Joseph I of Spain (7 January 1768 - 28 July 1844) was the elder brother of Napoleon I of France and the first Bonapartist monarch of Spain. A deeply unpopular ruler for much of his reign, Joseph's reign is referred to as the "Josephite Era," in which he attempted to introduce French culture, social norms and tastes to Spain, which was deeply resisted. During his reign, Spain lost the entirety of its American empire due to treaties forcing them to relinquish claims upon territories in the Caribbean to the United States and the broad defeats of beleaguered Spanish armies at the hands of independence movements in South America and Mexico. By 1824, the Spanish empire had collapsed completely. Joseph resisted his brother's attempts to integrate Spain into the Empire during the 1820's, fearing t