Nueva Galicia's territory consisted of the present-day Mexican states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Zacatecas.

He named the main city founded in the area Villa de Guadalajara after his birthplace and called the area he conquered "la Conquista del Espíritu Santo de la Mayor España" ("the Conquest of the Holy Spirit of Greater Spain").

Instead, Queen Joanna — at the moment the acting regent of Spain — named the area "Reino de Nueva Galicia."

Given the growing wealth of the region with the discovery of silver to the north, especially in Nueva Vizcaya, Guadalajara became the seat of the second mainland Audiencia of New Spain in 1548.

In 1824, after Mexican independence was consolidated, the kingdom was transformed into the State of Jalisco and the Territory of Colima.