During Spain's New World Empire, its

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

coastal possessions surrounding the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

were referred to collectively as the

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...

. The southern portion of these coastal possessions were known as the Province of Tierra Firme ( es, Provincia de Tierra Firme), or the "Mainland Province" (as contrasted with Spain's nearby insular colonies).Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, The Province of Tierra Firme, or simply Tierra Firme, was also called Costa Firme.Ilia del Toro Robledo. ''Actas del Cabildo de Ponce, Puerto Rico.'' Ponce, Puerto Rico: Gobierno Municipal Autónomo de Ponce. Comisión Puertorriqueña para la Celebración del Quinto Centenario del Descubrimiento de America y Puerto Rico, en Conmemoración del Encuentro de Dos Mundos. 1993. Acta # 136 of 28 October 1821. p. 207.

History

In 1498,

Cristopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

entered the

Gulf of Paria The Gulf of Paria ( ; es, Golfo de Paria) is a shallow (180 m at its deepest) semi-enclosed inland sea located between the island of Trinidad (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) and the east coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries ...

in Venezuela and explored the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

. In his fourth and last voyage, he also explored the

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. In 1509, authority was granted to

Alonso de Ojeda Alonso de Ojeda (; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He travelled through modern-day Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago, Curaçao, Aruba and Colombia. He navigated with Amerigo Vespucci who is famous ...

and

Diego de Nicuesa Diego de Nicuesa (; died 1511) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer. Background Diego arrived Santo Domingo in April 1502, with Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres' flotilla. In 1506, Nicuesa was given the job of governing Costa Rica, but ran agrou ...

to colonize the territories between the west side of the

Gulf of Urabá The Gulf of Urabá is a gulf on the northern coast of Colombia. It is part of the Caribbean Sea. It is a long, wide inlet located on the coast of Colombia, close to the connection of the continent to the Isthmus of Panama. The town of Turbo, Co ...

and

Cabo de la Vela Cabo de la Vela (Spanish for "cape of sails") is a headland in the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia with an adjacent small fishing village. It is a popular ecotourism destination of the Caribbean region of Colombia History Spanish explorer Juan ...

, and Urabá westward to

Cabo Gracias a Dios Cabo Gracias a Dios is a cape located in the middle of the east coast of Central America, within what is variously called the Mosquito Coast and La Mosquitia. It is the point where the Rio Coco flows into the Caribbean, and is the border bet ...

in present-day

. The westernmost portion was given the name ''Tierra Firme''. Other provinces of this region during this era were Nueva Andalucia and

Veragua {{unreferenced, date=January 2015 Veragua or Veraguas was the name of five Spanish colonial territorial entities in Central America, beginning in the 16th century during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term was based on a Central Amer ...

Castilla del 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 American territories from the Gulf of Urabá, near today's Colombian-Panamanian border, to the Belén River. Beyond that ...

; the main city in Tierra Firme was Santa Maria La Antigua del Darién, now Darién, Panama, near the mouth of the Tarena river. The idea was to create a unitary administrative organization similar to

Nueva España New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...

(now Mexico), near the

Captaincy General 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 A ...

. Tierra Firme later received control over other territories: the Isla de Santiago (now

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

) the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

; Roncador, Quitasueño, and Providencia and other islands now under

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

n control; and the territories of present-day

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and

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 ...

as far as Cabo Gracias a Dios. The eastern frontier of Tierra Firme also included the east side of the Gulf of Darién or Urabá, the east side of the Atrato and Truando rivers, ending in Cabo Marzo on the Pacific side. Between these limits lie Santa Maria La Antigua Del Darien on the Gulf of Urabá and Jurado on the Pacific side. Map New Kingdom of Granada

When the Central American states gained independence, the precise frontiers were unclear. For example, some ancient maps and historical references suggest that the entire Caribbean coast as far as Cabo Gracias a Dios was part Tierra Firme or

Castilla Del 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 American territories from the Gulf of Urabá, near today's Colombian-Panamanian border, to the Belén River. Beyond that ...

