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Notes
The Real Cédula of 20th August 1739 created in a definitive form the Viceroyship of Nueva Granada, with the integration of the territories of Nueva Granada, Venezuela and Quito. Venezuela left the Viceroyship in 1742, which was changed into a Gobernación. In 1777 Venezuela became Capitanía General, and in 1786 the Real Audiencia de Caracas was created. Toward 1786 the Provincia de Venezuela had around 333,359 inhabitants. The Padrón del Arzobispado de Santafé, that comprised several municipalities, had between 1780 and 1781 a total population of 399,446 inhabitants. Toward 1808 the population of the Presidencia de Quito was 600,000 inhabitants, and in total, there was in the Viceroyship a population of two million. The Audiencia de Caracas was not counted in this figure; see F. B. Figueroa, Historia Económica y Social de Venezuela, Vol. III (Caracas, 1978), p. 1203; J. M. Restrepo, Historia de la Revolución en Colombia (Medellín, 1974), pp. 48–49, and J. O. López, Historia básica de Colombia (Bogotá, 1984), p. 127.
The Vice-Roy remained in office for 4 years, exercised superior military-political control and control of finances of Nueva Granada. The President of Quito remained in power for 5 years and was subject to the Viceroy’s authority. The Captain of Venezuela had office for 7 years. See Restrepo, op. cit., pp. 26–27, A. E. López, La Real Audiencia de Caracas, su origen y organización (1786–1805) (Mérida, 1976), and C. L. Curiel, El discurso de la fidelidad. Construcción social del espacio como símbolo del poder regio (Venezuela siglo XVIII) (Caracas, 1970).
The economic financing of the Viceroyship was based on the rents of mining, mainly gold; but its highest income come from the taxing of sugar-cane aguardiente, though it should be pointed out that smuggling was predominant; see A. Delgado, La colonia. Temas de historia de Colombia (Bogotá, 1974), pp. 140–141.
Cf. Restrepo, Historia de la Revolución en Colombia (note 4, above), p. 28.
Cf. B.T. Zambrano, “El pensamiento historiador colombiano sobre la época colonial”, Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura 10:35 (1982).
Cf. “Expediente sobre la Universidad Pública de Quito”. Session of 19th April 1800, Archivo General de Indias (A.G.I.), Sala Segunda, f. 13 (our numbering). The Royal Order of 4th April 1786 established the appointment of alternative chancellors among seculars and ecclesiastics of Universidad de Quito. Before this the Real Cédula of 7th October 1784 had already established the same norm for the Universidad de Caracas. The Bishop offered to finance the teaching of subjects in Quito, and in this way, the economic ecclesiastical power subjugated the civil sector.
In the Universidad de Caracas, by Royal Order of 4th May 1815, a visit to this institution was organized in order to reform the constitutions and to draw up a new pensum. This visit and the plan was the responsibility of Don José Manuel Oropeza, Lieutenant Governor of the Audiencia de Caracas. On 20th December 1815 the lieutenant presented the new pensum. See AGI, Audiencia de Caracas, Sección V, legajo 109, Doc. II (our numbering). In respect to the introduction of modern science in Nueva Espãna, see J. J. Saldãna, “The Failed Search for Useful Knowledge: Enlighted Scientific and Technological Policies in New Spain”, in J. J. Saldaña (ed.), Crosscultural Diffusion of Science: Latin America (México, 1987), pp. 35–58.
The Royal Botanical Garden of Nueva Espãa was founded in 1788 and in this same year chemistry teaching was created. In 1792, in the Real Seminario de Mineria, a Chemistry teaching post was also established. See P. Aceves, “Política botánica metropolitana en los Virreinatos del Perú y Nueva Espãna”, in J. F. Pérez and I. G. Tascón (eds.), Ciencia, Técnica y Estado en la Espãna Ilustrada (Zaragoza, 1990), pp. 249–255.
