New Spain

American  

noun

1. the former Spanish possessions in the Western Hemisphere, at one time including South America (except Brazil), Central America, Mexico, the West Indies, Florida, and most of the land in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River.

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New Spain British  

noun

1. a Spanish viceroyalty of the 16th to 19th centuries, composed of Mexico, Central America north of Panama, the Spanish West Indies, the southwestern US, and the Philippines

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Example Sentences

In 1538 Fray Marcos de Niza set out from Mexico City, the capital of New Spain, to investigate rumors that the Seven Cities lay somewhere in El Norte Misterioso, the Mysterious North.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

When the expedition departed, Coronado left behind his 16-year-old wife, Beatríz, whom he had married when she was 12, along with their two small children and a governorship on the frontier of New Spain.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

It was a significant victory at a time when an estimated 130,000 Africans were brought to New Spain, resulting in one of the highest African slave populations in the 17th century Americas.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2026

The previously missing document was written after Cortés had been made the governor of New Spain by the Spanish crown.

From BBC • Aug. 14, 2025

But he never published the manuscript, because he was slowly coming to believe that the Church’s efforts in New Spain had been a failure.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann