Encyclopedia
Viceroyalty of New Spain was the name of the
viceroy-ruled territories of the
Spanish Empire in
North America and its peripheries from 1535 to 1821.
New Spain's territory included what is the
Bay Islands ',
Cayman Islands ',
Central America ,
Cuba,
Florida,
Hispaniola ,
Jamaica ' Mariana Islands, Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Trinidad ' and nearly all of the
southwest United States , but the northern boundary of New Spain remained undefined until the
Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. For at least part of its existence, New Spain also included
Venezuela.
In 1821, Spain lost the continental territories, when it recognized the
independence of Mexico. However,
Cuba,
Puerto Rico and Spanish East Indies remained a part of the Spanish crown until the
Spanish–American War .
Context
During this long period of time,
Spain,
Europe,
America and the viceroyalty experienced different historical, cultural, social, economic and political movements. This makes it necessary to make a good deal of distinction in order to be able to characterize the developments that took place in ideology and actions over the long historical period, longer even, for instance, than the current duration of Mexican or Filipino independence.
In addition, the vastness of New Spain and its trade with
China and
Japan via the
Manila Galleon , as well as the journeys of
under the Spanish flag in the
18th century which had to evade Caribbean pirates, encouraged complex and changing economic and military strategies, just as Spain changed from the
Catholic Monarchs to the
and to
Joseph Bonaparte, the political doctrines that were adopted by Spain also affected the viceroyalty.
History
Settlement
After the
Spanish conquest of Mexico , the Council of the Indies was constituted in 1524 and the first Audiencia in 1527. In 1535, the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Spain named
Antonio de Mendoza New Spain's first viceroy. Mendoza commissioned the expedition of
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1540-42, the explorations of
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in the western coastline of Alta California in 1542-43, and the expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos to the
Philippines in 1542-43. Many towns were founded:
San Miguel de Allende,
Durango ,
Santa Fe or
Ensenada, Baja California. The construction of drainage works to safeguard Mexico City from the perennial floods, and to repair damage from recent flooding, were continuous.
In 1565,
Miguel López de Legazpi formed the first Spanish settlement in the
Philippines, which became the town of
San Miguel, and
Andrés de Urdaneta found the return route from the
Philippines to New Spain. In 1570 the native city of
Manila was conquered and declared a Spanish city the following year. Each
Manila galleon was loaded with a year's worth of luxury goods from the
Philippines en route to
Acapulco after an short inland transport from Acapulco to
Veracruz and the subsequent load consolidation with silver and other goods produced in New Spain, the convoy resumed their sea journey filled with lots of high priced goods meant for ultimate delivery in Spain and, via trading, the rest of Europe. There were depredations by
Francis Drake in 1586 and
Thomas Cavendish in 1587 mostly in the area of the
Gulf of Mexico. Cities as
Huatulco and Navidad were sacked, too.
Lope Díez de Armendáriz, the first American-born viceroy of New Spain, formed the Armada de Barlovento, based in
Veracruz, which patrolled the Gulf coast to protect the ports and shipping from pirates.
In 1591,
Luis de Velasco obtained the pacification of the
Chichimeca tribes. In 1602,
Sebastián Vizcaíno travelled as far north as Monterey Bay, Alta California. In 1606, Spanish and allies forces established in
Ternate, Tidore, Gigolo y Filolo , remained until 1663. Contacts with
Japan were established and
Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent as ambassador in 1611. In the north coast of
Taiwan, the spanish,
Filipinos and allies built
Fort Santo Domingo near
Keelung in 1626 and a mission en Tan-shui , which they occupied until 1642 when they were driven out by a joint Dutch-Aborigine invasion force. Many Pacific islands were visited by Spanish ships in the 16th century, but they made no effort to trade with or colonize them:
New Guinea ,
Solomon Islands or
Marquesas Islands .
Great educational institutions were founded: The Colegio de Santa Cruz at Tlatelolco , the
Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico , the
Colegio de San Ildefonso at
Cebu City and the
University of Santo Tomas at
Manila. On March 25, 1544 Viceroy Mendoza promulgated the New Laws, intended to ease the plight of Indians under the system of forced labor. The
Inquisition was established formally in 1571. In 1573 the Cathedral of Mexico City was begun.
At
Acapulco and
Veracruz,
Suárez instituted the Commercial Tribunal to regulate commercial affairs and to supervise the two grand fairs. In 1639 a bull of
Pope Urban VIII prohibited slavery in Latin America, but Philip IV permitted the continuation of black slavery.
The last Spanish Habsburgs
The
presidio ,
pueblo and the
misión were the three major agencies employed by the Spanish crown to extend its borders and consolidate its
colonial territories in these territories.
The U.S. town of
Alburquerque was founded in 1660, the Mexican towns of Paso del Norte
Immersed in a low intensity war with England , the defenses of
Veracruz and
San Juan de Ulúa, Jamaica, Cuba and Florida were strengthened.
