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TheReal Audiencia of Santo Domingo (transl. "Royal Audience of Santo Domingo") was the first court of theSpanish crown in America. It was created byFerdinand V of Castile in his decree of 1511, but due to disagreements between the governor ofHispaniola,Diego Colon and the Crown, it was not implemented until it was reestablished byCharles V in his decree of September 14, 1526. Thisaudiencia would become part of theViceroyalty of New Spain upon the creation of the latter two decades later. Nevertheless, theaudiencia president was at the same time governor andcaptain general of theCaptaincy General of Santo Domingo, which granted him broad administrative powers and autonomy over the Spanish possessions of the Caribbean and most of itsmainland coasts. This combined with the judicial oversight that theaudiencia judges had over the region meant that the Santo DomingoAudiencia was the principal political entity of this region during thecolonial period.

Law II ("That in the City of Santo Domingo in Hispaniola reside the RoyalAudiencia and Chancellory, and of its Ministers, District and Jurisdiction") of Title XV ("Of the RoyalAudiencias and Chancellories of the Indies") of Book II of theRecopilación deLeyes de las Indias of 1680—which compiles the decrees of September 14, 1526; June 4, 1527; April 19, 1583; October 30, 1591, and February 17, 1620—describes the limits and functions of theAudiencia.^[1]

TheAudiencia of Santo Domingo maintained judicial oversight ofCaracas Province, except for two short periods from 1717 to 1723 and 1739 to 1742, until the establishment of theAudiencia of Caracas in 1786. It also oversaw the provinces ofMaracaibo,Margarita, Cumaná (New Andalusia),Guyana,Barinas andTrinidad, (which had been transferred to theAudiencia of Bogotá in 1739) from 1777 to 1786, while plans for the newReal Audiencia of Caracas were finalized. The president of theAudiencia retained administrative oversight of Margarita, Cumaná and Caracas throughout the majority of the colonial period.

Because Spain ceded Hispaniola to France in thePeace of Basel of 1795, theAudiencia was transferred to Santa María del Puerto Príncipe (todayCamagüey,Cuba) by the royal decree of March 17, 1799. The newAudiencia was set up the following year and called theReal Audiencia of Puerto Príncipe. ThisAudiencia maintained jurisdiction over Cuba,Puerto Rico,Louisiana andFlorida. In 1838 theReal Audiencia of Havana was created, with the Puerto Príncipe retaining jurisdiction over the Eastern and Central departments of Cuba, since Spain had lost Florida and Louisiana. In 1831 theReal Audiencia of Puerto Rico was established, but it was dissolved in 1853.

• Colony of Santo Domingo − Captaincy General of Santo Domingo
• Museo de las Casas Reales
• Spanish Empire

• States and territories established in 1511
• States and territories disestablished in 1865
• Spanish West Indies
• Real Audiencias
• Colonial government in the West Indies
• Spanish Puerto Rico
• Colonial Venezuela
• Spanish colonial period of Cuba
• 16th century in the Colony of Santo Domingo
• History of the Caribbean
• History of New Spain
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• 1511 establishments in the Spanish Empire
• 1526 establishments in New Spain
• 1799 disestablishments in New Spain

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