Hello Ask Historians! I apologize if this question has already been asked, but a hasty perusal of the FAQ and the search function didn’t really reveal any particularly similar questions. I also recently finished reading the ‘myths of conquest’ series on /r/badhistory, and it kind of blew my mind to realize the colonization of the new world not as a series of absolute events, as I had previously conceived it, but as an ongoing process that lasted until the 20th century. My question pertains to how exactly the Spanish created a bureaucracy that could maintain their presence in the ‘new world’ and Asia on three continents for 300 something years, as well as effectively continue the process of colonization, as well as fund just obscenely expensive wars in Europe. It seems insane that an early modern bureaucracy could be created out of the seeming chaos of the early new world colonization that could effectively rule for such a long period of time! The Wikipedia article on the subject goes into some depth on the captaincy generals, viceroyalties, entradas, and Audiencias, however how the Spanish crown at the time arrived at the decision to create these institutions isn’t really covered. It’s only really mentioned in one tantalizing line:
“After the end of the period of conquests, it was necessary to manage extensive and different territories with a strong bureaucracy. In the face of the impossibility of the Castilian institutions to take care of the American affairs, other new institutions were created.”
What I am interested in is whether these institutions emerged Ad-Hoc, like was the crown just making this stuff up on the fly, or was there careful deliberation as to how to create methods to keep the new territories under control of the crown? Were existing feudal institutions in Spain adapted to fit the new world, or was feudalism already a thing of the past by the early 1500s? It also seems like a number of the institutions created have significant overlap, with the treasury, Audiencia and the viceroy/captain-general all overlapping at points. How was it decided which institution would control which aspect of administration? Were there ever jurisdictional wars between the colonies and within colonies to determine who would do what? How did the crown ensure that a governor would stay loyal to the crown and continue to send their tithes along to the homeland? The Wikipedia article hints that Jesuits, among other groups, pretty much carved out personal fiefdoms within the new territories that paid only lip service to Spain, how were these groups brought to heel? Did the Spanish empire maintain standing troops both in the homeland for fighting continental wars as well as in the colonies to fight colonial wars? As a final question, did the colonial administration even really ‘rule’ in a viceroy-as-a-representative-of-an-absolute-monarch-sense the territories they claimed, or were they more a series of loosely organized groups that operated with the cooperation of the native peoples in the territories claimed?
I apologize for the torrent of questions, but the ‘myths of conquest’ series really blew my mind! I am also posting from my mobile device, so I also apologize for any formatting or spelling errors, and I will fix them once I return to a desktop. Sorry about that!
Wow. There's a lot of questions here. I'll try to do my best to address all of your points, but if you have anything you want me to elaborate on, let me know.
First, two caveats: The Spanish colonial strategy changed over the course of it's development, and was implemented differently in different regions. Second, as you suspected, the Spanish did not always have direct control over the territory they claimed as colonies. I'm going to try to summarize as best I can, but most of the institutions I'm describing here were applied differently in local contexts. I'm going to echo /u/historianLA and say that what you really need is a book.
Initial conquests
The Spanish colonial strategy was based on institutions and practices that originated during the Reconquista, when the Christians drove the Muslims out of southern Spain. Much of the fighting during the Reconquista was small-scale, and the government devised a strategy to encourage soldiers to act on their own and claim territory. This was known as the encomienda system. The deal worked out like this: if you, as a soldier, seized control of Muslim territory, you would be granted an encomienda. You would be expected to defend the conquered territory, protect the people living there, and aid them in their conversion to Christianity. In return, the people in your encomienda would be required to provide labor to you (for working fields or whatever). This did not constitute a noble title, it was simply a grant of labor.
When Spanish colonists first began arriving in the new world, the government implemented the same system there. This was advantageous for two reasons, 1. It was difficult to move large numbers of people across the Atlantic in the 16th century, and 2., It was difficult to maintain communication with colonists, so devising a system that allowed colonists autonomy was in everybody's best interest. (Well, except for the natives, obviously.)
The downside to this for the conquistadors was that they had to fund their own expeditions (or entradas). Conquistadors frequently bankrupted themselves to acquire enough equipment and supplies to mount such an expedition. If it worked out, they'd get an encomienda which would help them recover the cost. If it didn't, they wasted their money. In short, it was a gamble. The crown claimed one fifth of all treasure that the conquistadors acquired, and if enough treasure was sent back they hoped to earn some kind of recognition from the crown, like a formal title. In practice, this rarely happened. The crown didn't want to create a new noble class in the New World.
