Bourbon Reforms Tighten Colonial Control
Charles III of Spain implemented a series of administrative and economic reforms from the 1760s onward—often called the Bourbon Reforms—that replaced the old hereditary colonial aristocracy with peninsular-born bureaucrats, expanded taxation and revenue collection, and opened trade more broadly within the empire. The reforms modernised the colonial state and substantially increased Crown revenues but systematically excluded Creole elites from positions of power and imposed new tax burdens. The resulting Creole resentment was a principal driver of independence movements after 1808.
- Year: 1765 CE
- Category: Political
