Bourbon Reforms (jan 1, 1700 – jan 1, 1788)

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"Bourbon Reforms, commonly defined as the reorganization of the military, commercial, and administrative structures that the Bourbon dynasty inherited in 1700 from its Hapsburg predecessors. Accomplished by ambitious innovations in the collection and generation of royal revenues, this reorganization aimed to modernize the mercantile system, strengthen the royal government administratively and financially, and improve the military position of the Spanish Empire in the face of fierce international competition. The reforms began in the reigns of Philip V (1700–1724, 1724–1746) and Ferdinand VI (1746–1759), but the colonial reorganization reached its fullest expression through the ambitious measures advanced under Charles III (1759–1788) and sustained by Charles IV (1788–1808). Although introduced piecemeal and unevenly in the several colonies, these reforms altered profoundly the character of colonial governance and, by the final decade of the eighteenth century, approximated a unified program" (Kuethe 2008).

Kuethe, Allan J. "Bourbon Reforms." In Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, 2nd ed., edited by Jay Kinsbruner and Erick D. Langer, 670-673. Vol. 1. Detroit, MI: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. Gale eBooks. https://link-gale-com.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/apps/doc/CX3078900820/GVRL?u=uarizona_main&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=9d7cadf1.

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