Captaincy

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Captaincy

A captaincy is a historical administrative division

Administrative division

|align="right"| |}Administrative divisions are divisions of a political division. In other words, they are designated portions of a country....
of the former Spanish

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
and Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
colonial empire

Colonial empire

The Colonial empires were a product of the European Age of Exploration that began with a race of exploration between the then most advanced maritime powers, Portugal and Spain, in the 15th century....
s. Each was governed by a captain general

Captain General

Captain General is a high military rank and a Governor title....
.

In the Portuguese Empire
In the Portuguese Empire

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history and also the earliest and longest lived of the modern European Colonialism empires, spanning almost six centuries, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the handover of Macau in 1999....
, captaincies (capitanias, in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
) were the administrative divisions and hereditary fief

Fiefdom

Under the system of feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritance lands or revenue-producing property granted by a Allegiance lord, generally to a vassal, in return for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon....
s of the Portuguese state in some of its colonies.

Before the discovery of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
(1500), there were captaincies in the Portuguese Atlantic possessions of Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portugal archipelago in the north Atlantic Ocean that lies between and . It is one of the Autonomous regions of Portugal, with Madeira Island and Porto Santo Island being the only inhabited islands....
and the Azores Islands

Azores

The Azores is a Portugal archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 km from Lisbon and about 3,900 km from the east coast of North America....
and in other island and settlements along the African coast

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
.

The most important captaincies were, however, in the colony

Colony

In politics and in history, a colony is a Territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies....
of Terra de Santa Cruz

Terra de Santa Cruz

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Encyclopedia

A captaincy is a historical administrative division

Administrative division

|align="right"| |}Administrative divisions are divisions of a political division. In other words, they are designated portions of a country....
of the former Spanish

Spain

Portugal

Colonial empire

Captain General

Captain General is a high military rank and a Governor title....
.

In the Portuguese Empire

Portuguese Empire

Portuguese language

Fiefdom

Brazil

Madeira

Azores

Africa

Colony

Terra de Santa Cruz

Terra de Santa Cruz was the name which was given to the Portugal colonies in South America that were at the origin of Brazil, after its discovery by Pedro ?lvares Cabral's fleet on April 21, 1500....
, or Land of the Holy Cross (modern Brazil). Each was delivered to a single captaincy general (capitão-mor, or capitão-donatário), who was a Portuguese nobleman. They were straight stripes of variable height of land, divided parallel to the Equator

Equator

The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the Plane perpendicular to the Earth's rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass....
from the coast to the Tordesilhas Line, created by King John III of Portugal

John III of Portugal

John III , nicknamed o Piedoso , was the fifteenth Portuguese monarchy.Born in Lisbon, he was the son of Manuel I of Portugal and his queen consort, Maria of Aragon ....
in 1534.

Captaincies of Brazil

The captaincies in Brazil were initially fifteen in total, granted to twelve donatários. They were the following:

All but two failed. The Captaincy of Pernambuco succeeded through the plantation of sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane is a genus of 6 to 37 species of tall perennial plant Poaceae , native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Old World. They have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar and measure 2 to 6 meters tall....
, and thus formed the basis for the Viceroyalty of Grão-Pará

Grão-Pará

The vice-kingdom of Gr?o-Par? was one of the two Portuguese vice-kingdoms in South America, corresponding to today's North Brazil. Its capital city was Bel?m do Par?....
. The Captaincy of São Vicente succeeded through the explorations of the hinterlands known as bandeiras

Bandeirantes

The Bandeirantes or "followers of the banner" were members of the 16th-18th century Portuguese slave-hunting expeditions, called Bandeiras, which took place in the New World....
, and was at the origin of the Viceroyalty of Brazil

Viceroyalty of Brazil

The Viceroyalty of Brazil was the Portugal viceroyalty in Brazil. It was restricted to the current South, Center-West and Southeastern regions of Brazil, mainly as a result of expansionism from the Captaincy of S?o Vicente, the current state of S?o Paulo , which then sought to alleviate its poverty by penetrating the hinterlands in search of...
(later the province of São Paulo

São Paulo (state)

is a States of Brazil in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. It is named after Paul of Tarsus. S?o Paulo has the largest population, the biggest industrial park and the biggest economic production of the country....
).

