Spanish Military Presence in the Americas

I'm having trouble finding information about the size and general dispersment of the Spanish military in the Americas during the late 18th and early 19th century.

I'm also having difficulty finding the same information about the civilian population.

So if anyone could either give me that information, or point me toward it, that would be very appreciated.
 
I'm having trouble finding information about the size and general dispersment of the Spanish military in the Americas during the late 18th and early 19th century.

I'm also having difficulty finding the same information about the civilian population.

So if anyone could either give me that information, or point me toward it, that would be very appreciated.

For the general populations, check Populstat. They're usually pretty good.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Short answer re the Spanish military? Minimal.

When the restored kingdom of Spain mounted their attempted "reconquest" of Spanish America in 1814 under Lt. Gen. Pablo Morillo, the grand total (officers and men) amounted to 10,640 men, in 42 transports and escorted by 18 warships.

To reconquer a continent.

And half of another.

Even before the Napoleonic wars broke out, Spain garrisoned the Empire on a shoestring, with a mix of "royal" regiments recruited in the Peninsula itself and the Americas, plus various local, militia, and irregular forces.

Officers were invariably white (and usually peninsulares, rather than criollos); ncos and enlisted tended to be mestizo, although depending on a given units' recruitment point, might include rank and file up and down the "casta" spectrum, including - in some locations - men of purely aboriginal or African ancestry.

Naval squadrons were small as well.

As an example, at Pensacola in 1781, the Spanish expeditionary force numbered all of 7,000 men, regulars and militia - and that was about the strongest single "Spanish" field army before Morillo's force arrived, 30-odd years later.

Best,
 
Silly question but how on earth then did the Spanish even hold onto its Latin American territories for as long as it did then?
 

Lateknight

Banned
Silly question but how on earth then did the Spanish even hold onto its Latin American territories for as long as it did then?

Disease killed most of the natives and Spanish control wasn't all that real outside of the cities and for most of there history in the Americas, basically with their Encomienda system they where a tributary state.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
1500-1700? Guns, germs, and steel

1500-1700? Guns, germs, and steel against the native cultures; and the technology and economic advantages were about equal among the European powers.



1700-1800? Spain balanced its alliances, as did all the European powers; by the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, the issues that led to independence in the 1800s were already in play - basically:
  • race (i.e. slavery and the "casta" system)
  • deep political, economic, and social frustration between European- and American-born "Spanish Imperials"
  • The American (US) and French revolutions, and their impact on Spain
  • Seperatism (based largely on geography, but with elements of the reasons bulleted above) within the Spanish Imperial territories
  • boundary disputes and (resulting) territorial conflicts
  • caudillos - ie, local elites with little loyalty to the Empire
and all of the above played their part in the wars of independence, roughly 1810-1829.

Best,
 
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