According to the constitution of 1832,[1] the territory of the Republic of New Granada was divided into provinces. Each province was composed of one or more cantons, and each canton is several divided into districts parish.
The provinces in 1832 were the same that made the Granadine Convention the same year and ratifying the constitution gave the republic. These were:
For the year 1851 the changes of government and political-economic ideologies of these, added to the existing strong regional trends, led to the division of the republic in 36 provinces, which were:
Mosquito Coast: While through the Royal Decree of 20 November 1803 it became part of New Granada, it never had an effective control over it as being under British rule. Legally dependent on the Cartagena Province. Still, in 1841 the government arrested and expelled an expedition of British settlers to Nueva Segovia (River Bluefields) that had arrived in 1841 on Little Catherine, having been granted title to land by the King of the Muskitos.