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Real Audiencia of Quito
 Map of the Real Audiencia in 1779. | |
| Type | Real Audiencia |
|---|---|
| Seat | Royal Palace of Quito |
| President | Hernando de Santillán (1564-1571) Melchor de Aymerich (1822) |
| Superior body | Viceroyalty of Peru (1563-1717) Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717-1723) Viceroyalty of Peru (1723-1739) Viceroyalty of New Granada (1739-1819) |
| Predecessor | Real Audiencia of Lima |
The Royal Audiencia and Chancellery of Quito (1563-1822) was the highest court of the Spanish Crown in the territories of the Province or Presidency of Quito, within the Viceroyalty of Peru, which later became part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada.
The former Government of Quito of Gonzalo Pizarro had already extended its territory as far as Cali and Popayán to the north, and to the south as far as the deserts of Piura; and in the Amazon basin, the exploration of Gonzalo Pizarro, the discovery and exploration of the Amazon River to the Atlantic by Francisco de Orellana, and the foundations in Yaguarzongo and Bracamoros, as well as the discoveries of the upper Marañón River and the Ucayali River by Juan de Salinas y Loyola, gave the former Government of Quito a new extent in the Amazon basin. For these reasons, on July 4, 1560, the people of Quito asked the King of Spain to create an Audiencia in the Governorate of Quito.
King Philip II, in the city of Guadalajara on August 29, 1563, issued a royal cédula by which the Governorate of Quito of Gonzalo Pizarro was raised to a Royal Audiencia and its boundaries were set. It was inaugurated on September 18, 1564.
Structure and boundaries
The Recopilación de Leyes de Indias of 1680, in Law X (Audiencia y Chancilleria Real de San Francisco del Quito) of Title XV (De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias) of Book II, sets out the boundaries and the officials of this Audiencia, taken from the royal cédula of 1563:[1][2]
In the City of San Francisco del Quito, in Peru, there shall reside another of our Royal Audiencias and Chancelleries, with a President; four Oidores, who shall also be Alcaldes del Crimen; a Fiscal; an Alguacil Mayor; a Lieutenant of the Grand Chancellor, and the other necessary Ministers and Officials; and it shall have as its district the Province of Quito, and along the Coast toward the City of the Kings, up to the Port of Payta, exclusive; and inland, up to Piura, Caxamarca, Chachapoyas, Moyobamba and Motilones, exclusive, including toward the aforesaid part the Towns of Jaén, Valladolid, Loja, Zamora, Cuenca, La Zarça and Guayaquil, with all the other Towns that are in their districts, and that may be settled; and toward the Towns of La Canela and Quixos, it shall have the said Towns, with the others that may be discovered; and along the Coast, toward Panama, up to the Port of Buenaventura, inclusive; and inland to Pasto, Popayan, Cali, Buga, Chapanchica and Guarchicona: because the other places of the Gobernación of Popayan belong to the Audiencia of the New Kingdom of Granada, with which, and with Tierra Firme, it shares borders to the North; and with that of the Kings to the South, having to the West the South Sea, and to the East Provinces not yet pacified, nor discovered.
A legacy of the era of the Real Audiencia of Quito is the work Flora Huayaquilensis, which had been lost for more than 200 years in the archives of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid. In 1985 Dr. Eduardo Estrella found evidence that the Navarrese Juan José Tafalla Navascués, an official in the service of the Crown of Spain, had traveled through the territory of the Audiencia of Quito and collected the first information on its flora. After three years of work in the archives, and once all the pieces of the puzzle could be put together, Estrella brought to light and published the work of Juan José Tafalla Navascués.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias (1680). Titulo Quince. De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias (PDF) (in español).
- ↑ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). web.archive.org (in español). September 24, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help) - ↑ Eduardo Estrella: “Juan Tafalla. La aportación de la Flora Huayaquilensis”, ArtesHoy (in Spanish).
External links
- Royal Cédula for the Audiencia of Quito (November 17, 1602) (in Spanish)
- Royal Cédula for the Audiencia of Quito (November 2, 1570) (in Spanish)
- Royal Cédula for the Audiencia of Quito (August 16, 1572) (in Spanish)
- Biography of Juan de Salinas y Loyola (in Spanish)
