New Kingdom of León

New Kingdom of León
Nuevo Reino de León
Spanish colony
1582–1821
Cross of Burgundy, flag of New Spain. Coat of arms of Phillip II of Spain.
Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1819.
Capital		Monterrey
Languages		Spanish
Religion		Roman Catholicism
Government		Monarchy
King of Spain
•	January 16, 1556 - September 13, 1598	Philip II
•	1813–1821	Ferdinand VII
Royal Governor
•	1580–1588	Luis de Carabajal y Cueva
•	1795–1810	Simón de Herrera y Leyva
Historical era		Colonial era
•	Established	1582
•	Disestablished	1821
Population
•	1790 est.	43,739
Currency		Spanish colonial real
Succeeded by First Mexican Empire
Today part of		Mexico

The New Kingdom of León (Spanish: Nuevo Reino de León), was an administrative territory of the Spanish Empire, politically ruled by the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was located in an area corresponding generally to the present-day northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León.

It was founded in 1582 by Spanish and Portuguese settlers when Philip II, King of Spain and its colonies, encouraged the colonization of Northern New Spain, and authorized the creation of a 'realm' which would have the name of Nuevo Reyno de León (New Kingdom of León), after the former Kingdom of León in Spain. Philip granted Luis de Carabajal y Cueva the title of first governor and captain-general of this new province in New Spain. The foundation of this realm was a crucial event which potentially helped the subsequent Spanish settlements in Texas.

The official language of the settlers was the Spanish language though some settlers spoke the Leonese language from the Kingdom of León in Spain, which evolved with Spanish in the New World.

Though the New Kingdom of León was part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, it remained functionally autonomous during much of its history, due to the long distance between its main cities; however, it quickly developed a shared culture with its neighbor provinces. This fact led to its becoming in 1776 part of the semi-autonomous Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas, which split in 1786 into three commands, one of them being the Eastern Internal Provinces (Provincias Internas de Oriente) consisting of the New Kingdom of León and the provinces of Coahuila, Tejas, and Nuevo Santander; subsequently it remained part of the comandancy until 1821 when it and the rest of Mexico became an independent republic.