Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo
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Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca, 1st Marquis of Branciforte | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo 5 April 1738 Havana, Cuba |
Died | 2 May 1799 Madrid, Spain | (aged 61)
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Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo (Spanish, with variant name: Juan Vicente de Güemes Pacheco de Padilla y Horcasitas, segundo conde de Revillagigedo) (5 April 1738 in Havana – 2 May 1799 in Madrid) was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of New Spain from 17 October 1789 to 11 July 1794. He is known as a great reformer and one of the finest administrators of the Spanish colonial era.
Youth and military career
From a young age, Güemes Padilla Horcasitas served in the army, and distinguished himself participating in the Spanish siege of British Gibraltar. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was a knight of the military Order of Charles III, baron of Benilova y Rivarroja and lord of the bedchamber to his majesty.
First days as viceroy
He arrived at
Within a week of Güemes Padilla taking office, a gang of outlaws murdered Joaquín Dongo, a merchant and principal citizen of the capital, and ten of his employees.[1] Güemes Padilla took only 13 days to have the gang located, tried and executed for the murders. Blanco, Aldama and Quintero, all Spaniards, were garroted for the murders on 7 November on a scaffold in the Plaza de Mexico. For this, he was often called the Vindicator of Justice.
Two other prominent murders occurred during his term. The first was that of the prefect of the monastery of Merced, killed by a priest of his order 23 September 1790. The other was the murder on 25 June 1792 of Lucas de Gálvez, governor and captain general of Yucatán.
The challenges of his administration
He found the capital run down and dirty—the streets, the markets, the promenades. Most of the people appeared in public wearing nothing but thin robes and battered straw hats. Houses were badly made and badly cared for. Public education had deteriorated. There were no free primary schools and other public schools were deficient. Most streets had not been maintained, and were fit for travel only by foot or by mule. The state of the army was shocking.
His reforms
He immediately ordered the cleaning of the viceroy's palace, banishing the food-sellers' stalls. He prohibited the population from throwing trash in the streets. He removed stray animals from the streets. He ordered that no building be constructed without a license from the authorities. He continued the cobblestone paving of the streets outside of the city center.
He did much to lessen the bribery and corruption among government employees. He implemented a new administrative system of intendancies in the government (begun by a previous viceroy, Alonso Núñez de Haro y Peralta). He reorganized the courts and founded schools for Indigenous in various cities. He hired competent teachers for the Academy of San Carlos, and founded a chair in mathematics. He also set up a chair in anatomy at the General Hospital of the Natives.
He ordered plans be created for the principal cities, stimulated the establishment of factories, and continued the work on the drainage system of Mexico City. He stimulated the cultivation of plants for textiles—cotton, hemp, flax and mulberry—and regulated the cutting of wood.
Güemes Padilla cleaned up Mexico City and continued to install street lights there and in various other cities. All of the principal streets of Mexico City were lighted by the end of his term. He intensified the construction of highways to Veracruz, Acapulco, Guadalajara, San Blas and Toluca and established biweekly mail service to the capitals of the intendencies. He promoted the construction of needed public buildings and aqueducts. He instituted night patrols and fire brigades. He also established the general archives of the colony, bring together old and important documents. He ordered that cemeteries be outside the city. He had new ships built for the protection of the coasts.
As a reaction to the French Revolution, he prohibited the importation of books and periodicals expressing the new ideas. Spain's war with France was very expensive, and Güemes Padilla sent three million pesos to the mother country, in addition to the usual remittances.
He initiated excavations in the Plaza de Armas in Mexico City, during which the Aztec calendar stone was discovered (1790). (This was part of a project to level the streets.) In 1792 he founded the Royal College of Mining. He aided the botanical investigations of Martín Sessé y Lacasta, which were to result in the Flora mexicana (1894). He ordered that a census be taken of the colony. There were 4,484,000 inhabitants.
Explorations
Because of his sponsorship of exploration, several places in North America bear his name, such as San Juan Island, Orcas Island, Revillagigedo Island, Padilla Bay, and Guemes Island, among others. When he took the office of viceroy in 1789, the Spanish claims in North America had reached their widest extent. Although he sponsored exploration, he did not see the Pacific Northwest as being worth what it would cost to maintain possession of it and he resisted his predecessor's efforts to build up the army there.
End of his administration
In 1794 complaints from the Ayuntamiento (city government) led to a
Despite his good work and popularity with the people he ruled, Güemes Padilla lasted only five years in office. Although King
Death and legacy
He died on 2 May 1799 (some sources say 12 May) in Madrid. He was greatly mourned in New Spain. In his honor, Charles IV made his descendants grandees of Spain.
References
- (in Spanish) "Güemes Pacheco de Padilla, Juan Vicente de," Enciclopedia de México, v. 6. Mexico City: 1987.
- (in Spanish) García Puron, Manuel, México y sus gobernantes, v. 1. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrua, 1984.
- (in Spanish) Orozco L., Fernando, Fechas Históricas de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1988, ISBN 968-38-0046-7.
- (in Spanish) Orozco Linares, Fernando, Gobernantes de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, ISBN 968-38-0260-5.
Notes
- ISBN 978-1-009-26152-4.
- ISBN 0-7735-2652-8.
- ^ Dionisio Alcalá Galiano: The Canadian Adventure of a Spanish Naval Hero, Malaspina University-College