intendencia of Guadalajara, one of the most important, that city being the seat of an audiencia, an episcopal see, and a university, was placed in charge of a high military officer,[1] the brigadier Jacobo de Ugarte y Loyola, who on the 14th of March, 1791, assumed the duties of his offices.[2] Another extensive intendencia was that of Vera Cruz[3] with a length of two hundred and ten leagues, and a width of from twenty-five to thirty leagues.
In 1804, and from that time to the end of the Spanish domination, the country was divided into twelve intendencias, to wit: Sonora and Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato, Valladolid, Mexico, Oajaca, Puebla, Vera Cruz, and Mérida; besides the three provinces of New Mexico, Antigua California, and Nueva California.[4]
The intendentes, acting in some provinces as governors and in others as corregidores, had the ordinary royal jurisdiction, subject respectively to the superior government and the courts of justice. As regards Yucatan there was some difference; the gobernador intendente was subject to the viceroy, audiencia, and superintendente de hacienda of New Spain, in mat-
- ↑ The intendencia was bounded on the north by Nueva Viscaya, on the south by that of Valladolid, on the west by Sonora and the Pacific Ocean, on the east by Zacatecas and Guanajuato. Descripcion, etc., in Col. de Diarios, etc., MS., 241.
- ↑ He called himself comandante general, presidente, gobemardor intendente of the provinces comprised within the kingdom of Nueva Galicia. Ugarte y Loyola, Relacion, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ep. iii. 307, 314.
- ↑ It had on the east, Yucatan and the gulf of Mexico; on the west the intendencias of Oajaca, Puebla, and Mexico; on the north, the colonies of Nuevo Santander, later known as Tamaulipas. Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 150-1.
- ↑ The following shows the area and population of each intendencia in 1803: Sonora and Sinaloa, 19,143 square leagues, pop. 121,400; Durango, 16,873 sq. l., pop. 159,700; Zacatecas, 2,355 sq. l., pop. 153,300; Guadalajara, 9,612 sq. l., pop. 630,500; San Luis Potosi, 27,821 sq. l., pop. 331,900; Guanajuato, 911 sq. l., pop. 517,300; Valladolid, 3,447 sq. l., pop. 376,400; Mexico, 5,927 sq. l., pop. 1,511,900; Puebla, 2,696 sq. l., pop. 813,300; Vera Cruz, 4,141 sq. l., pop. 156,000; Oajaca, 4,447 sq. l., pop. 534,800; Merida, 6,977 sq. l., pop. 465,800. Adding the three provinces: New Mexico, 5,709 sq. l., pop. 40,200; Antigua California, 7,295 sq. l., pop. 9,000; Nueva California, 2,125 sq. l., pop. 15,600. Totals, 118,478 sq. l., pop. 5,837,100., Humboldt, Versuch, i. no. 3, 14-245; Id., Esaai Polit., 145-60.
Chihuahua, and one for Tabasco; the last to be in charge of a military man. Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., MS., 80-110.
