Talk:Real Audiencia

Article Cleanup Co-Ordination Point

Hello everyone. I cleaned up the article a bit by looking up more English-language references (which I've included) and comparing the original version to the Spanish-language one. I made two large changes. First I removed the organization of the audiencias mentioned from a geographical one to a chronological one, because I think it makes more sence. The previous organization had awkwardly grouped the audiencia by the two large, 16th-century viceroyalties, most likely because of the often mistaken idea that the viceroyalty was the supreme administrative division of the Spanish empire. It was not, as you can see in the revised text. Audiencias had extreme autonomy and so did the captains general, who are often listed as subordinates to the viceroys. (Viceroys, in many ways, were simply governors-captains general with a high degree of ceremonial dignity due to the importance of their capitals.) By putting the list of audiencias in a chronological order, the significance of the sentence found in the original ("The Spanish crown imposed the audiencia system on the Americas as part of its campaign to bring the area and its Spanish settlers and conquerors under royal control.") becomes clearer: that the crown is closely following the conquistadores with its institutions to make sure they don't get out of control. The second large change I did was to add a description of the audiencia's duties and compostion. I find that many descriptions of the audiencias--for example in text books--often omit this to the reader's frustration. The audiencia is a very unique institution, unlike anything in the English-speaking world, and so I felt that a quick description of who actually made it up and what they did in governing an area was important for an understanding of this institution. Thanks.TriniMuñoz (talk) 18:03, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Use of word "audience"

Contribution of User:TriniMuñoz moved here from: User_talk:Schwyz

Hi Schwyz, Mirroring Alexf's concerns, I noticed you've been changing and moving lots of the pages regarding the audiencias of the former Spanish Empire, so that they read "audience." I realize that the English-language Wikipedia has an primarily English policy regarding names and titles, but this is one case where the original word is called for. Otherwise we start veering into creating "Wikipediaisms" for the mere sake of strictly adhering to a rule. The 20th- and 21st-century English-language historiography on the subject universally uses the term audiencia. This is for a reason: the audiencia was a unique institution and it's actually not the same as an "audience." (Much like an alcalde—a type of magistrate under the Spanish Empire—is poorly translated as "mayor.") The root of the Spanish and English words are obviously the same, but the meaning of the resulting terms are very different; and I haven't found a dictionary that includes audiencia as one of the definitions of "audience." So I think it's best to follow the lead of the historiography and avoid the neologism of "audience" for this particular tribunal. BestTriniMuñoz (talk) 05:07, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

* I will try to add the official Spanish names into the listing. Sometimes it is Real Audiencia, sometimes "y Chancilleria" - at least in es:WP. Any official sources list for all the names?

* Aside from Audiencia/Audience - there is Real/Royal and the order of the terms. And then the question whether the article titles should include Chancilleria. Schwyz (talk) 13:03, 31 July 2010 (UTC)