Captaincy General of Puerto Rico

The Captaincy General of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Capitanía General de Puerto Rico) was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire, created in 1582 to provide better military management of the main island of Puerto Rico, previously under the rule of a governor of Puerto Rico, jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, and authority of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Its creation was part of the, ultimately futile, Habsburg attempt in the late 16th century to prevent incursion into the Caribbean by competing European world powers. The institution lasted until 1898 in Puerto Rico, when an autonomous provincial government, headed by a governor-general and an insular parliament, was instituted months before Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States in 1898 following defeat in the Spanish–American War.