Antonio JoséAmar y Borbón Arguedas (1742 in Zaragoza,Spain – 1826? in Zaragoza) was a Spanish military officer and colonial official. From September 16,1803 to July 20,1810 he was viceroy of Viceroyalty of New Granada. During his mandate he faced the beginning of the independence movement. He is also remembered for introducing costumes and masked balls in the society of Bogotá.
Amar belonged to a distinguished medical family. His father,JoséAmar y Arguedas,was physician to King Ferdinand VI;his grandfather,Miguel Borbón y Berne,was physician to King Charles III;and his sister Josefa belonged to the Royal Medical Society of Barcelona.
At the age of 20 he entered the Farnesio Cavalry Regiment as a cadet. He rose in rank,and was promoted to brigadier after 31 years in the service. He participated in the siege of Gibraltar in 1779,and in the war against revolutionary France beginning in 1792. He earned distinction in the later conflict when he covered the retreat of Spanish troops to Tolosa,on the Guipúzcoa frontier,in 1794.
As a result of meritorious military service,he was made a knight of the Order of Santiago in 1770 and lieutenant general in the royal army in 1802. On July 26,1802 he was appointed viceroy,governor and captain general of New Granada and president of the Royal Audiencia of Bogotá.
On September 16,1803 he presented his credentials to his predecessor,Pedro Mendinueta,in Bogotá,and received a lavish welcome:
On 16 September at 5:30 in the afternoon Viceroy Don Antonio y Borbón and his wife Doña Francisca Villanova arrived;they were received by Don Miguel y Don Juan Gómez,mayors for this year,the first in Facatativa and the other in Fontibón,where a reception was given unlike any ever seen for a viceroy. The house was exquisitely decorated and supplied. More than 5,000 pesos was spent on only the food and refreshment. I was a witness,because I helped to serve at table. No greater obsequies of greatness and pomp will be done him than this. On the 22nd,at 7:30 in the morning,Viceroy Don Pedro Mendinueta left for Spain....
Bulls,illumination — lights of paper of silk with little tallow candles — fireworks and a masked ball in the coliseum.... Minuets,paspiés,bretañas,contradances,fandangos,torbellinos,mantas,puntos and jotas were danced. [1]
He arrived in Bogotáafter the epidemic of smallpox,bringing with him a vaccine for the disease. On December 19 he was given another public reception,in San Diego. On January 20,1804 preparations began for a royal fiesta for the new viceroy,and the fiesta itself began on the 29th. On the 30th bulls were fought,and that night and the following night were illuminated. Masked balls were held on February 1 and 2,and the fiesta continued until the 6th. The masked balls,said to be especially enjoyed by the vicereine,were new to Bogotásociety.
Amar's administration falls into two periods,divided by the 1808 invasion of Spain by Napoleonic France. During the first period (1803–08),his administration was fairly routine. During the second period,up to the Cry of Independence on July 20,1810,he faced destabilization of the regime and the breaking up of Spanish colonial power.
He intended to continue the progressive policies of the viceroys of the second half of the eighteenth century (i.e.,the Bourbon reforms),but he found the people influenced by the ideas of the French Enlightenment,and on the point of beginning the struggle for independence. He supported the botanical expedition of JoséCelestino Mutis and the scientific research of Francisco Joséde Caldas.
From 1805,Amar began to experience health problems and hearing loss.
There was strong support for King Ferdinand VII after he had been taken prisoner by the French,but the power vacuum in the colony caused by the crisis eroded the authority of the royal officials and strengthened the hand of the Criollos. Amar did not agree to the demands of the Crillos to form a military force to defend against a possible French attack,because he was not confident of their loyalty to the Crown. On their part,the Criollos worried of the possible adherence of the viceroy and the Audiencia to the French party. And the viceroy and Audiencia were also not on the best of terms.
At the beginning of September 1809,at the time of the revolution in Quito,Amar y Borbón summoned two public meetings of the oidores (members of the Audiencia),public prosecutors,civil and ecclesiastical employees and members of the capital elite to determine what actions should be taken against the rebels. These councils split between the Crillos and the Peninsulares,the former rejecting the proposal to send troops to suppress the rebels. The viceroy finally determined to send a peace commission to negotiate,and at the same time,troops to contain the rebellion in case the negotiations failed.
