I agree...i do like the Spanish...and i like all the other civs as well...and i agree that Spain got its share of being kicked...but there is no question historically than Spain was by FAR the most powerful nation early into the colonization period. Its simply because mercantalism was not the predominant economic style of the time...they still depended on bullionism. And thus gold=power. So Ottomans were probably number two in power (perhaps even one), since they controlled all east west trade by land, and Portugal number three, since they controlled all east west trade by sea (Venice interestingly got left behind, and though they were happy to see the Byzantines fall, they expected to pick up the east west business, not the Ottomans). And Spain was number one because they ran into a culture that used gold for simple decoration and called it "the sweat of the Earth" because it was so common - the Inca.
And yes, the dutch and english did have their turns at kicking the spanish - much later, however. During the reign of Phillip II. His predeccesor, Charles V ruled Spain, Germany, and the SPANISH Netherlands (as they were known at the time) much of Italy and Sicily, ALL of North and South America, with the exception of Brazil. Hence the contemporary expression "when Spain marches, the world trembles."
Notice how i had said in my past post "before the Armada" - primarily because the Reformation wars that Charles and Phillip took Spain into bankrupted the country. And the mines in Upper Peru (Bolivia) and Lower Peru (Peru) were starting to dry up. And the English Privateers and the Buccanneers were starting to raid the bi-annual treasure fleet (why the Spanish occupied Flordida). At the time period i was referring to, your rankings of power are completely wrong....Spain and Portugal (though Portugal was all economic and had a weak military) were far, far more powerful than France (this around the time of the spider king and prior...France's true power was Louis IV and then Napoleon), and England was considered a nuisance (pre-Elizabethan England was simply not a strong country at this time...they were strong earlier during the Hundred Years War and such, and strong later, but at this time they were a mess).
The biggest problems arose when mercantalism became the dominant economic system. The Spanish had developed their colonies all wrong for such a system, and when the English finally got around the Spanish Navy after the Armada (prior to it, no one would dare engage it in a head on confrontation), they developed colonies to support an industrialized home nation. But since Spain had hit the motherlode for gold and silver, they thought they wouldn't need industry, as they could buy what they wanted. So while Spain had gold, they controlled the economy of every single European power, but once it began to run out, they were left with nothing but agriculture and a powerful military. So they tried to hold on to their power with the military, but the military power couldn't last long without economic backing, so Spain's power collapsed.
The other large problem was religion...Spain's rulers were adamantly determined to do its best to prevent the Reformation, but they failed, and bankrupted several nations, dropped the Hapsburgs from power everywhere but Austria and would (along with Hapsburg genetic troubles resulting from too much intermarrying) herald the War of the Spanish Succession, which would, though not as large as Wars like the Thirty Years War, remake the power structure in Europe, putting the Bourbons (now Spain and France) ahead of the Hapsburgs (previously Spain and Germany) for the first time, losing the Hapsburg Spanish the French hated so much, and prompting the French King to whisper that "there are no Pyrennes," launching a set of wars that united several nations against the Bourbons. Which is when the French rose to their heights in power. The English rose to theirs when they conquered India. And lost it when they lost India.
And i agree...the Native Population WAS slaughtered, as i said earlier. I think Spain, as a culture, has committed perhaps the worst crimes of any culture in the name of God, essentially annihilating entire civilizations, along with their history and culture. But as i said, i found them interesting because of the contrast. The extreme horrors as well as the adamant honor. When you say "better than they were," if you mean as in power, than, no i am not making them better than they were, as they really were that powerful. But if you meant morally, i apologize for that. I think (people are going to hate me for this and i'll say sorry now) that European culture, including Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, etc. has committed some of the most unforgivable acts in history. But then again, so has the United States. And Islamic cultures. And every other culture for that matter. But the reason i brought that up is because i liked Spain for the "what if" of if they had done things correctly, and if we would be typing this in Spanish rather than English. But people like to play Britain, because the Spanish DID mess up, and Britain capitalized upon that, and now, we are typing in English.