New Kingdom of Granada

Colombia in the Spanish Empire

See also: Spanish conquest of New Granada

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "New Kingdom of Granada" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

New Kingdom of Granada

Nuevo Reino de Granada
Nuevo Reyno de Granada

1538–1819

Burgundian Saltire

Coat of arms of Colonial-era Bogotá

The New Kingdom of Granada

Status| Ultramarine Province of the Spanish Empire

* Province of the Viceroyalty of Peru (1542-1717)
* Province of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717-1723, 1739-1810, 1816-1821)

Capital| Santa Fe de Bogotá
Common languages| Castilian and Indigenous languages
Religion

| Catholicism
Government| Monarchy
King|
Viceroy|
Historical era| Spanish colonization of the Americas

• Established

| October 12 1538

• Viceroyalty established

| May 27, 1717

• Muisca conquest, finalization of the Spanish conquest of New Granada

| 1540

• Viceroyalty suppressed; kingdom autonomous again

| November 5, 1723

• Disestablished

| September 27 1819
Population

• 1650

| 750,000 (Inc. Popayán Province)[1]
Currency| Real

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Muisca Confederation

|

| Pijao people
| Tairona
| Paez people
| Quimbaya
| Province of Tierra Firme
| Providence Island colony
| Viceroyalty of New Granada |

|

Today part of| Colombia
Panama

Part of a series on the

History of Colombia
Timeline
|  Pre-Columbian period |  pre-1499

|

Spanish colonization|  1499-1550
New Kingdom of Granada|  1550-1717
Viceroyalty of New Granada|  1717-1819

United Provinces of
New Granada

|  1810-1816
Gran Colombia|  1819-1831
Republic of New Granada|  1831-1858
Granadine Confederation|  1858-1863
United States of Colombia|  1863-1886
Republic of Colombia|  1886-present
Colombia portal

* Economic
* Constitutional
* Military

* v
* t
* e

The New Kingdom of Granada (Spanish: Nuevo Reino de Granada), or Kingdom of the New Granada, was the name given to a group of 16th-century Spanish ultramarine provinces in northern South America governed by the president of the Royal Audience of Santafé, an area corresponding mainly to modern-day Colombia. The conquistadors originally organized it as a province with a Royal Audience within the Viceroyalty of Peru despite certain independence from it. The audiencia was established by the crown in 1549.

Later, the kingdom would become the Viceroyalty of New Granada, first in 1717, and permanently in 1739. After several attempts to set up independent states in the 1810s, the kingdom and the viceroyalty ceased to exist altogether in 1819 with the establishment of the first Republic of Colombia.[2]

## History

[edit]

Old map of Tierra Firme, showing the initial divisions of the region

### European colonization

[edit]

Main article: Spanish conquest of the Muisca

In 1514, the Spanish first permanently settled in the area. With Santa Marta (founded on July 29, 1525, by the Spanish conquistador Rodrigo de Bastidas) and Cartagena (1533), Spanish control of the coast was established, and the extension of colonial control into the interior could begin. Starting in 1536, the conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada explored the extensive highlands of the interior of the region by following the Magdalena River into the Andean cordillera. There his force defeated the powerful Muisca and founded the city of Santa Fé de Bogotá (Bogotá), naming the region El nuevo reino de Granada, "the new kingdom of Granada", in honor of the last part of Spain to be recaptured from the Moors, home to the brothers de Quesada. After Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada left for Spain in May 1539, the reign of the colony was transferred to his brother Hernán. De Quesada, however, lost control of the province when Emperor Charles V granted the right to rule over the area to rival conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar in 1540, who had entered the region from what is today Ecuador, and named himself governor of Popayán.

### Regularization of the government

[edit]

Charles V ordered the establishment of an audiencia, a type of superior court that combined executive and judicial authority, at Santafé de Bogotá in 1549.

## Demographics

[edit]

In 1650, the population of the New Kingdom of Granada (Including the Popayán Province) was estimated to be around 750,000, with Indians numbering 600,000 people, or 80% of the population.[3] This is far lower than the Pre-Columbian population in which the population was estimated at 6,000,000 people.[4]

## List of governors

[edit]

Start  | End  | Governor

|
|

1538  | 1539  | Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
1539  | 1542  | Hernán Pérez de Quesada
1542  | 1544  | Alonso Luis Fernández de Lugo
1544  | 1545  | Lope Montalvo de Lugo
1545  | 1546  | Pedro de Ursúa
1546  | 1550  | Miguel Díez de Armendáriz
1551  | 1558  | Juan de Montaño

## Royal Audiencia

[edit]

The Royal Audiencia was created by a royal decree of July 17, 1549. It was given authority over the provinces of Santa Marta, Río de San Juan, Popayán, Guayana and Cartagena de Indias. The Audiencia was charged primarily with dispensing justice, but it was also to oversee the running of government and the settlement of the territory. It held its first session on April 7, 1550, in a mansion on the Plaza Mayor (today, Plaza de Bolívar) at the site which today houses the Colombian Palace of Justice.

