| A system of administration that had worked in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century was still in place for the Spanish government up until the War of Spanish Succession. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 installed the House of Bourbon on the throne in Madrid.
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| While the Habsburgs were still in power at Madrid there was some concern about the administration of its American possessions. The result of this concern was the 1680 publication of the nine volumes of the Recopilacion de las Leyes de las India. These rules were guidelines to prevent the colonies from straying from Spanish power.
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| Until the eighteenth century Spanish possessions were divided into the Viceroyalties of New Spain (Mexico) and Peru. During the eighteenth century, as settlements and populations grew, the number of political divisions also grew.
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| The Viceroyalty of New Granada was created from part of Terra Firma and the kingdoms of Santa Fe de Bogota and Quito in 1739. In 1776 Charles III created the Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires from the provinces of del Plata, Paraguay, Tucuman and four Peruvian districts.
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| In addition Caracas (Venezuela) was separated from San Domingo in 1731 as a Captaincy-General, followed by other districts.
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| At the height of its organization the Spanish world had four Viceroyalties (New Spain, New Granada, Buenos Aires and Peru) and eight Captaincies-General (Guatemala, San Domingo, Cuba, Chile, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the Philippines and Louisiana which included Florida. These smaller divisions ultimately allowed an easier road to independence in the early nineteenth century.
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| The Viceroy was usually a nobleman with enough real estate back home in Spain to make his independence in the New World unlikely. The caliber of administrators who became viceroys improved under the Bourbons. A Captain-General controlled a division perhaps less important than the Viceroys, but had the same powers.
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| Working with the viceroy or captain-general was an Audiencia, a body of mostly lawyers whose functions included a privy council for the administrator and a separate court of law, which appealed only to the Supreme Court of the Indise at Seville. The Audiencia had the power to inspect and pass the viceroy's accounts at the end of his term and could make a report on his conduct at any time.
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| Under the Viceroys, captains-general and audiencias were the governors and cabildos. The cabildos were town councils based on the roman system. The romans colonized through the towns of its empire.
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| After 1782 the position of Intendant was added. This office covered mostly the royal treasury, but also other matters of public administration such as police, war and justice.
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