Colonial government in the New World (1500–1800)

A large Spanish American administrative unit (e.g. New Spain, Peru) ruled by a viceroy — the king's personal representative.

A Spanish colonial high court of judges that also checked and reported on the viceroy's conduct to the crown.

To prevent any single colonial official from building independent power far from royal oversight, given the huge distance from Spain.

"I obey but I do not comply" — a colonial-era practice under Habsburg rule where officials accepted a royal order's authority while quietly not enforcing it.

Portugal's crown granted huge coastal land strips to private nobles (donatários) to develop at their own expense; most failed, leading to a crown-appointed Governor-General from 1549.

Corporate = run by a chartered trading company (e.g. Virginia Company); Proprietary = granted to an individual/family (e.g. Pennsylvania, William Penn); Royal = governed directly by the crown through a royal governor.

The first elected assembly in British North America, established in Virginia, giving colonists a voice in local taxation and law.

Became a royal province ruled directly by a Governor (military/diplomatic) and an Intendant (justice/finance), with no elected assembly.

Encomienda = grant of tribute/labour over an Indigenous community; Mita = rotational forced-labour draft (e.g. Potosí mining); Yanaconaje = Indigenous workers permanently attached to one estate.

A silver-mining site (in modern Bolivia), discovered 1545, whose immense output — worked via the mita system — made it central to Spain's imperial wealth.

The economic theory that a nation's power depends on accumulating gold/silver and maintaining a favourable trade balance, with colonies existing to enrich the home country.

Spain's licensed treasure-fleet trade route between Seville/Cádiz and approved American ports, letting the crown tax and monitor virtually all legal colonial trade.

18th-century changes made by Spain's Bourbon kings (especially Charles III) to tighten control over the colonies — new viceroyalties, intendants, free trade zones, and a stronger colonial army.

Spain was losing money and power to smugglers and rival empires; the Bourbons wanted more tax revenue, tighter control, and defence against Britain and Portugal.

New Granada (1717, restored 1739) and Río de la Plata (1776) — created to govern distant regions more directly and cut out corrupt middlemen.

A royal official (introduced by the Bourbon reforms) sent from Spain to run a province's finances and administration, replacing local creoles who used to hold these jobs.

Reforms in Brazil under the Marquis of Pombal (Portugal's chief minister, 1750s–1770s) — he expelled the Jesuits, set up state trading monopolies, and centralised control from Lisbon.

The Jesuits ran their own semi-independent missions and controlled Indigenous labour and land, which blocked Pombal's plan for direct state and settler control of the economy.

The Comunero Revolt (1781, New Granada) — thousands protested new Bourbon taxes; also Tupac Amaru II's rebellion (1780, Peru) against colonial abuses of Indigenous labour.

Huge distances and slow communication, corrupt or self-interested officials, the principle 'obedezco pero no cumplo' (I obey but do not comply), and the practical power of local creole elites.

'I obey but do not comply' — a colonial legal custom where local officials formally accepted a royal order's authority but quietly delayed or ignored enforcing it.

A clash over land claims in the Ohio River Valley between British colonists and the French, who each had rival alliances with Indigenous nations.

France gave up nearly all its North American territory: Canada and land east of the Mississippi went to Britain, and Louisiana (west of the Mississippi) went to Spain.

Both centralised power from Europe and boosted revenue, but Pombal's reform was sharper and faster (crushing the Jesuits directly) while Bourbon reform was broader and slower (restructuring viceroyalties and taxes over decades).