Abstract

ROSENMULLER, Christoph. “The Vast Dominions of this Realm” The 1752 Project of the Viceroy Count of Revillagigedo to Reorganize New Spain. Estud. hist. novohisp [online]. 2019, n.60, pp.163-188.  Epub Dec 04, 2020. ISSN 2448-6922.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iih.24486922e.2019.60.63791.

In an important project from June 4, 1752, the first Count of Revillagigedo, Juan Francisco de Güemes y Horcasitas, viceroy of New Spain (1746-1755), advocated for establishing military governors in Puebla de los Ángeles, Valladolid (Morelia), and Antequera de Oaxaca. Revillagigedo also recommended appointing senior officers at the rank of lieutenant colonel or above for Sinaloa, New Mexico, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Texas. They would in turn report to the chief governor of Nueva Vizcaya, who would hold at least the rank of mariscal de campo. Revillagigedo’s project continued the long discussion over reorganizing New Spain, which had started in the mid-seventeenth century at the latest. As a result, the Crown appointed military governors for Puebla and Sinaloa in 1754. Revillagigedo’s project also set the base for José de Gálvez’s establishment of the Comandancia General de las Provincias Internas between 1776 and 1777.

Keywords : empire; reforms; viceroys; military governors; sale of appointments; Count of Revillagigedo.