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
East Indies World was initially thought to be the easternmost part of the "Indies" by explorer Christopher Columbus, who had grossly underestimated the westerly distance from Europe to Asia. Later, to avoid confusion, the New World came to be called the "West Indies", while the original Indies came to be called the "East Indies". The designation "East Indian" was once primarily used to describe people of all of the East Indies, in order to avoid the potential confusion from the term American Indian who were once simply referred to as "Indians" (see the Native American name controversy for more information). East Indies