Navalism and Imperial Culture in Spain: The origins and celebration of the Chincha Islands War (1834–1868)

The article examines how the Chincha Islands War led to the consolidation and socialization of Spanish navalism, understood as a language of legitimacy that sought the regeneration of the monarchy through the identification of its citizens with the Real Armada and the consolidation of the latter as a modern instrument of imperial power and international prestige. In the first section we explain how, from 1834 to 1862, liberal intellectuals and politicians strove to promote the public cult of the navy. We will then illustrate how the development of the Spanish-South American conflict enabled a large cohort of state, civilian and ecclesiastical agents to spread among the population the maritime mythology elaborated during the previous decades.