Law VIII ("Royal Audiencia and Chancery of Santa Fe in the New Kingdom of Granada") of Title XV ("Of the Royal Audiencias and Chanceries of the Indies") of Book II of the Recopilación de Leyes de las Indias of 1680—which compiles the decrees of July 17, 1549; May 10, 1554; and August 1, 1572—describes the final limits and functions of the Audiencia.[5]

> In Santa Fé de Bogotá of the New Kingdom of Granada shall reside another Royal Audiencia and Chancery of ours, with a president, governor and captain general; five judges of civil cases [oidores], who shall also be judges of criminal cases [alcaldes del crimen]; a crown attorney [fiscal]; a bailiff [alguacil mayor]; a lieutenant of the Gran Chancellor; and the other necessary ministers and officials, and which will have for district the provinces of the New Kingdom and those of Santa Marta, Río de San Juan, and of Popayán, except those places of the latter which are marked for the Royal Audiencia of Quito; and of Guayana, or El Dorado, it shall have that which is not of the Audienicia of Hispaniola, and all of the Province of Cartagena; sharing borders: on the south with said Audiencia of Quito and the undiscovered lands, on the west and north with the North Sea and the provinces which belong to the Royal Audiencia of Hispaniola, on the west with the one of Tierra Firme. And we order that the Governor and Captain General of said provinces and president of their Royal Audiencia, have, use and exercise by himself the government of all the district of that Audiencia, in the same manner as our Viceroys of New Spain and appoint the repartimiento of Indians and other offices that need to be appointed, and attend to all the matters and business that belong to the government, and that the oidores of said Audiencia do not interfere with this, and that all sign what in matters of justice is provided for, sentenced and carried out.

One further change came as part of the Bourbon Reforms of the eighteenth century. Because of the slowness in communications between Lima and Bogotá, the Bourbons decided to establish an independent Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717 (which was reestablished in 1739 after a short interruption). The governor-president of Bogotá became the viceroy of the new entity, with military and executive oversight over the neighboring Presidency of Quito and the provinces of Venezuela.

## Administrative divisions

[edit]

See also: Corregidor (position)

The New Kingdom was organized into several Governments and Provinces:

Government/Province | Capital | Established | Founder

|
|
|

Governorate of Santa Marta | Santa Marta | 1525 | Don Rodrigo de Bastidas
Governorate of Cartagena | Cartagena de Indias
(Alternative Capital of Viceroyalty) | 1533 | Don Pedro de Heredia
Governorate of Popayán | Popayán | 1537 | Don Sebastián de Belalcázar
Province of Pasto | San Juan de Pasto | 1539 | Don Lorenzo de Aldana
Province of Santafé (de Bogotá),
with the province of Tunja, the ones originally called the "New Kingdom of Granada" | Santafé de Bogotá
(Capital of Viceroyalty) | 1538 | Don Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
Province of Tunja | Tunja | 1539 | Don Gonzalo Suárez Rendón
Province of Antioquia | Santa Fe de Antioquia | 1541 | Don Jorge Robledo
Province of Chocó | Quibdó | 1648 | Manuel Cañizales
Vast Province of Guyana
(special province) | Angostura | 1595 | Don Antonio de Berrío

## Main cities

[edit]

The largest cities of the New Kingdom of Granada in the 1791 Census were

1. Cartagena de Indias – 154,304
2. Santa Fé de Bogotá – 108,533
3. Popayan – 56,783
4. Santa Marta – 49,830
5. Tunja – 43,850
6. Mompóx – 24,332

## See also

[edit]

* Patria Boba
* United Provinces of New Granada

## Further reading

[edit]