For example, in Quito, the debate on conferring degrees in the schools and universities of the Jesuits and Dominicans was regulated by the Royal Decree of 1696, in which it was established that both communities could confer degrees. In Santafé this situation was equally regulated by Royal Decree. Felipe V sanctioned it on 25th November 1704. See AGI, Audiencia de Quito, Legajo 196, see also A. Ariza, El Colegio Universidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino en Santa Fe de Bogotá (Bogotá, 1980), p. 119.
Scientific curiosity in Europe contributed to the foundation of several academies to gather and compile information from travelers in order to stimulate interest for natural science. One of the first visitors under Bourbon rule was Amédie de Frezier, in the Viceroyship of Peru from 1712 to 1714. In 1735, under the auspices of the French Academy and the Spanish Crown the Geodesic expedition led by Charles de la Condamine begun, which included scientists such as Pedro Bouguer, Luis Goudin, Seniergues, Joseph Jussieu, and the Spaniard Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan. Later on, from 1777 to 1778, Hipólito Ruiz and José Antonio Pavón undertook an expedition to the Viceroyship of Peru, and from 1799 to 1804, Alejandro Humboldt and Amado Bonpland traveled to Spanish America. See J. J. Saldaña, “Nacionalismo y Ciencia Ilustrada en América”, P. Aceves, “Política botánica metropolitana en los Virreinatos del Perú y Nueva España” and M. A. Puig-Samper, “La ciencia metropolitana y la conciencia nacional en las colonias”, in Ciencia, Técnica y Estado en la España Ilustrada (note 11, above). See also P. L. Astuto, “La Ilustración en Quito y Nueva Granada”, in Eugenio Espejo (1747–1795): Reformador ecuatoriano de la Ilustración (México, 1969); and C. Minguet, Alejandro de Humboldt historiador y geógrafo de la América española (1799–1804) (México, 1985), pp. 266–270.
Cf. E. M. Dorta, Materiales para la historia de la cultura en Venezuela, 1523–1828 (Caracas, 1967), p. 260. The Academy of Caracas functioned from 1760 to 1768. G. H. de Alba, Documentos para la historia de la educación en Colombia, Vol. IV, 1777–1800 (Bogotá, 1983), pp. 531–533.
The Universidad de San Gregorio of Quito had 71 foreign professors that taught in the university and wrote up their subject in a manuscript volume. The local professors were 21, out of which 5 were from Loja, 4 from Quito, 3 from Guayas, 3 from Cuenca, 3 from Riobamba, 2 from Ibarra and 1 from Ambato. See J. M. Vargas, Polémica universitaria en Quito colonial (Quito, 1983), p. 11.
La Condamine was not only linked to the Jesuits in Quito, but years later gave lectures in the Universidad de Lima. Besides Magnin’s book, several Jesuit publications of this period are known, mainly geographical descriptions, See A. Lafuente and E. Estrella, “Una ciencia para el Estado: la expedicion geod’esica hispano-francesa al virreinato del Perú(1734–1743)”, Revista de Indias, 172:549–629 (1983).
Magnín had sent this work to Europe in 1744 and in 1747. (On the first occasion the book was lost when the ship sank.) Magnín was promoted to the rank of correspondent of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris. See C. P. Escudero, “Estudio Introductorio”, in Pensamiento Ilustrado Ecuatoriano (Quito, 1981), pp. 36–39.
The Physica specialis et curiosa was writen in the year 1755; see O. N. Fajardo and D. S. Arango, “El debate sobre el sistema copernicano en la Nueva Granada durante el siglo XVIII”, Revista Lull 7:53–75 (1984), For a Spanish translation of this course, see P. N. Ramírez (ed.) Nueva filosofía natural. Physica specialis et curiosa. Manuscrito colonial anonimo, 1755 (Bogotá, 1988). The author was probably a Spanish Jesuit or someone with Spanish philosophical education; Ibid., p. 52. He displays a wide geographical knowledge of the Neogranadino Viceroyship, that leads us to believe he was probably a Spanish missionary who visited these territories.
The expeditions to Peru and Lapland yielded observational verification of Newton’s prediction of the shape of the earth, hastening the definitive acceptance of Newtonian physics and the Copernican world system. In the text of the Physica especialis et curiosa the debate about the shape of the Earth is reduced to the results of the two expeditions and is thoroughly “modern”. See Ramírez, Nueva Física Natural, pp. 75–77.
