Colonial Offices (Civ6)/Civilopedia

Once national governments began taking a hand in (and taking over) overseas colonies founded by trading companies, military adventurers, and religious fanatics, the ad hoc administrations of such distant outposts needed a firmer hand. Thus, the Spanish formed colonial offices, and were soon emulated by the other colonial powers. In the late-1500s AD the Spanish monarchy formed the Council of the Indies (although it didn’t assume its final form until a century had passed), a hierarchical organization to rule over the colonies since the king couldn’t be bothered. Initially two viceroyalties were established (two others later); Spanish viceroys had judicial and legislative control of their territory, and – more importantly – had direct access to the colonial treasury.