I am an American living in Spain and am impressed by the architecture and wealth on display. I spent the weekend in Madrid with a girl from the Dominican Republic. While she admires loves the architecture and art here, she feels frustrated by how much of this came from empire-building. She claimed at one point "Europe would be nothing without the wealth they took from America."

This is a sweeping statement, but I am curious how much of it is true. Of course, I understand a lot of it is true - for example, the fact Spain brought so much gold from their empire to the point of devaluation - but to what extent?

I apologize if this is too vague of a question. Thank you for your help.