After the 1494 territorial division of South America between Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas, the colonial administration of the continent was divided into Governorates.
After the 1494 territorial division of South America between Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas, the colonial administration of the continent was divided into Governorates.
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 non-English-speaking administrations.
The most common usage are as a translation of Persian "Farmandari" or the Arabic Muhafazah. It may also refer to the guberniya and general-gubernatorstvo of Imperial Russia or the gobiernos of Imperial Spain.
The Governorate of the Río de la Plata (1549−1776) (Spanish: Gobernación del Río de la Plata, pronounced [ɡoβeɾnaˈsjon del ˈri.o ðe la ˈplata]) was one of the governorates of the Spanish Empire. It was created in 1549 by Spain in the area around the Río de la Plata.
It was at first simply a renaming of the New Andalusia Governorate and included all of the land between 470 and 670 leagues south of the mouth of the Río Santiago along the Pacific coast. After 1617, Paraguay was separated under a separate administration (Asunción had been the capital of the governorate since Juan de Ayolas.)
The Province of Pánuco was a province of the Spanish colony of New Spain. It was probably discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in 1498, and later by Juan de Grijalva. It was located on the Mexican gulf coast centered on Santiestebán de Pánuco, from the river of Tuxpan and extending into the current state of Tamaulipas. Originally inhabited by Huastecs, it was claimed both by conquistador Hernán Cortés who sent Francisco de Montejo to claim the area and by Francisco de Garay, 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 encomiendas and allotted to Cortés supporters.
A gobierno (governorate) of San Esteban de Pánuco was created in 1523. Its territory may have corresponded to the Huasteca, as far north as the Pánuco River. This gobierno was absorbed by New Spain in 1534.