Avilés, Gabriel (1735–1810)
Avilés, Gabriel (1735–1810)
Gabriel Avilés (marqués de Avilés: b. 1735; d. 19 September 1810), viceroy of Peru (1801–1806). Like his predecessor, Ambrosio O'Higgins, Avilés served as captain-general of Chile (1795–1799) before his promotion to Peru, and also briefly as viceroy in Buenos Aires (1799–1801). Avilés played a prominent role in the repression of the Túpac Amaru rebellion (1780–1783), combining firmness as a military commander with denunciation of the social abuses and administrative corruption that had provoked the insurrection. Before his transfer to Chile—as field marshal and second marqués de Avilés—he served as governor of Callao.
During his vice-regency in Peru, Avilés promoted public health, repressed a conspiracy in Cuzco, and oversaw the incorporation into the viceroyalty of Mainas and Guayaquil (in present-day Ecuador). He remained in Peru for four years under his successor Abascal, but refused the offer of appointment as viceroy of the Río de la Plata following the May 1810 revolution. Shortly thereafter he left Lima for Spain, but died in Valparaíso, Chile.
See alsoPeru: From the Conquest through Independence .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carlos Alberto Romero, ed., Memoria del virrey del Perú, marqués de Avilés (1901).
Additional Bibliography
Mariluz Urquijo, José María. El Virreinato del Río de la Plata en la época del marqués de Avilés (1799–1801). Buenos Aires: Academia Nacional de la Historia, 1964.
John R. Fisher