Columbian Viceroyalty

The Columbian Viceroyalty, also called the Viceroyalty of the Indies, was the bundle of titles and rights that the Catholic Monarchs granted to Christopher Columbus in 1492 over the lands he might discover. By the capitulations of Santa Fe, signed in April 1492, Columbus was made Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Viceroy and Governor General of all islands and mainland he found, with the dignities to pass to his heirs in perpetuity. The titles were confirmed when he returned from his first voyage in 1493. In practice the viceroyalty was a personal jurisdiction rather than a territorial administration: its seat was Santo Domingo on Hispaniola, founded in 1496 and made the first capital of Spanish America, and its authority extended over the Caribbean settlements as they appeared. Columbus governed until 1500, when he was replaced and sent back in chains; his son Diego later recovered the family titles after a long lawsuit. The arrangement proved unworkable as the empire grew, and in 1535 the new Viceroyalty of New Spain was created in Mexico, ending the Columbian phase. The viceroyalty is remembered as the legal foundation of Spain's overseas empire.