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 president of the Audiencia of Bogotá, an area corresponding mainly to modern day
ColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and parts of
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. Originally part of the
Viceroyalty of PeruCreated in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...
, it became part of the
Viceroyalty of New GranadaThe Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America, corresponding mainly to modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739...
first in 1717 and permanently in 1739. After several attempts to set up independent states in the 1810s, the kingdom and the viceroyalty ceased to exist altogether in 1819 with the establishment of the
Republic of ColombiaGran Colombia is a name used today for the state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. This short-lived republic included the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, northern Peru and northwest Brazil. The...
.
History
Discovery and settlement
In 1514, the Spanish first permanently settled in the area. With
Santa MartaSanta Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...
(founded on July 29, 1525 by the Spanish
conquistadorConquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
Rodrigo de BastidasRodrigo de Bastidas was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who mapped the northern coast of South America and founded the city of Santa Marta.-Early life:...
) and
CartagenaCartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
(1533), Spanish control of the coast was established, and the extension of colonial control into the interior could begin. Starting in 1536, the conquistador
Gonzalo Jiménez de QuesadaGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in Colombia. He explored the northern part of South America. While successful in many of his exploits, acquiring massive amounts of gold and emeralds, he ended his career disastrously; and has been suggested as a possible model...
explored the extensive highlands of the interior of the region, by following the
Magdalena RiverThe Magdalena River is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as...
into the Andean cordillera. There his force defeated the powerful Chibcha people and founding the city of Santa Fé de Bogotá (c. 1538, currently
BogotáBogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
) and naming the region El nuevo reino de Granada, "the new kingdom of Granada", in honor of the
last partThe Emirate of Granada , also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada , was an emirate established in 1238 following the defeat of Muhammad an-Nasir of the Almohad dynasty by an alliance of Christian kingdoms at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212...
of Spain to be
recaptured from the MoorsThe Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
. Quesada, however, lost control of the province when
Emperor Charles VCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
granted the right to rule over the area to rival conquistador,
Sebastián de BelalcázarSebastián de Belalcázar was a Spanish conquistador.-Early life:He was born Sebastián Moyano in the province of Córdoba, Spain, in either 1479 or 1480. He took the name Belalcázar as that was the name of the castle-town near to his birthplace in Córdoba...
, in 1540, who had entered the region from what is today
EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, and established himself as governor of
PopayánPopayán is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between Colombia's Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range...
.
Regularization of the government
Belalcázar's victory placed the region under the
Viceroyalty of PeruCreated in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...
, which was being organized at the time. However, because it was a long distance from either
LimaLima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
or
Santo DomingoThe Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo was the first court of the Spanish crown in America. It was created by Ferdinand V of Castile in his decree of 1511, but due to disagreements between the governor of Hispaniola, Diego Colon and the Crown, it was not implemented until it was reestablished by...
, Charles V's advisors realized that the newly settled area needed its own government. The king therefore, ordered the establishment of an audiencia, a type of superior court that combined
executiveExecutive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
and
judicialThe judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
authority, at Santa Fé de Bogotá in 1549.
Functions and territory of the Audiencia
The Royal Audiencia was created by a royal decree of July 17, 1549. It was given authority over the provinces of Santa Marta, Río de San Juan, Popayán, Guayana and Cartagena de Indias. The Audiencia was charged primarily with dispensing justice, but it was also to oversee the running of government and the settlement of the territory. It held its first session on April 7, 1550, in a mansion on the Plaza Mayor (today, Plaza de Bolívar) at the site which today houses the Colombian Palace of Justice.
Initially all of the justices held executive power, but this proved ineffective. Despite several royal inspectors (visitadores) sent to improve the audiencias functioning, its performance did not improve. So in 1564 executive power was centralized in one officer, the Audiencia "president", who was also made governor and captain general. (For this reason the region was also referred to as a presidencia at the time.) With these two offices the president oversaw the civilian government and held the
commandA command in military terminology is an organisational unit that the individual in Military command has responsibility for. A Commander will normally be specifically appointed into the role in order to provide a legal framework for the authority bestowed...
over the kingdom's military forces. The president was loosely dependent upon the Viceroy of Peru at Lima in administrative and military matters. The jurisdictional boundaries of the Audiencia encompassed the territory of the kingdom.
Law VIII ("Royal Audiencia and Chancery of Santa Fe in the New Kingdom of Granada") of Title XV ("Of the Royal Audiencias and Chanceries of the Indies") of Book II of the Recopilación de
Leyes de las IndiasThe Laws of the Indies are the entire body of laws issued by the Spanish Crown for its American and Philippine possessions of its empire. They regulated social, political and economic life in these areas...
of 1680—which compiles the decrees of July 17, 1549; May 10, 1554; and August 1, 1572—describes the final limits and functions of the Audiencia.
In Santa Fé de Bogotá of the New Kingdom of Granada shall reside another Royal Audiencia and Chancery of ours, with a president, governor and captain general; five judges of civil cases [oidores], who shall also be judges of criminal cases [alcaldes del crimen]; a crown attorney [fiscal]; a bailiff [alguacil mayor]; a lieutenant of the Gran Chancellor; and the other necessary ministers and officials, and which will have for district the provinces of the New Kingdom and those of Santa MartaSanta Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...
