 When the crown established the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1535, the islands of the Caribbean came under its jurisdiction.The islands claimed by Spain were Hispaniola, modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic; Cuba, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat, Guadalupe and the Lesser Antilles, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Venezuela (Margarita island), Trinidad, and the Bay Islands.The islands that later became the Spanish West Indies were the focus of the voyages of the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus in America.