Governorates of the Spanish Empire
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After the territorial division of South America between Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) the colonial administration of the continent was divided into Governorates.
Caribbean and Tierra Firme
- Governorate of Santo Domingo 1493 to Christopher Columbus
- Governorate of Cuba 1511 to Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
- Governorate of New Andalucia-Coquibacoa (Venezuela) 1501 to Alonso de Ojeda
- Governorate of New Andalucia (Colombia) 1510 to Alonso de Ojeda
- Governorate of Castilla de Oro 1513 to Pedro Arias Dávila
South America
Four enclaves after Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire:
- Governorate of New Castile, granted in 1529 to Francisco Pizarro and redefined in 1534, it consisted of the territories approximately from the present Ecuador–Colombia border in the north to Cusco in the south
- Governorate of New Toledo, granted in 1534 to Diego de Almagro and consisting of the southern half of the former Inca Empire, stretching towards central Chile
- Governorate of New Andalusia, granted in 1534 to Pedro de Mendoza, was defined as stretching 200 leagues along the Pacific coast south of the New Toledo grant and reaching east to the Atlantic, but only small areas of it were colonized. until decades later
- Governorate of New Léon, granted in 1529 to Simón de Alcazaba y Sotomayor and redefined in 1534, it consisted of the southernmost part of the continent
- Governorate of the Río de la Plata, established in 1549, it was originally simply a renamed New Andalusia, until it was reorganized in the 17th century after successful settlement.