Manuel de Amat y Junyent, OSJ, OM ( ca, Manuel d'Amat i de Junyent) (March 1707 – February 14, 1782) was a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator. He was the Royal Governor of the

Captaincy General of Chile The Captaincy General of Chile (''Capitanía General de Chile'' ) or Governorate of Chile (known colloquially and unofficially as the Kingdom of Chile), was a territory of the Spanish Empire from 1541 to 1817 that was, for most of its existenc ...

from December 28, 1755 to September 9, 1761, and

Viceroy of Peru The viceroys of Peru ruled the Viceroyalty of Peru from 1544 to 1824 in the name of the monarch of Spain. The territories under ''de jure'' rule by the viceroys included in the 16th and 17th century almost all of South America except eastern Braz ...

from October 12, 1761 to July 17, 1776.Most of this article is a loose translation of the Spanish Wikipedia article, accessed on September 26, 2006

Origins and military career

Felipe Manuel Cayetano de Amat y de Junyent was born in March 1707 in

Vacarisses Vacarisses is a village in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The municipality covers an area of and the population in 2014 was 6,218. The village is home to korfball Korfball ( nl, korfbal) is a ball spo ...

(

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

family. His father was José de Amat y de Planella, 1st Marquess of Castellbell, and his mother was Mariana de Junyent y de Vergós, daughter of the Marquess of Castellmeià. He entered the army at a young age. In 1719 he saw hostile action against the French in Aragon. At the age of 17 he joined the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

and went to the island, where he remained four years. He later served in the wars in northern Africa, and obtained the command of a regiment of dragoons. He distinguished himself in the

Battle of Bitonto The Battle of Bitonto (25 May 1734) was a Spanish victory over Austrian forces near Bitonto in the Kingdom of Naples (in southern Italy) in the War of Polish Succession. The battle ended organized Austrian resistance outside a small number of ...

in the Kingdom of Naples (May 25, 1734). There he served with the contingent under the command of the Carrillo de Albornoz, Duke of Montemar that defeated the Austrians at the

in the

War of the Polish Succession The War of the Polish Succession ( pl, Wojna o sukcesję polską; 1733–35) was a major European conflict sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II of Poland, which the other European powers widened in pursuit of thei ...

. He also stood out in the siege of Gaeta later in 1734. He was promoted to field marshal.

Royal Governor of Chile

In 1755 Felipe Cayetano de Amat y de Junyent was sent to South America, as Royal Governor of the Captaincy General and president of the ''

Audiencia Real A ''Real Audiencia'' (), or simply an ''Audiencia'' ( ca, Reial Audiència, Audiència Reial, or Audiència), was an appellate court in Spain and its empire. The name of the institution literally translates as Royal Audience. The additional des ...

'' of Chile. He traveled throughout colonial Chile, and ordered the construction of fortifications on the coast and along the frontier with the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...

people (for example, Santa Bárbara). He founded the towns of

Talcamávida Talcamávida is a town in the commune of Hualqui in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is located on the north bank of the Bio Bio River across from Santa Juana on the opposite shore. It occupied a plain along the river from the Pacific Ocean that ...

Hualqui Hualqui () is a Chilean city and commune in the Concepción Province, Biobio Region. It is also part of the Greater Concepcion conurbation, although it maintains a rural profile. It had a population of 24,333 inhabitants according to the 201 ...

and Nacimiento, among others. He entered negotiations with the Mapuches, the first time in Salto del Laja in 1758, and another time in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

in February 1760. His goal was to guarantee the security of communications between Concepción and Chiloé, but he was only partly successful. In Santiago he began important public works and administrative tasks, including improvements to bridges over the Río Mapocho, a market in the Plaza de Armas, and the reform of the Royal University of San Felipe (1757). On October 12, 1758 he established the first police force in Chile, called the ''Dragones de la Reina'' (Dragoons of the Queen). This name was retained until the independence of Chile. In 1812 the force was renamed the ''Dragones de Chile''. Amat asked for and got a ''

juicio de residencia A ''juicio de residencia'' (literally, ''judgment of residence'') was a judicial procedure of Castilian law and the Laws of the Indies. It consisted of this: at the termination of a public functionary's term, his performance in office was subject ...

'' (trial of grievances). The outcome was in his favor.

Viceroy of Peru

On October 12, 1761 Amat succeeded

José Manso de Velasco, 1st Count of Superunda José Antonio Manso de Velasco y Sánchez de Samaniego, KOS ( es, José Antonio Manso de Velasco y Sánchez de Samaniego, primer Conde de Superunda) (May 10, 1689 – Jan 5, 1767) was a Spanish soldier and politician who served as governor of Chi ...

