The political divisions marked out at the conquest, which still subsist in the main, were determined by the course of exploration and conquest. When a separate condottiere hit upon a convenient site for a port and founded a city either upon the sea-board or in some inland situation accessible from the port, his work usually came to be recognised by the creation of a separate government. These conquistadores showed judgment and capacity in their choice of sites and in their marches inland, which naturally followed the most convenient lines of communication. In this way it came about that the political divisions in the Spanish empire were mainly determined by natural economic causes, acting through the rather haphazard experiments of practical men rather than through any deliberate theory. These natural economic conditions are permanent in character: they still persist, and they account in great part for the continuance of the chief political divisions after the achievement of independence and for the failure of ambitious schemes and aspirations after union or federation. Thus the separate "kingdoms" and "captaincies-general" of imperial Spain grew into states and are now growing into nations. An illustration may be found in the Australian colonies. In Australia, separate existence was at first an economic necessity, demanded by the early colonists, owing to the distinct paths of settlement and the distance between ports. Union, achieved later by means of federation, was the work of artificial efforts of statesmanship acting patiently through many difficulties. The "Indies" were dependencies or possessions of Spain down to the nineteenth century. Viceroys, captains-general and governors were sent out from the Peninsula to rule in the capitals: corregidores held office in the smaller towns[1]: audiencias, at once tribunals and councils, were established in important centres. The course of trade was regulated and was directed solely to the Peninsula. But the strength and the basis of the fabric lay in the municipalities, which, although the councillors' seats were purchased from the Crown or inherited from the original purchasers, nevertheless offered some kind of public career to the inhabitants and afforded the means of local public vitality. _Emancipation_