In the beginning of the Age of Exploration and Discovery, Christopher Columbus reached the Americas and the islands of the Caribbean at the end of the 1400s and introduced the era of colonization in these territories by European powers. Areas in the Americas under Spanish and Portuguese control included most of South and Central America, and large parts of North America, Mexico, and parts of the Caribbean.

The expeditions initially organized for the exploration and the opening of trade routes were followed by expeditions whose main goal centered on the conquest and subjugation of native peoples for access to their regions’ natural resources. The Spaniards were foremost in this expansionist thrust into South and Central America and established a lasting foothold through a growing religious, military, and commercial presence. In Central America, the kingdom of Guatemala (encompassing present-day Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) was initiated under Spanish governance but largely organized and managed by Spanish entrepreneurs who maintained control of the area through their business activities and strengthened their own positions with the profits and influence they earned. The merchant class had the advantage of Spanish political support behind them and exploited production means in the new territories through political and coercive forces.

Provinces in Central America were ruled by a small quantity of governors, mayors or corregidores (magistrates.) Governorships were also military positions and so these were assigned only in the provinces threatened by outside forces. Eventually the position of mayor and corregidor became interchangeable. Towards the end of the 17th century only four governors, eight mayors, six magistrates and six exchequers, governed all of Guatemala’s eighteen provinces.

The strong economic and entrepreneurial aspect of the Spanish presence in Central America took advantage of the already established traditions of production. Spinning, weaving, cotton and cacao cultivation were indigenous traditions and these, supplemented with the larger-scale production of indigo and gold and silver mining fed naturally into the Spanish economic system without disrupting existing societal structures.

However, by the 19th century the mercantile aspect of the colonies, guided by private business interests and property-owners, came to be the greatest threat to the monarchy’s representation in Central America. The magistrates that before had been sponsored by the Spanish crown grew in power to the extent that they no longer needed the king’s auspices and were better able to represent their own interests in the New World than that of their European leadership in the Old World. Inevitably the colonies established in Central America, like those in South America, would rebel and claim independence from Spain.

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