The Virreinal society Was the system of political organization used by the Spanish Crown to administer the American colonies. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires, Spain sought to ensure real control over the region.
The size of the new territory, its estrangement from Spain and the threat that the conquerors exercised an unregulated power led the Spanish monarch, (Charles V of the Holy Roman Germanic Empire), to create a system of colonial viceroyalty that reflected the political organization of Spain itself.
Portrait of Charles V sitting.
He viceroy Was the most important Spanish official of the colonies and the main unit of the Spanish colonial administration was the Viceroy .
In 1,535 the Crown created the virreinato of New Spain, with soothes in the city of Mexico, that contained the territory of the old Aztec Empire. In 1542, he created the viceroyalty of Peru, based in the city of Lima, managing the lands of the ancient Inca Empire.
Subsequently, as a result of the substantial growth of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere during the eighteenth century, two new viceroyalties were created: Nueva Granada in 1739 located north of South America and the viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata in 1776, located In the south of South America.
Illustration 1. Viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire in America.
During the colonial period, the position of the viceroy was almost always assigned to Spanish-born bureaucrats or military men in Europe. The reason for this practice was partly because it was expected that, as outsiders, the Spanish viceroys would be impartial in the administration of colonial possessions.
For the majority, the viceroy's extremely prestigious position was a reward for a career of service to the Crown.
However, the position was not usually permanent, so the average time of occupation was relatively short, usually between five and eight years.
Government system
The system of viceroyalty as a whole was organized hierarchically and bureaucratically. The Crown was alone at the top of the imperial government.
Under the monarch was the Council of the Indies, located in Spain, which supervised the colonial administration. In the New World, colonies were divided into Viceroys, which in turn were subdivided into smaller political units called Hearings.
The term"Audiencias"referred not only to a territory within the viceroyalty but also to a high court that exercised important executive functions.
The members of this cabinet were selected by the Crown, strengthening the hierarchical character of the government and ensuring that only Spaniards assumed important political positions.
Illustration 2. Hierarchy of the Government System of the Viceregal Society
In spite of the complexities of these multiple hierarchies, the viceroys enjoyed some flexibility in their government.
His main responsibilities were tax collection, internal and external defense, public works management, and general administrative duties, which were usually quite simple.
However, they also had to maintain Spanish laws, which were many and often contradictory.
Laws of the Viceroyalty Society
The monarch tried to restrict the social interactions that the officials of the crown established with the colony, reason why it decreed laws that delimited the social life of the viceroy and the court. Some of these statements are summarized below:
- The viceroy and the ministers of the audience could not visit the members of colonial society.
- The law forbade the viceroy and his wife to participate in festivities.
- The single viceroys could not unite in marriage without a royal license and certainly not with people native to the colony.
- The viceroy could eat only in the company of his wife and servants, avoiding the presence of local society.
- The king also forbade the viceroy's children to accompany him to America.
- The law prohibited the viceroys and their wives from owning immovable property such as estates, houses or gardens.
- They were not allowed to participate in any kind of business, trade or mining activity, nor intervene in unconquered explorations or conquests of territory.
- The viceroy could not accept credit and gifts.
- The viceroy could not be served by more than four slaves.
In theory, these laws limited the viceroy of most of the social life of the colony and reduced it to a loyal servant of the crown, a kind of"philosopher king."
In practice, however, the response of the bureaucrats seemed to be"I obey but I do not execute", the authority of the Crown was recognized, but the obedience of their mandates was postponed or suspended.
To counter this, the Spanish Monarch added new policies for Spanish America, among which stand out: Residence trial , An end-of-term judicial review, and the visit , A secret investigation that could be developed at any time.
Each of these practices were used to ensure that the viceroys were diligent in their duties and did not take too many liberties.
In spite of all the efforts of the Crown to maintain strict control in the new colonies, in practice the viceroys and the local society made fun of the rules.
Corona officials made contact with colonial social networks, and socialization was part of politics.
Casting Society
In the eighteenth century, the Spanish Crown had transferred its culture to the New World, recreating a version of Iberian life modified by local influence.
The Spaniards forced or persuaded the Indians to adopt Christianity as their religion and discouraged or suppressed local languages in favor of Spanish.
The key to social development was the mix of different racial groups. Native Indians, Spanish settlers and African slaves (brought to the New World to work on plantations and the exploitation of precious metals) came together to produce a unique multiracial society.
New societies emerged little by little, creating distinctions based on races. The Creoles, People of Iberian descent born in Latin America. The mixture of peoples originated Mestizos, Persons of white and Indian descent, and Mulatos , A mixture of African and white or Indian ancestry.
Mixed groups eventually represented a considerable portion of the population in many colonies. Large mestizo groups developed in Mexico and Peru, while mulattoes were especially prominent in Cuba.
People born in Europe called Peninsular They saw the Creoles, mestizos and mulattoes with condescension or contempt, considering them inferior races.
Illustration 3. Breeds of the Virreinal Society
While the peninsular always enjoyed a high social status, the African slaves and the Indians occupied the bottom of the social groups. The mestizos filled the intermediate categories.
Restrictions were imposed on people of mixed origin, but social mobility was not halted. Over time, the distinctions between those born in Spain (peninsulares) and the Spaniards born in the New World (criollos) grew.
The latter dominated the local economies and developed a strong sense of identity that later contributed to the independence movements.
Society as a whole remained subject to the Iberian patriarchal forms. The women were under male authority; Upper-class women were limited to domestic occupations, but many lower-class women participated in the economy.
A notable feature of Latin American society was the dominant role played by landowner , Spanish plebeians who came to America to take hold of immense haciendas, where the Indians worked as Pawns .
This system of large landowners and dependent peasants has continued to be one of the persistent features of Latin American society.
Towards the end of the colonial period, financial problems in Spain caused the court to seek ways to make the empire more profitable, so that the Crown began to sell important bureaucratic appointments in the colonies, even the title of viceroy was sold. This allowed more Spaniards born in America to occupy these positions.
References
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- Hunefeldt, C. (2004). A Brief History of Peru . Broomall, Chelsea House Publishers
- Lockard, C. (2011). Societies, Networks, and Transitions, Volume II: Since 1450 . Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
- Rosenmüller, C. (2008). Patrons, Partisans, and Palace Intrigues: The Court Society of Colonial Mexico . Calgary, University of Calgary Press.
- Seaman, R. (2013). Conflict in the Early Americas. An Encyclopedia of the Spanish Empire's Aztec, Inca, and Mayan Conquest . Santa Barbara, ABC-Clio.