Spain's New World Empire: From California to Patagonia

At its height, the Spanish Empire claimed a staggering portion of the Americas:

North America

• Present-day: California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida.
• Key posts: Santa Fe (1610), San Antonio (1718), San Diego (1769), San Francisco (1776), Los Angeles (1781).

Central America

• Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama (Captaincy General of Guatemala).

Caribbean

• Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola (Santo Domingo – first capital), Jamaica (until 1655), Trinidad (until 1797), Florida Keys, Bahamas (intermittent).

South America

• Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay (Viceroyalties of New Granada, Peru, Río de la Plata).
• Only Brazil (Portugal) and the Guianas (British, Dutch, French) escaped Spanish rule.

Pacific

• Philippines, Guam, Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands (administered from Mexico via Manila Galleon).

Administration

Viceroyalties, audiencias, corregimientos, and a vast mission/presidio network governed this territory until independence movements (1810–1825) shattered it.