A cabildo was a former Spanish colonial administrative unit governed by a council. Cabildos were the governing bodies of municipalities in the viceroyalties in the Americas and in the Pacific possessions. For instance, the Cabildo de Buenos Aires was the most important cabildo of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata. Cabildos were sometimes appointed, sometimes elected, and sometimes considered to be composed of all members of the nobility, or significant landowners, in the given area.
Structure
In theory every municipality in the Spanish colonies in the Americas had a cabildo. Municipalities were not just the cities but included the surrounding lands. All lands were ultimately assigned to a municipality. Usually the cabildo made local laws and reported to the presidente (president) of the audiencia, who in turn reported to the viceroy.
City government
Because cabildos were the city government, the city administrative offices were often called the Cabildo. These names are preserved throughout Latin America, and even in New Orleans.
Modern cabildos
At present, cabildos exist only on the Canary Islands, one governing each island, and they are elected. Cabildos there resemble the consells insulars (island councils) of the Balearic Islands.
References
- Pike, Fredrick B. (1960) "The Cabildo and Colonial Loyalty to Hapsburg Rulers" Journal of Inter-American Studies 2(4): pp. 405-420
- Pike, Fredrick B. (1958) "The Municipality and the System of Checks and Balances in Spanish American Colonial Administration" The Americas 15(2): pp. 139-158
- Fisher, John (1969) "The Intendant System and the Cabildos of Peru, 1784-1810" The Hispanic American Historical Review 49(3): pp. 430-453
- Din, Gilbert C. (1996) The New Orleans Cabildo: Colonial Louisiana's First City Government, 1769-1803 Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, ISBN 0-8071-2042-1
- Meissner, Jochen (1993) Eine Elite im Umbruch: Der Stadtrat von Mexiko zwischen kolonialer Ordnung und unabhangigem Staat, 1761-1821 F. Steiner, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-515-06098-7, in German, (An Elite in the Breach: The Cabildos of Mexico between Colonial Order and the Unforgiving State)
See also
- Cabildo, disambiguation page
- Municipal council, comparable system in France and India
- The Cabildo, Spanish governmental building in New Orleans
External links
Other pages about Colonial Peru
-Alonzo de Alvarado -Ana Francisca de Borja y Doria -Ana de Castro -Andres Hurtado de Mendoza -Antonio de Mendoza -Antonio de Morga -Balconies of Lima -Baltasar de la Cueva Enriquez -Battle of Sangarara -Bernardo de Iturriaza -Blasco Nunez Vela -Cabildo (council) -Carmine Nicolao Caracciolo -Cathedral of Lima -Comentarios Reales de los Incas -Convento de San Francisco -Cristobal Ramirez de Cartagena -Cristobal Vaca de Castro -Diego Ladron de Guevara -Diego Lopez de Zuniga y Velasco -Diego Morcillo Rubio de Aunon -Diego Nunez de Avendano -Diego Quispe Tito -Diego de Almagro -Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva -Fernando Torres de Portugal y Mesia -Francisco Ruiz Lozano -Francisco de Borja y Aragon -Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa -Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Canete -Government Palace (Peru) -Hans Heinrich Bruning Brookstedt -Hernando de Luque -Historic Centre of Lima -Jose Antonio de Areche -Jose Antonio de Mendoza -Jose de Armendariz -Juan Jimenez de Montalvo -Juan Pizarro II -Lima City Walls -Luis Jeronimo Fernandez de Cabrera -Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau -Mateo de la Mata Ponce de Leon -Melchor Bravo de Saravia -Melchor Linan y Cisneros -Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull -Miguel Nunez de Sanabria -Osambela House -Pedro Alvarez de Toledo y Leiva -Pedro Antonio Fernandez de Castro -Pedro Bohorquez -Pedro de la Gasca -San Telmo (ship) -Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire -Torre Tagle Palace -Tupac Amaru II -Turibius of Mongrovejo -Viceroyalty of Peru
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Cabildo_(council)
