Definition of Viceroyalty of New Spain

The territories conquered or occupied under the colonizing regime have to organize, structure and structure themselves in some way, which a posteriori can also condition their future.

In the case of the dominions in Central and North America that the Spanish crown had from the beginning of the conquest, until its independence in the 19th century, these were organized in the so-called Viceroyalty of New Spain.

The Viceroyalty of New Spain is a geopolitical entity dependent on the Spanish crown, which united, from 1535 to 1821, the territories it had in Central and North America.

The Philippines were also included, islands that the Spanish arrived without colonizing in 1521, but were colonized after 1564.

Despite the fact that the official creation date of the Viceroyalty dates back to 1535, we can trace the history of the Viceroyalty to the conquest of Tenochtitlan by Hernán Cortés, the destruction of the city, and its reconstruction already like Mexico.

Cortés himself, in a memorandum addressed to Emperor Charles V in 1520, suggested the creation of an entity geopolitics called New Spain, a term that would end up making a fortune and that would be sanctioned in 1535 by means of a royal decree.

Cortés himself would build his little empire in the new world from his own conquests under the name of New Spain.

The articulation of the new territories was based on the resettlement of indigenous populations subjected to population centers of a certain size, seeking to adapt the distribution of the territory to the prevailing system in Spain.

In the same way, it was sought to mold the social organization Spanish style, although certain physical infrastructures, populations, traditions and indigenous social uses in the new organization, both territorial and social.

The dominions of the Viceroyalty were expanding until the XIX century, when it reached its maximum expansion, just before Louisiana lost to the French.

At that time, the Viceroyalty included what is currently Mexico, the entire coast west and the center of the current territory of the United States until reaching, more or less, what would currently be the southern tip of the state of Alaska, to the south the Florida Peninsula, Cuba, the current Republic Dominicana, northern Venezuela, the Philippines and some islands in the Pacific.

Organizationally, these territories were divided into kingdoms and captaincies. In 1786 the system of intendancies was introduced, which had reached the Spanish metropolis from France, and that gave good results in the peninsular territory, going from there to the colonial domains Hispanics.

The end of the Viceroyalty as a political entity comes with the constitution of Cádiz of 1812, carried out during the War of the Independence against the French Napoleonic troops, and that divided the Viceroyalty into dependent provinces each directly from Madrid.

The idea of ​​that Constitution It was liberal in nature to grant the same rights to the peninsular and colonial Spanish territories, in such a way as to create a single state entity divided between two hemispheres.

In the Cortes of Cádiz there were also representatives of the overseas territories, including the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

Despite the fact that the Constitution of Cádiz was abolished by Fernando VII in 1814, the fate of the Viceroyalty was already sealed, and also by another phenomenon: the American independence movements.

But that's another story.

Photo: Fotolia - heritage

Themes in Viceroyalty of New Spain