Guirior, Manuel (1708–1788)

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Guirior, Manuel (1708–1788)

Manuel Guirior (b. 23 March 1708; d. 25 November 1788), viceroy of Peru (1776–1780). Born into a noble family in Aoiz (Navarre), Guirior pursued a distinguished naval career, primarily in the Mediterranean, before taking up in 1772 his appointment as viceroy of New Granada. During this first period of office, which ended in 1776 with his transfer to Lima, he acquired a reputation for firmness in dealing with frontier Indians, for progressive economic policies, and for the expansion and reorganization of university education. His service in Peru, by contrast, was blighted by the loss of Upper Peru (present-day Bolivia), high defense costs occasioned by the outbreak of war between Spain and Great Britain, and a prolonged conflict with the visitador general (inspector general), José Antonio de Areche, who arrived in Lima in 1777 to undertake a radical program of administrative, judicial, and fiscal reform. Although recalled to Spain in disgrace in 1780, Guirior was rehabilitated by the Council of the Indies in 1785 and given the title Marqués de Guirior.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eunice J. Gates, "Don José Antonio de Areche: His Own Defense," in Hispanic American Historical Review 8 (1928): 14-42.

Vicente Palacio Atard, Areche y Guirior. Observaciones sobre el fracaso de una visita al Perú (1946).

José Manuel Pérez Ayala, "Aspectos desconocidos de la vida del Virrey don Manuel de Guirior, co-Fundador de la Biblioteca Nacional de Bogotá," in Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades 43 (1956): 156-182.