Christopher Columbus was viceroy of the Indies.
Viceroy was the king 's representative in a region that belonged to the kingdom. It was, therefore, the title held by the person who exercised the prerogatives of the monarch in a colony .
The figure of the viceroy can be found in the colonial period of the American continent . The Kingdom of Spain , to administer its colonial territories, sent viceroys who represented the king. In this way, the highest authority of the colony was the viceroy, who commanded in the name of the king.
Function of the viceroy
The rise of the viceroys is linked to the large number of territories conquered by the Spanish monarchy and the impossibility of administering all these lands centrally from Europe . Thus it was decided to send representatives (the viceroys), who responded to the monarch.
Christopher Columbus himself was viceroy, since he was the highest authority of the Viceroyalty of the Indies . This distinction was granted to him before arriving in America , as rights over the lands he came to "discover."
Some historical names
In addition to Columbus, there were many other viceroys who also achieved important recognition and value in history. We are referring to figures such as the following:
-Diego López de Pacheco (1599 – 1653). He was the seventeenth viceroy of New Spain, in addition to Marquis of Villena, as well as the father of the founder of the Royal Spanish Academy, Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco.
-Miguel Núñez de Sanabria (1645 – 1729). He served as viceroy of Peru.
-Juan de Acuña y Bejarano (1658 – 1734). He was the 37th viceroy of New Spain and had the distinction of also becoming the second Creole viceroy, after Lope Díez de Aux y Armendáriz.
-Diego Fernández de Córdoba (1578 – 1630). He was viceroy of New Spain and also of Peru. He also held the title of Marquis of Guadalcázar.
The National Museum of the Viceroyalty is located in Tepotzotlán (Mexico).
Disappearance of the figure of the viceroy
The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata , the Viceroyalty of Peru , and the Viceroyalty of New Granada are among the territories that were ruled by a viceroy on American soil. It is important to highlight, however, that there were also viceroys who acted in Europe . In this sense, it is possible to name the viceroy of Sicily , the viceroy of Catalonia , the viceroy of Sardinia and the viceroy of Naples .
The changes in the state organization and in the control of the territories meant that, over the years, the viceroyalties disappeared and, with them, the figure of viceroy.
However, we cannot ignore that other monarchies also used the term viceroy, as would be the case of Portugal, France or the United Kingdom, fundamentally.
a board game
In the same way, we cannot ignore that Viceroy is the name of a board game. Specifically, it is a card game, aimed at people over 10 years old, in which 2 to 4 players can play.
The objective of this game is none other than to take over a fantastic world that goes by the name of Laar. Hence, strategies and tactics must be used to ensure that the rest of the players become simple subjects.