The Province of Pánuco was a province of the Spanish colony of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

. It was probably discovered by

Amerigo Vespucci Amerigo Vespucci ( , ; 9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence for whom "Naming of the Americas, America" is named. Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the A ...

in 1498, and later by

Juan de Grijalva Juan de Grijalva (; c. 1490 – 21 January 1527) was a Spanish conquistador, and a relative of Diego Velázquez.Diaz de Castillo, Bernal. 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, He went to Hispaniola in 1508 and to Cuba in 1511. ...

. It was located on the Mexican gulf coast centered on Santiestebán de Pánuco, from the river of

Tuxpan Tuxpan (or Túxpam, fully Túxpam de Rodríguez Cano, for Enrique Rodríguez Cano) is both a municipality and city located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The population of the city was 89,557 and of the municipality was 154,600 inhabitants, ...

and extending into the current state of

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is a state in Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities. It is located in nor ...

. Originally inhabited by Huastecs, it was claimed both by conquistador

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

who sent

Francisco de Montejo Francisco de Montejo (; 1479 – 1553) was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America. Early years Francisco de Montejo was born about 1473 to a family of lesser Spanish nobility in Salamanca, Spain. He never documented his parentag ...

to claim the area and by

Francisco de Garay Francisco de Garay (1475 in Sopuerta, Biscay – 1523) was a Spanish Basque people, Basque conquistador. Early life Garay was born in the Garay tower in Sopuerta, in the county of Encartaciones located in the province of Biscay. He was a companio ...

, governor of Jamaica, who sent Alonso Alvarez de Pineda. The province was the object of a power struggle between supporters of Cortés and his opponents, first divided into

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish Labour (human activity), labour system that rewarded Conquistador, conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including mil ...

s and allotted to Cortés supporters. A ''gobierno'' (

governorate A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions ...

) of San Esteban de Pánuco was created in 1523. Its territory may have corresponded to the

Huasteca La Huasteca is a geographical and cultural region located partially along the Gulf of Mexico and including parts of the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Puebla, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Guanajuato. It is roughly d ...

, as far north as the

Pánuco River The Pánuco River (, ), also known as the ''Río de Canoas'', is a river in Mexico fed by several tributaries including the Moctezuma River and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The river is approximately long and passes through or borders the ...

. This ''gobierno'' was absorbed by

in 1534. - Access date: 6 May 2022
Read online at

DeGruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Ber ...

. In 1525

Nuño de Guzmán Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (1558) was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain. He was the governor of the province of Pánuco (province), Pánuco from 1525 to 1533 and of Nueva Galicia from 1529 to 1534, and president of the ...

of the Anti-Cortés faction was appointed governor of Pánuco and he stripped Cortés' supporters of their encomiendas and undertook a policy of violent slave raids against the local Indians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panuco (Province) Colonial Mexico Geography of Mesoamerica