<P> In Spanish America, José del Campillo y Cosío's Nuevo Sistema de gobierno económico para la América (New System of Economic Government for America) (1743) was a key text that shaped the reforms . He compared the colonial systems of Britain and France with that of Spain, as the first two nations reaped far greater benefits than Spain . He advocated reforming Spain's economic relations with its overseas territories to a system more like the mercantilism of France's Jean - Baptiste Colbert (1619--1683). </P> <P> The Bourbon reforms have been termed "a revolution in government" for their sweeping changes in the structure of administration that sought to strengthen the power of the Spanish state, decrease the power of local elites in favor of office holders from the Iberian peninsula, and increase revenues for the crown . </P> <P> The bulk of the changes in Spanish America came in the second half of the 18th century following the visita general (general inspection) of New Spain (1765--1771) by José de Gálvez, who was later named Minister of the Indies . The reforms attempted in New Spain were implemented elsewhere in Spanish America subsequently . There had been one earlier reform in the creation of the new Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717), carved out from the Viceroyalty of Peru to improve the administration of the overseas possessions . The new viceroyalty was created initially in 1717, suppressed just six years later, and then permanently established in 1739, still earlier than the reforms of the late 18th century . It was an administrative change that reflected the recognition (as early as the 16th century) that the northern area of South America had certain challenges of distance from Peru . There had been earlier creations of captaincies general in Guatemala and Venezuela, marking an increase in their importance . In 1776, a second jurisdiction, the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata was also carved out of the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1776 as part of José de Gálvez's comprehensive administrative reform . In the same year, an autonomous captaincy general was also established in Venezuela . </P> <P> Under Charles III, colonial matters were concentrated in a single ministry, which took powers away from the Council of the Indies . Furthermore, the advances Americans (Criollos) had made in the local bureaucracy in the past century and a half, usually through the sale of offices, were checked by the direct appointment of (supposedly more qualified and disinterested) Spanish officials . </P>

The minister of the indies responsible for the 18th century reforms within the spanish empire was