Santiago de Cuba , St. Augustine
Spanish Florida or Campeche 1678 were sacked by the English. The Tarahumara Indians were in revolt in the mountains of
Chihuahua for several years. In 1670
Chichimecas invaded
Durango, and the governor, Francisco González, abandoned its defense. In 1680, 25,000 previously subjugated Indians in 24 pueblos of
New Mexico rose against the Spanish and killed all the Europeans they encountered. In 1685, after a revolt of the chamorros, the Marianas islands were incorporated to the New Spain. In 1695, this time with the English help, the viceroy
Gaspar de la Cerda attacked the French who had established a base on the island of Española. In 1704 the viceroy
Francisco Fernández de la Cueva suppressed a rebellion of the Pima Indians in
Nueva Vizcaya.
Diego Osorio de Escobar y Llamas reformed the postal service and the marketing of mercury. The trade with
Siam and
Cochinchina were increased, sending mercury, saltpeter and other mineral products. In 1701 the Tribunal de la Acordada , an organization of volunteers intended to capture and quickly try bandits, was founded. The church of
Virgin of Guadalupe, patron of Mexico, was finished in 1702.
The Bourbon Reforms
In 1720, the
Villasur expedition from Santa Fe met and attempted to parley with
French- allied
Pawnee in what is now
Nebraska. Negotiations were unsuccessful, and a battle ensued; the Spanish were badly defeated, with only 13 managing to return to New Mexico. Although this was a small engagement, it is significant in that it was the deepest penetration of the Spanish into the
Great Plains, establishing the limit to Spanish expansion and influence there.
Spanish rule on the Philippines was briefly interrupted in 1762, when
British troops invaded and occupied the islands. The Treaty of Paris gave Spain rights to land west of the Mississippi. Spain also ceded Florida to England to regain Cuba, which the English occupied during the war.
The 21 northern
Missions in present–day Alta California were established along California's El Camino Real from 1769.
In an effort to exclude Britain and
Russia from the eastern
Pacific, King
Charles III of Spain sent forth from
Mexico a number of
expeditions to explore the Pacific Northwest between 1774 and 1791.
Spain entered the
American Revolutionary War as an ally of France in June 1779, a renewal of the Bourbon Family Compact. On May 8, 1782, Count Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish governor of
Louisiana, captured the British naval base at
New Providence in
the Bahamas. On the
Gulf Coast, the actions of Gálvez led to Spain acquiring
East and
West Florida in the peace settlement, as well as controlling the mouth of the Mississippi River after the war—which would prove to be a major source of tension between Spain and the United States in the years to come.
In 1781, a Spanish expedition during the
American Revolutionary War left
St. Louis, Missouri and reached as far as Fort St. Joseph at
Niles, Michigan where they captured the fort while the British were away. Spanish territorial claims based on this furthest north penetration of Spain in North America were not supported at the treaty negotiations.
In the second Treaty of Paris , which ended the American Revolution, Britain ceded West Florida back to Spain to regain The Bahamas, which Spain had occupied during the war. Spain then had control over the river south of 32°30' north latitude, and, in what is known as the Spanish Conspiracy, hoped to gain greater control of Louisiana and all of the west. These hopes ended when Spain was pressured into signing Pinckney's Treaty in 1795. France reacquired 'Louisiana' from Spain in the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800. The United States bought the territory from France in the
Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Governor-General José Basco y Vargas established the Economic Society of Friends of the Country.
The Nootka Convention resolved the dispute between Spain and Great Britain about the British settlements in Oregon to British Columbia.
End of the Viceroyalty
Spanish Florida would ultimately be
acquired by the United States in 1819.
After priest
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's Grito de Dolores , the insurgent army began an eleven-year war that would culminate in triumph by the Mexicans, who then offered the crown of the new
Mexican Empire to
Ferdinand VII or to a member of the nobility that he would designate. After the refusal of the Spanish monarchy to recognize the independence of Mexico the
cut all political and economic ties with the Kingdom of Spain.
However,
Cuba, the
Philippines and
Puerto Rico, remained a part of the Spanish Crown until the
Spanish–American War .
Politics
New Spain was organized into several subdivisions, including Nueva Extremadura, Nueva Galicia, Nueva Vizcaya and Nuevo Santander, as well as the Captaincies General of
Guatemala,
Cuba and
Santo Domingo, and the
Philippine Islands.
New Spain was ruled by a
Mexico City-based
viceroy appointed by the
Spanish monarch.
Economy
To pay off the Spanish army that captured Mexico the soldiers and officers were granted large areas of land and the natives who lived on them as a type of feudalism. Although officially they could not become slaves, the system, known as
, came to signify the oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators may not have set out with such intent. In short order the upper echelons of patrons and priests in the society lived off the work of the lower classes. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop
Bartolomé de las Casas suggested bringing black slaves to replace them. Fr Bartolomé later repented when he saw the even worse treatment given to the black slaves. The other discovery that perpetuated this system was extensive silver mines discovered at Potosi and other places that were worked for hundreds of years by forced native labor and contributed most of the wealth flowing to Spain. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was the principal source of income for Spain among the Spanish colonies, with important mining centers like
Guanajuato,
San Luis Potosi and
Hidalgo.
