New Galicia

From Hispanopedia
For other uses, see New Galicia (disambiguation).
New Galicia
1531–1786
Flag of New Galicia
Flag
Coat of arms of New Galicia
Coat of arms
Map of New Galicia.
Map of New Galicia.
StatusKingdom
CapitalFile:Escudo Tepic.svg Tepic (1531)
Compostela (1540)
Guadalajara (1560)
Common languagesSpanish language
Religion
Catholic
GovernmentViceroyalty of New Spain
Governor 
• 1531–1536
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
• 1777–1786
Eusebio Sánchez Pareja
Historical eraSpanish conquest of the Americas
• Creation by Royal cédula
1531
• Abolished by the Royal Ordinance of Intendants
1786
Area
• Total
221,770 km2 (85,630 sq mi)
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Reino de Xalisco
Intendancy of Guadalajara
Intendancy of Zacatecas

The Kingdom of New Galicia was an administrative and territorial entity of the Crown of Castile, included within the Viceroyalty of New Spain, but independent of it in its government and administration. Its foundation was carried out under royal sponsorship with the aim of offsetting the growing power of the faction of Hernán Cortés in central and southern Mesoamerica.

Its territorial extent varied enormously during its three centuries of existence, although its most stable configuration comprised the present-day Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas.[1] However, its capital was the seat of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara, whose jurisdiction reached the present-day U.S. territories of Texas, New Mexico and California, as well as the Mexican ones of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Coahuila, Sonora, Chihuahua, Baja California and Baja California Sur. As for ecclesiastical jurisdiction, all of the aforementioned territories were dependent on the Bishopric of Guadalajara.

By 1786 the Spanish Crown, as part of the so-called Bourbon Reforms, carried out a territorial reorganization, with the purpose of better controlling its dominions and obtaining a greater amount of taxes, controlling trade of every kind and in each region. As a result, the kingdoms of New Galicia and of New Spain, and the provinces and governorates that in general depended on the Viceroyalty of New Spain, were grouped into intendancies. Thus the Province of New Galicia and the Province of Colima were joined to form the Intendancy of Guadalajara; the provinces of San Luis Potosí, San Francisco de Coahuila, the New Kingdom of León, the Province of Tamaulipas and the Territory of Tejas made up the Intendancy of San Luis Potosí, while the Province of Los Zacatecas alone formed the Intendancy of Zacatecas.

New Galicia

History

The exploration of the area began in 1531 with the expedition of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán. He gave the main city founded in the area the name of Villa de Guadalajara, after his birthplace, and gave the high-sounding name of "Conquista del Espíritu Santo de la Mayor España" (Conquest of the Holy Spirit of Greater Spain) to the territories explored and conquered by him. However, the Empress Isabella of Portugal, consort of Charles V, who governed in the Emperor's absence, did not agree with the name Nuño de Guzmán had given to the conquered territory, and therefore, by a Real Cédula issued in Ocaña (Spain) on January 25, 1531, she ordered that the conquered territory be named "Kingdom of New Galicia" and that a city be founded with the name of "Santiago de Galicia de Compostela" (now Compostela), although this capital would later be moved to the city of Guadalajara by order of Cristóbal de Oñate.

First territorial organization

Province of New Galicia and other kingdoms.

Second territorial organization

Capitals

First capital of the Kingdom of New Galicia

Once Nuño de Guzmán received the Real Cédula, he proceeded to rename the "Villa del Espíritu Santo de la Mayor España," founded in Tepic, now with the name of Santiago de Compostela. Likewise, the territories conquered by Nuño de Guzmán came to be called the Kingdom of New Galicia.[6]

Second capital of the Kingdom of New Galicia

Rebellions by the indigenous people forced the conquistadors to consider locating the capital of the Kingdom of New Galicia in another place, which is the present-day Compostela, Nayarit. At the same time, the historian Antonio Tello tells us:

Being by then governor, he (Cristóbal de Oñate) then ordered that all the Spanish people who were in Tonalán move to the villa of Guadalajara at the site of Tlacotlán, where it remained, and once they had moved, he had them registered, and having done this, he went to the city of Compostela, and having seen that city, coast and province, he learned that the Indians of the province of the Tecoxines, who are those of Hostoticpac, were restless, as were those of the valley of Cactlán, who are of the same nation, and that they came out to waylay the Indians in service who were going to the city of Compostela, and they could in no way resist them, and that there was no other remedy but to move the city of Compostela from Tepic, where it was, to the valley of Cactlán, where it is now, which was the heartland of the Tecoxines, in order to subdue them, and so he immediately put it into effect, and in this year of 1540 he moved it, taking it away from Santiago de Tepic, where Nuño de Guzmán had founded it. Once established there, he embellished it and populated it very well, although, as will be told later, it became greatly depopulated with the arrival of the first Audiencia. On July 25, 1540, the feast of the apostle Saint James, the city of "Santiago de Galicia de Compostela" was moved to its current location; during the colonial period the settlement was known as Compostela de Indias, and it is currently known as Compostela and forms part of the state of Nayarit.

The expedition in search of the Seven Cities of Silver

It was at that time that the expedition commanded by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado set out from Santiago de Compostela, Tepic. He was at that time Governor of the Real Audiencia of New Galicia, replacing the first Governor of the province, Nuño de Guzmán (this Governor's Captain being Gaspar Briceño), and the expedition went in search of the seven cities of Cíbola and Quivira, an old European legend, half chivalric tale, which spoke of the Seven Cities of Cíbola and Quivira, located in some unknown place.

That expedition resulted in the discovery for Spain of the lands of the west of the United States.

Third and last capital of New Galicia

On February 14, 1542, the Emperor Charles V established in Compostela an Audiencia of four Oidores, which began its functions on January 21, 1549. In July 1549, Compostela became the seat of the first Archbishopric of New Galicia; by papal bull its Bishop received the title of Compostelano. On May 10, 1560, the Audiencia and the Bishopric were transferred from Compostela to Guadalajara, which became the third and last capital of the Province of the Kingdom of New Galicia.

Government

Governors and Captains General (1531–1545)

Alcaldes Mayores (1545–1549)

Governing Audiencia (1548–1572)

Presidents of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara (1572–1708)

  • Dr. Jerónimo de Orozco
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Dr. Santiago de Vera
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Lic. Juan de Villela
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Dr. Alonso Pérez Merchán
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Lic. Pedro de Otalora
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Dr. Diego Núñez Morquecho
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Dr. Juan de Canseco y Quñones
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Dr. Pedro Fernández de Baeza
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Dr. Antonio de Ulloa y Chávez
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Dr. Antonio Álvarez de Castro
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Lic. Francisco Calderón Romero
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Lic. Juan Miguel de Agurto y Álava
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Dr. Alonso de Ceballos Villagutierre
  • Governing Audiencia
  • Lic. Antonio Vidal Abarca y Balda
  • Governing Audiencia

See also

References

Retrieved from "https://en.hispanopedia.com/index.php?title=New_Galicia&oldid=1941"