New forms of colonialism on the frontiers of Hispanic America: Assimilationist Projects and economic disputes (Río de la Plata, late 18th century)

Abstract

New forms of colonialism in frontiers of Hispanic America: Assimilationist projects and economic disputes (Río de la Plata, late 18th century) Lía Quarleri During the colonial times, by the end of the eighteenth century, intense transformations took place in America in relation to both local processes and more general circumstances that affected the population, economy and political society in different ways. The shift in the perspective and objectives of the Iberian Crowns regarding goals, means and priorities in their American domains was shown on the direct intervention in their colonies, causing an impact that was evidenced in the relations between the metropolis, their intermediaries and local governments. The Enlightenment ideas, which were resignified according to the Ibero-American context, influenced the conformation of new patterns of though concerning the colonial administration, turning, then, into State policies . Most of the Bourbon civil servants were inspired by an illustrated spirit with a physiocratic tendency, which was widespread by the Economic Societies of Friends of the Country. These Societies were aimed at promoting the regional agriculture, industries and trade by dismantling the latifundia, and encouraging smallholding and population dispersion as well as science and exploration journeys . The aim of these Societies was to account for particular situations, and subsequently, set general principles useful for society, preserving a utopian dimension of social change .The Spaniard Crown intervention in its American colonies, by means of the modernization of certain governmental structures, trading and administration, expressed a new form of colonialism. The narratives and the implemented policies and changes as well as the resulting social practices were part of this new form of colonialism . The starting point was the administrative centralization as a sacralized way of political action . This task was entrusted to a reformed caste of capable and loyal civil servants. This model of civil servant/administrator/manager was opposed to the local government model, constituted by native ruling elites composed of Criollos that had monopolized power through factions and cliques. On the other hand, secularism gained prominence and became a State policy, concretized in the Jesuit expulsion and the separation of the sacramental functions from the civil ones, within the governmental structures. Moreover, the punitive practice, understood as an exemplary and disciplining punishment, acquired a dominant position in the so-called Enlightened absolutism. From the mid-eighteenth century, the peninsular illustrated ruling elites started to reinforce the conception of the Indians not as reigns with political status but as colonies, as territories associated to the metropolis economic profit .Accordingly, economic goals within a general plan regarding fiscal, administrative and geopolitical reforms drove a vigorous interest of the Spaniard Crown in its American colonies . In Río de la Plata area, in particular, a territorial annexation policy of strategic regions was implemented. These zones had remained, until that moment, peripheral, marginal and bordering spaces due to their proximity to Lusitanian domains, to the indigenous population resistance, or to the lack of direct State policies. This was the case of the Jesuit reductions of Guaraní Indians called Jesuit Missions in the past up to the expulsion of the Society of Jesus in 1767. The colonizing expansion in the territory of the Missions was part of a bigger plan, which can be interpreted in terms of a frontier reformism . The intervention of the Colonial State in the Guaraní Indian reductions is a paradigmatic case showing in its complexity how enlightened, absolutist and centralist features were combined in the configuration and design of policies of assimilation. To this respect, the modernizing narratives justified the hierarchical integration of the population in the reductions, in contrast to the Jesuit segregationist model, as well as the incorporation of certain European codes, habits and customs associated with the new mercantilist policies. This article aims to analyze the specificity of the assimilationist policy applied in the Mission region by illustrated civil servants, its impact and relation to the economic projects for this border area. The period of reference extends from the Jesuit expulsion in 1767 to the exemption of communal obligations project, implemented by Viceroy Avilés in 1801. Particularly, this work focuses on the contradictions of the Bourbon policies regarding the well-being and happiness of the people, and the disputes over power and economic resources.