, developing sleeping disorders and, later in life, clearly suffering from mental illness.

For twenty-two years Olivares directed Spain's foreign policy. It was a period of constant war, and finally of disaster abroad and of rebellion at home. Olivares' foreign policy was based around his assessment that Philip IV was surrounded by jealous rivals across Europe, who wished to attack his position as a champion of the Catholic Church; in particular, Olivares saw the rebellious Dutch as a key enemy.

Count-Duke of Olivares

Fall from Power.
Olivares' fall from power occurred for several reasons. The revolts in Catalonia and Portugal proved the immediate factor, placing the stability of Spain itself in doubt, but other factors played a part. Olivares increasingly suffered from mental illness in his later years. He had also increasingly alienated the other Castilian nobility

Dipity about Count-Duke of Olivares.
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Prezi about Count-Duke of Olivares.
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