We explain what the Viceroyalty of New Spain was, how it was founded and its viceroys. Also, its general characteristics, economy and culture.
The Viceroyalty of New Spain existed between the 16th and 19th centuries.
What was the Viceroyalty of New Spain?
The Viceroyalty of New Spain was one of the four viceregal divisions in which the American colonies of the Spanish Empire were organized, together with the Viceroyalty of Peru, the Viceroyalty of New Granada and the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
Was the first territorial entity of this type founded by the Spanish crown in America, once the Aztec Empire was defeated. Its capital was established on the ancient city of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, current Mexico City. It was governed by the figure of a viceroy (the first was Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco), and its enormous territorial extension came to encompass territories conquered by the Spanish in North America, Central America and even portions of Asia and Oceania.
The viceroyalty It was founded in the 16th century and lasted until the 19th century.when the first and definitive social movements that led to the War of Independence that culminated in 1821 took place. The First Empire of Mexico was then established in its place.
Territorial expansion
The territory of the viceroyalty was immense. At its greatest extent it covered the entire current territory of Mexico. and the present-day United States lands of California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Florida, parts of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana; as well as the southwestern region of British Columbia, in the present-day territory of Canada.
Added to this were the territories of the current countries of Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, which formed the Captaincy General of Guatemala.
Besides, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and Guadeloupe They made up the Captaincy General of Cuba and the territories of the Philippines, Carolinas and Marianas in Asia and Oceania made up the Captaincy General of the Philippines, which, although in practice they enjoyed a certain autonomy, remained under the authority of the viceroyalty.
History of the Viceroyalty of New Spain
Background of the Viceroyalty of New Spain
Hernán Cortés proposed the name “the New Spain of the Ocean Sea.”
The war of conquest of Mexico ended in 1521 and the territory of the extinct Aztec Empire It came under the rule of the conquistador Hernán Cortés. It was he who proposed to Emperor Charles V the name “the New Spain of the Ocean Sea”, since the fertility and climate of those lands reminded him of the Iberian Peninsula.
Under the command of Cortés, the subjected indigenous population was organized to begin the agricultural, mining and coastal exploitation from the American lands, at the same time as evangelization campaigns led by Franciscan, Dominican and Augustinian missionaries began. The war against the resistant tribes lasted until the beginning of the 17th century, when they were almost exterminated.
In 1528 the Spanish crown installed a royal audience in New Spain with the aim of establishing greater judicial and government control. After complaints of corruption and mistreatment, a second royal audience was set up, chaired by the jurist and ecclesiastic Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal, who served as governor from 1530 until the founding of the viceroyalty in 1535.
Foundation of the Viceroyalty of New Spain
The Viceroyalty of New Spain was founded in 1535 and its first viceroy was the Spanish politician and military man Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco, appointed by Emperor Charles V in April of that year. Antonio de Mendoza landed in New Spain in November 1535 and served as viceroy until 1550. He then went on to govern the Viceroyalty of Peru between 1551 and 1552.
During the period of Antonio de Mendoza A mint and a printing press were installed in Mexico City, and public works were promoted.. Exploration and conquest voyages, such as those undertaken by Hernán Cortés in Baja California, continued to be encouraged, and some administrative reforms were implemented to organize the government of the viceroyalty.
Viceroys of New Spain
New Spain had 62 viceroys, of which the following stand out:
- Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco. He was the first viceroy, between 1535 and 1550. He implemented a series of administrative measures for the organization of the viceroyalty.
- Luis de Velasco. He was the successor of Mendoza and Pacheco, he ruled between 1550 and 1564 and complied with the directives of the New Laws of the crown that promoted the end of the encomienda regime.
- Martin Enriquez from Almansa. He ruled between 1568 and 1580, and under his management the Tribunal of the Holy Office was established in Mexico and the Jesuits entered New Spain.
- Antonio María de Bucarelli y Ursúa. He was viceroy between 1771 and 1779, and actively participated in promoting public works.
- Bernardo de Galvez. He held office between 1785 and 1786, and implemented organizational and enlightenment reforms.
- Juan Vicente de Guemes PachecoHe was one of the few viceroys born in America, and ruled between 1789 and 1794.
- Francisco Javier Venegas. He was viceroy between 1810 and 1813. He faced the insurrection of Miguel Hidalgo and the beginning of the War of Independence.
