Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables and illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- List of money and measures
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Foundations
- PART I ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW GRANADA
- PART II THE ECONOMICS OF BOURBON COLONIALISM: NEW GRANADA AND THE ATLANTIC ECONOMY
- PART III THE POLITICS OF BOURBON COLONIALISM: RECONSTRUCTING THE COLONIAL STATE
- PART IV GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
- 9 Power, politics, and protest
- 10 Science and sedition
- PART V CRISIS IN THE COLONIAL ORDER
- Epilogue
- Appendix A The population of New Granada
- Appendix B Gold production
- Appendix C Shipping and commerce
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
10 - Science and sedition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables and illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- List of money and measures
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Foundations
- PART I ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW GRANADA
- PART II THE ECONOMICS OF BOURBON COLONIALISM: NEW GRANADA AND THE ATLANTIC ECONOMY
- PART III THE POLITICS OF BOURBON COLONIALISM: RECONSTRUCTING THE COLONIAL STATE
- PART IV GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
- 9 Power, politics, and protest
- 10 Science and sedition
- PART V CRISIS IN THE COLONIAL ORDER
- Epilogue
- Appendix A The population of New Granada
- Appendix B Gold production
- Appendix C Shipping and commerce
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
Summary
If the Comunero rebellion did not reflect the appearance of new ideas or principles, nor mirror changes in the political consciousness of New Granadans, it did nevertheless alter the political climate in New Granada in one important respect. Henceforth, leading peninsular officials were more sensitive about issues of public order and more alert for signs of subversion. Not surprisingly, government fear of sedition was greatest in the years immediately after 1781, when unprecedented measures were taken to provide the authorities with effective policing power. These were started by Archbishop-Viceroy Caballero y Góngora, who persuaded the crown of the need to redeploy military power in the region, both by enlarging the presence of regular troops in the capital and by raising a large disciplined militia in the towns of the interior. Consequently, between 1783 and 1789, New Granada saw the most rapid and far-reaching reorganization of military forces yet undertaken on its territory, mainly to ensure that government had the means to enforce its authority.
Political order after the Comunero rebellion
In addition to mobilizing military muscle, Archbishop-Viceroy Caballero y Góngora also called for tighter control on a colonial populace that he considered to be inherently disorderly and insolent. According to Caballero y Góngora, much of the population lived in a deplorable state of idleness and debauchery, scattered over the countryside, and isolated from sufficiently rigorous religious or social discipline.
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- Information
- Colombia before IndependenceEconomy, Society, and Politics under Bourbon Rule, pp. 272 - 294Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993