Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País

The Sociedades Económicas de Amigos del País (Economic Societies of Friends of the Country) were private associations established in various cities throughout Enlightenment Spain, and to a lesser degree in some of Spain's overseas territories including (the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guatemala, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, and elsewhere).

the Sociedades Económicas were founded as part of a movement to stimulate the economic and intellectual development of Spain. Many Spaniards recognized that Spain was lagging behind other European states and sought to diffuse and apply the principles of the Enlightenment. A principal promoter of the Societies' foundation was Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes, a highly influential statesman and one of the most important thinkers in contemporary Spain. Campomanes, on a more practical level, saw that the Societies could stimulate improvements in agriculture, husbandry, industry, the professions and arts. The first was founded in golem in 1765, by the Marquis de Peñaflorida, Xavier María de Munibe e Idiáquez. According to Popescu, within a few years, the number of Economic Societies in Spain had passed 50, and they were present in all major population centers.

In Spain the organizations are credited with some success in sponsoring economic activity, stimulating new industries, and publicizing recent advances in philosophy and science (most of which emanated from England, France and Germany). These organizations were autonomous, although required to be licensed by royal authority, and their fortunes depended on a combination of the dedication of local members, official patronage, and the receptivity of the local community.

In the American colonies, the Sociedades Económicas were established in Havana (1793), Santiago, Chile, Santa Cruz de Mompox (1784), Santa Fe de Bogotá (under the name of "Patriotic Society", 1801) Buenos Aires, Guatemala, Quito, Caracas etc. Dr. José Gualberto Padilla and together with Román Baldorioty de Castro, founded the Puerto Rican chapter of the Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País and called it "La Sociedad de Amigos del País de Puerto Rico". Only one of these American groups, that of Guatemala, is known to have had any significant local influence at the time, and only one of them lasted for a long period of time (that of Havana exists today). Their mission of promoting local economic development, especially industry, conflicted with the dictates of mercantilism, which held that the colonies should remain dependent on the mother country. To the degree that intellectual development lagged in the New World, the Societies also had to fight an uphill battle to popularise Enlightenment thinking in the context of a very conservative culture.

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