A viceroy is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory.
Spanish America refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' imperial era between 15th and 19th centuries. To the end of its imperial rule, Spain called its overseas possessions in the Americas and the Philippines "The Indies", an enduring remnant of Columbus's notion that he had reached Asia by sailing west. When these territories reach a high level of importance, the crown established the Council of the Indies in 1524, following the conquest of the Aztec Empire, asserting permanent royal control over its possessions. Regions with dense indigenous populations and sources of mineral wealth attracting Spanish settlers became colonial centers, while those without such resources were peripheral to crown interest. Once regions incorporated into the empire and their importance assessed, overseas possessions came under stronger or weaker crown control.
A Real Audience, or simply an Audience, was an appellate court in Spain and its empire. The name of the institution literally translates as Royal Audience. The additional designation chancillería was applied to the appellate courts in early modern Spain. Each audiencia had oidores.
Juan de Palafox y Mendoza was a Spanish politician, administrator, and Catholic clergyman in 17th century Spain and a viceroy of Mexico.
Pedro Moya de Contreras was a prelate and colonial administrator who held the three highest offices in the Spanish colony of New Spain, namely inquisitor general, Archbishop of Mexico, and Viceroy of Mexico, September 25, 1584 – October 17, 1585. He was the 6th Viceroy, governing from September 25, 1584, to October 16, 1585. During this interval he held all three positions.
Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga, 1st Marquess of Villamanrique, Spanish nobleman and the seventh viceroy of New Spain. He governed from October 17, 1585, to January 26, 1590.
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa was a Spanish military officer, governor of Cuba, and Viceroy of New Spain from 1771 until his death in 1779. His military service included campaigns in Italy and Portugal. He rose to the rank of lieutenant general while serving as inspector of coastal fortifications in Granada. In 1766, Bucareli entered the Spanish colonial administration as governor and captain general of Cuba. His record there earned him appointment as viceroy of New Spain in 1771.
Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal was bishop of Santo Domingo and president of the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo from 1528 to 1531. He was also president of the second Real Audiencia of Mexico from January 10, 1531, to April 16, 1535. Later he was a member of the Council of the Indies.
Francisco Ceinos was one of five oidores (judges) of the second Real Audiencia of Mexico. This group governed the colonies of New Spain from January 10, 1515 to April 16, 1535. Ceinos was also president of the audiencias that served as interim governments of New Spain from 1564 to 1566 and from approximately July 1568 to November of that year.
Marcos de Aguilar was briefly royal governor of New Spain.
Francisco Antonio de Echávarri was a Spanish colonial official in New Spain. He was president of the Audiencia of Mexico City in 1760 when Viceroy Agustín de Ahumada died in office. In that capacity, Echávarri served as acting viceroy until the arrival of Francisco Cajigal de la Vega, Ahumada's successor. He served from February 5, 1760 to April 28, 1760.
Francico Romá y Rosell was a Spanish royal official in Valladolid and New Spain. He was the first regent of the Real Audiencia of Mexico. In this capacity, after the death of Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa and before the arrival of his successor, Martín de Mayorga, Romá served as interim governor of the colony from April 9, 1779 to August 23, 1779.
Manuel de Guirior was a Spanish naval officer and colonial administrator. He was viceroy of New Granada from 1772 to 1776 and of Peru from July 17, 1776, to July 21, 1780.
Francisco Gil de Taboada y Lemos was a Spanish naval officer and colonial administrator in South America. He was briefly viceroy of New Granada in 1789, and from March 25, 1790 to June 6, 1796 he was viceroy of Peru. After his viceregal service he returned to Spain, where he became a member of the governing junta after King Ferdinand VII was forced to abdicate by Napoleon. He was director general of the Spanish Royal Navy.
José Solís y Folch de Cardona, grande de España and knight of the Order of Santiago was a Spanish colonial administrator and viceroy of New Granada from 24 November 1753 to 25 February 1761.
A corregidor was a local administrative and judicial official in Spanish Empire. They were the representatives of the royal jurisdiction over a town and its district.
The Real Audiencia of Mexico or Royal Audiencia of Mexico was the highest tribunal of the Spanish crown in the Kingdom of New Spain. The Audiencia was created by royal decree on December 13, 1527, and was seated in the viceregal capital of Mexico City. The First Audiencia was dissolved by the crown for its bungling and corruption and the crown established the Second Audiencia in 1530. This was supplanted by the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1535. A new Audiencia was created in Guadalajara in western Mexico in 1548.
The Captaincy General of Puerto Rico was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire, created in 1580 to provide better military management of the island of Puerto Rico, previously under the direct rule of a lone governor and the jurisdiction of Audiencia of Santo Domingo. Its creation was part of the, ultimately futile, Habsburg attempt in the late 16th century to prevent incursion into the Caribbean by foreign powers. Spain also established Captaincies General in Cuba, Guatemala and Yucatán.
The Real Audiencia of Manila was the Real Audiencia of the Spanish East Indies, which included modern-day Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Micronesia and the Philippines. Similar to Real Audiencias throughout the Spanish Empire, it was the highest tribunal within the territories of the Captaincy General of the Philippines, a dependency of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
The Royal Audience and Chancery of Panama in Tierra Firme was a governing body and superior court in the New World empire of Spain. The Audiencia of Panama was the third American audiencia after the ones of Santo Domingo and Mexico. It existed three times under various guises since it first creation in 1538 until its ultimate abolition in 1751.
