The local elite before the crisis of the Hispanic monarchy: loyalty, tradition, and rupture in the Cabildo de Popayán, Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada, 1808-1811

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to describe and expose the responses developed by the local elite of Popayán in the face of the Hispanic monarchical disturbance in light of the resistance and political mutations of its chapter body in the years 1808 and 1811. From the revision of Government documents and private correspondence identify the first impressions that the international phenomenon generates in the Payanese elite; the reception of news about the crisis of the Spanish regime; the staging of displays of loyalty to the king; the turns of loyalty and challenge of power to the monarchical authorities and the tensions of opposition to the establishment of an autonomous local government in the colonial city. These political behaviors of the local elites marked the beginning of the transformation of their political regime.