New Spain was the colony comprising Spain's possessions in the New World north of the Isthmus of Panama. It was established following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, and following additional conquests, it was made a viceroyalty (Spanish: virreinato) in 1535. The first of four viceroyalties Spain created in the Americas, it comprised Mexico, Central America, much of the Southwestern and Central United States, the Spanish West Indies, Spanish Florida, and eventually, the Philippines and other Pacific islands.