There were several major ports in New Spain. There were the ports of
Veracruz the viceroyalty's principal port on the
Atlantic,
Acapulco on the
Pacific, and
Manila near the
South China Sea. The ports were fundamental for overseas trade, stretching a trade route from
Asia, through the
Manila Galleon to the Spanish mainland.
There were ships that made two voyages a year between
Manila and Acapulco, whose goods were then transported overland from Acapulco to Veracruz and later reshipped from Veraruz to
Cádiz in Spain. So then, the ships that set sail from Veracruz were generally loaded with merchandise from the Orient originating from the commercial centers of the
Philippines, plus the
precious metals and natural resources of
Mexico,
Central America and the
Caribbean. During the sixteenth century, Spain held the equivalent of
US$1.5 trillion in
gold and silver received from New Spain.
Nevertheless, these resources did not translate into development for the
Metropolis due to Spain's frequent preoccupation with European wars , as well as the incessant decrease in overseas transportation caused by assaults from companies of English buccaneers, Dutch corsairs and
pirates of various origin. These companies were initially financed by, at first, by the
Amsterdam Stock Market — the first in history and whose origin is owed precisely to the need for funds to finance pirate expeditions —, as later by the London market. The above is what some authors call the "historical process of the transfer of wealth from the south to the north."
Demographics
The role of epidemics
Spanish settlers also brought with them
smallpox,
typhus, and other diseases. Most of the settlers had developed an immunity from childhood, but the indigenous peoples lacked the needed
antibodies since these diseases were totally alien to the American native population at the time. There were at least three separate epidemics that decimated the population: Smallpox , measles and typhus . Of the estimated 8 to 20 million of the original prehispanic population, less than two million are believed to have survived. At the end of the
16th century, New Spain was a depopulated country with abandoned cities and
maize fields.
The role of the interracial mixing
With the conquest a new ethnic group was created by the Spaniards: the , a result of the conquerors taking native women as a measure against revolt by the natives and beginning the mixing of both cultures.
Most of these lands were dominated by Spanish landowners and their white descendants. Europeans, in fact, totally dominated the politics and economy of colonial Mexico. Mestizos came next, and native peoples occupied the lowest rung of society.
The majority of the Spanish colonists were men with no wives available and married or made concubines of the natives, and were even encouraged to do so by
Queen Isabella during the earliest days of colonization. As a result of these unions, as well as concubinage and secret mistresses, a vast class of people known as
and mulattos came into being. But even if mixes were allowed, the white population tried, largely successfully even today, to keep their status. After the native population was decimated by epidemics and forced labor, black slaves were imported. A system was created to keep each mix in a different social level:
. Each different mix had a name and different privileges or prohibitions. There were even two different kinds of whites, those born in Spain, later referred to as
, who got all the upper level positions and higher paying jobs. At a lower level, those born in America, or
took the next lower layer of desirable jobs. and then mulattos were next, followed by the unmixed natives,
, and blacks, respectively. The Spanish
tried by all means to keep their status, even if they took native women. Those who were wealthy enough also tried to have a Spanish wife, who was sent to give birth in Spain to prevent their children from becoming .
In spite of the
sistema de castas, the Amerindians and the Mestizos were taught the religion and the language of the Metropoli , and they were even allowed to become members of the religious orders or even priests. Moreover, efforts were made to keep the Amerindian cultural aspects which did not violate the Catholic traditions. As an example, some Spaniards learned some of the Amerindian languages and developped a Grammar for them, so that they could be easily transmitted. On the other hand, the idea of sharing the language and the religion with the natives was deeply rejected in the English colonies of North America and their culture was ignored, dispised and eventually obliterated.
and were nevertheless not allowed in the upper levels of the government or any other position of power, and eventually they joined forces for the independence of Mexico. With independence, the caste system and slavery were theoretically abolished, however it can be argued that, despite the left back to Europe or merged with the , the latter replaced them in terms of power.
Thus, , while they no longer have a separate legal status from other groups, comprise approximately 60–65% of the population. Whites, who no longer have a special legal status, are thought to be about 15–20% of the population and still have most of the desirable jobs. In modern Mexico, has became more a cultural term, since a Native American that abandons his traditional ways is considered a mestizo, also most Afromexicans prefer to be considered , since they feel more identified with this group.
The role of the Catholic church
The brought with them the Catholic faith and a lot of priests, to which the population was seemingly rapidly converted. Because of their joint action in getting rid of the
Moors in Spain, the Catholic Church was basically regarded as an arm of the Spanish government, sin