Amar had Antonio Nariño (forerunner of Colombian independence) imprisoned with shackles in Fort San Joséde Bocachica in Cartagena. Later he was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Balthasar Miraño was also arrested for subversive activities and sent to Cartagena. Camilo Torres protested against the reduction in the number of deputies from America in the Cortes called by the Supreme Junta of Seville.
On July 20,1810,a revolt began in Bogotáthat demanded and obtain the convocation of an open town meeting. This meeting elected by popular acclamation a Supreme Junta of the Kingdom of New Granada,with Viceroy Amar as its president. However,his election as president received little support in the city,and there were rumors he planned a counterattack. On July 25,1810 he was removed. JoséMiguel Pey,the new president of the Supreme Junta,ordered the arrest of the viceroy and his wife.
A few days later,on August 1,a communication was received from the Supreme Junta of Seville ordering him to turn over his office to a new viceroy,Francisco Javier Venegas. (Amar had been released in the meantime.)
Popular pressure forced his arrest again,on August 13. The junta in the capital did not approve his arrest. On the 15th they had him taken secretly from the capital to the convent of La Popa in Cartagena,where he was held a prisoner until his deportation to Havana,and thence to Spain,on October 12.
Because most of his possessions had been confiscated to satisfy charges against him,he arrived in Spain in dire economic circumstances. His attempts to secure a ministry in the royal government and to recover his possessions were unsuccessful. He was named an honorary councilor of state in 1820 and held other important positions. In 1824 he faced a long trial,in which he was acquitted. He died in 1826 in Zaragoza.
The Viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada,also called Viceroyalty of New Granada or Viceroyalty of Santa Fe,was the name given on 27 May 1717 to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Empire in northern South America,corresponding to modern Colombia,Ecuador,Panama and Venezuela. Created in 1717 by King Felipe V,as part of a new territorial control policy,it was suspended in 1723 for financial problems and was restored in 1739 until the independence movement suspended it again in 1810. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739,and the provinces of Venezuela were separated from the Viceroyalty and assigned to the Captaincy General of Venezuela in 1777. In addition to those core areas,the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada included Guyana,Trinidad and Tobago,southwestern Suriname,parts of northwestern Brazil,and northern Peru. A strip along the Atlantic Ocean in Mosquito Coast was added by the Royal Decree of 20 November 1803,but the British battled for administrative control.
Antonio Amador Joséde Nariño y Álvarez del Casal,was a Colombian ideological precursor of the independence movement in New Granada as well as one of its early political and military leaders. In 1793 he published the first French to Spanish translation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in Spain's american colonies.
The First Republic of New Granada,known despectively as the Foolish Fatherland,is the period in the history of Colombia immediately following the declaration of independence from Spain in 1810 and until the Spanish reconquest in 1816. The period between 1810 and 1816 in the Viceroyalty of New Granada was marked by such intense conflicts over the nature of the new government or governments that it became known as la Patria Boba. Constant fighting between federalists and centralists gave rise to a prolonged period of instability that eventually favored Spanish reconquest. Similar developments can be seen at the same time in the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. Each province,and even some cities,set up its own autonomous junta,which declared themselves sovereign from each other.
Juan de Torrezar Díaz Pimienta was a Spanish military officer and colonial official. He was twice governor of Cartagena de Indias,after which he was promoted to viceroy of New Granada.
Antonio Caballero y Góngora was a Spanish Roman Catholic prelate in the colonial Viceroyalty of New Granada,and from 1782 to 1789 the viceroy of New Granada.
Pedro Mendinueta y Múzquiz was a Spanish lieutenant general and colonial official. From January 2,1797,to 1803 he was viceroy of New Granada. He was a knight of the Order of Santiago,and he was awarded the Gran Cruz of Carlos III.
JoséMiguel Pey y García de Andrade was a Colombian statesman and soldier and a leader of the independence movement from Spain. He is considered the first vice president and first president of Colombia. He was a centralist.
Benito Pérez Brito de los Ríos y Fernández Valdelomar was a Spanish military officer and colonial official. From March 21,1812 to November 1812,he was viceroy of New Granada.
The United Provinces of New Granada was a country in South America from 1810 to 1816,a period known in Colombian history as la Patria Boba. It was formed from areas of the New Kingdom of Granada,roughly corresponding to the territory of modern-day Colombia. The government was a federation with a parliamentary system,consisting of a weak executive and strong congress. The country was reconquered by Spain in 1816.
