The period closest in time to the present was characterised by the gradual political unification of what is now Spain by the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties. These four hundred years witnessed the discovery of America, unprecedented territorial expansion, and the gradual reduction of this territory in the years leading up to the beginning of the 19th century as the various viceroyalties claimed independence and formed their own countries. The chronological exhibition concludes with the creation of the National Archaeological Museum by Isabella II in 1867.