a) Viceroyalty of New Spain (1521-1820)
b) Viceroyalty of the Antilles (1823-1828)
c) Provinces of the Antilles (1828 to 1844) and
d) Autonomous Provinces of the Antilles (1844 to date)
Viceroyalty of New Spain[]
Plus Ultra (Latin) ("Further Beyond") | ||||||
| Anthem | "Marcha Real (Royal March)" | |||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Ciudad de México (Mexico City) | |||||
| Language Official |
Spanish | |||||
| Others | Nahuatl, Mayan, Indigenous languages, Philippine languages | |||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | |||||
| Ethnic Groups Main |
European (Spanish) | |||||
| Others | Native Americans and Philippines | |||||
| Government | Colony of the Kingdom of Spain | |||||
| King | ||||||
| Habsburg | ||||||
| Viceroy | ||||||
| Established | 1521-1820 (dissolved) | |||||
| Currency | Spanish dollar (real de ocho), and Real | |||||
Viceroyalty of New Spain (Spanish: Virreinato de Nueva España) was a Spanish Imperial territory and later a colonial governance in the New World north of the Isthmus of Panama. Its capital was Mexico City, the most prosperous and largest of the cities in colonial Spanish America.
It was established following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, and following additional conquests, it was made a viceroyalty (Spanish: virreinato) in 1535. The first of four viceroyalties Spain created in the Americas.
The viceroyalty compromised Mexico, unclaimed lands north of California, Central America, the Spanish West Indies (Cuba, Puerto Rico, etc.), Florida, and eventually, the Philippines and other Pacific islands.
The Latin American Wars of Independence broke up New Spain in the following newly large independent states of:
Mexican Empire
Central America.
The remaining territories that remained part of the Kingdom of Spain were amalgamated as the Viceroyalty of Antilles in 1823.
Organization of New Spain[]
The vast territory of New Spain is organized as audiencias and captaincies generals as follows:
- Royal audiencias of
- Santo Domingo (1511, effective 1526, predated the Viceroyalty)
- Mexico (1527, predated the Viceroyalty)
- Panama (1st one, 1538–1543)
- Guatemala (1543)
- Guadalajara (1548)
- Manila (1583)
- Captaincies General of
- Santo Domingo (1535) until its annexation by Haiti in 1812.
- Philippines (1574)
- Puerto Rico (1580)
- Cuba (1607), included Spanish Florida, or La Florida, in North America
- Guatemala (1609)
- Yucatán (1617)
The Antilles[]
Plus Ultra (Latin) ("Further Beyond") | ||||
| Anthem | "Marcha Real (Royal March 1823-1828), Himno de Riego (1828-1841), Viva Iberia (1841 to date)" | |||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Havana | |||
| Language Official |
Spanish and Portuguese (co-officials) | |||
| Others | Catalan, Basque, Galician, Portuñol and several creole languages | |||
| Religion Main |
Secular state | |||
| Others | Roman Catholic, Islam, Protestantism, Judaism, Non-Religious, Deism (Cult of Reason) and Atheism | |||
| Ethnic Groups Main |
European (Iberian) | |||
| Others | Africans | |||
| Demonym | Cuban, Puerto Rican and Floridan | |||
| Government | Colony of Spain (1823-1841) / Iberia (1841 to date) | |||
| Governor-general of the Antilles | Óliver Tejedor | |||
| Established | 1823 to date | |||
| Currency | Spanish dollar (real de ocho, ...-1825), Real (...-1825), Spanish peseta (1825-1844), Iberian maravedí (M, 1844 to date) | |||
The Autonomous Provinces of the Antilles (Provincias Autonomas de las Antillas) is an administrative governance of Iberia. It was created as the Viceroyalty of the Antilles (1823-1828), a former colonial governance of the Spanish Empire. It later became the Provinces of the Antilles (1828 to 1844) under the Spanish Republic, and finally as part of Iberia it became present Autonomous Provinces of the Antilles.
As a Viceroyalty it was established from the loyalist and colonial territories that remained part of Spain with the exception of the Philippines that had its governorship administered directly by Spain. The viceregal capital, and today chief administrative center is Havana, Cuba.
The idea of a Caribbean viceroyalty was a project long thought in the 17th and 18th century as a means to have a more direct control and protection of the sea lines that connect mainland New Spain and Spain. However resistance of colonial authorities had shelved these proposals. With the Mexican and Central American independence the idea was dusted off and quickly implemented after the independence of Mexico. For some time it was planned to be used the Antilles as a springboard from Cuba to military reconquer Mexico.
Under the Spanish Republic in 1828 the viceroyalty became an oversea province with a governor-general appointed by the president but maintaining the same administration until the autonomic constitutions that gave self government that dissolved the regional administration of the Antilles. Since 1828 the existing common bodies that all the territories have are: The Audiencia of the Antilles, court of second instance for civil and penal cases. The Governor-general is the commander in chief of the Territorial Army, Antillean Patrol Service, Air Corps, Marine Corps of the Antilles and of the Fleet of Maritime Safety and Rescue.
The Spanish Antilles gained an economic importance due to the sugar, tobacco and coffee production of Cuba and to a lesser extend for being an important commercial hub of the Caribbean.
However the Cuban and Floridan demands for self government and freedom of trade were frequently ignored by the metropolitan Iberia. By the end of the 19th century, slavery was officially abolished in the Antilles.
Organization of the Spanish Antilles[]
The Antilles compromises the following territories:
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