Jose Antonio de Mendoza Caamano y Sotomayor, tercer marques de Villagarcia de Arousa (sometimes marques de Villa Garcia) (b. 1667, Spain; d. December 17, 1746, Cape Horn) was a Spanish colonial administrator. From February 4, 1736 to December 15, 1745 he was viceroy of Peru.
Mendoza was a native of Galicia and a knight of the Order of Santiago. He had been ambassador to Venice and viceroy of Catalonia when King Philip V named him viceroy of Peru in 1735. He took office the following year, at the age of 68.
During his administration, war between Spain and Britain again broke out (the War of Jenkins' Ear, 1739-1748). The viceroy organized the defense of the coast and improved the army and the militia. In 1742 he dispatched a fleet from the port of El Callao to go to defend the coast of Chile.
In 1736 Jorge Juan y Santacilia and Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish scientists sent by the French Academy on a scientific mission to measure a degree of meridian at the equator, arrived in the colony. (Jorge Juan had sailed on the same ship as Mendoza.) On their return, they reported on the disorganization and corruption in the government and smuggling. The report was posthumously published under the title Noticias Secretas de America (Secret News From America).
Another French influence on science in the colony was Louis Godin, another member of the meridian expedition. He was appointed cosmografo mayor by Viceroy Mendoza. The duties of cosmografo mayor included publishing almanacs and sailing instructions. Other French scientists in Peru at this time were Charles Marie de La Condamine and Pierre Bouguer.
Smuggling increased again during this period. The practice was so profitable that merchants were willing to accept the risks.
Also during his tenure, an Indigenous revolt occurred at Oruro (1739) and another led by Juan Santos Atahualpa broke out in 1742 in Oxabamba. This latter insurrection gained support in all the native tribes, and also among Mestizos and poor Spaniards. The rebels' intent was to drive the Spaniards from Peru. They were unable to do so, but neither were the Spaniards able to defeat them.
In 1740 the Viceroyalty of New Granada was separated from Peru. (It had been separated earlier, from 1717 to 1724, but only temporarily.) The new viceroyalty included the territories of Bogota, Quito, Panama and Venezuela, and also a few territories more directly connected to Lima — Maynas, Jaen, Tumbes and Guayaquil.
Mendoza was relieved of his office in 1745, and died on the voyage returning to Spain.
External links
Other pages about Colonial Peru
-Alonzo de Alvarado -Ana Francisca de Borja y Doria -Ana de Castro -Andres Hurtado de Mendoza -Antonio de Mendoza -Antonio de Morga -Balconies of Lima -Baltasar de la Cueva Enriquez -Battle of Sangarara -Bernardo de Iturriaza -Blasco Nunez Vela -Cabildo (council) -Carmine Nicolao Caracciolo -Cathedral of Lima -Comentarios Reales de los Incas -Convento de San Francisco -Cristobal Ramirez de Cartagena -Cristobal Vaca de Castro -Diego Ladron de Guevara -Diego Lopez de Zuniga y Velasco -Diego Morcillo Rubio de Aunon -Diego Nunez de Avendano -Diego Quispe Tito -Diego de Almagro -Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva -Fernando Torres de Portugal y Mesia -Francisco Ruiz Lozano -Francisco de Borja y Aragon -Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa -Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Canete -Government Palace (Peru) -Hans Heinrich Bruning Brookstedt -Hernando de Luque -Historic Centre of Lima -Jose Antonio de Areche -Jose Antonio de Mendoza -Jose de Armendariz -Juan Jimenez de Montalvo -Juan Pizarro II -Lima City Walls -Luis Jeronimo Fernandez de Cabrera -Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau -Mateo de la Mata Ponce de Leon -Melchor Bravo de Saravia -Melchor Linan y Cisneros -Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull -Miguel Nunez de Sanabria -Osambela House -Pedro Alvarez de Toledo y Leiva -Pedro Antonio Fernandez de Castro -Pedro Bohorquez -Pedro de la Gasca -San Telmo (ship) -Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire -Torre Tagle Palace -Tupac Amaru II -Turibius of Mongrovejo -Viceroyalty of Peru
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