Reforma ilustrada y proyecto social. Simón Bergaño, redactor y editor de la Gazeta de Guatemala (1801-1807)

Résumé

This article examines the role played by the Cantabrian journalist and writer Simón Bergaño y Villegas as author and editor of La Gazeta de Guatemala between 1801 and 1807. It first discusses the history of the journal related to the Royal Economic Society of Guatemala, and then focuses on Bergaño’s contribution during the period when he directed it. It develops its editorial line and focuses on the introduction of a large variety of enlightened approaches at all levels within it, including its interest in science, the living conditions of indigenous peoples and the education of women. The article also studies its external connections and its projection in New Spain and the Peninsula. Finally, it analyzes the opposition of conservative sectors of Guatemalan society, including that of the archbishop of the diocesis, which led, first, to an attempt to limit content and, later, to its suppression.