* Avellaneda Navas, José Ignacio. The Conquerors of the New Kingdom of Granada. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.
* Cobo Betancourt, Juan F. (2024). The Coming of the Kingdom: The Muisca, Catholic Reform, and Spanish Colonialism in the New Kingdom of Granada. Open access. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781009314053
* Cook, Karoline P. "Religious Identity, Race and Status in New Granada." Race and Blood in the Iberian World; 3 (2012): 81.
* Fisher, John R., Allan J. Keuthe, and Anthony McFarlane, eds. Reform and Insurrection in Bourbon New Granada and Peru. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-8071-1654-8
* Francis, J. Michael. 2007. Invading Colombia: Accounts of the Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Expedition of Conquest. University Park: Penn State University Press.
* Graff, Gary W. "Spanish Parishes in Colonial New Granada: Their Role in Town-Building on the Spanish-American Frontier." The Americas (1976): 336–351. [ in JSTOR]
* Grahn, Lance Raymond. The Political Economy of Smuggling: regional informal economies in early Bourbon New Granada. Boulder: Westview Press, 1997.
* Kuethe, Allan J. Military Reform and Society in New Granada, 1773–1808. Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1978. ISBN 978-0-8130-0570-6
* Markham, Clements. The Conquest of New Granada (1912) online
* McFarlane, Anthony. Colombia Before Independence: Economy, Society and Politics under Bourbon Rule. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-521-41641-2
* Phelan, John Leddy. The People and the King: The Comunero Revolution in Colombia, 1781. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1978. ISBN 978-0-299-07290-2
* Ramírez, Susan Elizabeth. "Institutions of the Spanish American Empire in the Habsburg Era." in A Companion to Latin American History (2008): 106–23.
* Rodríguez Freyle, Juan. The Conquest of New Granada. London: Folio Society, 1961.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rosenblat, 1954: 59
2. ^ Avellaneda Navas; José Ignacio (1995). The conquerors of the New Kingdom of Granada. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
3. ^ Rosenblat, 1954: 59
4. ^ "Caída de la población indígena en Colombia, 1500-1630: tres escenarios" [Decline of the indigenous population in Colombia, 1500-1630: three scenarios] (PDF). Banco de la República.
5. ^ Spain (1680). Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias. Titulo Quince. De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias. Madrid. Spanish-language facsimile of the original.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Kingdom of Granada.

* The Educated Vassal in the State of the New Kingdom of Granada, and His Respective Duties — written 1789.

* v
* t
* e

Spanish Empire

Timeline–immersed

* Catholic Monarchs
* Conquest of the Americas, Asia and the Pacific
* Treaty of Tordesillas
* Italian Wars
* Habsburgs
* Golden Age
* War of the League of Cognac
* Encomiendas
* New Laws in favour of the indigenous
* Expulsion of the Moriscos
* Ottoman–Habsburg wars
* French Wars of Religion
* Bruneian–Spanish conflict
* Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)
* Piracy in the Caribbean
* Eighty Years' War
* Spanish–Moro conflict
* Thirty Years' War
* Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659)
* Portuguese Restoration War
* War of the Spanish Succession
* Queen Anne's War
* Bourbons
* Bourbon Reforms
* War of Jenkins' Ear
* Treaty of Madrid (1750)
* Seven Years' War
* Nootka Convention
* Napoleonic invasion
* Third Treaty of San Ildefonso
* Independence of Spanish continental Americas
* Adams–Onís Treaty
* Liberal constitution
* Carlist Wars
* Spanish–American War
* German–Spanish Treaty (1899)
* Spanish Civil War
* Independence of Morocco
* Independence of Equatorial Guinea
* Western Sahara conflict

Territories

| Europe|

* Spain
* Crown of Castille
* Crown of Aragon
* Union with Portugal
* Gibraltar
* Southern Italy (Kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia)
* Milan
* Union with Holy Roman Empire
* Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northernmost France
* Franche-Comté
* Pyrénées-Orientales

|

Americas (Spanish America)|

| North America|

* New Spain (Coastal Alaska, Central United States (Spanish Louisiana), Western United States (Spanish Texas), Florida, Mexico [es], Central America (Captaincy General of Yucatan), Spanish Caribbean)

|

Central America|

* Captaincy General of Guatemala
* Spanish West Indies (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico)
* Trinidad
* Jamaica
* Haiti
* Aruba
* Curazao
* Bonaire
* Belize

South America|

* New Granada (Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, part of Guyana, a northernmost portion of Brazilian Amazon)
* Peru (Peru, Acre, Chile)
* Río de la Plata (Argentina, Paraguay, Charcas (Bolivia), Banda Oriental (Uruguay), Misiones Orientales, Malvinas)

Asia and Oceania (Spanish East Indies)|

* Philippines
* Micronesia (Caroline, Guam, Mariana, Micronesia, Palau)
* Northern Taiwan
* Tidore

