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The Bourbon Reforms were a series of economic and political measures taken by the Spanish Crown in the 18th century (under the House of Bourbon), intended to stimulate manufactures and technological advances in order to modernize Spain. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Throughout the Commonwealth realms The Crown is an abstract metonymic concept which represents the legal authority for the existence of any government The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system The House of Bourbon is an important European Royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. They also hoped Spain would profit from reforms designed to make the administration of Spanish America more efficient and to promote its economic, commercial, and fiscal development.


Spain

After the restitution of the Spanish Crown to the Bourbons, in 1700, and the ensuing War of Succession (1713), Spain had to surrender its possessions in Europe and allow British trade with the Americas. In the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714 several European powers combined to stop French succession to the Spanish throne and what would likely have been a resulting Year 1713 ( MDCCXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America Philip V of Spain took measures intended to counter the decline of Spanish power, increasing the numbers of the armed forces and protecting the local economy from competition. Philip V of Spain ( December 19, 1683 - July 9, 1746) born Philippe de France, Fils de France and duc d'Anjou However, they did not take into account the South American colonies, which were considered as mere sources of precious metals.

The Church

Due to the early French rationalism and Spanish enlightenment that was being used in the reforms, the church was clearly provoked by the movement. Controversy spread since these two ideologies criticized the church and the clergy disregarding faith as a way to invoke change. The reforms caused some fear to arise within the church over its role in the country, though many of its worries were dispelled quickly. However, minor changes in church control occurred when the Jesuit order was expelled from Spain and Spanish America in 1767. The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order Year 1767 ( MDCCLXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Jesuits were thought to be ineffective missionaries and they were frowned upon by other branches of the church. The church tried to discourage religious orders and further the secular clergy; however, this only proved effective in areas where this sort of movement was already in motion. In the Catholic Church, secular clergy are religious ministers such as deacons and priests who do not belong to a religious order. The crown also attempted to confiscate church property with little success. This caused it to lose some of its political influence in the country. This weakened the church, though it still maintained its overwhelming control over the country and its vast wealth.

The Church continued to thrive, however, in the Spanish colonies. For example, the church had a monopoly on colonial education at all levels. In Economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos, alone or single + polein, to sell exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient The primary and secondary schools maintained by the clergy with few exceptions were open only to children of the white upper-class and the Indian nobility. Is a concept in Sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a Social hierarchy. Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary (see Hereditary titles) or for a lifetime

Early Reforms

Many of the reforms were first aimed to improve the economic and political structure of Spain. They sought to modernize agriculture, more efficiently construct ships, and develop an infrastructure to monitor and incite economic integration and development on a regional and national level. These reforms unfortunately fell through for Spain. These socio-economic reforms left the country with almost no investment capital. Socioeconomics or socio-economics is the study of the relationship between economic activity and Social life. This hindered the nationalization of industries and also as a side-effect, it disrupted the class system. Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government It left almost no middle class and separated the lower and upper significantly. As a result of these early reforms, the country was dwindling and its progression rate put it behind its neighboring countries such as Britain and France. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.

The failure of these measures became evident when Spain, under Charles III, lost the Seven Years' War with Great Britain (1756–1763). Charles III ( January 20, 1716 – December 14, 1788) was King of Spain 1700–88 (as Carlos III King of Naples and The Seven Years' War (1756&ndash1763 involved all of the major European powers of the period causing 900000 to 1400000 deaths Year 1756 ( MDCCLVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Year 1763 ( MDCCLXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a However, the king's counselors secured more detailed reports of the colonies, and understood the need to take them fully into account. The new wave of reforms included larger exploitation of resources in the colonies, increased taxes, the opening of new ports allowed to trade only with Spain, and the establishment of several state monopolies. In Economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos, alone or single + polein, to sell exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient


Spanish America

Politically, colonial matters were concentrated in a single ministry, which took powers away from the Council of the Indies. The Council of the Indies, officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies (In Spanish " el Real y Supremo Consejo de Indias " was the The advances Americans (criollos) had made in the local bureaucracy in the past century and a half, usually through the sale of offices, were checked by the direct appointment of (supposedly more qualified and disinterested) Spanish officials. Criollo is a term that dates back to the Spanish colonial Casta system ( Caste system) of Latin America The territories were better divided for administrative purposes. The Crown split the extremely large Viceroyalty of Peru into three, adding the Viceroyalty of New Granada and the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Created in 1542 the Viceroyalty of Peru (in Spanish, Virreinato del Perú) was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled The Viceroyalty of New Granada (Virreinato de la Nueva Granada was the name given on May 27, 1717 to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was the last and most shortlived Viceroyalty created by Spain in 1776

Also the political structure changed slightly. It was replaced with an intendencia system and established more captaincies general. A captaincy is a historical Administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese Colonial empires Each was governed by a Captain Each intendant (head official) had direct ties to the Spanish monarchy (See José de Gálvez. The title of intendant (intendant Spanish intendente) has been used in a number of countries through history José de Gálvez y Gallardo marqués de Sonora (1720 Macharavialla Spain &mdash1787 Aranjuez, Spain was a Spanish lawyer and colonial official in New ) This system was efficient; however, they caused a great deal of decentralization and rivalry between these divisions. __FORCETOC__ Decentralization or Decentralisation (see Spelling differences) is the process of dispersing Decision-making governance closer to the people Intendency seats were mainly based in large cities and successful mining centers.

Spanish America barely had an operational military before the Bourbon reforms, and what it did have was inconsistent and scattered. The Bourbons created a more organized militia and first used men straight from Spain as their officers, but soon this degenerated into locals taking most positions and Indians being employed only under exceptional circumstances. The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary Citizens to provide defense emergency law enforcement or Paramilitary service The hierarchy of the military was racially based, and most generals were Spanish-born.

With regards to the economy, collection of taxes was more efficient under the intendencia system. Tax reductions were given to the silver mining industry. Silver (ˈsɪlvɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol " Ag " (argentum from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos gen Tobacco proved to be a successful crop after state monopolies were expanded. Tobacco is an Agricultural product recognized as an addictive drug processed from the fresh Leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. Also during this time, many of the colonies began to produce an abundance of resources that became vital to many European powers and the 13 Northern colonies. The trade with the colonies and various countries was however, considered contraband and many if the Bourbon kings tried to outlaw it through various programs, though the efforts provided little result.

Due to the discontent among the colonies during the time of the Bourbon reforms, many people banded together and led several revolts. The creoles, mestizos, and Indians were among the most common to be involved in such resistance movements. Mestizo is a Spanish term that was coined during the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry in Latin Overtime, these uprisings led to the fight for the independence of the multiple colonies.

References

In Spanish unless otherwise noted.

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