Captaincies of the Spanish Empire
Captaincies (
With the establishment of appointed governors, who served only for a few years, captaincies were created in the areas where the crown deemed them necessary. The new captaincies general were governed by what was also called a captain general, and it is this title alone that is usually used by historians. The title of captain general itself is a high military rank of general officer grade, equivalent to the rank of Field Marshal, as well as, and a gubernatorial title. However, in practice this was a person who held two distinct offices: one military, which granted him command of the regional forces (the "captaincy general" proper), and another civilian, which included the presidency of the
Some captaincies general, such as Guatemala, Chile and Venezuela were eventually split off from their viceroyalties for better-administration purposes. Although under the nominal jurisdiction of their viceroys, governors-captains general were virtually independent, because the law granted them special military functions and given the considerable distance of their districts from the viceregal capital, they were authorized to deal directly with the King and the Council of the Indies, in Madrid. The institution was later revived as part of the Bourbon Reforms. Captaincies general were first introduced into Spain beginning in 1713 during the War of the Spanish Succession. After the losses of the Seven Years' War, the Bourbon kings established new ones in many American regions, which had not had them before. Along with the new governors-captains general, the Bourbons introduced the Intendant, to handle civilian and military expenses.
Spanish Captaincies
- Viceroyalty of New Spainin 1535.
- Peru (1528), elevated to Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542.
- Santo Domingo (1540)
- Chile (1541), originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, it was split off in 1789 as a captaincy general.
- Guatemala (1560), raised to captaincy general in 1609.
- Yucatán state proper. An Intendancywas added in 1786.
- New Granada (1563), elevated to Viceroyalty of New Granadain 1717.
- Puerto Rico (1580).
- Cuba (1764), a captaincy general which included the Louisiana Territory acquired from France in 1763 and Florida after 1784. Cuba was split from New Spain upon the latter's independence, as was Mexico.
- Venezuela (1777), a captaincy general split from the Viceroyalty of New Granada.
- Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas(1776), analogous to a fully autonomous captaincy general, but financially dependent on New Spain.
See also
- Captaincy
- Captaincy General of Catalonia
- Captaincies of the Portuguese Empire
- Captaincy General of the Philippines