This course has been published in Francisco Aguilar S. J., “Curso de filosofía”, in Pensamiento Ilustrado Ecuatoriano (Quito, 1981).
Cf. Negrín and Soto, “El debate sobre el sistema copernicano en la Nueva Granada durante el siglo XVIII”, pp. 50–51. It should be pointed out that Aguilar reproduced the generalized support of Tycho that took place after the prohibition of the Copernican system by the church in 1616.
Cf. Paladines, “Estudio Introductorio”, p. 34. When Aguirre explained sunspots, he was proving the rotation of the sun on its axis. This subject was also explained in the philosophy course of 1755 in the Universidad Javeriana. See J. M. Pacheco, Ciencia, filosofía y educación en Colombia, siglo XVIII (Bogotá, 1984), p. 11.
Aguirre apparently had at least one disciple who went beyond his master, as can be concluded from the following quotation taken from the dissertation defended by José Mará Linati, under the direction of Father Juan Bautista de Aguirre, of the Company of Jesus, Public Professor of Philosophy in the Universidad de San Gregorio, Quito, 1759. “We defend and prove with purely philosophical reasons, leaving to the theologians the theological reasoning”. The original is to be found in the Library and Archeological Museum “Aurelio Espinosa Polit”, Quito, Cotocallao. See Aguilar, “Curso de filosofía”, pp. 129–130.
Cf. C. F. Granizo, “El siglo XVIII en la Real Audiencia de Quito”, in Eugenio Espejo, conciencia crítica de su época. (Quito, 1978), pp. 11–33. Paladines, “Estudio Introductorio”, p. 34, says that the Jesuit, Juan Hospital, born in Bonolas, was possibly one of the first of the new generation of American Creoles that publicly served as disseminator of modern Astronomy, during the physics course he taught during 1761–1762 in Quito; see also Angel Nicanor Bedoya Mararu, El doctor Francisco Xavier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo (Quito, 1982).
Cf. M. Carvajal, Lo que se debe probar: el sistema de Copérnico como el máas acorde con las observaciones astronómicas y las leyes de la física (Quito, 1761). Theses defended under the guidance of Father Juan de Hospital, in Universidad de San Gregorio, Quito, 14th December 1761, with the approval of his superiors.
Cf. E. Keeding, “Las ciencias naturales en la antigua Audiencia de Quito. El sistema copernicano y las leyes newtonianas”, Boletín de la Academia Nacional de Historia 57:43–67 (1973).
Mutis papers on the Copernican system are published, by example, in G. H. de Alba, Pensamiento cientíco y filosófico de José Celestino Mutis (Bogotá, 1982).
Cf. L. C. Arboleda, “Sobre una traducción inédita de los Principia al castellano hecha por Mutis en la Nueva Granada circa 1770”, Quipu, Revista Latinoamericana de Historia de las Ciencias y la Tecnología 4:291–313 (1987). The Arboleda study is an analysis of the manuscript that contains the 1770 Mutis translation of the Principia Mathematica. See also L. C. Arboleda, “Los Principia de Newton en la Nueva Granada”, in C. A. Lértora, E. Nicolaïdis, and J. Vandersmissen (eds.), The Spread of the Scientific Revolution in the European Periphery, Latin America and East Asia (Turnhout, 2000).
Cf. G. H. de Alba, Pensamiento científico y filosófico de José Celestino Mutis (Bogotá, 1967). This is the text of the Mutis allocution on the Copernican system (Colegio del Rosario, Santafé, December 1773).
There are not many bibliographical references on Valverde’s activities. For instance, it is not known if he was Creole or Peninsular, and the type of appointment he had in Caracas. Caracciolo is the Venezuelan historian who provides most information on this philosopher. See Valverde, “Carta de Valverde al Conde de San Javier sobre filosofía”, 7 de agosto de 1770, Archivo del General Miranda, sección Diversos, also Caracciolo Parra León, Filosofía universitaria venezolana, 1788–1821 (Caracas, 1989).