Africa|

* Equatorial Guinea
* Northern Africa (Western Sahara, Spanish Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, Peñón of Algiers, Oran, Béjaïa, Ifni and Cape Juby)

Antarctica|

* Terra Australis

Administration

| Organization|

* Ayuntamiento
* Cabildo
* Council of the Indies
* Germania
* Santa Hermandad

|

Law|

* Exequatur
* Laws of the Indies
* Papal bull
* Royal Decree of Graces
* School of Salamanca
* Trial of residence

Titles and positions|

* Alcalde
* Corregidor
* Municipal president
* Regidor
* Syndic
* Vecino

Administrative subdivisions

| Viceroyalties|

* Columbian
* New Spain
* New Granada
* Perú
* Río de la Plata

|

Captaincies General|

* Chile
* Cuba
* Guatemala
* Philippines
* Provincias Internas
* Puerto Rico
* Santo Domingo
* Venezuela
* Yucatán

Governorates|

* Castilla de Oro
* Cuba
* La Florida
* La Luisiana
* New Andalusia (1501–1513)
* New Andalusia
* New Castile
* New Navarre
* New Spain
* New Toledo
* Paraguay
* Río de la Plata
* Terra Australis

Audiencias|

* Bogotá
* Buenos Aires
* Caracas
* Charcas
* Concepción
* Cusco
* Guadalajara
* Guatemala
* Lima
* Manila
* Mexico
* Panamá
* Quito
* Santiago
* Santo Domingo

Economy

| Currencies|

* Dollar (Peso)
* Real
* Maravedí
* Escudo
* Columnario
* Doubloon

|

Trade|

* Manila galleon
* Spanish treasure fleet
* Casa de Contratación
* Spanish Road
* Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas
* Barcelona Trading Company
* Consulate of the Sea
* Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
* Commerce Consulate of Buenos Aires

Military

| Armies|

* Tercio
* Army of Flanders
* Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia
* Indian auxiliaries
* Spanish Armada
* Ships of the line
* Royalists
* Legión
* Army of Africa

|

Strategists|

* Duke of Alba
* Antonio de Leyva
* Martín de Goiti
* Alfonso d'Avalos
* García de Toledo Osorio
* Duke of Savoy
* Álvaro de Bazán the Elder
* John of Austria
* Charles Bonaventure de Longueval
* Pedro de Zubiaur
* Ambrosio Spinola
* Blas de Lezo
* Bernardo de Gálvez

Mariners|

* Christopher Columbus
* Pinzón brothers
* Ferdinand Magellan
* Juan Sebastián Elcano
* Juan de la Cosa
* Juan Ponce de León
* Miguel López de Legazpi
* Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
* Sebastián de Ocampo
* Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
* Alonso de Ojeda
* Vasco Núñez de Balboa
* Alonso de Salazar
* Andrés de Urdaneta
* Antonio de Ulloa
* Ruy López de Villalobos
* Diego Columbus
* Alonso de Ercilla
* Nicolás de Ovando
* Juan de Ayala
* Sebastián Vizcaíno
* Juan Fernández
* Luis Fajardo
* Felipe González de Ahedo

Conquistadors|

* Hernán Cortés
* Francisco Pizarro
* Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
* Hernán Pérez de Quesada
* Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
* Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
* Pedro de Valdivia
* Gaspar de Portolà
* Pere Fages i Beleta
* Joan Orpí
* Pedro de Alvarado
* Martín de Ursúa
* Diego de Almagro
* Pánfilo de Narváez
* Diego de Mazariegos
* Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera
* Pere d'Alberní i Teixidor
* García López de Cárdenas

Notable battles|

| Old World|

| Won|

* Comuneros
* Bicocca
* Rome (1527)
* Landriano
* Pavia
* Tunis
* Mühlberg
* St. Quentin
* Gravelines
* Malta
* Lepanto
* Antwerp
* Azores
* Mons
* Gembloux
* Ostend
* English Armada
* Cape Celidonia
* White Mountain
* Breda
* Nördlingen
* Valenciennes
* Ceuta
* Bitonto
* Bailén
* Vitoria
* Tetouan
* Alhucemas

|

Lost|

* Capo d'Orso
* Vienna (1529)
* Preveza
* Siege of Castelnuovo
* Algiers
* Ceresole
* Balearic Islands (1558)
* Djerba
* Tunis
* Spanish Armada
* Leiden
* Rocroi
* Downs
* Montes Claros
* Passaro
* Manila Bay
* Trafalgar
* Somosierra
* Annual
* Mactan

