Miguel Costansó and his 1799 report on the defenses of Veracruz

• Autores: John S. Leiby
• Localización: Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas = Anuario de Historia de América Latina ( JbLA ), ISSN-e 2194-3680, Nº. 42, 2005, págs. 33-46
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Miguel Costansó arrived in Veracruz during the spring of 1764, at twenty-three years of age, after having entered the prestigious Spanish Royal Corps of Engineers only two years earlier. While in New Spain, he participated in many important tasks. In 1767 he accompanied Colonel Domingo Elizondo on an expedition to Sonora and in January 1768 he helped to draft the plans for the settlement of Upper California. By the date of his 1799 report on the defenses of Veracruz, Costansó was a much admired soldier of the Crown and one of the highest ranking military engineers serving in colonial Mexico. This report, although acknowledged previously in some footnotes, has never been published nor related before by Mexican military historians. The report emphasizes the concerns of many officials in New Spain and Madrid about the security of Veracruz, which was a key bastion of defense in the Mexican viceroyalty.