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In-Depth Information
Pizarro's residence in Lima and slew him,
paving the way for the imposition of direct
rule by administrators sent out from Spain.
Pizarro's entire life has been described as
a second-rate reproduction of the career of
H
ERNÁN
C
ORTÉS
. Certainly he seems to have
envisioned the conquest of Peru as a reen-
actment of the conquest of M
EXICO
(with
which it has many parallels). The treachery
and violence employed by Pizarro and his
associates, however, exceeded even the
enormities committed by most conquista-
dores, and his indifference to the usual
standards of honor and dignity shocked
even the Spanish authorities who finally
put an end to the “Wars of Peru” in the
1540s. Despite his shortcomings Pizarro
gained for his country a far vaster empire
than that won by Cortés. Virtually the
whole of South America was ultimately
brought under Spanish rule by the succes-
sors of Pizarro. His city of Lima became the
seat of a Viceroyalty of Peru that stretched
from Panama to Cape Horn.
wielded without compromise or mercy, was
the best instrument for bringing the Enlight-
enment to Portugal. He crushed the nobles
who conspired against him and his master,
expelled the Jesuits from Portugal and its
colonies, reduced the Inquisition to total
subservience, and introduced a system of
state monopolies in all the branches of com-
merce, waging war, in particular, on the
masters of the wine trade. The great earth-
quake and fire that devastated L
ISBON
in
1755, while he was in the first stage of his
reforms, far from disrupting his program
was converted into an opportunity to dem-
onstrate his vigor and efficiency in meeting
the challenge and in building a more hand-
some—as well as more secure—capital
upon the ruins of the old.
Among Pombal's many achievements
were the modernization of the university
system, the promotion of new industries,
and the strengthening of the armed forces
to enhance Portugal's role in the world. He
also abolished slavery in Portugal, where it
had principally affected Muslim captives.
Overseas he paid particular attention to the
development of B
RAZIL
, where he rational-
ized the administration, promoted the
exploitation of natural resources, and sought
to strengthen the mercantile bonds between
the colony and the mother country.
On the death of Joseph I, Pombal was no
longer able to retain his mastery of the Por-
tuguese state. His numerous enemies
among the clergy and nobles persuaded the
new ruler, M
ARIA
I, that he was guilty of
various excesses and usurpations. She
removed him from office and banished him
from Lisbon, obliging him to spend the last
years of his life on his rural estate. After the
fall of Pombal many of the enlightened
reforms introduced by him were rescinded
Pombal, Sebastião José de Carvalho
e Melo, marquês de
(1699-1782)
Portuguese statesmen
An aristocrat trained in law at the Univer-
sity of Coimbra, the future marquês de
Pombal spent the period 1739-49 as a dip-
lomat in London and Vienna. When he
returned home, the new king, J
OSEPH
I,
named him secretary of state for foreign
affairs and war. In this capacity he was, in
effect, chief minister and, indeed, the real
ruler of Portugal. During the reign of Joseph
I, Pombal presided over a system of enlight-
ened despotism for which the king was
merely a figurehead. Pombal was a ruthless
reformer who believed that absolute power,
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