List of viceroys of New Spain facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Viceroy of New Spain
Juan O'Donojú
Residence	Palace of the Viceroy
Appointer	King of Spain
Formation	14 November 1535
First holder	Antonio de Mendoza
Final holder	Juan O'Donojú
Abolished	28 September 1821

Imagine a huge territory, far away from the king who ruled it. That's what New Spain was like for the Spanish King. To help manage this vast land, the king appointed special leaders called viceroys. A viceroy was like a personal representative of the king, ruling New Spain in his name.

This article lists the viceroys who governed the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1535 to 1821. It also mentions other important Spanish governors who led the territory before the first viceroy was appointed, or when the viceroy position was temporarily empty. These early leaders often had many of the same responsibilities as a viceroy.

Early Spanish Governors

Before the official viceroys, other Spanish leaders managed the newly discovered lands. These leaders helped set up the Spanish rule in the Americas.

Governors of the West Indies

This role covered the first lands Christopher Columbus discovered.

• 1492–1499: Christopher Columbus, as governor and viceroy
• 1499–1502: Francisco de Bobadilla, as governor
• 1502–1509: Nicolás de Ovando, as governor
• 1509–1518: Diego Columbus, as governor, then viceroy

Governors of New Spain before the Viceroys

After Hernán Cortés claimed new lands for Spain, he and others governed New Spain. These leaders were in charge before the first official viceroy arrived.

• 13 August 1521 – 24 December 1521: Hernán Cortés
• 24 December 1521 – 30 December 1521: Cristóbal de Tapia
• 30 December 1521 – 12 October 1524: Hernán Cortés, as governor and captain general
• 12 October 1524 – 29 December 1524: Alonso de Estrada, Rodrigo de Albornoz, Alonso de Zuazo
• 29 December 1524 – 17 February 1525: Gonzalo de Salazar, Pedro Almíndez Chirino, Alonso de Zuazo
• 17 February 1525 – 20 April 1525: Gonzalo de Salazar, Pedro Almíndez Chirino, Alonso de Estrada, Rodrigo de Albornoz, Alonso de Zuazo
• 20 April 1525 – 23 May 1525: Gonzalo de Salazar, Pedro Almíndez Chirino, Alonso de Zuazo
• 24 May 1525 – 28 January 1526: Gonzalo de Salazar, Pedro Almíndez Chirino
• 29 January 1526 – 24 June 1526: Alonso de Estrada, Rodrigo de Albornoz
• 25 June 1526 – 3 July 1526: Hernán Cortés
• 4 July 1526 – 16 July 1526: Luis Ponce de León
• 16 July 1526 – 1 March 1527: Marcos de Aguilar
• 2 March 1527 – 22 August 1527: Alonso de Estrada, Gonzalo de Sandoval, Luis de la Torre
• 22 August 1527 – 8 December 1528: Alonso de Estrada, Luis de la Torre
• 9 December 1528 – 21 December 1529: Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, Diego Delgadillo (the first Audiencia, a high court)
• 21 December 1529 – 9 January 1531: Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, Diego Delgadillo (the first Audiencia)
• 10 January 1531 – 16 April 1535: Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal, Vasco de Quiroga, Juan de Salmerón, Alonso de Maldonado, Francisco Ceinos (the second Audiencia)

Viceroys of New Spain (1535–1821)

The first Viceroy of New Spain was appointed in 1535. This was done to combine the roles of the Governor of the West Indies and the Governor of New Spain into one powerful position. The viceroy was the most important person in New Spain, acting directly for the King of Spain.

