Description of a Chihuahua.

Spanish exploration of the area began in 1531 with Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán\'s expedition. He called the area Nueva Galicia after his birthplace, although that name later came to be applied to a different area, namely what became the colonial intendencia of Guadalajara. Nueva Vizcaya originally included the area of Spanish settlement north of Zacatecas. Eventually that included most of the area of the modern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Durango, and at times parts of the states of Sinaloa, Sonora and Coahuila.

The objections that led to the division of the internal provinces in 1785, increased with growing population and resources. In 1804, a royal decree ordered the redivision of the provinces into two districts. The new comandante general of each district exercised the same authority as the existing commander.