Spanish East Indies not materialize.) In a similar vein, to promote innovation and education among the residents of the islands, Governor-General José Basco y Vargas established the Economic Society of the Friends of the Country. For over 256 years, the Spanish East Indies were governed by a governor-captain general, and an audiencia. All economic matters of the Philippines were managed by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, located in Mexico. Because the eastward route was more widely used for military purposes, in addition to commerce that included the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, most government correspondence went through Mexico, rather than directly to Spain (with the
Batavia, Dutch East Indies new port. In 1885, the port of Tanjung Priok was finally completed, replacing the centuries-old Sunda Kelapa, which was deemed as inadequate for a long time. This would then significantly increase commercial and tourism in Batavia and the Dutch East Indies in general. The Dutch cultuurstelsel, or cultivation system, was a Dutch government policy in the mid-nineteenth century which required a portion of agricultural production to be devoted to export crops. Indonesian historians refer to it as tanam paksa, enforcement planting. The abolition of the cultuurstelsel in 1870 led to the rapid development of private enterprise in the Dutch Indies.