Antonio Ignacio de la Pedrosa y Guerrero

Who is Antonio Ignacio de la Pedrosa y Guerrero?

Antonio de la Pedrosa y Guerrero was an attorney in Spain and in Santa Fe de Bogotá, a member of the Council of the Indies, and the first viceroy of New Granada, from June 13, 1718 to November 25, 1719.

Pedrosa y Guerrero served in several important posts in Spain. In 1684 he became an attorney and protector of the Indians at the Audiencia of Bogotá. Thereafter he was appointed to the Council of the Indies in Spain. While he was still serving as councilor, King Philip V placed him in charge of the newly created Viceroyalty of Nuevo Reino de Granada, in 1717. Up until that year, New Granada had been governed from Lima, as part of the Viceroyalty of Peru. The new colony included the provinces of Santafé, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Maracaibo, Caracas, Antioquia, Guayana and Popayán, as well as the audiencias of Quito and Panamá. It corresponded approximately to the present-day countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador.

Pedrosa arrived in Bogotá on June 7, 1717. He received the government from the hands of Archbishop Rincón, who had been serving as interim governor, on the thirteenth. He was charged with establishing institutions for the new colony. He was also instructed to initiate reforms to improve and strengthen Spanish rule. In particular he was to address high-level political corruption and the large amount of smuggling that was being carried on. To accomplish this, he was given the authority of a viceroy, but not the title. The titles he did receive were governor and captain general of the colony and president of the Audiencia of Bogotá.