Manuel Antonio Flórez

Manuel Antonio Flórez

Manuel Antonio Flórez Maldonado Martín de Angulo y Bodoquín (born May 27, 1723 in Seville , Region of Andalusia , Spain , † March 20, 1799 in Madrid , Spain) was a Spanish officer and colonial administrator who served as Viceroy of New Granada and New Spain.

Life

Career in the Spanish Navy

Flórez entered the military in 1736 and was trained at the Naval Academy ( Colegio Naval ) of Cádiz .

In 1744 he began active service at sea, first in the Mediterranean and later in South America. In 1753 he accompanied Gaspar de Munive , who was commissioned to detail and implement the border between the colonial empires of Spain and Portugal in what is now Paraguay in the Treaty of Madrid (1750) . He wrote a report ( Diario de la demarcación ) and a geography of the area traveled ( Descripción de la provincia de Paraguay ), both of which have not survived to this day.

In 1771 he was appointed military commander in chief of Ferrol , an important naval and shipyard base for the Spaniards. In the same year he was inducted into the Military Order of Calatrava . In 1772 he was promoted to lieutenant general in the navy.

Tenure as Viceroy of New Granada

In 1775 King Karl III appointed him . to the Viceroy of New Granada. He reached Cartagena on February 10, 1776 and made his way to Bogotá , but not via the traditional route on the Río Magdalena to Honda (Colombia) , but by land via Opón and Vélez to check whether this route was possible could be expanded as a road. In May 1776 he took office in Bogotá.

He took over building the first public library from his predecessor, and he brought the first public printing press to Colombia. His tenure was - like that of his predecessors - marked by several uprisings by settlers and locals, which he had put down.

Viceroy Flórez tried to develop the infrastructure, especially the road network, of the colony, and he ordered the second census in 1778, which showed a population of around 830,000. In the same year, the mother country facilitated trade between Spain and the colonies as well as with each other.

In 1777, the Spanish finance minister José de Gálvez y Gallardo sent the auditor Francisco Gutiérrez de Piñeres to New Granada to implement financial reforms, which essentially consisted of increases and consistent collection of taxes on tobacco, brandy and playing cards. These taxes led to further uprisings by the rural population.

In 1779 Spain joined the Americans in the American War of Independence against the British. Flórez left Bogotá and traveled to Cartagena to counter possible attacks by the English.

In 1782 Flórez asked for his replacement, handed over the office to Juan de Torrezar and drove back to Europe via Cuba.

Tenure as Viceroy of New Spain

In 1787 the king entrusted him again with the office of viceroy in America, this time in Mexico. Flórez embarked in Cádiz in May 1787 and entered Mexico City on August 17th .

In Mexico, there were disputes over competence in finance and the military between the viceroy and the local intendents, who acted under the superintendent Fernando Mangino. It was only when he deposed Mangino, Councilor of India, that the situation became clear.

Flores also had to mediate between the responsible ministries and regulated the provincial boundaries. Flórez set up new militia units and had some improvements made to the defenses. In 1788 he sent a naval expedition led by Esteban José Martínez to the Northwest Pacific to explore the extent to which Russian expansion efforts from Siberia could endanger Spanish interests. When Hernández returned at the end of 1788 with the news that the Russians were planning a settlement in the Nootka Sound , he had a Spanish fortification built there in the summer of 1789.

Manuel Flórez promoted science; during his tenure a college was established in Guadalajara and the Botanical Garden in Mexico City was built; he also had his first historical work published on Mexico. He had brought German mining specialists with him from Europe who were supposed to bring modern mining techniques to the colony.

For health reasons, Flórez had already asked for his replacement in Spain. When in December 1788 King Charles III. died, she was accepted immediately. The news reached Mexico City in February 1789. As a pardon, the crown waived the usual revision of the administration ( Juicio de Residencia ) and also granted Manuel Flórez six months of salary to enable him to return in line with his status. His journey home to Europe was delayed until his successor Juan Vicente de Güemes arrived in Veracruz in July 1789 .

King Charles IV appointed him captain general of the royal Spanish navy in Spain and in 1799 awarded him the title of Count of the House of Flórez (Spanish: conde de Casa Flórez ); he could no longer accept this title because he died earlier. It passed on to his son.

Web links

• Biography (spanish)
• Short biography (Spanish)
• Term of office in New Spain (Spanish)
• Term of office in New Granada (Spanish)

Remarks

1. ↑ According to other information in 1720.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Real Academia de la historia: Diccionario Bibliográfico español - Manuel Antonio Flórez

Web links

Commons : Manuel Antonio Flórez  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Manuel de Guirior	Viceroy of New Granada 1779–1782	Juan de Torrezar Díaz y Pimienta
Alonso Núñez de Haro y Peralta	Viceroy of New Spain 1787–1789	Juan Vicente de Güemes