Antonio José Amar y Borbón
Encyclopedia
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
1742—¿1826?, Zaragoza) was a Spanish military officer and colonial official. From September 16, 1803 to July 20, 1810 he was viceroy of New Granada
New Kingdom of Granada
The New Kingdom of Granada was the name given to a group of 16th century Spanish colonial provinces in northern South America governed by the president of the Audiencia of Bogotá, an area corresponding mainly to modern day Colombia and parts of Venezuela. Originally part of the Viceroyalty of...
(Greater Colombia). 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
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
.
Background
Amar belonged to a distinguished medical family. His father, José Amar y Arguedas, was physician to King Ferdinand VIFerdinand VI of Spain
Ferdinand VI , called the Learnt, was King of Spain from 9 July 1746 until his death. He was the fourth son of the previous monarch Philip V and his first wife Maria Luisa of Savoy...
; his grandfather, Miguel Borbón y Berne, was physician to King Charles III
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
; and his sister Josefa belonged to the Royal Medical Society of Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
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
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
in 1779, and in the war against revolutionary France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
beginning in 1792. He earned distinction in the later conflict when he covered the retreat of Spanish troops to Tolosa
Tolosa, Spain
Tolosa is a town and municipality to the south of Donostia-San Sebastián in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain. It is located in a valley of the river Oria and overlooked by Uzturre, a white cross-topped mountain.-Famous people from Tolosa:...
, on the Guipúzcoa frontier, in 1794.
As a result of meritorious military service, he was made a knight of the Order of Santiago
Order of Santiago
The Order of Santiago was founded in the 12th century, and owes its name to the national patron of Galicia and Spain, Santiago , under whose banner the Christians of Galicia and Asturias began in the 9th century to combat and drive back the Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula.-History:Santiago de...
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
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
.
Arrival
On September 16, 1803 he presented his credentials to his predecessor, Pedro MendinuetaPedro Mendinueta y Múzquiz
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.-Background:Mendinueta began his military career as an infantry...
, 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 FacatativaFacatativáFacatativá is a town and municipality in the Cundinamarca Department, located about 28 miles northwest of Bogotá, Colombia and 2,586 meters above sea level...
and the other in FontibónFontibonFontibon is a former municipality located at the westernmost side of Bogotá, Colombia.-History:Founded on May 10, 1954; Fontibon was the gate to the current Bogotá City also known as Santa Fe de Bogotá, to the conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada and his fellow expeditioners.The origin of the...
, 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.
He arrived in Bogotá after 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 Bogotá society.
Government
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
Bourbon Reforms
The Bourbon Reforms were a set of economic and political legislation introduced by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon throughout the 18th century. The reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology in order to modernize Spain...
), but he found the people influenced by the ideas of the French Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, and on the point of beginning the struggle for independence. He supported the botanical expedition of José Celestino Mutis
José Celestino Mutis
-External links:*** at The Catholic Encyclopedia official site...
and the scientific research of Francisco José de Caldas
Francisco José de Caldas
Francisco José de Caldas was a Colombian lawyer, naturalist, and geographer who died a martyr by orders of Pablo Morillo during the Reconquista for being a precursor of the Independence of New Granada ....
.
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
Criollo people
The Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born permanent residence colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes—people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans...
. 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
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
, 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
Peninsulares
In the colonial caste system of Spanish America, a peninsular was a Spanish-born Spaniard or mainland Spaniard residing in the New World, as opposed to a person of full Spanish descent born in the Americas or Philippines...
, 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
Antonio Nariño
Antonio de la Santísima Concepción Nariño y Álvarez was an ideological Colombian precursor and one of the early political and military leaders of the independence movement in the New Granada - Early political activity :Nariño was born to an aristocratic family...
(forerunner of Colombian independence) imprisoned with shackles in Fort San José de Bocachica in Cartagena
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
. Later he was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
. 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
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
.
His overthrow
On July 20, 1810, a revolt began in Bogotá that 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. José Miguel PeyJosé Miguel Pey de Andrade
José Miguel 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.-Background:Pey, a Criollo, was born on March 11, 1763 in Santa Fe de...
, 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
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, 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 as acquitted. He died in 1826 in Zaragoza.