Since the beginning of the sixteenth century the island of Cuba had been under the control of the governor-captain general of Santo Domingo.

The conquest of Cuba was organized in 1510 by the recently restored Viceroy of the Indies, Diego Colón, under the command of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, who becomes Cuba's first governor until his death in 1524.Velázquez founds the city of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa in 1511 and convokes a general cabildo (a local government council) to establish the government of Cuba, which is authorized by the king of Spain.Hernán Cortés's Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire is undertaken from Cuba.

Cuba is incorporated in New Spain after the conquest of Mexico.