Cf. A. Á. de Morales, Inquisición e Ilustración, 1700–1834 (Madrid, 1982), pp. 130–131.
“The king approved this decision in the Cédula of 4th April 1786, in which it was decreed to organize the university in accordance to the customs of Lima and Mexico, according to what was ordered in title 22 of the Recopilación de las Indias, alternating ecclesiastics and laymen in the chancellorship”. Quoted by Á. R. Cruz, Historia de las Universidades Hispanoamericanas, Vol. 1, “Periodo hispánico” (Bogotá, 1973), p. 561.
Cf. Mutis y la Expedición Botánica-Documentos (Bogotá, 1983); p. 57.
According to the census carried out by Moreno y Escandón, the city of Santafé had 24,000 inhabitants. On 20th March 1630, the Consejo Real approved the University of Santo Tomás, which functioned until 3rd October 1826, when Santander suppressed it and created the Official University. Nevertheless, the Dominicans continued with the school, that was suppressed once more by Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera on 18th July, 1861. Finally, in 1942 the School and the University of Santo Tomás were reopened. See A. Ariza, El Colegio Universidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino en Santa Fe de Bogotá (Bogotá, 1980), pp. 67.
Toward the second half of XVIII century, the city of Quito had 20,000 inhabitants, and in 1780, 28,451. The presidency of Quito was created in 1739, dependent on the Viceroyship of Nueva Granada. See Ernesto Cisneros Alfaro, Eugenio el médico. Quito, p. 69.
The University of San Fulgencio of the Reformed Augustinians in Quito, had Papal Consent on 20th August 1586 to create the university, and was given the right to confer degrees in any of its faculties, on religious and lay people. The General of the order only allowed degrees to be conferred on the friars of the convent in 1602. In 1603 the university began functioning, catering for religious and lay people. In 1755 the reformer visitor Joaquin Izerta, suppressed degrees for laymen, and in 1786, Carlos III prohibited degrees in this university. Cf. R. Cruz, Historia de las universidades, pp. 417–418.
The Convent of La Merced was created in 1670 and in 1837 it was suppressed and its property passed to the faculty of Medicine of the University. Cf. L. C. Lara, Los mercedarios y la vida política y social de Caracas en los siglos XVII y XVIII,Vol. I (Caracas, 1980), 332–333. The San Francisco convent, controlled by Franciscans, was established toward 1580. The convent of San Francisco was founded in 1597, under Dominican direction. See Parra (1954), pp. 111–122.
Cf. C. P. León, Obras (Madrid, 1954), pp. 229. From 1673 the convents of San Francisco and San Jacinto opened their classrooms to laymen.
Miguel Antonio Rodriguez (1769–1817); his father was a student of Father Hospital’s in the philosophy course from 1759–1762. It should be said that in his physics course at the university, he introduced the teaching of anatomy and gave great importance to the teaching of mathematics. In 1801 he become a priest and in 1813 he published the rights of man. Because of this, he was expatriated to Panama and later to the Philippines. See Paladines, op. cit., pp. 50–51. See the manuscript: Keeding, Ekkehard, “The revolutionary teacher of Universidad Colonial of Quito, Doctor Miguel Antonio Rodriguez”. A transcript of this article was given to us by Doctor Carlos Paladines, in the city of Quito as it was not possible to find it in libraries. The article introduces some aspects of the life Miguel Antonio Rodríguez: his birthplace, his studies, the reforms to studies he introduced as teacher of philosophy and his participation in the independence movement.
Cf. Paladines, “Estudio Introductorio”, p. 50.
