Part 4 (1/2)
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE VICEROYALTY OF NEW SPAIN
Cortes as administrator.--Cortes was not a mere conqueror. He appointed officers, and issued general ordinances affecting nearly all lines of activity. Encomenderos were required to equip themselves for defense and to promote agriculture. Cortes himself became a great planter, notably at Oaxaca. He introduced agricultural implements, opened a port at Vera Cruz, and established markets in Mexico City. In 1523 the king had forbidden encomiendas, but Cortes made so strong a protest on the grounds of policy and royal interest that the order was withdrawn.
Royal officials arrive.--In 1524 a corps of royal officials arrived to take the places of those appointed by Cortes. Estrada came as treasurer, Salazar as factor, Albornoz, as contador, and Chirinos as veedor. They came empowered to interfere in the government of Cortes, especially in matters of finance, a policy quite in keeping with the general Spanish practice of setting one officer to watch another.
The powers of Cortes curtailed.--The new officials were not slow to make trouble for Cortes. While he was in Honduras his enemies set about undermining him, both in Mexico and Spain. Salazar and Chirinos usurped authority, persecuted the conqueror's partisans, confiscated his property, and spread reports that he was dead. At last the friends of Cortes rebelled, overthrew the usurpers, Salazar and Chirinos, and sent for Cortes to return from Honduras. In May, 1526, he reached Vera Cruz.
Two years of investigation and persecution by other crown officials followed.
In response to complaints in Spain, Luis Ponce de Leon was sent early in the same year as governor and to hold a _residencia_ of Cortes, while the latter's jurisdiction as captain-general was lessened by the appointment of Nuno de Guzman as governor of Panuco. Ponce de Leon died in July, leaving Aguilar as governor. Aguilar died early in 1527 and Estrada became governor. He interfered with Cortes's explorations in the South Sea, and banished him from Mexico City as dangerous, but the breach was soon healed when both were threatened by the usurpations of Guzman. It was at this time that Cortes, finding his position unbearable, went to Spain for redress and to answer charges.
The first Audiencia of New Spain.--In view of the disturbed conditions in New Spain, in 1528 Charles V created an Audiencia or supreme court for Mexico, and empowered it to investigate the disorders and hold the _residencia_ of Cortes. It was composed of four _oidores_ and a president. To the latter office was appointed Nuno de Guzman. He proved to be an extreme partisan against Cortes, and so avaricious that he soon won the hatred of almost everyone except a few favorites. The old friends of Cortes stood by him and he secured the support of Bishop Zumarraga.
Cortes made Marquis of the Valley.--The arrival of Cortes in Spain caused his detractors to slink from sight, and he was conducted to court with almost royal honors. In consideration of his brilliant services, in 1529 he was granted twenty-two towns, with twenty-three thousand va.s.sals, with full civil and criminal jurisdiction and rentals for himself and his heirs. With these honors he was given the t.i.tles of Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, captain-general of New Spain, and governor of such islands as he might still discover in the South Sea. In 1530 he returned to New Spain, where he was acclaimed by the people, though opposed by the Audiencia.
The second Audiencia.--The abuses of the first Audiencia led to its replacement in 1530 by a new corps of judges, of whom the president was Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal. The oidores appointed were Salmeron, Maldonado, Ceynos, and Quiroga. They were especially instructed to hold the _residencias_ of their predecessors, restore the estates of Cortes, and consider the abolition of encomiendas. To replace control by encomenderos, local magistrates called _corregidores_ were introduced. A few of these functionaries were appointed, but the colonists raised such a cry that little change was accomplished, and the Audiencia confined itself, in this particular, to checking abuses of the encomienda system.
Quiroga later became bishop and civilizer of Michoacan, where he is still gratefully remembered.
The viceroyalty established.--The difficulties of government and the spread of conquests made closer centralization necessary, and New Spain was now made a viceroyalty. The first inc.u.mbent of the office of viceroy was Antonio de Mendoza, a n.o.bleman of fine character and ability. He arrived in 1535. As viceroy he was president of the Audiencia, governor, and captain-general, personally representing the king in all branches of government.
The Audiencias of Panama and Guatemala.--Alvarado served as governor and captain-general of Guatemala through appointment by Cortes till 1528, when he was commissioned directly by the emperor. Though frequently absent, he continued in office till his death in 1541. In 1537 Panama and Veragua were erected into the Audiencia of Panama, which was later attached to the viceroyalty of Peru, because the commerce of Peru crossed the Isthmus. Six years later the Audiencia of the Confines of Panama and Nicaragua was established. After various changes, by 1570 Guatemala became the seat of an Audiencia embracing all of Central America except Panama, Veragua, and Yucatan.
