Bucareli and the Interior Provinces

A NTONIO MARIA DE BUCARELI y Ursu'a was viceroy of New Spain from September, 1771, until April, 1779, when he died in office. The historical importance of both time and place is obvious. However, only two phases of his viceregency have received any considerable published study-the Colonization of California, and his administration of the Provivcias Initernas, or Interior Provinces.' Those provinces which comprised the northern and northwestern borders of New Spain had long and continuously provided a series of difficult problems to administrators of the viceroyalty. Spaniards had early entered the area, impelled initially by the lust for gold, later by the urge of empire and the magnetism of a multitude of human souls to be saved, andi, finally, by the motive of defense against possible encroachment by other white nations. Much of this country was of little value, and an additional unattractive feature of the entire area was the stubborn and warlike character of the Indian inhabitants, who steadfastly resisted the Spanish advance. This explains the line of presidios as well as of * The author is assistant professor of History at the State College of Washington, Pullman, Washington-.Ed. 1 This latter phase has been the special concern of Alfred B. Thomas, who has written extensively on various of its aspects. Generally, his point of observation has been located somewhere along the northern frontier of New Spain, and only rarely in Mexico City. In some of his works Thomas has been highly critical of Bucareli, perhaps unduly so. Analysis reveals certain inconsistencies ill his statements. It is in part with these matters that this paper is concerned. Its mood, however, is not refutation or debate, but a more positive approach to Bucareli 's administration of the Provincias Internas. Thomas' writings on the area are as follows: Forgotten Frontiers (Norman, 1932); The Plains Indians and New Mexico (Albuquerque, 1940); Teodoro de Croix and the Northiern Frontier of New Spain, 1776-1778 (Norman, 1941); Governor Mendinueta's Proposals for the Defense of New Mexico, 1772-1778, NewU Mexico Historical Review, VI, No. 1 (January, 1931), 21-39; and Antonio de Bonilla and Spanish Plans for the Defense of New Mexico, 1772-1778,'' New Spain and the Anglo-American West, Vol. I (Lancaster, Pa., 1932), pp. 183-209

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