30 Facts About New Spain

1.

New Spain was the first of the viceroyalties that Spain created, the second being Peru in 1542, following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.

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2.

New Spain developed highly regional divisions based on local climate, topography, distance from the capital and the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz, size and complexity of indigenous populations, and the presence or absence of mineral resources.

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3.

The New Spain became a vital link between Spain's New World empire and its East Indies empire.

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4.

New Spain claimed jurisdiction over the overseas territories of the Spanish East Indies in Asia and Oceania, .

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5.

The audiencias of New Spain were Santo Domingo ; Mexico ; Panama ; Guatemala ; Guadalajara ; Manila .

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6.

New Spain was spectacularly successful in gaining indigenous allies against the Aztec Empire, with the indispensable aid of indigenous cultural translator, Marina, known as Malinche, toppling the rulers of the Aztec empire.

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7.

The Francisco Hernandez Expedition, the first scientific expedition to the New Spain World, was sent to gather information on medicinal plants and practices.

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8.

New Spain attempted to establish missions in what is the southern United States, including Georgia and South Carolina between 1568 and 1587.

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9.

At times, non-profitable war-torn Philippine colony survived on an annual subsidy paid by the Spanish Crown and often procured from taxes and profits accumulated by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, mainly paid by annually sending 75 tons of precious Silver Bullion, gathered from and mined from Potosi, Bolivia where hundreds of thousands of Incan lives were regularly lost while being enslaved to the Mit'a system.

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10.

Don Lope Diez de Armendariz, born in Quito, Ecuador, was the first Viceroy of New Spain who was born in the 'New World'.

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11.

The Bourbons created a standing army in New Spain, beginning in 1764, and strengthened defensive infrastructure, such as forts.

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12.

Crown sought reliable information about New Spain and dispatched Jose de Galvez as Visitador General, who observed conditions needing reform, starting in 1765, in order to strengthen crown control over the kingdom.

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13.

Jose de Galvez, now Minister of the Indies following his appointment as Visitor General of New Spain, briefed the newly appointed viceroy about reforms to be implemented.

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14.

Teodoro de Croix was appointed the first Commander General of the Provincias Internas, independent of the Viceroy of New Spain, to provide better administration for the northern frontier provinces.

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15.

New Bourbon kings did not split the Viceroyalty of New Spain into smaller administrative units as they did with the Viceroyalty of Peru, carving out the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata and the Viceroyalty of New Granada, but New Spain was reorganized administratively and elite American-born Spanish men were passed over for high office.

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16.

In 1780, Minister of the Indies Jose de Galvez sent a royal dispatch to Teodoro de Croix, Commandant General of the Internal Provinces of New Spain, asking all subjects to donate money to help the American Revolution.

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17.

New Spain then had control over the Mississippi 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.

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18.

New Spain claimed the entire west coast of North America and therefore considered the Russian fur trading activity in Alaska, which began in the middle to late 18th century, an encroachment and threat.

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19.

New Spain met Mexican scientist Andres Manuel del Rio Fernandez, who discovered the element vanadium in 1801.

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20.

Viceroyalty of New Spain was the principal source of income for Spain in the eighteenth century, with the revival of mining under the Bourbon Reforms.

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21.

Cacao and indigo were important exports for the New Spain, but was used through rather the vice royalties rather than contact with European countries due to piracy, and smuggling.

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22.

Nonetheless, much of northern New Spain had sparse indigenous population and attracted few Europeans.

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23.

Since portions of northern New Spain became part of the United States' Southwest region, there has been considerable scholarship on the Spanish borderlands in the north.

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24.

In Bolivia, it was from the single rich mountain of Potosi; but in New Spain, there were two major mining sites, one in Zacatecas, the other in Guanajuato.

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25.

New Spain founded the Spanish settlement of San Gabriel de Yungue-Ouinge on the Rio Grande near the Native American Pueblo, located just north of the present day city of Espanola, New Mexico.

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26.

New Spain resigned as governor in 1607 and left New Mexico, having lost much of his personal wealth on the enterprise.

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27.

In 1610, Pedro de Peralta, a later governor of the Province of New Spain Mexico, established the settlement of Santa Fe near the southern end of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.

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28.

In 1776 the New Spain Mexico came under the new Provincias Internas jurisdiction.

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29.

Therefore, at the start of the 17th century, continental New Spain was a depopulated country with abandoned cities and maize fields.

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30.

Once New Spain achieved its independence, the legal basis of the colonial caste system was abolished and mentions of a person's caste in official documents were abandoned, which led to the exclusion of racial classification in the censuses to come, and made it difficult to keep track of the demographic development of each ethnicity that lived in the country.

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