New World|

| Won|

* Tenochtitlan
* Cajamarca
* Cusco
* Bogotá savanna
* Penco
* Mataquito
* Guadalupe Island
* Recife
* San Juan (1595)
* Bahia
* Colonia del Sacramento
* Comuneros (Paraguay)
* Cartagena de Indias
* Cuerno Verde
* Túpac Amaru II
* Túpac Katari
* Pensacola
* Newfoundland
* San Juan (1797)

|

Lost|

* La Noche Triste
* Iguape
* Tucapel
* Guiana
* Curalaba
* Comuneros (New Granada)
* Trinidad (1797)
* Chacabuco
* Boyacá
* Carabobo
* Pichincha
* Ayacucho
* Guam
* Santiago de Cuba
* Asomante

Spanish conquests

* Canary Islands
* The Americas
* Aztec
* Maya
* Chiapas
* Yucatán
* Guatemala
* Petén
* El Salvador
* Honduras
* Nicaragua
* Chibchan Nations
* Colombia
* Chile
* Inca
* Philippines

Other civil topics

* Spanish missions in the Americas
* Architecture
* Mesoamerican Codices
* Cusco painting tradition
* Indochristian painting in New Spain
* Quito painting tradition
* Africanist
* Tapada limeña
* Academia Antártica
* Colonial universities in Hispanic America
* Colonial universities in the Philippines
* General Archive of the Indies
* Colonial Spanish Horse
* Mustang
* Castas
* Criollos in the colonial society
* Old inquisition
* Slavery in Spanish Empire
* Asiento
* Law of coartación (which allowed slaves to buy their freedom, and that of others)
* Great Potosí Mint Fraud of 1649

* v
* t
* e

Colombia articles

History|

* Timeline
* Indigenous peoples
* Muisca Confederation
* Spanish conquest
* Kingdom of New Granada
* Viceroyalty of New Granada
* Foolish Fatherland
* United Provinces of New Granada
* Military career of Simón Bolívar
* Wars of independence
* Gran Colombia (reunification)
* Republic of New Granada
* Granadine Confederation
* United States of Colombia
* Republic of Colombia
* Colombian Civil War of 1895
* Thousand Days' War
* Separation of Panama
* Colombia–Peru War (Leticia Incident)
* World War II
* La Violencia
* National Front
* Current internal armed conflict
* Colombian peace process

Geography|

* Biodiversity
* Fauna
* Flora
* Climate
* Geology
* Mountains
* Islands
* Rivers
* Valleys and Plateaus
* National parks (Protected Areas)
* Cities and towns
* Natural hazards
* Environmental issues
* Invasive species
* World Heritage Sites

Natural regions|

* Amazon
* Andean
* Caribbean
* Insular
* Orinoquía
* Pacific/Chocó

Subdivisions|

* Departments
* Municipalities
* Metropolitan areas
* Capital District
* Corregimientos
* Indigenous territories

Politics|

* Political parties
* Elections
* Ideologies
* Liberalism
* Conservatism
* Communism

Governance|

* Constitution
* Control
* Auditor General
* Comptroller General
* Inspector General
* Ombudsman
* Executive
* Council of Ministers
* Government agencies
* President
* Vice President
* Foreign relations
* Judiciary
* Congress
* Police

Military|

* Aerospace Force
* Army
* Navy

Economy|

* Banking
* Central bank
* Companies
* Economic history
* Agriculture
* Industry
* Mineral industry
* Peso (currency)
* Stock exchange
* Science and technology
* Telecommunications
* Taxation
* Trade unions
* Tourism
* Transportation

Society|

* Abortion
* Colombians
* list
* Demographics
* Education
* Languages
* Religion
* Race and ethnicity
* Health care
* Water supply and sanitation
* Women

Culture|

* Archaeological sites
* Architecture
* Art
* Cinema
* Video gaming
* Cuisine
* World Heritage Sites
* Carnivals
* Festivals
* Folklore
* Handicrafts
* Literature
* Media
* Muisca mythology
* Muisca religion
* Music
* Theater
* National symbols
* Coat of arms
* Flag
* Public holidays
* Freedom of religion in Colombia
* Miss Colombia
* Sport

Issues|

* Human rights
* Intersex
* LGBT
* Immigration
* Emigration
* Poverty
* Smoking
* Crime
* Drug trafficking
* Corruption
* Terrorism
* Guerrilla movements
* Right-wing paramilitarism
* Colombia in popular culture

* Outline
* Index

* Category
* Portal

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template