It would probably be a stretch to say that this early period was completely lawless, but infighting among conquistadors was rampant. Many of the laws regarding acquisition and management of territory in the Americas were ill-defined, and ambitious conquistadors were adept at exploiting loopholes. The classic example was when a conquistador would found a town, appoint a town council (cabildo), then have that council declare a state of emergency to grant the conquistador emergency powers as a captain general. Cortés used this tactic during his conquest of Mexico to give his position legitimacy after the governor Diego Velasquéz had revoked his commission. In the Andés, a dispute between conquistadors over who would govern the Inca empire resulted in numerous assassinations and battles between conquistadors. Due in large part to the emerging anarchy, the Spanish crown quickly began implementing reforms to try to reign in ambitious conquistadors, which would eventually lead to the dissolution of the encomienda system.
Administration of Native Populations in the 16th Century
Shortly after the conquest of the native states and empires in Central and South America, the Spanish found themselves administering a large swath of territory where organized political structures already existed. Rather than simply replacing the native political systems with European ones, they simply allowed the native power structures to remain and set up European institutions alongside them. Native nobility were exempt from paying taxes to encourage their cooperation with the colonists. Powerful native rulers (like the "emperors" of larger states) were removed, but local rulers (like the kurakas in the Andes or the tlatoque in Mexico) were left in power for a time.
Encomiendas were granted to conquistadors during this early period, and the Spanish also set up parishes for the purpose of converting the native population. These encomiendas and parishes typically followed the borders of existing native polities. Sometimes a native city-state (or whatever) would be broken up into smaller pieces and divided between multiple encomenderos, but when this happened they would try to follow the political boundaries recognized by natives to minimize conflict.
Taxes and tribute were exacted following the customs of the native people being colonized. The Spanish tried to keep things business-as-usual for the natives as much as they could to prevent conflicts. In Mexico, the Spanish adopted the tribute system used by the Aztecs, including the use of pictographic tribute lists. In the Andes, the Spanish adopted the mit'a labor system that the Inca empire put in place, although the Spanish would expand this system substantially and supplement it with a monetary tax.
Later 16th and early 17th centuries
Beginning around the late 1530s, the Spanish government became increasingly worried about the growing power of conquistadors and the conflicts that were emerging between them. New viceroys were appointed for New Spain (Mexico) and Peru, and the government took steps to abolish the encomienda system and replace it with something they could more directly administer.
It didn't go well. The conquistadors who had been granted encomiendas were not willing to give up power. In Peru, the conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro, angry about the new laws, marched on Lima and killed the viceroy. Despite the objections, the Spanish government did eventually abolish the encomienda, which would subsequently be replaced with a municipality (municipalidad or corregimiento) system.
Like the earlier encomienda and parish systems, the municipalities tended to closely follow the native political boundaries whenever possible. In regions with low population density (and there were more of these every year, thanks to smallpox, etc.), the Spanish implemented a policy called reducciones. People living in smaller dispersed communities were forcibly relocated to larger centers where they could be more easily administered. This was more disruptive to native life than any of the other policies implemented up to this point. In addition to breaking up communities and revoking native claims to land, it also accelerated the spread of epidemic diseases.
Under the corregimiento system, an official (corregidor) was appointed to administer a native community, but he had decidedly less power than the encomenderos did. Like the encomenderos, corregidores were not paid for their service. Instead, they were expected to exact taxes directly from the natives for their own purposes. This marked a shift towards a more monetary economy; natives had to pay the corregidor in either money or goods rather than labor. This often lead to rather abusive practices on behalf of the officials, such as the practice of repartamientos where natives were forced to buy goods directly from the corregidor. (Compare to a "company store.") Corregidores often charged the natives exorbitant fees beyond what was mandated by the state.
Growth of the castas and the hacienda systems
Although native nobility were initially allowed to retain their position in the colonial system, as the colonial era unfolded they had the rug pulled out from beneath them. Colonial institutions (like the corregimientos) had initially developed alongside native power structures, but as these institutions became more widespread they began to replace structures of native authority. A series of high profile rebellions lead by native nobles (especially in the Andes) eventually lead the Spanish government to ban the use of any native symbols of nobility and power.
This was paralleled by the growth of a racial caste system, where your place in society was determined by the fraction of your bloodline that came from Europe. Peninsulares (people born in Spain) held the highest position, followed by Criollos (Spaniards born in the Americas), mestizos (people of mixed ancestry), and finally indios (indigenous people).
European elites from urban centers also began to build large country estates for themselves in the 17th century, known as haciendas. There's some debate among historians about how exactly the hacienda system got started, but it more closely resembled the earlier encomienda system than the municipality/corregimiento system. Natives lived on the land and worked it for an elite owner, who typically lived in a city rather than at the hacienda itself.
I'm not quite sure how to end this answer, because that kind of brings us up to the end of the Spanish empire. The hacienda and racial caste systems survived in Latin America beyond the wars for independence. In many regions haciendas were not formally dismantled until the late 20th century, and the legacy of the racial caste system persists today in many Latin American countries.
I would suggest reading a basic colonial Latin America textbook. The most common is probably Burkholder and Johnson Colonial Latin America. Another good one, Lockhart and Schwartz Early Latin America. Those will answer your questions and are pretty cheap if you buy them used.