Captaincy General of Puerto Rico

The Captaincy General of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Capitanía General de Puerto Rico) was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire, created in 1580 to provide better military management of the island of Puerto Rico, previously under the direct rule of a simple governor and the jurisdiction of Audiencia of Santo Domingo. Its creation was part of the, ultimately futile, Habsburg attempt in the late 16th century to prevent incursion into the Caribbean by foreign powers, which also involved the establishment of Captaincies General in Cuba, Guatemala and Yucatán. Nevertheless, the Captaincy General played a crucial role in the history of the Spanish Caribbean. The institution lasted until the establishment of an autonomous local government, headed by a governor-general and an insular parliament, which was instituted just months before the loss of Puerto Rico to the United States in 1898.