No.	Portrait	Governor	From	Until	Monarch
1		Antonio de Mendoza	14 November 1535	25 November 1550	Charles I
2		Luís de Velasco	25 November 1550	31 July 1564
3		Gastón Carrillo de Peralta y Bosquete, 3rd Marquess of Falces	19 October 1566	11 November 1567	Philip II
4		Martín Enríquez de Almanza	5 November 1568	4 October 1580
5		Lorenzo Suárez de Mendoza, 4th Count of La Coruña	4 October 1580	19 June 1583
6		Pedro de Moya y Contrerás (Archbishop of Mexico)	25 September 1584	17 October 1585
7		Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga 1st Marquess of Villamanrique	17 October 1585	27 January 1590
8		Luís de Velasco Marquess of Salinas	27 January 1590	5 November 1595
9		Gaspar de Zúñiga Acevedo y Fonseca, 5th Count of Monterrey	5 November 1595	27 October 1603
10		Juan de Mendoza y Luna, Marquess of Montesclaros	27 October 1603	2 July 1607	Philip III
11		Luís de Velasco, Marquess of Salinas	2 July 1607	19 June 1611
12		García Guerra, O.P. (Archbishop of Mexico)	19 June 1611	22 February 1612
Int.		Pedro Otárola, Dean of the Audiencia	22 February 1612	18 October 1612
13		Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marquess of Guadalcázar and Count of Posadas	18 October 1612	14 March 1621
Int.		Paz de Valecillo, Dean of the Audiencia	14 March 1621	11 September 1621
14		Diego Carrillo de Mendoza y Pimentel, 1st Marquess of Gélves	21 September 1621	1 November 1624	Philip IV
Vacant Due to the delay in the new Viceroy's arrival from 1 to 3 November 1624.
15		Rodrigo Pacheco y Osorio de Toledo, 3rd Marquess of Cerralvo	3 November 1624	16 September 1635
16		Lope Díez de Aux de Armendáriz, Marquess of Cadreita	16 September 1635	28 August 1640
17		Diego Roque López Pacheco Cabrera y Bobadilla, 7th Duke of Escalona, 7th Marquess of Villena and 7th Count of Xiquena	28 August 1640	10 June 1642
18		Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (Bishop of Puebla)	10 June 1642	23 November 1642
19		García Sarmiento de Sotomayor, 2nd Count of Salvatierra and Marquess of Sobroso	23 November 1642	14 May 1648
20		Marcos de Torres y Rueda (Bishop of Yucatan)	15 May 1648	22 April 1649
Int.		Matías de Peralta, Dean of the Audiencia	22 April 1649	28 June 1650
21		Luis Enríquez de Guzmán, 9th Count of Alba de Liste and Marquess of Villaflor	28 June 1650	15 August 1653
22		Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 8th Duke of Alburquerque, Marquess of Cuéllar, Count of Ledesma and of Huelma	15 August 1653	16 September 1660
23		Juan de Leyva de la Cerda, Marquess of Adrada	16 September 1660	29 June 1664
24		Diego Osorio de Escobar y Llamas (Bishop of Puebla)	29 June 1664	15 October 1664
25		Antonio Sebastián de Toledo Molina y Salazar, 2nd Marquess of Mancera	16 October 1664	20 November 1673
26		Pedro Nuño Colón de Portugal y Castro, 6th Duke of Veragua, 6th Marquess of Jamaica and 6th Count of Gelves	20 November 1673	13 December 1673	Charles II
27		Payo Enríquez de Rivera Manrique, O.S.A. (Bishop of Guatemala and Archbishop of Mexico)	13 December 1673	7 November 1680
28		Tomás Antonio Manuel Lorenzo de la Cerda y Aragón 3rd Marquess of La Laguna de Camero Viejo	7 November 1680	16 June 1686
29		Melchor Portocarrero y Lasso de la Vega, 3rd Count of Monclova	16 June 1686	20 November 1688
30		Gaspar Melchor Baltasar de la Cerda Silva Sandoval y Mendoza, 8th Count of Galve, Lord of Salcedón and Tortola	20 November 1688	27 February 1696
31		Juan de Ortega Cano Montañez y Patiño (Bishop of Durango, Guatemala, Michoacán and Archbishop of Mexico)	27 February 1696	18 December 1696
32		José Sarmiento Valladares Arines de Romay, 1st Duke of Atrisco, Count of Moctezuma and of Tula	18 December 1696	4 November 1701
33		Juan de Ortega Cano Montañez y Patiño (Archbishop of Mexico)	4 November 1701	27 November 1702	Philip V
