Consejo de Indias

The Council of the Indies; officially, the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies (Spanish: Real y Supremo Consejo de Indias, pronounced: [reˈal i suˈpɾemo konˈsexo ðe ˈindjas]), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Americas and Asia. It was placed at start as a section under the jurisdiction of the Council of Castile and it had legislative, executive and judicial functions. The Crown of Castile incorporated the American and Asian territories into its domains by a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI. The Council of the Indies was abolished in 1812 by the Cádiz Cortes, restored in 1814 by Fernando VII of Spain, and definitively abolished in 1834 by the regency, acting on behalf of the four-year-old Isabella II of Spain.

Queen Isabella withdrew the authority granted to Christopher Columbus and the first conquistadors, and established direct royal control. The evolving structure of colonial government was not fully formed until the third quarter of the 16th century; however, the Catholic Monarchs (Isabella and Ferdinand) designated Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca to study the problems related to the colonization process arising from tyrannical behavior of Governor Christopher Columbus and his misgovernment of Natives and settlers. Rodríguez de Fonseca effectively became minister for the Indies and laid the foundations for the creation of a colonial bureaucracy. He presided over a council, which contained a number of members of the Council of Castile (Consejo de Castilla), and formed a Junta de Indias of about eight counsellors. Emperor Charles V was already using the term "Council of the Indies" in 1519. The Council of the Indies was formally created on August 1, 1524. The king was informed weekly, and sometimes daily, of decisions reached by the Council, which came to exercise supreme authority over the Indies at the local level and over the Casa de Contratación founded in 1503 at Seville as a customs storehouse for the Indies. Civil suits of sufficient importance could be appealed from an audiencia in the New World to the Council, functioning as a court of last resort.

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