In the Spanish Empire

Captaincies (capitanías, in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
) were military and administrative divisions in colonial Spanish America and the Spanish Philippines, established in areas under risk of foreign invasion or Indian attack. They could consist of just one province, or group several together. These captaincies general should be distinguished from the ones given to almost all of the conquistadores, which was based on an older tradition. During the Reconquista

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims....
, the term "captain general" and similar ones had been used for the official in charge of all the troops in a given district. This office was transferred to America during the conquest

Spanish colonization of the Americas

The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain's conquest, settlement, and rule over much of the western hemisphere. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, over three centuries the Spanish Empire expanded from early small settlements in the Caribbean to include Central America, most of South America, Mexico, what toda...
and was usually granted along with the hereditary governorship to the adelantado
Adelantado

Adelantado was a military title held by some Spain Conquistadors of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Adelantados were charter directly by the Monarch the right to become governors and judge of a specific region, which they charged with conquering, in exchange for funding and organizing the initial explorations, settlements and pacif...
in the patent issued by the Crown. This established a precedent that was recognized by the New Laws of 1542

New Laws

The New Laws of 1542 , also known as the "New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Presevation of the Indians" were created to prevent the exploitation of the indigenous people by the Encomienda, or landowners, by strictly limiting their power, during the Spanish colonization of the Americas....
, but ultimately the crown eliminated all hereditary governorships in its overseas possessions.

With the establishment of appointed governors, who served only a for a few years, captaincies were created in the areas where the crown deemed them necessary. The new captaincies general were governed by what was also called a captain general, and it is this title alone that is usually used by historians. However, in practice this was a person who held two distinct offices: one military, which granted him command of the regional forces (the "captaincy general" proper), and another civilian, which included the presidency of the audiencia
Audiencia

For the modern court, see Audiencia Nacional of Spain.The Royal Audiencia and Chanciller?a was a court that functioned as an appellate court in Spain and its empire....
, if there was one in the provincial capital, (the governorship). The specific powers of any governor-captain general varied by time and place and were specified in the decrees establishing the captaincy general. The institution of the captaincy general predated the viceroyalty

Viceroy

A viceroy is a royal official who governs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king....
, but was incorporated into the latter when the viceroyalties were established in the mid-16th century.

Some captaincies general, such as Guatemala, Chile and Venezuela were eventually split off from their viceroyalties for better-administration purposes. Although under the nominal jurisdiction of their viceroys, governors-captains general were virtually independent, because the law granted them special military functions and given the considerable distance of their districts from the viceregal capital, they were authorized to deal directly with the King and the Council of the Indies, in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...
. The institution was later revived as part of the Bourbon Reforms

Bourbon Reforms

The Bourbon Reforms were a set of economic and political legislation introduced by the Spain The Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon throughout the 18th century....
. Captaincies general were first introduced into Spain beginning in 1713 during the War of the Spanish Succession

War of the Spanish Succession

War of the Spanish Succession was a war fought in 1701-1714, in which several European powers combined to stop a possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under a single Bourbon monarch, upsetting the European Balance of power in international relations....
. After the losses of the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War lasted between 1756?1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Kingdom of Prussia and Kingdom of Great Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Archduchy of Austria, Early Modern France, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Sweden, and Electorate of Sa...
, the Bourbon kings established new ones in many American regions, which had not had them before. Along with the new governors-captains general, the Bourbons introduced the Intendant

Intendant

The title of intendant has been used in a number of countries through history. Traditionally, it refers to the holder of a public administrative office....
, to handle civilian and military expenses.

