New Cures

2018 ◽  
pp. 88-121
Author(s):  
Jesse Cromwell
Keyword(s):  
Trade Liberalization ◽  
New Spain ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Conflict Zone ◽  
The Creation ◽  
American Colony ◽  
Bourbon Reform

Chapter 3 examines the creation and administration of the Caracas Company as an organization designed to increase trade to Venezuela but also to police its coastline. Although realizations of Spanish commercial vulnerabilities predated the Bourbon period, bureaucrats in the new dynasty singled out contraband trade as an especially troubling defect. Venezuelan commercial rejuvenation represented one of the earliest Bourbon reform projects. Crown ministers conceived of the Caracas Company as a solution to the province’s commercial dysfunction. Madrid allowed the Caracas Company to maintain its commercial privileges in Venezuela despite prickly relations with the colony’s subjects because it was a profitable enterprise. This reality delayed the implementation of comercio libre reforms in Venezuela until 1789, long after every Spanish American colony aside from New Spain had been permitted trade liberalization. Essentially, an early Bourbon reform had overpowered the designs of later ones. Continued Company control assured that the province would remain a conflict zone. As this chapter emphasizes, imperial reformers were not ignorant or inflexible where smuggling was concerned. Rather, their plans miscalculated how deeply it was stitched into the fabric of Venezuelan life.

Valle-Inclán, Ramón María Del (1866–1936)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iulia Sprinceana
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Spanish American War ◽  
Generation Of 1898 ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Colonial Empire ◽  
Major Figure ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Ramon Del Valle Inclan ◽  
European Civilization

The Spanish dramatist, novelist, and poet Ramón del Valle-Inclán was a major figure of the Generation of 1898, a group of writers that reinvigorated Spanish letters in the wake of the Spanish-American War of 1898, which marked the end of Spain’s colonial empire. Valle-Inclán was one of the most radical dramatists of the early twentieth century and worked to subvert the traditionalism of Spanish drama. Influenced by French modernism and Symbolism, he later moved to more experimental styles and is known for the creation of the ‘esperento,’ an absurd and grotesquely satirical mix of comedy and tragedy. This style expresses the tragic meaning of Spanish life, which Valle considered to be a ‘grotesque deformation’ of European civilization. He held several administrative and teaching appointments, which allowed him to dedicate his life to writing while providing for his wife and five children.

scholarly journals Lengua de los indios, lengua española:Religious Conversion and the Languages of New Spain, ca. 1520–1585

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 690-723
Author(s):  
Daniel I. Wasserman-Soler
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
New Spain ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Religious Landscape ◽  
Insight Into

This article examines the language policies of sixteenth-century Mexico, aiming more generally to illuminate efforts by Mexican bishops to foster conversions to Christianity. At various points throughout the colonial era, the Spanish Crown and the Catholic Church propagated the use of Castilian among Amerindians; leaders of these institutions, however, also encouraged priests to study indigenous languages. That Spanish authorities appear to have never settled on a firm language policy has puzzled modern scholars, who have viewed the Crown and its churchmen as vacillating between “pro-indigenous” and “pro-Castilian” sentiments. This article suggests, however, that Mexico's bishops intentionally extended simultaneous support to both indigenous languages and Castilian. Church and Crown officials tended to avoid firm ideological commitments to one language; instead they made practical decisions, concluding that different contexts called for distinct languages. An examination of the decisions made by leading churchmen offers insight into how they helped to create a Spanish-American religious landscape in which both indigenous and Spanish elements co-existed.

Prudent Deferment: Cosmographer-Chronicler Juan López de Velasco and the Historiography of the Indies

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe E. Ruan
Keyword(s):  
Spanish American ◽  
High Point ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
Administrative Reforms ◽  
Structural Peculiarities ◽  
Official History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Relationship

The article examines why the first Chief Cosmographer-Chronicler of the Indies, Juan López de Velasco (c. 1530–1598), did not fulfill his historiographic duty of writing a general history of the Indies. It argues that although Velasco's tenure (1571-1591) at the Council of the Indies saw a high point in the accumulation of historiographic knowledge and information about Castile's Spanish-American possessions, the structural peculiarities of the cosmographer-chronicler's office disposed Velasco to prudently eschew writing an official history of the Indies. To appreciate and understand those peculiarities, the article focuses on three interrelated factors: the patronage networks at the royal court and their relation to monarchical bureaucracy; the Council of the Indies administrative reforms that led to the creation of the chief cosmographer-chronicler's office; and the climate of secrecy and censorship regarding knowledge of the Indies during Philip II's reign. The overarching emphasis, however, entails a consideration of the relationship between knowledge about Castile's American territories and monarchical bureaucracy, from the perspective of the Habsburg royal court in Madrid.

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