- Juan O’DonojúAlthough he is sometimes considered the last viceroy of New Spain, he did not actually hold that position but rather that of supreme political leader of New Spain, appointed and deposed in 1821.
War of Independence and end of the Viceroyalty
Agustín de Iturbide was in charge of the First Empire of Mexico.
The Viceroyalty of New Spain ceased to exist as a result of the War of Independence which, as in other Spanish colonies in America, It broke out after the Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808 and the subsequent imprisonment of King Ferdinand VII.
The promoters of independence took advantage of this circumstance to free themselves from the economic and political restrictions imposed on them by colonial society and had to confront militarily the royalists who defended the Spanish colonial order.
In 1810 the first independence proclamations were madestarted by the Grito de Dolores led by the priest Miguel Hidalgo, and in 1821 independence was achieved which established an autonomous government: the First Empire of Mexico, ruled by Agustín de Iturbide.
Viceregal regime
In political terms, The viceroyalty was made up of various kingdoms, general captaincies and lordshipshierarchically organized under the authority of the viceroy, who was the highest authority in the viceroyalty and obeyed the king’s orders issued from the Iberian Peninsula. The mayors and corregidors also obeyed the viceroy’s authority.
Among the kingdoms that made up the Viceroyalty of New Spain were those of Mexico, New Galicia, New Vizcaya, New Extremadura, among others. The general captaincies that were part of the viceroyalty—each with a governor and a captain general who could be the same person—were those of Yucatán, Santo Domingo, Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guatemala (which was also identified as a kingdom).
There were also two manors: The Marquisate of the Valley of Oaxaca, granted by Emperor Charles V to Hernán Cortés and his descendants, and the duchy of Atlixco, granted in the 18th century by King Felipe V to José Sarmiento de Valladares, who had previously been viceroy.
Although the viceroy was at the top of the political organization of the viceroyalty and his authority was particularly strong in the central area of Mexico, Government of more remote areas depended largely on governors or audiencesThe mayors and corregidors who acted at the local level were usually subordinate to the audiences. In turn, the Council of the Indies usually decided on legislative and judicial issues, and on matters involving indigenous populations throughout the territory administered by the Spanish crown in America.
Since the Bourbon reforms of the late 18th century, the mayoralty regime was established by which the king of Spain directly appointed mayors in the twelve territorial entities that bore that name and that dealt with administrative and finance decisions under greater control of the crown.
The viceregal society
Mestizos were usually descendants of Spaniards and indigenous women.
The society of New Spain during the colonial era was made up of social strata that used to be defined in racial terms. This is how whites (peninsular Spaniards and Creoles born in the viceroyalty) were distinguished from the indigenous people who had survived the conquest (who, along with their descendants, were subordinated to the Spanish) and the slaves brought from Africa, who were called blacks, incorporated early on in the performance of various tasks such as mining or agricultural work.
The indigenous people were decimated not only by the violence of the conquest but also by the mistreatment and diseases introduced by the Spanish. On the other hand, over the centuries A phenomenon of interbreeding occurred between populations of European, indigenous and African origin. which was interpreted by Europeans as a kind of order of castes, each of which had its own name:
- Half Blood. Of Spanish and indigenous descent.
- Mulatto. Descendant of Spanish and black.
- Baboon. Descendant of indigenous and black people.
- Castizo. Of Spanish and mestizo descent.
- MoorishDescendant of a Spaniard and a mulatto.
- AlbinoDescendant of Spanish and Moorish.
From these categories, others emerged that were part of the way of understanding ethnic differences in the time of the viceroyalty.
Viceregal economy
The economy of the viceroyalty was based mainly on the extraction of natural resources (especially gold and silver mining) as well as on agricultural production on farms (of native species, such as tobacco, corn and potatoes; or imported, such as sugar cane). To this end, Forced indigenous labor and contingents of slaves of African origin were used.
Trade was controlled by the Casa de Contrataciónbased in Seville, and depended on the system of fleets and galleons that helped protect ships from piracy. Much of what was extracted in the territories of New Spain was sent to the peninsula.
The crown imposed on its colonies a model of commercial restrictions that guaranteed control and the greatest benefit of all economic activity in their viceroyalties. Despite the commercial monopoly, smuggling and piracy proliferated enormously in viceregal territory and waters, especially promoted by the British crown, the main enemy of the Spanish Empire at this time.
The role of the Church
The Catholic Church was responsible for implementing Christian moral codes in New Spain.
After the…