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| {| border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 style="background:#f9f9f9;" |- | align=center width=130px | |- | align=center width=130 | (Flag of New Spain) | align=center width=130px | |} | |
| Capital | Mexico City |
|---|---|
| Largest city | Mexico City |
| Official language | Spanish |
| Head of State | King of Spain |
| Government | Viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire See List of Viceroys of New Spain |
| Existed | 1525–1821 (Spanish conquest of Mexico to Mexican War of Independence) |
Viceroyalty of New Spain (Spanish: ) was the name given to one of the viceroy-ruled territories of the Spanish Empire from 1525 to 1821.
New Spain was ruled by a Mexico City-based viceroy appointed by the Spanish monarch.
New Spain's territory included what is now Mexico and Central America (as far as the southern border of Costa Rica), and nearly all of the southwest United States, including all or parts of the modern-day U.S. states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
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.
The northern boundary of New Spain remained undefined until the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. In 1821, Spain lost most of its colonies in North America, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico, when it recognized the independence of Mexico.
The Philippines was administered as a colony from New Spain between 1565 to 1821. It remained a possession of the Spanish crown until the Spanish–American War.
History
Spanish conquest of New Spain
Although the Spanish initiated a series of expeditions on the Atlantic coast starting in 1492, it is April 22, 1519, the day Hernán Cortés landed ashore and founded the city of Veracruz, that marks the beginning of almost 303 years of Spanish hegemony over the region. This period can be divided between the Conquest of Mexico and the Viceroyalty of New Spain, until the Independence of New Spain in 1821.The Spanish conquest of Mexico was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The most important conquistador in the conquest of Mexico was Hernan Cortés.
It is important to distinguish between the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the Spanish conquest of Yucatán. Although the Yucatán Peninsula is part of the modern-day country of Mexico, the Spanish conquest of Mexico refers to the conquest of the Mexica/Aztec empire by Hernán Cortés from 1519–21. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán, on the other hand, refers to the conquest of the Maya empire from 1511–1697.
Historical perspective
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 independence.In addition, the vastness of New Spain and its trade with the Philippines via the Manila Galleon (Nao of China), 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.
The Spanish viceregal government blocked the diffusion of liberal ideas during the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the United States War of Independence at a time when it tolerated no other religion than the Catholic faith.
Criticism of the Spanish presence
The Spanish presence on the American continent tends to be criticized very passionately, especially because of the disappearance of its preexisting cultures: those civilizations where crushed and replaced by the Spanish colonial government. It was not until the 20th century that a broad anthropological effort was initiated to rescue and preserve the cultural elements that belonged to those civilizations. However, the Spanish rule was not harder than the ones other contemporary European civilizations used in their colonies, therefore, part of the bad reputation can be credited to the black legend successfully spread by Britain as one of the guide lines in their foreign policy. In this regard, it can be argued that British based colonies never really interact in noticeable amounts with the natives in what is known today as the United States and these were virtually exterminated whereas the Spanish, initially by means of evangelization, eventually merged to some extent with the locals .The Spanish reign of the 18th and 19th centuries instituted a society of castes based on racial differences where blacks and indigenous peoples were treated like slaves and the political and religious oligarchy was comprised exclusively of ', and did not allow ' (American-born of European ancestry), (mixed Amerindian and Spanish), or mulatto (mixed African and Spanish) society to participate in decision making. This structure was similar to the rule of the rest of European powers.
The poor treatment of indigenous peoples and the diseases brought from Europe caused a decrease in the original population. The kingdom of Spain promulgated throughout its colonies a series of laws that tried to lend order to the treatment of the indigenous peoples, legislating against the abuse of the original population by the ', royal designees who controlled the land and had a feudal-like right to indigenous labor. The Spanish laws to be applied in the American colonies were known as the ', inspired in the work of Bartolomé de Las Casas, who is considered one of the most notorious human rights advocate of all times.
End of the Viceroyalty
After priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's Grito de Dolores (call for independence), 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 (Army of the Three Guarantees) cut all political and economic ties with the Kingdom of Spain.
Commercial and cultural importance
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, as well as one of the principal centers of European cultural expansion in America; see also Mexico City.
The port of Veracruz was the viceroyalty's principal port on the Atlantic Ocean and the port of Acapulco its main harbor on the Pacific. Both ports were fundamental for overseas trade, especially with Asia, as was the case with the Manila Galleon (also known as the Nao of China). This was a ship 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 Cadíz 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.
Nevertheless, these resources did not translate into development for the Metropolis (mother country) 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."
The viceroyalty was the basis for a racial and cultural mosaic of the Spanish American colonial period. In its bosom were brought together during the 300 years of colonial rule the Nahuatl, Maya, Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec and Spanish cultures. Also, it gave rise to a great number of racial mixtures: , mulatto, etc. Figures such as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Juan Ruiz de Alarcón stand out as some of the viceroyalty's most notable contributors to Spanish Literature, as do architects Pedro Martínez Vázquez and Manuel Tolsá.
Social and economic structure
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 had not. There were at least three separate epidemics that decimated the population: Smallpox (1520–21), measles (1545–48) and typhus (1576–81). 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 system
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. In Spain enormous amounts of this wealth were spent hiring mercenaries to fight the Protestant Reformation.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 success in getting rid of the Muslims in Spain, the Catholic Church was basically run as an arm of the Spanish government. It was soon found that most of the natives had adopted "the god of the heavens", as they called it, as just another one of their many gods. While it was an important god, because it was the god of the conquerors, they did not see why they had to abandon their old beliefs. As a result, a second wave of missionaries began a process attempting to completely erase the old beliefs, and thus wiped out many aspects of Mesoamerican culture. Hundreds of thousands of Aztec codices were destroyed, Aztec priests and teachers were persecuted, and the temples and statues of the old gods were destroyed. The Mesoamerican sex education system was set aside and replaced by a very limited church education; even some foods associated with religion, like amaranto, were forbidden. Eventually, in some areas some of the natives were declared minors and forbidden to learn to read and write, so they would always need a white man in charge of them to be responsible of their indoctrination.During the following centuries, under Spanish rule, a new culture developed that combined the customs and traditions of the indigenous peoples with that of Catholic Spain. Numerous churches and other buildings were constructed by native labor in the Spanish style, and cities were named after various saints and objects of veneration, such as "San Luis Potosí" (after St. Louis) and "Vera Cruz" ("True Cross").
The Spanish Inquisition, and its descendant, the Mexican Inquisition, continued to operate in the Americas until Mexico declared its independence.
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, . However, they eventually mixed with the population resulting in only a few black communities left to date (see African-american). A system was created to keep each mix in a different social level: ' (the casta system). Each different mix had a name and different privileges or prohibitions. There were even two different kinds of whites, those born in Spain, or ', 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, ' (Amerindian mixed with black), 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 (Spanish), 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 (already in the XVI century) and devolped 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 later in the United States of America) and their culture was ignored 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.
, 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.
See also
- Anahuac
- Mexico
- History of Mexico
- History of the Philippines
- List of Viceroys of New Spain
- Valladolid debate
- Viceroyalty of Peru
References
Colonial Mexico | Former Spanish colonies | Spanish colonial period in the Philippines | Spanish colonization of the Americas | Viceroyalties | 1525 establishments | 1821 disestablishments
Gallery
Nova Espanya | Nyspanien | Neuspanien | Virreinato de Nueva España | Nouvelle-Espagne | Nuova Spagna | ספרד החדשה | Naujoji Ispanija | Nieuw-Spanje | Nowa Hiszpania | Nova Espanha | Uusi-Espanja | Nya Spanien | 新西班牙
"New Spain"