cabildo

Cabildo is a term with several related meanings in Spanish-speaking contexts. It most commonly denotes a local government council or the building that houses such a council. The word derives from cabildo, which originally referred to a chapter of canons in a cathedral and, by extension, a body governing parish or municipal affairs.

In civil use, a cabildo was the urban council responsible for administering a town or city, including policing, taxation, public works, and justice. Members were known as regidores or aldermen, and the alcalde served as mayor. The cabildo could also act as a court. During the colonial era, cabildos were the principal form of municipal government in Spanish America and the Caribbean. In many modern states, the term persists in historical contexts or ceremonial uses, while contemporary administration often uses ayuntamiento or municipio.

In ecclesiastical contexts, cabildo refers to the cathedral chapter, the body of canons that governs a cathedral’s property, disciplines clergy, and administers the chapter house. The term can also denote the building that houses this body.

Notable examples include the Cabildo of New Orleans, a historic building on Jackson Square that housed the city’s town council under Spanish and French rule and now operates as a museum within the Louisiana State Museum system. The concept of cabildo also appears in various Latin American contexts to describe municipal assemblies or public governance spaces, including cabildo abiertos, open-town meetings linked to local civic and political action.