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Captaincy General of Puerto Rico Capitanía General de Puerto Rico | |||||||||
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1580–1898 | |||||||||
Anthem: National anthem of Spain | |||||||||
Status | Captaincy General | ||||||||
Capital | San Juan | ||||||||
Common languages | Spanish | ||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism, Espiritismo | ||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
King | |||||||||
• 1580–1598 | Philip II | ||||||||
• 1759–1788 | Charles III | ||||||||
• 1886–1898 | Alfonso XIII Maria Christina of Austria (Regent) | ||||||||
Governor | |||||||||
• 1580 | Jerónimo de Agüero Campuzano | ||||||||
• 1898 | Ricardo de Ortega y Díez | ||||||||
Historical era | Early modern Europe | ||||||||
• Administrative reorganisation | 1580 | ||||||||
10 December 1898 | |||||||||
Currency | Spanish real, Puerto Rican peso | ||||||||
ISO 3166 code | PR | ||||||||
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The Captaincy General of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Capitanía General de Puerto Rico) was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire, created in 1580 to provide better military management of the island of Puerto Rico, previously under the direct rule of a lone governor and the jurisdiction of Audiencia of Santo Domingo. Its creation was part of the, ultimately futile, Habsburg attempt in the late 16th century to prevent incursion into the Caribbean by foreign powers. Spain also established Captaincies General in Cuba, Guatemala and Yucatán.
The Captaincy General played a crucial role in the history of the Spanish Caribbean. The institution lasted until 1898 in Puerto Rico, when an autonomous local government, headed by a governor-general and an insular parliament, was instituted just months before Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States in 1898 following defeat in the Spanish–American War.
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