Concept in Definition ABC

Although the form of the viceroyalty was largely linked to the history of the America colonial, this does not mean that it had been created specifically for that portion of the Empire Spanish if not that it already existed and was, as might be expected, one of the most important political-legal spaces into which the aforementioned empire was divided.

During the reign of the Catholic kings (15th century), the accumulation of huge territories because of this marriage and future conquests, made the Spanish Empire difficult to control directly. For that, the kings created the form of viceroyalty that could be defined as a regional division within the empire. That portion of land was directed by the viceroy, the most important and direct official in the scale hierarchical below King. Being large extensions of land, normally all functions could be controlled by the viceroy, whether they were political, economic, social and legal functions.

In the case of America, the territories should have been organized in this way since, due to the

distance of the same with Spain, the presence of the Spanish kings on duty became impossible. Thus, the Spanish Crown organized the conquered regions into viceroyalties that were, in general, very extensive and abundant (therefore difficult to control even if the officials were in they). The most important viceroyalties of the colonial period were those of New Spain (current territories of Mexico and Central America), Peru and New Granada (territory current Venezuela). The case of South America was a separate case since the territories would not be exploited and organized as a viceroyalty until 1776, at which time the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was established.

This viceroyalty would be the one that would last the shortest time since almost forty years later the wars of independence between the Creole and Spanish revolutionaries who would make the power of the Spanish Crown end up disappearing from these regions of the planet.

Topics in Viceroyalty