Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
1546 the colony had some 12,000 slaves and a white population
of under 5,000.
The granting of land without any obligation to central
authorities, as was done under the repartimiento system, led to a
rapid decentralization of power. Power was also diffused
because of the tendency of the capital city, Santo Domingo
(which also served as the seat of government for the entire
Spanish Indies) , to orient itself toward continental America,
which provided gold for the crown, and toward Spain, which
provided administrators, supplies, and immigrants to the colonies.
With little contact existing between the capital and the
hinterland, local government was doomed to be ineffective,
and for practical purposes the countryside fell under the sway
of the large local landowners.
As early as the 1490s, the landowners among the Spanish colonists
successfully conspired against Columbus. His successor,
Francisco de Bobadilla, was appointed chief justice and royal
commissioner by the Spanish crown in 1499. Bobadilla sent
Columbus back to Spain in irons; Queen Isabella soon ordered
him released. Bobadilla, who had proved an inept administrator,
was replaced in 1503 by the more efficient Nicolas de
Ovando, who assumed the titles of governor and supreme justice.
Because of his success in initiating reforms desired by the
crown—the encomienda system among them—Ovando received
the title of Founder of Spain's Empire in the Indies.
In 1509 Columbus's son, Diego, was appointed governor of
the colony of Santo Domingo. Diego's ambition aroused the
suspicions of the crown, which in 1511 established the audiencia,
a new political institution intended to check the power of
the governor. The first audiencia was simply a tribunal composed
of three judges whose jurisdiction extended over all the
West Indies. The tribunal's influence grew, and in 1524 it was
designated the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo (Audiencia
Real de Santo Domingo), with jurisdiction in the Caribbean,
the Atlantic coast of Central America and Mexico, and the
northern coast of South America. As a court representing the
crown, the audiencia was given expanded powers that encompassed
administrative, legislative, and consultative functions;
the number ofjudges increased correspondingly. In criminal
cases, the audiencia s decisions were final, but important civil
suits could be appealed to the Royal and Supreme Council of
the Indies (Real y Supremo Consejo de Indias) in Spain.
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