Real Hacienda

The Real Hacienda, or Royal Treasury, was the institution in charge of collecting and managing the crown’s revenues in New Spain. Its income included the alcabala (a sales tax), the tribute paid by Indigenous communities, and the quinto real, the fifth of all mined silver owed to the king.

Don’t confuse it with the Real Audiencia, which was the high court of the viceroyalty, or with the Casa de Contratación in Seville, which regulated trade and navigation with the Americas.