Antonio Amar y Borbon

Antonio Amar y Borbon

Antonio José Amar y Borbón (* 1742 in Saragossa , Spain ; † 1826 ibid.) Was a Spanish officer and colonial administrator who served as Viceroy of New Granada.

Life

Origin and military career

Amar y Borbón came from a noble family. He went through the military career of the Spanish army from cadet to brigadier general. He was married to Francisca Villanova. From 1770 he was a knight in the Order of Santiago , he carried the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III. and of the Order of St. Hermenegild . He took part in the siege of Gibraltar (1779–1783) and fought on the side of the Spaniards in the coalition war of the European powers against revolutionary France. In 1802 he was promoted to lieutenant general.

Term of office as Viceroy of New Granada until 1808

Also in 1802 the court appointed him Viceroy of New Granada. He reached Bogotá in 1803 and took over the official duties from his predecessor Pedro Mendinueta y Múzquiz . With his term of office began the vaccination against smallpox , which his predecessor had initiated.

Term of office from 1808

With the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars and the capture of King Ferdinand VII in France, the Creoles increasingly questioned the legitimacy of the entrusted viceroys and governors. Amar transferred de facto government responsibility to Juan José Llorente , whom the Junta Suprema Central had sent from Seville to America to ensure that the Spanish colonies remained loyal to the Spanish crown and did not overflow into the Napoleonic camp.

When in Quito in 1809 the independence movement announced its detachment from motherland Spain, he sent troops to suppress the revolution. In July 1810 a citizens' assembly ( cabildo abierto ) also met in Bogotá , which resolved to establish a junta under the leadership of the viceroy. This election was not approved in the city, José Miguel Pey took the chair instead, and Viceroy Amar was captured with his wife.

On August 1, 1810, the order of the Suprema Junta reached Bogotá from Seville that Amar should hand over the office of viceroy to Francisco Javier Venegas .

Return to Europe

Amar was brought to Cartagena (Colombia) and from there to Spain via Havana . When the revolutionaries had seized his property, he reached Europe penniless. He came to his hometown of Zaragoza under difficult circumstances. In 1820 he was appointed honorary councilor. In 1824 he had to justify himself in court for having supported the constitutionalists in the Trienio Liberal . He was acquitted. He died two years later.

Web links

• Biography (spanish)
• Short biography (Spanish)
• Short biography (Spanish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Pedro Mendinueta y Múzquiz	Viceroy of New Granada 1803–1810	Francisco Javier Venegas appointed