Caballero y Góngora, Antonio (1723–1796)

Antonio Caballero y Góngora (b. May 1723; d. March 1796), viceroy of New Granada (1782–1789). A native of Córdoba Province, Spain, Caballero y Góngora became bishop of Yucatán in 1776 and archbishop of Santa Fe de Bogotá in 1779. He later entered the secular realm when, after defusing the Comunero Revolt of 1781, he became viceroy on 15 June 1782. The archbishop-viceroy championed enlightened education and science, and secured the creation of a mining reform mission. He also imposed centralized control on the colonial army and, to sustain royal authority, gained approval to establish in Santa Fe a veteran regiment reinforced by a disciplined militia.

During much of his administration, Caballero y Góngora resided at Turbaco, near Cartagena, directing ambitious military operations to pacify the aboriginals of Darién. He enhanced treasury receipts impressively but spent huge sums on the military and the bureaucracy. In the name of economy, his successors would dismantle much of his program. Replaced by Francisco Gil De Taboada y Lemos in January 1789, Caballero y Góngora returned to Córdoba, serving as archbishop until his death.

See alsoComunero Revolt (New Granada) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

José Manuel Pérez Ayala, Antonio Caballero y Góngora, virrey y arzobispo de Santa Fe, 1723–1796 (1951).

Allan J. Kuethe, Military Reform and Society in New Granada, 1773–1808 (1978).

John Leddy Phelan, The People and the King: The Comunero Revolution in Colombia, 1781 (1978).

Additional Bibliography

Tisnés Jiménes, Roberto María. "El arzobispo virrey, 1723–1796." Boletín de Historia y Antiqüedades 83: 794 (July-September 1996): 729-756.

                                     Allan J. Kuethe