Why didn’t Spain colonize?

Sorry for my second Spain-related post in the span of a few days, but I’m curious.

Why did Spain largely sit out the scramble for Africa? Why didn’t they expand more into Indonesia/Pacifica?
 
Spain had multiple civil wars in the 19th century and their existing imperial possessions (Cuba and the Philippines) were on the brink of revolt. Spain couldn't afford to take on more territory. Also, Spain faced considerable competition from the UK in the areas that interested them the most (Caribbean and Mediterranean).
 

Vuu

Banned
Their American colonies were enough, and their system of colonization (and state administration in general) was absolutely moronic, and they're lucky to not have exploded to smithereens.
 
But Spain did not sit out the Scramble for Africa. It got Western Sahara and it technically had claims to the Bight of Biafra which it never tried to pursue (except for Rio Muni, now the continental part of Equatorial Guinea).

It's not much, but Spain did not press for further for reasons stated above.
 
Essentially Spain was destroyed by the Peninsular War and was in a state of constant warfare from 1808 (1804 if we count the wars against England) to 1826, fighting a fourteen year-long colonial war in the Americas. After that Spain was left without ships, cash or army and right after the Carlist War erupted and ruined any modernisation attempt. After that Spain just kept fighting against itself, except for a brief period in which general O'Donnell tried to center the attention of the country with foreign wars (Spain invaded Vietnam, Morocco, the Dominican Republic and Mexico while also being at war with Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile). If somehow his unstable expansive government survived longer maybe we could have Spain control a large chunk of Africa, probably Cameroon, Gabon and some other extra colonies. Then the 1868 revolution happened and the Cuban Wars began. Spain had too many troubles trying to control Cuba and the Philippines to really care for Africa. After all, these two colonies were mostly developed and more valuable than any land the Spanish could get in Africa at the point. After the Spanish-American War there was a surge in African colonialism, but it was too late already. If we want a Spanish African empire we'd have to either keep a militaristic and aggressive Spain or for it to lose Cuba before the Berlin Conference.
 
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