34		Francisco V Fernández de la Cueva Enríquez y Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque and Marquess of Cuéllar	27 November 1702	13 November 1710
35		Fernando de Alencastre Noroña y Silva, 1st Duke of Linares and Marquess of Valdefuentes	13 November 1710	16 July 1716
36		Baltasar de Zúñiga Guzmán Sotomayor y Mendoza, 1st Duke of Arión and Marquess of Valero	16 July 1716	15 October 1722
37		Juan de Acuña y Bejarano, 2nd Marquess of Casa Fuerte	15 October 1722	17 March 1734	Louis I From 1700 to 1724, Philip V was the king; then from 1724 to 1746. Louis I only reigned in 1724.
38		Juan Antonio de Vizarrón y Eguiarreta (Archbishop of Mexico)	17 March 1734	17 August 1740	Philip V
39		Pedro de Castro Figueroa y Salazar, 1st Duke of La Conquista and 1st Marquess of Gracia Real	17 August 1740	22 August 1741
Int.		Pedro Malo de Villavicencio, President of the Audiencia	23 August 1741	2 November 1742
40		Pedro Cebrián y Agustín, 5th Count of Fuenclara	3 November 1742	9 July 1746
41		Juan Francisco de Güemes y Horcasitas, 1st Count of Revillagigedo	9 July 1746	9 November 1755	Ferdinand VI
42		Agustín de Ahumada y Villalón, Marquess of Amarillas	10 November 1755	5 February 1760
Int.		Francisco Antonio de Echávarri, Dean of the Audiencia	5 February 1760	28 April 1760
43		Francisco Cajigal de la Vega	28 April 1760	5 October 1760	Charles III
44		Joaquín de Montserrat, Marquess of Cruillas	5 October 1760	24 August 1766
45		Carlos Francisco de Croix, Marquess of Croix	24 August 1766	22 September 1771
46		Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa	22 September 1771	9 April 1779
Int.		Francisco Romá y Rosell, Regent of the Audiencia	10 April 1779	22 August 1779
47		Martín de Mayorga Ferrer, Captain General of Guatemala	23 August 1779	28 April 1783
48		Matías de Gálvez y Gallardo, Captain General of Guatemala	28 April 1783	20 October 1784
Int.		Vicente de Herrera y Rivero, Regent of the Audiencia	20 October 1784	17 June 1785
49		Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Viscount of Galveston and 1st Count of Gálvez	17 June 1785	30 November 1786
Int.		Eusebio Sánchez Pareja y Beleño Regent of the Audiencia	30 November 1786	8 May 1787
50		Alonso Núñez de Haro y Peralta (Archbishop of Mexico)	8 May 1787	16 August 1787
51		Manuel Antonio Flórez Maldonado	16 August 1787	16 October 1789
52		Juan Vicente de Güemes Pacheco de Padilla y Horcasitas, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo	17 October 1789	11 July 1794	Charles IV
53		Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca de Carini y Branciforte, 1st Marquess of Branciforte	12 July 1794	31 May 1798
54		Miguel José de Azanza Alegría, 1st Duke of Santa Fe	31 May 1798	30 April 1800
55		Félix Berenguer de Marquina	30 April 1800	4 January 1803
56		José de Iturrigaray	4 January 1803	16 September 1808
57		Pedro de Garibay	16 September 1808	19 July 1809	Joseph I
58		Francisco Javier de Lizana y Beaumont (Archbishop of Mexico)	19 July 1809	8 May 1810	Ferdinand VII
59		Pedro Catani	8 May 1810	14 September 1810
60		Francisco Javier Venegas, 1st Marquess of Reunión and of New Spain	14 September 1810	4 March 1813
61		Félix María Calleja del Rey, 1st Count of Calderón	4 March 1813	20 September 1816
62		Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, 1st Count of Venadito	20 September 1816	5 July 1821
63		Francisco Novella Azabal Pérez y Sicardo	15 July 1821	21 July 1821
64		Juan O'Donojú	21 July 1821	28 September 1821

See also

• Mexico
• History of Mexico
• List of heads of state of Mexico
• Spanish attempts to reconquer Mexico
• Viceroyalty of New Spain
  • Governor-General of the Philippines
• Viceroyalty of Peru
• Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
• Viceroyalty of New Granada