The New Kingdom of León (), was an administrative territory of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

, politically ruled by the

Viceroyalty 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 located in an area corresponding generally to the present-day northeastern Mexican state of

Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

Origins

It was founded in 1582 by Spanish and Portuguese settlers when Philip II, King of Spain and its colonies, encouraged the colonization of Northern New Spain, and authorized the creation of a 'realm' which would have the name of Nuevo Reyno de León (New Kingdom of León), after the former

Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when the Christian princes of Kingdom of Asturias, Asturias along the Bay of Biscay, northern coast of the peninsula ...

in Spain. Philip granted Luis de Carabajal y Cueva the title of first governor and captain-general of this new province in New Spain. The foundation of this realm was a crucial event which potentially helped the subsequent Spanish settlements in Texas.

Language

The official language of the settlers was the

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

though some settlers spoke the

Leonese language Leonese (''llionés, ḷḷionés, lionés'') is a set of vernacular Romance languages, Romance language varieties spoken in northern and western portions of the historical region of León (historical region), León in Spain (the modern provi ...

from the

in Spain,Menéndez Pidal, El Dialecto Leonés.1906 which evolved with Spanish in the New World.

History

New Kingdom of Leon DavidRumseyCollection

Though the New Kingdom of León was part of the

, it remained functionally autonomous during much of its history, due to the long distance between its main cities; however, it quickly developed a shared culture with its neighbor provinces. This fact led to its becoming in 1776 part of the semi-autonomous Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas, which split in 1786 into three commands, one of them being the Eastern Internal Provinces (Provincias Internas de Oriente) consisting of the New Kingdom of León and the provinces of

Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 31 states of Mexico. The largest city and State Capital is the city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón and the thi ...

, Tejas, and Nuevo Santander; subsequently it remained part of the comandancy until 1821 when it and the rest of Mexico became an independent republic.

Today

When Mexico declared the independence from Spain, the territory of the ''Nuevo Reyno de León'' became the "Estado Libre y Soberano de Nuevo León", or 'Free and Sovereign State of New León.'

References

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External links