Nuevo Santander

Nuevo Santander (New Santander) was a region of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, covering the modern Mexican state of Tamaulipas and extending into modern-day southern Texas in the United States. A history of Texas, commissioned by the U.S. government's Federal Writers' Project in 1934, noted that "The borders of New Santander did not stop at the Rio Bravo" (the Mexican name for the Rio Grande); and added that the borders "went north to the Nueces, near Corpus Christi, then west and north to the Medina, then south again on a line along Laredo to the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madres, deep in Mexico." [1]

New Santander Nuevo Santander
1746–1821
Status	Spanish colony
Capital	Santander Jiménez
Common languages	Spanish
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Government	Monarchy
King of Spain
• July 9, 1746 – August 10, 1759	Ferdinand VI
• December 11, 1813 – September 29, 1833	Ferdinand VII
Royal Governor
• May 31, 1748 - April 8, 1767	José de Escandón
• July 7, 1821 - September 22, 1822	Felipe de la Garza Cisneros
Historical era	Colonial era
• Established	1746
• Disestablished	1821
Population
• 1790	43,739
Currency	Spanish colonial real
Succeeded by First Mexican Empire
Today part of	Mexico Nuevo León Tamaulipas  United States Texas

Map of New Spain along the Gulf of Mexico

Nuevo Santander was named after Santander, Cantabria, Spain, and settled by Spanish American colonists in a concerted settlement campaign peaking in 1748–1750. It fell under the jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara in judicial matters, and in 1776 Nuevo Santander became part of the semi-autonomous Provincias Internas.

José de Escandón founded the colony in 1747. In 1755 Jiménez was founded which became the major town and capital of the colony. The state was subsequently renamed to Tamaulipas once Mexico gained its independence in 1821.