and mixed-race populations in Spain's possessions around the world. Most of the overseas provinces were represented, especially the most populous regions. Both the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru had deputies present, as did Central America, the islands of the Spanish Caribbean, Florida, Chile, Upper Peru and the Philippines. The total number of representatives was 303, of which 37 were born in overseas territories although several of them were temporary substitute deputies [suplentes] elected by American refugees in the city of Cádiz: seven from New Spain, two from Central America, five from Peru, two from Chile, three from the Río de la Plata, three from New Granada, and three from Venezuela, one from Santo Domingo, two from Cuba, one from Puerto Rico and two from the Philippines. Although most of the overseas representatives were Criollos, the majority wanted to extend suffrage to all indigenous, mixed-race and free black people of the Spanish Empire, which would have granted the overseas territories a majority in the future Cortes. The majority of representatives from peninsular Spain opposed those proposals as they wished to limit the weight of non-peninsulares. According to the best estimates of the time, continental Spain had an estimated population of between 10 and 11 million, and the overseas provinces had a combined population of around 15 to 16 million. The Cortes ultimately approved a distinction between nationality and citizenship (that is, those with the right to vote). The Constitution gave Spanish citizenship to natives of the territories that had belonged to the Spanish monarchy in both hemispheres. The Constitution of 1812 included Indigenous peoples of the Americas to Spanish citizenship, but the acquisition of citizenship for any casta of Afro-American peoples of the Americas was through naturalization excluding slaves. Spanish nationals were defined as all people born, naturalized or permanently residing for more than ten years in Spanish territories. Article 1 of the Constitution read: "The Spanish nation is the collectivity of the Spaniards of both hemispheres." Voting rights were granted to Spanish nationals whose ancestry originated from Spain or the territories of the Spanish Empire. That had the effect of changing the legal status of the people not only in Peninsular Spain but also in Spanish possessions overseas. In the latter case, not only people of Spanish ancestry but also indigenous peoples as well were transformed from the subjects of an absolute monarch to the citizens