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Alcalde
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{{short description|Spanish municipal magistrate}} {{other uses}} {{italic title}} [[File:AlcaldesGuatemala1891.jpg|thumb|Mayan {{lang|es-GU|alcaldes}} from Guatemala, 1891|alt=Two sitting men and one standing man. All wear a haedscarf and a hat and a stick in their hands.]] '''''Alcalde''''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|l|ˈ|k|æ|l|d|i}}; {{IPA|es|alˈkalðe|lang}}) is the traditional Spanish municipal [[magistrate]], who had both [[judicial]] and [[Administration (government)|administrative]] functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a [[corregidor (position)|corregidor]], the presiding officer of the [[Crown of Castile|Castilian]] ''[[Cabildo (council)|cabildo]]'' (the municipal council) and judge of first instance of a town. ''Alcaldes'' were elected annually, without the right to reelection for two or three years, by the ''regidores'' (council members) of the municipal council. The office of the ''alcalde'' was signified by a [[staff of office]], which they were to take with them when doing their business.<ref>The [http://www.tulane.edu/~latinlib/osuna.html Osuna Codex] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724003211/http://www.tulane.edu/%7Elatinlib/osuna.html |date=2008-07-24 }} depicts Viceroy [[Luís de Velasco]] granting the staffs of office to the ''alcaldes'' and ''[[alguacil]]es'' of the Mexica municipality of Mexico City.</ref><ref>For a contemporary recording of an ''alcalde'' receiving the staff of office from the ''ayuntaminto'', see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njEeJu-HQ1A The Installation of the new ''Ayuntamiento'' of Figueres].</ref> A woman who holds the office is termed an ''alcaldesa''. In [[New Spain]] (Mexico), ''alcaldes mayores'' were chief administrators in colonial-era administrative territories termed ''alcaldías mayores''; in colonial-era Peru the units were called ''corregimientos''.<ref>Mark A. Burkholder, "Alcalde Mayor" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 1, p. 45. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.</ref> ''Alcalde'' was also a title given to [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous]] (Native American) leaders inside the Spanish missions, who performed a large variety of duties for the Franciscan missionaries.<ref name="Hackel">{{cite book |last=Hackel |first=Steven |date=2005 |title=Children of Coyote, Missionaries of Saint Francis: Indian-Spanish relations in colonial California, 1769-1850|chapter=Social Control, Political Accommodation, and Indian Rebellion|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-0807856543}}</ref>
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