Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica was a province of the

Kingdom of Guatemala The Captaincy General of Guatemala ( es, Capitanía General de Guatemala), also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala ( es, Reino de Guatemala), was an administrative division of the Spanish Empire, under the viceroyalty of New Spain in Central Am ...

, created in 1540 during the reign of

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (Crown of Castile, Castil ...

(King Charles I of Spain). It was formed from two earlier Spanish territories. The first of these was

Royal Veragua Royal Veragua ( es, Veragua Real) was a Central American territory of the Crown of Castile established in 1537. It encompassed the western part of the former Gobernación de Veragua (1508–1537), from the Caribbean slopes from the Río Sixaola (t ...

, the territories on the Caribbean coast that had been part of Columbian Veragua before the creation of the

Duchy of Veragua The Duchy of Veragua ( es, Ducado de Veragua) is a hereditary title in the Peerage of Spain. It was also a Spanish hereditary domain created in 1537 in the reign of King Charles I in a small section of the territory of Veragua (''Gobernación ...

in 1537 for Admiral Luis Colón y Toledo, namely present-day

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

, Costa Rica and part of

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

. The second was the Pacific coast that had constituted

Castilla de Oro Castilla de Oro or del Oro () was the name given by the Spanish settlers at the beginning of the 16th century to the Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined ...

, namely from the

Gulf of Nicoya The Gulf of Nicoya ( es, Golfo de Nicoya) is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland of Costa Rica, and encompasses a marine and coastal landscape of wetlands, rocky islands and cliffs. The first Spanish ...

on the west to the borders of the Duchy of Veragua. The first governor of Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica, named in 1540, was Diego Gutiérrez y Toledo. He arrived in the territory in 1543 and founded the town of Santiago and the city of San Francisco. He was killed by the indigenous inhabitants in 1544. In 1549 Juan Pérez de Cabrera was named to succeed Gutiérrez y Toledo, but the Crown revoked the nomination. In 1561 Juan de Cavallón y Arboleda was named ''

alcalde mayor An ''alcalde mayor'' was a regional magistrate in Spain and its territories from, at least, the 14th century to the 19th century. These regional officials had judicial, administrative, military and legislative authority. Their judicial and ad ...

'' of the province. His assistant, Fray Juan de Estrade Rávago y Añez succeeded him in 1562. In the same year, Juan Vázquez de Coronado was named the new ''alcalde mayor''. In 1565 the territory became Costa Rica Province.

References

*This article is a free translation of the article

Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica was a province of the Kingdom of Guatemala, created in 1540 during the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (King Charles I of Spain). It was formed from two earlier Spanish territories. The first of these was Royal Ve ...

in the Spanish Wikipedia. {{coord missing, Guatemala Colonial Central America Provinces of the Spanish Empire History of Costa Rica History of Guatemala States and territories established in 1540 1540 in North America 16th century in Central America