Julián de Arriaga

Julián Manuel de Arriaga y Rivera (born December 19, 1700 in Segovia , Spain , † January 28, 1776 in Madrid , Spain) was a Spanish nobleman, officer and minister.

Life

Origin and family

Julián was the fourth son of Diego Luis de Arriaga y San Martín and María Rivera y Duque de Estrada. His uncle Julián Manuel de Arriaga y San Vítores was a senior municipal official in Segovia as a corregidor . His father was the Alcalde of Burgos .

Education and military career

As the later son of an aristocratic family with no assets, Julian was faced with the choice of pursuing a military or church career. He chose both by joining the Order of St. John as a knight at the age of 17 . He vowed poverty, obedience, and chastity and remained unmarried throughout his life. The Hospitallers of Malta fought with their galleys against privateers from North Africa at the beginning of the 18th century. Here he gained his first war experience.

In 1728 he moved to the rank of lieutenant ( alférez de fragata ) in the royal Spanish navy and was deployed several times in the Caribbean under Rodrigo de Torres . From 1732 he served in the western Mediterranean in the fight against Algerian pirates; with the fleet of Francisco Javier Cornejo he took part in the conquest of Oran .

In 1733 he commanded transport ships that supplied the Spaniards in Italy under Fernando Pérez de Pulgar , Count of Clavijo. The following year he joined General José González de Alderete's fleet and was given command of the frigate Constante . In 1739 the War of Jenkins' Ear broke out between England and Spain ; Arriaga sailed again to the Caribbean and stayed there until 1744. Then the transfer back to the Mediterranean followed.

Tenure as governor of Venezuela

In 1749 he led the punitive expedition to suppress the uprising against the Compañía Guipuzcoana de Caracas in Venezuela. When the rebels under Juan Francisco de León were defeated with a force of 1,500 men, Julián de Arriaga ruled briefly as interim governor and captain general of the province.

Career as colonial minister

In 1751 he returned to Spain. King Ferdinand VI. appointed him chamberlain , and he took over the management of the Casa de Contratación in Cádiz , the customs authority that oversaw all shipments and goods traffic between Spain and America.

After the fall of Zenón de Somodevilla y Bengoechea , Arriaga took over his post as Minister of State for Maritime Affairs and Colonies. In 1755 he was promoted to lieutenant general.

During the Seven Years' War , Spain initially remained neutral - at the urging of Prime Minister Ricardo Wall . In addition, the illness and death of King Ferdinand VI. more forceful action against British incursions in the Caribbean. In 1761 Spain entered the war as an ally of France. The following year the Spanish Philippines and Havana in Cuba were captured by the British.

The Spanish government saw a considerable need for reform in the administration and defense of its colonies. Proposals and memoranda existed in abundance, but the conservative Arriaga refused to undertake a comprehensive administrative reform that would divide the viceroyalty into smaller units and supplement them with decentralized Intendencias based on the French model. He was also skeptical of the proposal to liberalize trade with the colonies.

Despite his reservations, he sent José de Gálvez y Gallardo, an energetic reformer with extensive powers as a general visitor to the Viceroyalty of New Spain , in order to fundamentally renew the colonial administration, the tax collection system and the military organization there.

At the same time he tried to strengthen and modernize the Spanish Navy. However, the finance minister, Juan Francisco Ruiz de Gaona , Count of Valdeparaíso, denied him the funds, so that he could only build new ships on a smaller scale. In 1775 he sent an expedition to Algeria.

In 1776 he fell out of favor at court because he campaigned for the Jesuit order, King Charles III. expelled from all Spanish colonies. Before he could be removed from his post, he died in January 1776.

The Navy and Colonial Ministry was split up after his death. Pedro González de Castejón took over responsibility for the navy, and from then on the colonial administration was under José de Gálvezy Gallardo.

literature

• María Baudot Monroy: Orígines familiares y carrera profesional de Julián de Arriaga, Secretario de Estado de Marina e Indias (1700–1776) . In: Espacio, tiempo y forma, Series IV, Historia moderna . No. 17 , 2004, ISSN  1131-768X , p. 166–185 ( UNED [PDF; accessed September 2, 2015]).

Web links

• Biography (spanish)