Spanish Filipino territories, together with the Spanish West Indies, were administered through the Viceroyalty of New Spain based in Mexico City. The Captaincy General of the Philippines (; ) was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire. The Captaincy General encompassed the Spanish East Indies which included the modern country of the Philippines and various Pacific Island possessions, such as the Caroline Islands and Guam. It was founded in 1565 with the first permanent Spanish settlements. For centuries all the political and economic aspects of the Captaincy were administered in Mexico by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, while the administrative issues had
Spanish West Indies Dominican Republic; Cuba, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat, Guadalupe and the Lesser Antilles, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Venezuela (Margarita island), Trinidad, and the Bay Islands. The islands that later became the Spanish West Indies were the focus of the voyages of Christopher Columbus in America. Largely due to the familiarity that Europeans gained from Columbus's voyages, the islands were also the first lands to be permanently colonized by Europeans in the Americas. The Spanish West Indies were also the most enduring part of Spain's American Empire, only being surrendered in 1898 at the end of the