Francisco Joséde Caldas was a Neogranadine lawyer,military engineer,self-taught naturalist,mathematician,geographer and inventor,who was executed by orders of General Pablo Morillo during the Spanish American Reconquista for being a forerunner of the fight for the independence of New Granada. Arguably the first Colombian scientist,he is often nicknamed "El Sabio".
Juan JoséFrancisco de Sámano y Uribarri de Rebollar y Mazorra,was a Spanish military officer and the last viceroy of New Granada from March 9,1818 to August 9,1819,during the Colombian War of Independence.
JoséLuis Álvaro Alvino Fernández Madrid was a Neogranadine statesman,physician,scientist and writer,who was President of the interim triumvirate of the United Provinces of New Granada in 1814,and President of the United Provinces of the New Granada in 1816. After the Spanish retook New Granada,he was barred from the country and was exiled in Havana,where he continued his scientific studies and worked as a doctor. He was later pardoned and allowed to come back to Colombia,and was appointed ambassador to France and to the United Kingdom where he died in 1830.
Antonio Villavicencio y Verástegui was a statesman and soldier of New Granada,born in Quito,and educated in Spain. He served in the Battle of Trafalgar as an officer in the Spanish Navy with the rank of Second Lieutenant. He was sent as a representative of the Spanish Crown to New Granada,where his arrival was used as an excuse in Santaféde Bogotáto start a revolt;this was known as the Florero de Llorente,which culminated in the proclamation of independence from Spain. After this incident he resigned his office and joined the cause of independence. He was later captured and became the first martyr executed during the reign of terror of Pablo Morillo.
Manuel Rodríguez Torices was a Neogranadine statesman,lawyer,journalist,and Precursor of the Independence of Colombia. He was part of the Triumvirate of the United Provinces of New Granada in 1815,and served as Vice President of the United Provinces after the triumvirate. He was executed during the Reign of Terror of Pablo Morillo in 1816.
The Colombian War of Independence began on July 20,1810 when the Junta de Santa Fe was formed in Santa Fe de Bogota,the capital of the Spanish colonial Viceroyalty of New Granada,to govern the territory autonomously from Spain. The event inspired similar independence movements across Latin America,and triggered an almost decade-long rebellion culminating in the founding of the Republic of Colombia,which spanned present-day Colombia,mainland Ecuador,Panama,and Venezuela,along with parts of northern Peru and northwestern Brazil.
JoséIgnacio de Cavero y Cárdenas was a New Spain and Colombian lawyer and politician. A Precursor of the Independence of Colombia,as the 4th President of the Supreme Junta of Cartagena de Indias he was a signatory of the declaration of independence of the Cartagena Province from the Viceroyalty of the New Granada and the Kingdom of Spain,establishing a republic based in the concept of separation of powers,and abolishing the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Cartagena would eventually join with other provinces to create the Republic of Colombia under President Simón Bolívar,and was appointed in 1824 by Vice President Francisco de Paula Santander y Omaña to serve as the 3rd Prefect Intendant of the Magdalena River and the Isthmus province,which now encompassed the former province of Cartagena as well as the provinces of Santa Marta,Riohacha,and the Isthmus.
JoséAcevedo y Gómez was an independence hero of Colombia. With an educational background of grammar and philosophy,he became a highly skillful orator and political figure,attaining the position of the Attorney General. He generated a vast wealth through his trading activities. He was honored with a bust in the patio of the Palacio Liévano.
Felipe de Vergara Azcárate y Caycedo was a Colombian lawyer,professor,rector,Senator and Congressional Representative who held the presidency of Colombia from November 26,1812,to December 14,1812,also Lieutenant Governor of Cartagena de Indias and Prosecutor of the same,Royal Accountant of the treasury of Panamá,served as Secretary of State,War and Foreign Relations. He was principal member of the Government Junta appointed by General Antonio Nariño to govern Cundinamarca in his absence. Felipe was considered one of the best patriots who have distinguished themselves in all their vows and personal services.
The Revolt of July 20,1810 was a revolution initiated by the Creoles in the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada against the Spanish Empire that gave way to the Independence of what is known today as the Republic of Colombia.
The province of Mariquita,also called the government of Mariquita during the Spanish imperial era,was an administrative and territorial entity of New Granada,created in 1550 as a corregimiento of the Viceroyalty of Peru. In 1717,province became part of Viceroyalty of New Granada after King Philip V of Spain issued a real cédula creating the new viceroyalty.