Mexico

The overthrow of the Aztec empire by a Spanish force under Hernando Cortes between 1519 and 1521, the execution of the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtemoc, and the rapid extension of the Spanish conquest from Mexico City as a base,. introduced the colonial period of Mexican history. Beginning in 1523 and con tinuing until the forced resignation of the last viceroy in 1821, New Spain was administered by royal governors until Dec. 1528; by audiencias from 1528 to 1535; and by viceroys and audiencias after 1535. In all, 61 individuals were appointed viceroys of New Spain, one of whom served a second term. Because of either the death or disability of a viceroy, the audiencia at Mexico City assumed administrative powers on 14 different occasions.

New Spain: Extent.

New Spain was one of the four vice royalties comprising the over-seas possessions of the Crown of Spain known as the Kingdom of the Indies. As modified soon after its establishment in 1535, the viceroyalty of New Spain included and stretched northward from Central America above present Panama. It also included the Spanish West Indies, Vene zuela for a number of years, and the Philippines from 1565 to 1584. The north-eastern boundary of New Spain, by a treaty with England in 1670, was fixed just south of Charlestown, S.C. ; at the same time its most northern occupied outpost was Taos, New Mexico. Later, New Spain was delimited in the east by the English occupation of Georgia, and, further west, between 1699 and 1763, by the French occupation of Louisiana. New Spain ex panded greatly when Western Louisiana was ceded in 1763 by France to Spain, who held it until its retrocession to France in 1800. On the other hand New Spain suffered territorial loss in the east when Spain ceded Florida to England in 1763. Twenty years later Spain acquired West Florida and regained East Florida from England ; both provinces were acquired by the United States be tween 1810 and 1819. In the west, California was occupied between 2769 and 1776.

New Spain was delimited on the north in 1776 when the prov inces from Texas to California were erected into a military and political jurisdiction known as the Comandancia General de las Provincias Internas, administered by a commandant general. Many changes in organization were subsequently made.

Government and Organization.

The chief administrative subdivisions of the viceroyalty of New Spain at the close of the 18th century were the captaincies-general of Guatemala and Havana. The former included all of the present Mexican State of

Chiapas and all of Central America north of Panama ; the latter included the Spanish West Indies, Louisiana and Florida. Over the captains-general the viceroy exercised only general supervis ory and administrative authority. The viceroyalty proper and the captaincies-general were sub-divided for local administrative pur poses into provinces. They were administered by governors, who were appointed by the king and were responsible to him through either the viceroy or the captains-general. The only institution of self-government in New Spain was the town council (ayunta miento, or cabildo), composed of municipal judges (alcaldes ordinarios) and councilmen (regidores).

Aside from its administrative organization, New Spain was divided into four judicial districts, at the head of each of which was an audiencia. Such a body functioned primarily as a court of appeals, but it also exercised extensive administrative powers. The seats of the audiencias were Mexico City, Guatemala, Santo Domingo (moved to Puerto Principe, Cuba, after 1793) and Guadalajara. At Mexico City the audiencia served as a viceregal council, although the viceroy was not obliged to follow its advice. The viceroy could preside over the judicial sessions of the audi encia but did not have a vote in judicial matters. Similar rela tions existed between the audiencia and the captains-general at Guatemala. The audiencia of Santo Domingo exercised adminis trative authority over all of the Spanish West Indies until 1784, when it lost that authority over the captaincy-general of Havana; it continued to exercise administrative authority over the rest of the Spanish West Indies until 1793, at which time France came into possession of the entire island of Espanola (Haiti). This audiencia also exercised administrative authority over Venezuela for many years. The judicial authority of the audiencia of Santo Domingo extended over all of the Spanish West Indies, Florida, Louisiana after 1763, and Venezuela until 1786. The audiencia of Guadalajara, in addition to exercising judicial jurisdiction over western and north-western New Spain, including the Provincias Internas of ter 1776, exercised administrative authority in the province of Nueva Galicia.