There is a report of 1788 on the visits to the teachings that says: “The hateful singularity enjoyed by the religious Dominicans of the convent of San Jacinto of Caracas, of reading in the Real and Pontificia University the teachings of philosophy and Holy Scriptures, without the disputations and examinations that in observance of their Constitutions and Statutes they applied to other teachers”. See Archivos de la Universidad Central de Venezuela (A.U.C.V.), Provisiones y opositores a varias cátedras, I,7, book 128, reg. 12, doc.10, pp. 338–348. The report of Universidad de Caracas dated 22nd December 1786 says that: “the teachings of the Dominicans should conform to the new reforms (...) and in order to maintain uniformity in the provisions of all of them without exception, including the two that have been and are in charge of the convent of Santo Domingo”. A.U.C.V., book I, Vol. I, t. I, No. 24, f. 271.
Cf. Paladines, “Estudio Introductorio”, pp. 50–52, and Rodríguez Cruz, op. cit., p. 565.
Cf. “The Philosophy Students of Colegio Santafé Require the Appointment, at Their Expense, of a Philosophy Teacher to Instruct Them in Physics, Mathematics, Botany and Natural History”, Santafé, 179, Archivo Histórico Nacional de Colombia, (A.H.N.C.), Sección Colonia, Fondos Milicias y Marina, t. 128, pp. 200–201. See also L. C. Arboleda, “La ciencia y el ideal de ascenso social de los criollos en el virreinato de Nueva Granada”, in A. Lafuente and J. S. Catalá (eds.), Ciencia colonial en América (Madrid, 1992).
Cf. “Professor Vallecilla requires the King to fix a term for the Chancellor to present the report that had been requested from him”. Cf. Santafé, 27th November 1790, A.H.N.C., Sección Colonia, Fondo Miscelánea, t. 31, p. 38. (Doc. No. 6, our numbering).
Cf. “The Chancellor Martinez Caso Suspended the Literary Act in Which Vásquez Gallo was to Defend the Copernican System”, Santafé 1795, A.H.N.C., Sección Colonia, Fondo Colegio, t. III, pp. 630–631.
Cf. Guillermo Hernández de Alba, Crónica del muy ilustre Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario en Santa Fe de Bogotá, Vol. II. (Bogotá, 1938), p. 301.
The new curriculum that replaced scholasticism by modern “philosophy” in San Nicolás de Bari, was instituted by circular dated 18th October 1773. This circular was transcribed by Fray Bautista González, reformer of the Order of Nuestra Señora de la Gracia. It should be mentioned here that during the 1780s and 1790s, students of the Augustinian schools in Spain discussed modern ideas. See R. Herr, España y la revolución del siglo XVIII (Madrid, 1964), p. 13. The University of San Nicolás de Bari was authorized by a Bula, dated 24th April 1694, to confer academic degrees in philosophy and theology on the Augustinians of Province La Gracia. The academic course began in 1697, but the pase regio was only given on 22nd April 1703. Initially, the university operated within the Augustinian convent. From 1739 to 1775 it functioned in a separate building together with the Colegio de San Miguel. In 1775, the Reformer Visitor Juan Bautista González closed the school and donated the building to the Conciliar seminary; the university continued functioning in spite of this up to 1861, and its last chancellor was Felipe Bernal. See C. del Pozo, “Método y profesores de la Universidad de San Nicolás”, pp. 200–201.
The Peruvian priest Francisco Javier Vásquez, was appointed superior general of the Augustinian order in 1753. During his administration, the reform of ecclesiastical studies was carried out. His constitutions were not published, but it is known that he put into practice matters referring to studies by means of decrees. The friendship of Father Vásquez with the enlightened ministers of Carlos III, including Monino y Roda, was publicly known. It is believed that Vásquez collaborated closely with the representatives of Carlos III in order to carry out the abolition of the Jesuits. Cf. Campo del Pozo, loc. cit., p. 60. See also “Método y profesores de la Universidad de San Nicolás”, Augustinian Archives, 68 (186):196; J. Sarrailh, La España Ilustrada en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII (México, 1974), pp. 204, 700, and 703; and Herr, op. cit., pp. 19 and 143.
Communication of Fray Bautista González, reformer of the Augustinian order in the province of La Gracia, on Father Vásquez’s reform to be applied in the University of San Nicolas de Bari, Santafé, 18th October 1773. Archivo Histórico Nacional de Colombia (A. H. N. C.), Sección Colonia, Fondo Conventos, t. 47, p.92v.
