Spanish West Indies

Spanish West Indies Las Antillas Españolas
1492–1898
Flag (1843–1898) Coat of arms
Anthem: Marcha Real "Royal March"
Spanish Antilles
Status	Provinces of the Spanish Empire
Capital	Madrid
Common languages	Spanish, French (Santo Domingo)
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Demonym(s)	Españoles Antillanos
Monarch
• 1492–1504	Ferdinand II
• 1492–1504	Isabella I
• 1896–1898	Alfonso XIII
Historical era	Spanish colonization
• Columbus landed in San Salvador	12 October 1492
• Treaty of Paris	10 December 1898
Currency	Spanish colonial real, Spanish dollar
ISO 3166 code	ES
Preceded by Succeeded by Columbian Viceroyalty Era de Francia Captaincy General of Santo Domingo Captaincy General of Cuba Captaincy General of Puerto Rico
Today part of	Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico

The Spanish West Indies, Spanish Caribbean or the Spanish Antilles (also known as "Las Antillas Occidentales" or simply "Las Antillas Españolas" in Spanish) were Spanish territories in the Caribbean. In terms of governance of the Spanish Empire, The Indies was the designation for all its overseas territories and was overseen by the Council of the Indies, founded in 1524 and based in Spain.^[1] When the Crown established the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1535, the islands of the Caribbean came under its jurisdiction.

The islands ruled by Spain were chiefly the Greater Antilles: Hispaniola (inclusive of modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. The majority of the Taíno, the indigenous populations on these islands, had died out or had mixed with the European colonizers by 1520.^[2] Spain also claimed the Lesser Antilles (such as Guadalupe and Dominica) but these smaller islands remained largely independent until they were seized or ceded to other European powers as a result of war, or diplomatic agreements during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The islands that became the Spanish West Indies were the focus of the voyages of the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus in America. Largely due to the familiarity that Spaniards gained from Columbus's voyages, the islands were also the first lands to be permanently colonized by Europeans in the Americas. The Spanish West Indies were also the most enduring part of Spain's American Empire, only ending with Cuba and Puerto Rico being surrendered in 1898 at the end of the Spanish–American War. For over three centuries, Spain controlled a network of ports in the Caribbean including Havana (Cuba), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), Veracruz (Mexico), and Portobelo (Panama), which were connected by galleon routes.