The New Laws.--Las Casas and others continued to oppose the encomienda system. In 1539 the great missionary returned to Spain to conduct the fight. While there he wrote his celebrated works called _The Destruction of the Indies_ and the _Twenty Reasons_ why Indians should not be enslaved. His pleadings were not in vain, for in 1542 the Council issued a new Indian code called the _New Laws_, which provided that encomiendas should be abolished on the death of the present holders. But so great was the opposition that in 1545 the vital clauses of the ordinance were repealed. In Peru the attempt to enforce the laws even led to bloodshed.
Mendoza sent to Peru.--Viceroy Mendoza continued to rule for fifteen years. He proved to be a wise, able, and honest administrator, who tried to improve the condition of both the colonists and the helpless natives.
He prohibited the use of the Indians as beasts of burden. In 1536 he established the printing press in Mexico, the first book published on the continent appearing in 1537. In that year he founded the college of Santa Cruz de Tlatelalco for the education of n.o.ble Indians. He opened roads from Mexico to Oaxaca, Tehuantepec, Acapulco, Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco, and other distant points. In 1550 he was sent to rule in troubled Peru, where the Spaniards were duplicating the brilliant exploits of Cortes and his followers.
READINGS
SPAIN DURING THE CONQUEST
Armstrong, E., _The Emperor Charles V._; Bourne, E.G., _Spain in America_, Ch. I; Chapman, Charles E., _A History of Spain_, 1-246, especially Chapters X-XXII; Cheyney, E.P., _European Background of American History_, Ch. V; Hume, M.A.S., _Spain, its Greatness and Decay_; Hume, M.A.S., _The Spanish People_; Lane-Poole, S., _The Moors in Spain_; Lowery, W., _Spanish Settlements within the present limits of the United States_, 1513-1565, pp. 79-101; Merriman, R.B., _The Rise of the Spanish Empire_; Prescott, W.H., _Ferdinand and Isabella_; Haring, C.H., _Trade and Navigation between Spain and the Indies in the Time of the Hapsburgs_.
THE WEST INDIES, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND MAGELLAN
Altolaguirre y Davale, D. Angel de, _D. Pedro de Alvarado, Conquistador de Guatemala y Honduras_; _Vasco Nunez de Balboa_; Bancroft, H.H., _Central America_, I, 183-247, 321-412, 478-511; Bourne, E.G., _Spain in America_, 20-53; 115-132; Fiske, John, _The Discovery of America_, I, 465-512, II, 184-212; Fortier, A., and Ficklen, J.R., _Mexico and Central America_, 1-102; Guardia, R.F., _History of the Discovery and Conquest of Costa Rica_; Guillemand, F.H.H, _Life of Magellan_; Helps, Arthur, _The Spanish Conquest_, I, 89-142, 193-320; Lowery, Woodbury, _Spanish Settlements within the present Limits of the United States_, 102-122; Richman, L.B., _The Spanish Conquerors_, 64-91, 139-154; Wright, L.A., _The early History of Cuba_, 1492-1586.
CORTES AND HIS FOLLOWERS
Bancroft, H.H., _Central America_, I, 522-643; Diaz del Castillo, Bernal, _True History of the Conquest of New Spain_; Fortier and Ficklen, _Mexico and Central America_, 181-238; Helps, Arthur, _Life of Cortes_; _Life of Las Casas_; _The Spanish Conquest_, III, 23-67, 164-289; Mc.n.u.tt, F.A., _Cortes and the Conquest of Mexico_, 43-67; _The Letters of Cortes to Charles V._; Prescott, W.H., _The Conquest of Mexico_, Bks. II-IV; Bolton, H.E., The Spanish Borderlands; Means, P.A., _History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas_.
EXPLORATIONS TO THE NORTH AND IN THE PACIFIC
Bancroft, H.H., _History of California_, I, 64-81; Bandelier, A.D.F., _The Gilded Man; Journey of Cabeza de Vaca (Trail Makers' Series)_; Blair and Robertson, _The Philippine Islands_, I-II; Bolton, H.E., _Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706 (Original Narratives Series)_, 1-39; Bourne, E.G., _Spain in America_, 158-174; _Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto (Trail Makers' Series)_; Brittain, Alfred, _Discovery and Exploration_, 343-361; Hodge, F.W., and Lewis, T.H., _The Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, 1528-1543 (Original Narratives Series)_; Irving, Theodore, _The Conquest of Florida_; Lowery, Woodbury, _Spanish Settlements within the present Limits of the United States_, 130-350; Richman, L.B., _California under Spain and Mexico_, 3-11; Schafer, Joseph, _Pacific Coast and Alaska_, 3-23; Wins.h.i.+p, G.P., _The Coronado Expedition_ (Bureau of American Ethnology, _14th Report_, Part I.); _The Journey of Coronado (Trail Makers' Series)_, Richman, I.B., _The Spanish Conquerors_, 91-139.
CHAPTER III
THE EXPANSION OF NEW SPAIN (1543-1609)
OLD AND NEW SPAIN UNDER PHILIP II