Aranda, Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, conde de, Spanish And Portuguese History, Biographies

Related Category: Spanish And Portuguese History, Biographies

Aranda, Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, conde de[pA´thrO pA´blO AbAr´kA tha bOlA´A kOn´dA thA ArAn´dA] Pronunciation Key, 1718–98, Spanish statesman. He distinguished himself at first as a military commander, serving as director-general of artillery and captain general of Valencia and later of AragOn. His aristocratic background and advocacy of enlightened despotism made him ideally suited to play a reforming role in the administration of Charles III. In 1766 he became president of the council of Castile, a position he held with considerable distinction until 1773 when he was dismissed because of his failure to hold the Falkland Islands for Spain. Ambassador to France (1773–87), he was one of the signatories to the Treaty of Paris (1783), which recognized the independence of the United States. Under Charles IV he served briefly as foreign minister (1792), but fell into disfavor because of disapproval of war with France following the French invasion of Spain in 1794. He was one of the main luminaries of the Spanish Enlightenment.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2009, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

---

---