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New Kingdom of Granada Nuevo Reino de Granada Nuevo Reyno de Granada | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1538–1819 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 The New Kingdom of Granada | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Ultramarine Province of theSpanish Empire
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| Capital | Santa Fe de Bogotá | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Castilian andIndigenous 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 theSpanish 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Colombia Panama | ||||||||||||||||||||
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TheNew Kingdom of Granada (Spanish:Nuevo Reino de Granada), orKingdom of the New Granada, was the name given to a group of16th-century Spanish ultramarine provinces in northernSouth America governed by the president of the Royal Audience of Santafé, an area corresponding mainly to modern-dayColombia. Theconquistadors originally organized it as a province with aRoyal Audience within theViceroyalty of Peru despite certain independence from it. Theaudiencia was established by the crown in 1549.
Later, the kingdom would become theViceroyalty of New Granada, first in 1717, and permanently in 1739. After severalattempts to set up independent states in the1810s, the kingdom and the viceroyalty ceased to exist altogether in 1819 with the establishment of the firstRepublic of Colombia.[2]
In 1514, the Spanish first permanently settled in the area. WithSanta Marta (founded on July 29, 1525, by the SpanishconquistadorRodrigo de Bastidas) andCartagena (1533), Spanish control of the coast was established, and the extension of colonial control into the interior could begin. Starting in 1536, the conquistadorGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada explored the extensive highlands of the interior of the region by following theMagdalena River into theAndean cordillera. There his force defeated the powerfulMuisca and founded the city of Santa Fé de Bogotá (Bogotá), naming the regionEl nuevo reino de Granada, "the new kingdom of Granada", in honor of thelast part of Spain to berecaptured 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 brotherHernán. De Quesada, however, lost control of the province whenEmperor Charles V granted the right to rule over the area to rival conquistadorSebastián de Belalcázar in 1540, who had entered the region from what is todayEcuador, and named himself governor ofPopayán.
Charles V ordered the establishment of anaudiencia, a type of superior court that combinedexecutive andjudicial authority, at Santafé de Bogotá in 1549.
In 1650, the population of the New Kingdom of Granada (Including thePopayán 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 thePre-Columbian population in which the population was estimated at 6,000,000 people.[4]
| 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 |
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 RoyalAudiencias and Chanceries of the Indies") of Book II of theRecopilación deLeyes 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 theAudiencia.[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 ofSanta Marta,Río de San Juan, and ofPopayán, except those places of the latter which are marked for theRoyal Audiencia of Quito; and ofGuayana, orEl Dorado, it shall have that which is not of theAudienicia of Hispaniola, and all of theProvince of Cartagena; sharing borders: on the south with said Audiencia of Quito and the undiscovered lands, on the west and north with theNorth Sea and the provinces which belong to the Royal Audiencia of Hispaniola, on the west with the one ofTierra 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 ourViceroys of New Spain and appoint therepartimiento 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 theoidores 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 theBourbon Reforms of the eighteenth century. Because of the slowness in communications between Lima and Bogotá, the Bourbons decided to establish an independentViceroyalty 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.
The New Kingdom was organized into several Governments and Provinces:
| Government/Province | Capital | Established | Founder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Governorate of Santa Marta | Santa Marta | 1525 | DonRodrigo de Bastidas |
| Governorate of Cartagena | Cartagena de Indias (Alternative Capital of Viceroyalty) | 1533 | DonPedro de Heredia |
| Governorate of Popayán | Popayán | 1537 | DonSebastián 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 | DonGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada |
| Province of Tunja | Tunja | 1539 | DonGonzalo Suárez Rendón |
| Province of Antioquia | Santa Fe de Antioquia | 1541 | DonJorge Robledo |
| Province of Chocó | Quibdó | 1648 | Manuel Cañizales |
| Vast Province of Guyana (special province) | Angostura | 1595 | Don Antonio de Berrío |
The largest cities of the New Kingdom of Granada in the 1791 Census were
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