Reason for Differences between Political and Economic Changes for Spain and Portugal

The differences, in regards to economics and politics, between the Spanish colonies and the Portuguese colonies resulted because Spain had a larger region to govern with more environmental barriers in the way. As a result, they had to appoint viceroys and create courts known as audiencias to control the vast region. The difficulty with moving and communicating caused many of the viceroys to lose control over specific areas and it thus, fell into the hands of the audiencias and town councils. As for Portugal, it was possible to send only a governor to take on government affairs because of the increased ability to travel through just one region. Also, Portugal may have experienced their changes quicker because they were in competition with Spain and therefore, needed to match them after their conquest in Mexico and South America. The economic changes could have occurred because of the differing landforms in each country's colonies. Portuguese colonies were best suited for sugar plantations while Spanish colonies worked well with agriculture and new cities.