The Creole José Francisco Padilla, a Reformed Augustinian, was in charge of the teaching of philosophy in San Nicolás de Bari from 1776 to 1782,. He imposed a new system that accepted the modern philosophy according to Father Vásquez’s plan. In the first year he taught logic; in the second general and particular physics, including metaphysics, and in the third an integrated course of ethics in three parts, according to the new methodology. In 1786, he visited France, Italy, and Spain, where he got hold of several books on encyclopedic philosophy for the University. In 1788 he was appointed Regent of Studies, and together with the Chancellor, Father Bernardo Londoño, organized the philosophy studies based on the ideas of Descartes, Bacon, Newton, Locke, Montesquieu, Pascal, and other authors. Cf. Campo del Pozo, op. cit., pp. 66, 70, and 71.
In 1788, the philosophy class at Universidad de Bari, was attended by laymen and ecclesiastics, and toward 1800 the teaching of mathematics was started, where Copernicus and Newton were taught. Campo del Pozo, op. cit., p. 71.
Marrero was born in Caracas, on 6th January 1752 and died in 1809. He studied in Seminario de Santa Rosa and in 1779 he was ordered priest. In 1775 he became a teacher at the University of Caracas, lecturing in arts until 1776. Later he taught rhetoric until 1788, when he begun teaching modern philosophy. See Caracciolo Parra León, op. cit., pp. 54–57 and Leal, p. 146.
Cf. Parra León (1989), p. 57. See also “Expediente de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de la ciudad de Santiago de León de Caracas, capital de provincias de Venezuela, practicada en virtud de la Orden Real del 14 de mayo de 1815”. A.G.I., Audiencia de Caracas, Sección V, legajo 446 (Doc. 10, our numbering).
In Caracas several wills can be found in important libraries, with the works of a great number of illustrated Europeans. See Leal (1985), pp. 453–481.
“On 27th July 1791, in Madrid, the final decision on the lawsuit between Dr Baltazar Marrero and Dr Cayetano Montenegro, the father of the erring student, was handed down. The decision was as follows: the lessons of algebra, geometry and arithmetic which were not customarily taught in the philosophy course and which were not included within the university statutes could only be received by students who expressed this voluntarily”. The student José Cayetano was reinstated and Doctor Marrero was ordered to pay 793 pesos, “the costs of the legal dispute”. The fine was extremely high; a university professor in 1803 earned a salary of 150 pesos per annum. See Leal, op. cit., p. 152, and Ildefonso Leal, Historia de la Universidad de Caracas, 1721–1827 (Caracas, 1985), pp. 515–516.
In 1785 de la Torre was the Academic Vice-Chancellor of the university and in 1789 he became Chancellor.
“Archives of Proceedings of the creation of the Academy of Public Spanish Law, when Miguel José Sanz was elected President”, Caracas, 1790, A.U.C.V., Reclamos Cátedras, vitrina I, tramo 5, libro 142, pp. 1–6.
Miguel José Sanz is known in Venezuelan history as a famous legal consultant, founder of the College of Caracas Lawyers and of the Academy of Public Law, consultant to the royal consulate, accurate critic of the unequal system of colonial education, journalist of the Seminario de Caracas and precursor of an important political reform. See Leal, op. cit., p. 268.
See Arboleda, “La ciencia y el ideal de ascenso social de los criollos en la Nueva Granada”, in connection with Zea and the enlightened elite of Santafé.
Cf. J. A. De la Torre, “Discurso Económico. Amor a las letras en relación a la agricultura y el comercio” (Caracas, 1790); see also Leal, op.cit., pp. 227, 229, and 240–241.
Cf. Parra, op. cit., p. 70, 113, and ff.
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Arboleda Aparicio, L.C., Arango, D.S. (2006). The Theories of Copernicus and Newton in the Viceroyship of Nueva Granada and the Audiencia De Caracas During the 18th Century. In: Feingold, M., Navarro-Brotons, V. (eds) Universities and Science in the Early Modern Period. Archimedes, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3975-1_19
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