As we go through the colonial period of our country, it is often easy to forget that throughout this period the Thirteen Colonies were on the northern fringe of a vast empire which was home to over nine million people in 1700. At the time the first of the Thirteen Colonies were being established in the early seventeenth century, many of the Spanish cities had existed for nearly a century. Old and well-established to the point that some had even began to go into decline, the Spanish Empire was the dominant force in the New World, largely unchallenged until the end of the eighteenth century.
Spanish possessions in the New World were divided between the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which controlled possessions in North America and the Caribbean, and the Viceroyalty of Peru in South America. Both largely existed for one reason, the mining and export of silver and gold to Spain, where it was frivolously wasted on wars and various other fools errands which despite such an influx of wealth left Spain always teetering on the edge of collapse. Until the mid-seventeenth century, the Viceroyalty of Peru was the primary source of silver to Spain, but this shifted over time to New Spain, thanks to new silver mines discovered in first central and then northern Mexico. This combined with other exports such as indigo and sugar, and the Pacific trade with the Philippines and what is today Thailand and Vietnam, made New Spain the center of New World commerce, though one largely only accessible to Spain. Foreigners were rarely allowed in, and the viceroyalties could only trade with Spain, not even with each other. As one can imagine, this led to a lot of smuggling, a perpetual problem that was largely ignored as long as it did not get overly out of hand or overly affect the flow of wealth across the Atlantic.
Each viceroyalty was ruled by a viceroy, who was appointed by the king and overseen by the Council of the Indies, a group of Spanish nobles back in Spain whose main job was to largely sit around and talk about things they had no idea about given most had never been to the New World. Under each viceroy were several Audencias, which were judicial and legislative councils called Audencias which acted as a check on the power of the viceroys and various smaller territorial governorships, some of which were appointed and some of which were hereditary. All of these were prized positions given they all came with various ways to greatly enrich oneself via skimming off the top, graft, and other forms of corruption. Another and slightly separate power was the Catholic church, which held a great deal of sway and whose bishops often held high political posts, controlled vast tracts of land, and had significant influence over the native population. Though men of god, they of course also enriched themselves just as much as everybody else.
The capitals of the viceroyalties, Mexico City and Lima, were the largest cities in the New World throughout this period, and Mexico City remains the largest city in North America to this day. They were home to universities, museums, monuments, and unique arts and culture. Both viceroyalties were connected via extensive networks of roads, albeit ones which mostly connected the mines to port cities, stage lines, postal services, and an extensive bureaucracy and unified legal system. However, despite all of this, the viceroyalties were perpetually broke, most of their wealth exported back to Spain. Many public works projects were started, halted, and restarted numerous times, or just outright abandoned. In many ways the viceroyalties were treated as independent kingdoms. They were expected to be self-sufficient and to see to their own infrastructure, public works, and defense. Farming and ranching were large and well-developed industries, as was the manufacturing of many goods. Each viceroyalty had a standing army, a naval fleet, and frontier and coastal forts, and conflict with other colonial powers, especially in the Caribbean, Belize, and Gulf of Mexico was not uncommon. Though the king or the Council of the Indies often made edicts concerning the governing of the viceroyalties, these were often ignored.
Both viceroyalties had extremely stratified societies. On the top was an upper class, which was divided between appointed officials sent from Spain and the wealthiest land owners who had been born in the viceroyalties. Below them was a middle class made up of a growing population of mixed Spanish and native heritage, and on the bottom was a working class almost entirely made up of natives, which made up the majority of the population. There was a small population of African slaves, but the importation of slaves was nowhere near as predominant as in other parts of the New World. Though huge numbers of natives had died of disease, the pre-contact high population density combined with over a century of time to recover meant the viceroyalties had a much more abundant workforce compared to other parts of the New World, such as the Caribbean, the Thirteen Colonies, and Brazil.
The history of these two viceroyalties is long and as complex as one would imagine and are well worth studying. However, this is a history of the United States, and as such we have to gloss over a lot of things worth knowing to keep the narrative moving forward. Go read another book or article or something, I can’t do everything for you.
