Solís Folch de Cardona, José (1716–1770)

José Solís Folch de Cardona (b. 4 February 1716; d. 27 April 1770), viceroy of the New Kingdom of Granada (1753–1761). Born in Madrid into a prestigious and noble family, Solís arrived in New Granada as one of the youngest American viceroys yet appointed. He was accused by contemporaries and modern historians of having a youthful and dissipate moral character, as evidenced by the notorious Marichuela liaison, which created a scandal in Bogotá. But his political administration has generally been judged one of the best in the eighteenth century. Solís is especially known for his promotion of transportation improvements throughout the viceroyalty.

As with his predecessors, complaints of poor health led him in 1757 to request a replacement. Two years later Ferdinand VI tapped Pedro Messía De La Cerda (1761–1772) as the next viceroy. Surprisingly, after he stepped down, Solís entered the Franciscan order and gave much of his personal fortune to the church. He remained in a Santa Fe de Bogotá monastery until his death.

See alsoFranciscans; Messía de la Cerda, Pedro de.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Solís is the subject of a biography by Daniel Samper Ortega, Don José Solís, virrey del Nuevo Reino de Granada (1953). See also the discussion in Sergio Elías Ortiz, Nuevo Reino de Granada: El virreynato, pt. 2: 1753–1810, in Historia extensa de Colombia, vol. 4 (1970); and Solís's own report of his administration in Germán Colmenares, ed., Relaciones e informes de los gobernantes de la Nueva Granada, vol. 1 (1989).

Additional Bibliography

Domínguez Ortega, Montserrat. "Política económica del virrey Solís, 1753–1761." Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades 92, no. 830 (July-Sept. 2005): 515-574.

Mantilla Ruiz, Luis Carlos. "Una nueva imagen del virrey Solís: Ni leyenda ni apología." Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades 78, no. 773 (Apr.-June 1991): 389-395.

                                        Lance R. Grahn