Discover

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 Río 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.

Contents

Structure

City government

Modern cabildos

References

See also

External links

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

Main articles: Cabildo Canaries

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

★ Encyclopaedia Britannica Cabildo