Note IV'-2 — Chapter IV · OBSERVATIONS ON NEW SPAIN.[IV'-1]

Nueva España (New Spain) is a term whose geographical and political connotation has varied much. As the colonial name of what we call Mexico it was first applied to Yucatan and Tabasco by Grijalva, in 1518, and next extended to all the Cortesian conquests. The kingdom of New Spain proper was a region under the audience of Mexico, which corresponded closely to the modern states of Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, Vera Cruz, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Colima, Mexico, Morelos, Tlascala, Puebla, Guerrero, Oajaca, and Chiapas. The viceroyalty of New Spain, dating from 1535, when the first viceroy, Mendoza, entered in possession, was much more comprehensive, as it embraced all the Spanish possessions in Central and North America, from the S. boundary of Costa Rica, as well as the West Indies and the Spanish East Indies. Its political composition was the five audiences of Mexico, Guadalajara, Guatemala, Santo Domingo, and Manila, and the captaincy-general of Florida. During the eighteenth century the East Indies and Guatemala were excluded from the viceroyalty. The viceroyalty of New Spain, as the term was most generally used, long consisted of the three "kingdoms" of New Spain, New Galicia, and New Leon. This corresponded to modern Mexico, plus then undefined territories of Texas, New Mexico, and California, now parts of the United States. On the separation in 1793 of the Provincias Internas or Internal Provinces, the viceroyalty of New Spain corresponded to the present Mexico, plus the Californias, but minus southern Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and Sonora. Spanish viceroyalty ceased in 1821, but "New Spain" was not finally "Mexico" till 1824 (during the Empire under Iturbide, 1822-28). The term "Provincias Internas" was vaguely used, as early as the seventeenth century, for the northern parts of New Spain or Mexico. "In 1777 (by order of Aug. 22, 1776) a new government was formed under this name, completely separated from the viceroyalty of New Spain, and comprising Nueva Vizcaya ([New Biscay] Durango and Chihuahua), Coahuila, Texas, New Mexico, Sinaloa, Sonora, and the Californias. The Capital was Arizpe in Sonora, and the audience of Guadalajara retained its judicial authority; the governor was also military commandant. In 1786 and 1787-93 the government was again subordinate to the viceroy. When the final separation was made in 1793, California was attached to Mexico," Cent. Cyclop., 1894, s. v., p. 828. This last "New Spain" is Pike's; and the present article is mainly devoted to the Provincias Internas of this New Spain—excepting that nothing is said of the Californias.