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Reassessing Consensus: Alejandro O’Reilly’s 1765 Visita and Puerto Rican History

King Charles III of Spain implemented a series of Enlightenment reforms
throughout his domain following the 1763 defeat of the Seven Years War Among the
royal officials sent to enact these reforms in the Caribbean, the Crown dispatched Field
Marshal Alejandro O’Reilly to the colony of Puerto Rico Historians have attributed to
his 1765 inspection, or visita, and subsequent report, or memoria, the foundations for a
turning point in the island’s history Despite the historical consensus that has lauded
O’Reilly’s recommendations, this inspector-general does not merit the credit that
historians consistently have given him Agrarian and economic patterns such as
population growth, smuggling, and the hato economy persisted decades after his visita
into the nineteenth century Other events helped drive immigration and investment into
Puerto Rico more than O’Reilly’s memoria Ultimately, O’Reilly did not trigger enduring change in the colony’s history, and Puerto Rican historiography awaits the corresponding
revision / Includes bibliography / Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_33937
ContributorsMallen, Sean Thomas (author), Cruz-Taura, Graciella (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Dorothy F Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
PublisherFlorida Atlantic University
Source SetsFlorida Atlantic University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text
Format115 p, application/pdf
RightsCopyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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