Introduction The Early Bourbon Period in Spanish South America: An Interpretation

Abstract

The early Bourbon period in Spanish America is one whose time has finally come. Long the least-known era in the history of the Spanish monarchy, rivaled in neglect only by the late Habsburg period that went before, the reigns of the first Bourbon kings—covering the first six decades of the eighteenth century—are now producing substantial dedicated research for the first time. This book makes use of this fresh research, while drawing primarily on archival sources in Spain and Peru to present its own interpretation of early Bourbon rule, particularly in Spanish South America, above all in relation to the much better known late-Bourbon era (from the 1760s). Scholarship published in the past 15 years or so, and especially in just the last few years, has given us a far clearer idea of what occurred in Spanish colonial rule during this neglected period. As a result, in many areas of colonial affairs, it will become difficult henceforth to discuss late-Bourbon government and colonial matters without clear and grounded reference to the decades that went before.