Nuevo Santander Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids

New Santander

Nuevo Santander (Spanish)

1746–1821

Status

Spanish colony

Capital

Santander Jiménez

Common languages

Spanish

Religion

Roman Catholicism

Government

Monarchy

King of Spain

• July 9, 1746 – August 10, 1759

Ferdinand VI

• December 11, 1813 – September 29, 1833

Ferdinand VII

Royal Governor

• May 31, 1748 - April 8, 1767

José de Escandón

• July 7, 1821 - September 22, 1822

Felipe de la Garza Cisneros

Historical era

Colonial era

• Established

1746

• Disestablished

1821

Population

• 1790

43,739

Currency

Spanish colonial real

Succeeded by

First Mexican Empire

Today part of

Mexico (Nuevo León & Tamaulipas)
United States (Texas)

Map of New Spain along the Gulf of Mexico

Nuevo Santander (New Santander) was a region of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, covering the modern Mexican state of Tamaulipas and extending into modern-day southern Texas in the United States. A history of Texas, commissioned by the U.S. government's Federal Writers' Project in 1934, noted that "The borders of New Santander did not stop at the Rio Bravo" (the Mexican name for the Rio Grande); and added that the borders "went north to the Nueces, near Corpus Christi, then west and north to the Medina, then south again on a line along Laredo to the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madres, deep in Mexico."

Nuevo Santander was named after Santander, Cantabria, Spain, and settled by Spanish American colonists in a concerted settlement campaign peaking in 1748–1750. It fell under the jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara in judicial matters, and in 1776 Nuevo Santander became part of the semi-autonomous Provincias Internas.

José de Escandón founded the colony in 1747. In 1755 Jiménez was founded which became the major town and capital of the colony. The state was subsequently renamed to Tamaulipas once Mexico gained its independence in 1821.

Nuevo Santander facts for kids

See also