. He was followed by Manuel de Guirior, Marqués de Guirior on July 17, 1776. In September 1767, he executed the

expulsion of the Jesuits The suppression of the Jesuits was the removal of all members of the Society of Jesus from most of the countries of Western Europe and their colonies beginning in 1759, and the abolishment of the order by the Holy See in 1773. The Jesuits were ...

missionaries from the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...

, following orders from the Crown. He established the first Regulation of Commerce and Organization of Customs rules, which led to the building of the customshouse in Callao.
/sup> He had the fortress of Real Felipe constructed in Callao, being finished in 1774. He founded the Royal College of San Carlos. He constructed various public works in Lima. Probably the most famous are the ''Alameda de los Descalzos'' and the ''Paseo de Aguas'', in the district of Rímac. He also remodeled the ''Alameda de Acho''. Also under his administration, the Plaza de Toros de Acho, the world's third oldest surviving bull ring, was built by Agustin de Landaburu. It was the first bull ring in Peru, and opened with a corrida and a great celebration on February 22, 1762. Tradition says the Paseo de Aguas was built in honor of Amat's mistress, the actress Micaela Villegas, better known as ''La Perricholi'', a

Mestiza (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

woman. The story is that when the viceroy asked her to become his mistress, she replied that she would when he laid the moon at her feet. Amat y Junient then ordered the construction of the Paseo de Aguas in front of her house. It is an aqueduct from the

Rímac River The Rímac River is located in western Peru and is the most important source of potable water for the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area. The river is part of the Pacific watershed and has a length of 204 km. The river begins in the highlan ...

with a fountain and a long, narrow reflecting pool, with a promenade along the sides of the pool. The night of the following full moon, he invited her to view it with him. ''La Perricholi's'' life inspired painters, writers and musicians. It provided the basis for the

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

comic novella ''Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement'', which in turn was the basis for both the

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ' ...

opéra bouffe Opéra bouffe (, plural: ''opéras bouffes'') is a genre of late 19th-century French operetta, closely associated with Jacques Offenbach, who produced many of them at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, inspiring the genre's name. Opéras bouff ...

La Périchole ''La Périchole'' () is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote the French libretto based on the 1829 one act play '' Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement'' by Prosper Mérimée, which was revived o ...

'' and the Jean Renoir 1953 film '' Le Carrosse d'or'' (''The Golden Coach''). She and the viceroy are also prominent characters in the

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...

novel ''

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel. It was first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Premise ''The Bri ...

''.

Expeditions

To avoid the establishment of foreign bases from which attacks could be launched on Peru, Amat organized an expedition under the command of

Domingo de Bonechea Domingo Bernardo de Bonechea Andonaegui ( eu, Domingo Bonetxea Andonaegi), born on September 21, 1713, in Getaria, Basque Country, Spain, died in Tahiti on January 26, 1775, was a captain in the Spanish Royal Navy and an explorer for the Spanis ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

, which arrived just after that of Captain Cook, but in time to explore other islands in the group which Cook had not discovered. In subsequent voyages ordered by Amat, de Bonechea was the first European to explore most of French Polynesia. Amat also sent an expedition under Juan Antonio de Buenechea to search for the doomed ship '' Oriflama'', piloted by his kinsman Manuel de Buenechea.

Last Days

Between 1772 and 1778, Amat had built the

Virreina Palace The Virreina Palace ( ca, Palau de la Virreina; es, Palacio de la Virreina) is a building in the city of Barcelona. Situated on the famous La Rambla avenue, today it houses the headquarters of the city council's Culture Institute ('' Institut de ...

, in the city of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. The palace still stands on Barcelona's famous '' La Rambla'', where it hosts various temporary art exhibitions and cultural events. Amat returned home to Barcelona and his new palace on October 22, 1777. His only marriage was to María Francisca de Fivaller y de Bru in June 1779. He was 72 years old, and she 24. Felipe Manuel Cayetano de Amat y de Junyent died in

on February 14, 1782. His widow died on October 3, 1791. Amat had no legitimate children.

Descendants

* With Micaela Villegas y Hurtado de Mendoza ** Manuel Amat y Villegas * With Mrs Josefa de Leòn y Riso, Countess of Castilla. ** Manuel Amat y Leòn

References

External links

Catalan Hyperencyclopaedia: Biography
- (''in English'')
Presidio Real Felipe (fortress)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amat, Manuel De 1707 births 1782 deaths Soldiers from Catalonia

Spanish generals Royal Governors of Chile Viceroys of Peru People of the Arauco War Spanish city founders Captaincy General of Chile Colonial Peru