Education, reform and the enlightened transformation of Santafé de Bogotá in the late eighteenth century

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines how royal administrators sought to reform colonial education in Santafé de Bogotá in order to develop and improve the study of their natural surroundings during the final decades of the eighteenth century. Starting with educational reform and continuing with the creation of the Royal Botanical Expedition, these reformers rediscovered their surroundings empirically. The article will describe how the editorials and articles produced during these three decades (c. 1770–1800) and published in the local press of Santafé de Bogotá generated a network of readers and contributors that advocated for educational and scientific reform. I examine articles published in the local press related to their findings in geography and botany among others, in order to analyze perceptions of the native homeland. It will also illustrate how their contributions encouraged a narrative of future “prosperity” and “happiness of the realm.” Despite their dedication, these scientists would seldom receive the support of the Court in Madrid, increasing a deep sense of frustration that would reinforce many of the claims related to their abandoned motherland employed in speeches and articles used to promote the Independence process.