Province of Tierra Firme

Province Of Tierra Firme

The Province of Tierra Firme or Tierra Firme (Mainland) served in Spanish colonial times as the first territory of the Crown of Castile in the mainland of Americas. It corresponds now to the states of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. The continental territory was given the name Tierra Firme.

In 1501 Alonso de Ojeda colonizes the mainland of Venezuela 1501-1504, receives governorate of Coquivacoa (or Nueva Andalucia), from Cabo de la Vela to the east up the territory discovered before by Cristopher Columbus. Ojeda founded in the Guajira Peninsula the town of Santa Cruz in May 3 1502, the first spanish colony in Tierra firme. The settlements were abandoned for new explorations.

In 1509, authority was granted to Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa, to colonize the territories between the west side of the Gulf of Urabá and Cabo de la Vela, and Urabá westward to Cabo Gracias a Dios in present-day Honduras. The two Governorates of this region during this era were "Castilla de Oro" (with Veragua) in the west, and "Nueva Andalucia" in the east, incorporating both the island of Santiago de Jamaica to supply them. The main city in Tierra Firme was Santa Maria La Antigua del Darién, now Darién, Panama, near at mouth of the Tarena river. From the city of Santa María the explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa goes to discovery of the Pacific Ocean on 1513.

Province of Tierra Firme received control over territories and islands from Cabo Gracias a Dios to Cabo de la Vela in the Caribbean coast, that include at present-day the countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panamá and Colombia. The eastern frontier of Tierra Firme also included the east side of the Gulf of Darién or Urabá, the east side of the Atrato and Truando rivers, ending in Cabo Marzo on the Pacific side. Between these limits lie Santa María la Antigua del Darién on the Gulf of Urabá and Jurado on the Pacific side.