, Río de San Juan, and of PopayánPopayán is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between Colombia's Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range...
, except those places of the latter which are marked for the Royal Audiencia of Quito; and of GuayanaThe Guayana Region is an administrative region of Venezuela.The region has a population of 1,383,297 inhabitants and a territory of 458,344 km². It borders the independent nation of Guyana which forms part of The Guyanas...
, or El DoradoEl Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
, it shall have that which is not of the Audienicia of Hispaniola, and all of the Province of CartagenaCartagena Province was a province of Gran Colombia. With the 1824 changes in the subdivisions of Gran Colombia, it became part of Magdalena Department....
; sharing borders: on the south with said Audiencia of Quito and the undiscovered lands, on the west and north with the North SeaThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and the provinces which belong to the Royal Audiencia of Hispaniola, on the west with the one of Tierra Firme. And we order that the Governor and Captain General of said provinces and president of their Royal Audiencia, have, use and exercise by himself the government of all the district of that Audiencia, in the same manner as our Viceroys of New Spain and appoint the repartimientoThe Repartimiento was a colonial forced labor system imposed upon the indigenous population of Spanish America and the Philippines. In concept it was similar to other tribute-labor systems, such as the mita of the Inca Empire or the corvée of Ancien Régime France: the natives were forced to do...
of Indians and other offices that need to be appointed, and attend to all the matters and business that belong to the government, and that the oidores of said Audiencia do not interfere with this, and that all sign what in matters of justice is provided for, sentenced and carried out.
One further change came as part of the
Bourbon reformsThe Bourbon Reforms were a set of economic and political legislation introduced by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon throughout the 18th century. The reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology in order to modernize Spain...
of the eighteenth century. Because of the slowness in communications between Lima and Bogotá, the Bourbons decided to establish an independent
Viceroyalty of New GranadaThe Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America, corresponding mainly to modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739...
in 1717 (which was reestablishment in 1739 after a short interruption). The governor-president of Bogotá became the viceroy of the new entity, with military and executive oversight over the neighboring Presidency of Quito and the provinces of Venezuela.
Administrative divisions
The New Kingdom was organized into several Governments and
ProvinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
s:
| Government/Province | Capital | Established | Founder |
| Government of Santa Marta | Santa Marta | 1525 | Don Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Rodrigo de BastidasRodrigo de Bastidas was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who mapped the northern coast of South America and founded the city of Santa Marta.-Early life:...
|
| Government of Cartagena de Indias | Cartagena de Indias | 1533 | Don Pedro de Heredia Pedro de Heredia, Spanish conqueror, founder of the city Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia.Noble from birth, for being involved in many brawls he was forced to leave Spain. He established himself in La Española. Later on, he accepted the job of lieutenant offered by the governor of Santa Marta,...
(Alternative Capital of Viceroyalty) |
| Government of Popayan | Popayan | 1537 | Don Sebastián de BelalcázarSebastián de Belalcázar was a Spanish conquistador.-Early life:He was born Sebastián Moyano in the province of Córdoba, Spain, in either 1479 or 1480. He took the name Belalcázar as that was the name of the castle-town near to his birthplace in Córdoba...
|
| Province of Pasto | San Juan de Pasto | 1539 | Don Lorenzo de Aldana |
Government of Santa Fé (de Bogotá),
the area originally called the "New Kingdom of Granada" | Santa Fé de Bogota | 1538 | Don Gonzalo Ximénez de Quezada Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in Colombia. He explored the northern part of South America. While successful in many of his exploits, acquiring massive amounts of gold and emeralds, he ended his career disastrously; and has been suggested as a possible model...
(Capital of Viceroyalty) |
| Government of Tunja | Tunja | 1539 | Don Gonzalo Suárez Rendón |
| Government of Antioquia | Santa Fé de Antioquia | 1541 | Don Jorge RobledoJorge Robledo was a Spanish conquistador. He traveled in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru.He founded the cities of Santa Ana de los Caballeros , Cartago, Valle del Cauca and Santa Fe de Antioquia...
|
| Province of Chocó | Quibdó | 1648 | Manuel Cañizales |
| Government of Panama | Ciudad de Panama | 1519 | Don Pedro Arias Davila Pedrarias Dávila y Ortiz de Cota , was a Spanish colonial administrator...
|
Vast Province of Guyana
(special province) | Angostura Angostura may refer toPlacesThe Spanish word Angostura means "narrows" and so often refers to a narrowing or crossing on a river.* Angostura, Sinaloa, a municipality in northwestern Mexico.* Villa La Angostura is a mountain town in Neuquén, Argentina....
| 1595 | Don Antonio de Berríos |
Main cities
The largest cities of the New Kingdom of Granada in the 1791 Census were
- Cartagena de Indias – 154,304
- Santa Fé de Bogotá – 108,533
- Popayan – 56,783
- Santa Marta – 49,830
- Tunja – 43,850
- Mompóx – 24,332