After the 1494 territorial division of South America between Spain and Portugal in the
Treaty of Tordesillas, the colonial administration of the continent was divided into
Governorates.
Governorate of New Andalusia, granted in 1534 to
Pedro de Mendoza, was defined as stretching 200
leagues along the Pacific coast south of the New Toledo grant and reaching east to the Atlantic, covering the vast territory of current days North and Central
Argentina, the totality of
Uruguay and
Paraguay, and parts of Central
Chile. Only small areas of it were colonized, mainly along the
Paraná River; this region did not fully develop colonially until decades later.
Governorate of New Léon, granted in 1529 to
Simón de Alcazaba y Sotomayor [
es] and redefined in 1534, it consisted of the southernmost part of the continent covering the Southern tip of the continent what is today current
PatagoniaArgentina and
Chile, and Southern islands towards
Antarctica; this was the last part of the colony to develop; and eventually attacked by the British pirates coming from
Europe crossing the waters towards the Pacific Ocean en route to
Tasmania current days
Australia.
Governorate of the Río de la Plata, established in 1549, it was originally simply a renamed New Andalusia until it was reorganized in the 17th century after successful settlement, this territory was granted to Governor
Domingo Martínez de Irala and developed around the Silver River (Spanish:
Río de la Plata) this governorate gave origin to the creation of
Argentina and
Uruguay.
References
^Arreola, Daniel D. (2002). "3 • Territory Shaped". Tejano South Texas: A Mexican American Cultural Province.
University of Texas Press. p. 25.
doi:
10.7560/705104.
ISBN9780292757189. Northeastern New Spain was first given formal administrative au- thority as the gobierno of San Esteban de Panuco in 1523. Its assumed boundaries were the Rio Tuxpan on the south and the Rio Panuco on the north [...] When Guzman transferred to Nueva Galicia, the Panuco was absorbed as a political unit by the gobierno of Nueva España in 1534 - Access date: 6 May 2022
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