. On the other hand, this would embrace populated regions of the

Mosquito Coast The Mosquito Coast, also known as the Mosquitia or Mosquito Shore, historically included the area along the eastern coast of present-day Nicaragua and Honduras. It formed part of the Western Caribbean Zone. It was named after the local Miskit ...

that were never under the effective rule of Tierra Firme. Disputes over both of Panama's frontiers were finally solved by agreements with

and Colombia, respectively.

Governorates in Hispanic America

After the territorial division of South America between Spain and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, the Peruvian Hispanic administration was divided into six entities: *Province of Tierra Firme, included the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Coast, Central America, the Pacific Coast of Colombia and Mexico. *

Governorate of New Castile The Governorate of New Castile (''Gobernación de Nueva Castilla'', ) was the gubernatorial region administered to Francisco Pizarro in 1529 by King Charles I of Spain, of which he was appointed governor. The region roughly consisted of modern ...

, consisting of the territories from roughly the

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

ian-

n border in the north to

Cuzco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; ...

in the south. *

Governorate of New Toledo The Governorate of New Toledo was a Spanish Governorate of the Crown of Castile formed from the previous southern half of the Inca Empire, stretching south into present day central Chile, and east into present day central Brazil. It was estab ...

, forming the previous southern half of the Inca empire, stretching towards central

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. *

Governorate of New Andalusia The Governorate of New Andalusia was a Spanish Governorate of the Crown of Castile in South America which existed between 1534–1617. History The governorate was created as one of King Charles V's grants of 1534, establishing the ''adelantado' ...

, which was not formally conquered by Spain until decades later. * Governorate of New León, the southernmost part of the continent until the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

. * Governorate of Terra Australis, territories from the south of the Strait of Magellan to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

. This territorial division set the basis for the Hispanic administration of South America for several decades. It was formally dissolved in 1544, when King Charles I sent his personal envoy,

Blasco Núñez Vela Blasco Núñez Vela (c. 1490 – January 18, 1546) was the first Spanish viceroy of South America ("Viceroyalty of Peru"). Serving from May 15, 1544 to January 18, 1546, he was charged by Charles V with the enforcement of the controversial ...

, to govern the newly founded

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed from ...

that replaced the governorates.

References

Sources

*M.M. Alba C., ("Descriptive Geography of the Republic of Panama"). Sixth Edition, text approved by Ministry of Education. (In Spanish.) *Lucien N.B. Wise, (Tr Spanish:", Published by , 1956. *Ernesto J.Castillero R., ("History of Panama"), Ninth Edition. . 1968. (In Spanish.) *Noris Correa de Sanjur, ("History of Panama"), a school text approved by Ministry of Education. Editorial A.I.P.S.A. 1984. (In Spanish.)

section
- ""
(In Spanish.) Portal for "typical" music (characteristic of Panama): "Remembering the Coto War on the Centenary of Panama".

External links

map showing this usage (and giving both spellings). The map is from ''L'Histoire du Nouveau Monde ou description des Indes Occidentales, contenant dix-huict livres... enrichi de nouvelles tables geographiqiues & figures des animaux, plantes & fruicts'' by

Joannes de Laet Joannes or Johannes De Laet (Latinized as ''Ioannes Latius'') (1581 in Antwerp – buried 15 December 1649, in Leiden) was a Dutch geographer and director of the Dutch West India Company. Philip Burden called his ''History of the New World'', " ...

(1593–1649), published 1640 by Bonaventure & Abraham Elseviers, Leiden. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tierra Firme, Province of Spanish colonization of the Americas . . . . History of Honduras 1510s in North America 1520s in North America 1530s in North America 1510s in South America 1520s in South America 1530s in South America Former colonies in North America Former colonies in South America Former countries in Central America States and territories established in 1510 States and territories disestablished in 1537 1510 establishments in North America 1537 disestablishments in North America 1510 establishments in South America 1530s disestablishments in South America 1510 establishments in the Spanish Empire 1530s disestablishments in the Spanish Empire 16th century in North America 16th century in Central America 16th century in South America 16th century in the Spanish Empire

History

Governorates in Hispanic America

See also

References

Sources

External links