José Basco y Pérez de Vargas, 1st Count of the Conquest of Batanes Islands ( (1731–1805) was a naval officer of the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy, officially the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation ...

who served as the 53rd

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of the

Spanish Philippines Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine ** Spanish history ** Spanish cultur ...

under the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

, from 1778 to 1787. An "economic minded" governor-general in Spanish-ruled Philippines, his rule tried to subjugate the Ivatan natives of

Batanes Batanes, officially the Province of Batanes (; Ilocano: ''Probinsia ti Batanes''; , ), is an archipelagic province in the Philippines, administratively part of the Cagayan Valley region. It is the northernmost province in the Philippines, an ...

, which led to the death of the indigenous Ivatan hero, Aman Dangat.

Governor General of the Philippines

He established the '' Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País'', or the ''Economic Society of Friends of the Country'', which revived the

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

industry in the

. He established the basis for the massive growth of Philippine agricultural export, with a policy of tolerance towards (theoretically) illegal activity of foreign retailers, mainly the English and North Americans, who went to Manila to complete their product shipments. He also made the colony less dependent on the Viceroyalty of New Spain by freeing the Philippine and other Pacific Islands from the control of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

. Hoping to free the Philippines from Mexican and Chinese trade, Basco established reforms including incentivizing the production of cotton, spices, sugarcane, and mining, as well as rewarding scientific reforms. In 1782, Basco sent an expedition to conduct the formalities of acquiring the Ivatans' consent to become subjects of the King of Spain. The Ivatans, with their elders and leaders, such as the heroic Aman Dangat, revolted against Spanish rule in response. Regardless, on June 26, 1783, Joseph Huelva y Melgarjo was declared by the Spanish government as the first Governor of

. The new province was named Provincia de la Concepcion, and Governor General Basco was named “Conde de la Conquista de Batanes”. The capital town, Basco, was named after him. By January 21, 1789, King Carlos III granted as a prize for his numerous services the title of "Count of Conquista of the Batanes Islands"; grace to which he added to the appointments of Squad leader and Governor of Cartagena. Basco was replaced by Pedro de Sarrio on November 22, 1787.

References

Basco, Josebascoy Counts of Spain People from Málaga 1733 births 1805 deaths {{Philippines-politician-stub 18th-century Spanish nobility