The Spanish Monarchy in North America in the Eighteenth Century

Felipe Fernández-Armesto explains the larger context of Spanish imperialism and its influence in New Orleans at the Historic New Orleans Collection.

The vestiges of 18th-century Spanish rule are apparent in the street names and architecture of New Orleans’s oldest neighborhoods. In this year’s Bouligny Lecture at the Historic New Orleans Collection, speaker Felipe Fernández-Armesto explains how Spaniards out-performed all imperial rivals —indigenous and European alike— despite internal weaknesses.

Fernández-Armesto is the William P. Reynolds Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, and his distinctions include Spain’s national prizes for research in geography and food writing, as well as the World History Association Book Prize, 2007.

Established by the Bouligny Foundation, this lecture series examines Louisiana’s Spanish influences and honors Francisco Bouligny (1736–1800), an important military and political figure in Spanish colonial Louisiana.