in colonial Latin America, a Spanish viceroyalty—first established in1717, suppressed in 1723, and reestablished in 1739—that included present-day Colombia, Panama (after 1751), Ecuador, and Venezuela and had its capital at Santa Fé (present-day Bogotá).
The separation of these territories from the Viceroyalty of Peru, one of the principal colonial administrative changes effected by the Bourbon monarchs of Spain, reflected the growing population and increasing commercial importance of the area in the 18th century, as well as the perceived need for stronger defense against British activities in the Caribbean. Subsequent commercial and political reforms and rising European demand for colonial products led to a period of relative prosperity and intellectual and cultural activity, which, however, exacerbated divisions between peninsular Spaniards and middle- and upper-class creoles.
The viceroyalty began to disintegrate in 1810, when most of the component jurisdictions ejected their Spanish officials. Initially the new governments swore allegiance to the Spanish monarch, and they did not begin to declare independence until the following year. A series of civil wars facilitated the temporary reconquest of the United Provinces of New Granada by Spain between 1814 and 1816, and the liberation of the area from Spanish rule was not completed until 1823. The name República de Nueva Granada (“Republic of New Granada”) was adopted by Colombia in the period 1830–58.
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