Spanish Captaincies

Puerto Rico
Captaincy General of Puerto Rico

The Captaincy General of Puerto Rico was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire, created in 1580 to provide better military management of the island of Puerto Rico, previously under the direct rule of a simple governor and the jurisdiction of Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo....
(1580).
New Spain (1524), elevated to a viceroyalty in 1535.
Peru
Viceroyalty of Peru

Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish Empire South America, governed from the capital of Lima....
(1528), elevated to a viceroyalty in 1542.
Santo Domingo
Colony of Santo Domingo

The Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, was the first Spanish colony in the New World which later became the Dominican Republic. Originally known as "La Espa?ola", the colony was organized on 1605 as a response to France presence on Tortuga Island in the western part of the island....
(1540)
Chile (1541), due the War of Arauco. Originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru
Viceroyalty of Peru

Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish Empire South America, governed from the capital of Lima....
, it split off in 1789 as a captaincy general.
Guatemala
Captaincy General of Guatemala

The Captaincy General of Guatemala , also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala , was an administrative division in Spanish America which covered much of Central America, including what are now Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Mexican state of Chiapas....
(1560), raised to captaincy general in 1609.
Yucatan
Captaincy General of Yucatán

The Captaincy General of Yucat?n was an administrative district of colonial Spanish Empire, created in 1617 to provide more autonomy for the Yucat?n Peninsula, previously ruled directly by a simple governor under the jurisdiction of Real Audiencia of Mexico....
(1564), which included Campeche
Campeche

The State of Campeche is a state in the south-east region of the Mexico. It is bordered by the Mexican states of Yucat?n to the north east, Quintana Roo to the east, and Tabasco to the south west....
and Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo is a Mexican state of Mexico, on the eastern part of the Yucat?n Peninsula. It borders the States of Yucat?n and Campeche to the north and west, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the nation of Belize to the south....
, besides Yucatan State
Yucatán

Yucat?n is one of the States of Mexico of Mexico, located on the north of the Yucat?n Peninsula. The Yucatan peninsula includes three states: Yucat?n, Campeche, and Quintana Roo; all three modern states were formerly part of the larger historic state of Yucat?n in the 19th century....
proper. An Intendancy
Intendant

The title of intendant has been used in a number of countries through history. Traditionally, it refers to the holder of a public administrative office....
was added in 1786.
Philippines
Spanish East Indies

Spanish East Indies , was a term used to describe Spain territories in Asia-Pacific which lasted over three centuries . It encompassed the Philippine Islands , and its dependencies including the Mariana Islands and the Caroline Islands, and for a period of time, parts of Formosa , Sabah, and parts of the Moluccas....
(1565)
New Granada
New Kingdom of Granada

The New Kingdom of Granada was the name given to a group of 16th century Spanish colonial provinces in northern South America governed by the Audiencia of Bogot?, an area corresponding mainly to modern Colombia....
(1563), which became a viceroyalty in 1717.
Cuba
Captaincy General of Cuba

The Captaincy General of Cuba was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire created in 1607 as part of Habsburg Spain's attempt to better defend the Caribbean against foreign powers, which also involved creating captaincies general in Captaincy General of Puerto Rico, Captaincy General of Guatemala and Captaincy General of Yucat?n....
(1764), a captaincy general which included the Louisiana Territory
Louisiana (New Spain)

Louisiana was the name of an administrative district of New Spain from 1764 to 1803 that represented territory west of the Mississippi River basin, plus New Orleans, Louisiana....
acquired from France in 1763 and Florida
Spanish Florida

Spanish Florida refers to the Spain colony of Florida. The Spanish first landed on the peninsula in 1513, and laid claim to the land from 1565 to 1763 and again from 1784 to 1821....
after 1784. Cuba was split off from New Spain upon the latter's independence as Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
.
Venezuela
Captaincy General of Venezuela

The Captaincy General of Venezuela was an administrative district of colonial Spanish Empire, created in 1777 to provide more autonomy for the provinces of Venezuela, previously under the jurisdiction of the Viceroyalty of New Granada and the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo....
(1777), a captaincy general split off from the Viceroyalty of New Granada
Viceroyalty of New Granada

The Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on May 27, 1717 to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America, corresponding mainly to modern Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela....
.
Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas
Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas

The Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces of the North or Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas del Norte was an administrative district of colonial Spanish Empire, created in 1776 to provide more autonomy for the frontier provinces of Viceroyalty of New Spain....
(1776), analogous to a fully autonomous captaincy general, but financially dependent on New Spain.

Captaincy

In the Portuguese Empire

Captaincies of Brazil

In the Spanish Empire

Spanish Captaincies

See also