Thank you for the answers. I would like to comment, too, that my goal is not politics at all. This is indeed just a game. About the 'anacronism' to which Alzate refers, I would like to make some things clear (guys, now you can learn a little bit more about European history!):
Catalonia-Aragon, an Alliance of Hispanic Kingdoms, accepted a matrimonial union with Castille in 1476, with the result that all Kingdoms of Spain became united under the house of Habsburg. That means: dynastic union, not political annexation. I don't think Canada nor Australia ARE at all effects England just because they share a Monarch (indeed it implies a narrow liation). Under Emperor Charles V, for example, Austria and Spain shared a Monarch, however Austria remained Austria, and Spain, Spain. In the Catalan-Aragonese Kingdoms Catalan remained the only official language and the only authority able to pass laws was the Parlament of every Catalan Kingdom (Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and Mallorca)
As an example, the Colonization of the New World was a Castillan enterprise, and no Catalan nor Austrian nor Dutch subjects were allowed to make profit with the American trade, as they were considered foreigners, although they shared a Monarch. The Habsburg attempted repeatedly to abolish the Catalan states and turn them into provinces of a greater Spain, with little success due to the flourishing economy of the Catalan trade with the Mediterranean -with Barcelona and Valencia as its main ports- and to the skills of talented lawyers and deputies.
The Catalans revolted however many times -not for independence (they were), but against the rule of the King. In 1519-1521 because they were forced to fight the French (the Catalan laws said no one could be forced to fight in a foreign province against his will); in 1640 the Catalan Parliament considered that the Habsburgs hadn't satisfied their royal duties and elected as new Monarch the French Sun-King Louis XIV. The Castillans invaded Catalonia and France kept Roussilion. However, the Kingdom remained once more independent -'pacificated'-, though weakened.
After the last Spanish Habsburg -Charles the II- died in 1700, the Great Council of Castille chose Sun-King's nephew Philip d'Anjou to succeed the Habsburg dynasty. The Catalan Kingdoms, fearing French centralism, and making use of their institutional freedom, chose the Archduke of Austria -future Kaiser Charles VI- as Monarch, which meant the Spanish War of Succession between ca. 1700-1716. Castille and France faced Catalonia-Aragon, Austria, England, the Netherlands and Portugal (who feared a great French-Spanish power). After Castille-France won the war a peace was negotiated in which Austria got Sicily, England Gibraltar plus trade freedom with the Spanish America, and Castille got Catalonia-Aragon. Then and only then became all laws abolished and the Catalans considered as mere Castillan subjects.
For those who say that I may commit 'anachronism', I must insist on the fact that there is no such a thing as a Spanish state before 1716. The strength with which the Catalan chancelleries defended till the last point and comma of the Catalan Carta Magna (called 'Furs') in front of the pretensions of an absolut Monarch who wanted to unify all the Spanish Kingdoms under one (that is, Castille, of course) is out of consideration as 'guerrilla-freedomfighters', but as a Maquiavellian use of diplomacy, political institutions and inner Law. Catalonia-Aragon were an Alliance of states with the same King as Castille, not Castille; as Austria was a state with the same king as Spain, and not Spain.
Thank you once more for all the answers. I'll check your commentaries and promise that when I get the game the alliance of Castille with Catalonia won't be a bed of roses for the superb 'Conquistadores'...
