The Kingdom of New Spain was established on August 18, 1521, following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire as a New World kingdom dependent on the Crown of Castile, since the initial funds for exploration came from Queen Isabella. Although New Spain was a dependency of Castile, it was a kingdom and not a colony, subject to the presiding monarch on the Iberian Peninsula. The monarch had sweeping power in the overseas territories,The king possessed not only the sovereign right but the property rights; he was the absolute proprietor, the sole political head of his American dominions. Every privilege and position, economic political, or religious came from him. It was on this basis that the conquest, occupation, and government of the [Spanish] New World was achieved.