intendente

Spanish official

Also known as: intendant

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Article History

intendente, royal official appointed by the 18th-century kings of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain. Modeled after the French intendants, the intendentes were to serve as instruments of royal centralization and administrative reform but were frequently resisted as conflicting with local privileges. In the Spanish colonies the system was imposed in Cuba (1765) after the brief British occupation of Havana. After the creation of the new viceroyalty of Río de la Plata, the system was applied throughout that area, which was initially divided into eight intendencies (intendencias) from Buenos Aires to Potosí (1782). The intendente system was subsequently applied in other Spanish colonies, such as Peru, Chile, and New Spain.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy McKenna.