Artillery, engineering and mathematics: statecraft and the scientific knowledge of military men, from the Bourbons to the creation of the Peruvian State (1770-1840)

Abstract

War and preparation for it have often been drivers of technological development. This article explores the intersection between science and government, and how, in the final decades of the colonial period, engineers trained in military academies in the peninsula played a crucial role in the creation and dissemination of knowledge in Peru. It then focuses on how the scientific knowledge of the military was used during the wars of independence and it concludes by discussing how the newly established independent republics sought to emulate their Bourbon predecessors in their use of science and technology, but found it difficult because they had very little access to trained personnel.

Keywords

• Bourbon reforms
• Peru
• wars of independence
• Military engineering
• scientific knowledge
• artillery