Spanish Antilles

Spanish Antilles stamps, available worldwide at Io Collezionista. Also known as the West Indies, the many islands were controlled by the Viceroyalty of New Spain, established in 1535 and dissolved in 1821, which reached an extent of 5 million km², taking in Mexico and much of the central western and southern area of the United States. The islands went through many changes of hands over the centuries: the Cayman Islands and the Colony of Santiago (Spanish Jamaica), for instance, were ceded to England in 1670 by the treaty of Madrid; Haiti to France in 1697 by the treaty of Ryswick; and the Bay Islands to Honduras by the treaty of Comayagua in 1859, although they had already been an English possession since the treaty of Paris of 1783.