Juan de Bouligny

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Bouligny and the second or maternal family name is Paret.
Juan de Bouligny
Born
Juan Ventura Bouligny y Paret

(1726-03-03)March 3, 1726
Alicante, Spain
DiedJanuary 9, 1798(1798-01-09) (aged 71)
Madrid, Spain
OccupationMerchant and diplomat
Known forFirst Spanish envoy to the Ottoman Empire
Spouse(s)
Elena Viviana Marconié y Peñarroja
​
​
(m. 1755)​

Juan Ventura Bouligny y Paret (1726–1798), known as Juan de Bouligny, was an 18th century Spanish merchant and diplomat who served as envoy to the Ottoman Empire.

Early life[]

Bouligny was born in 1726 in Alicante, Spain, the second son of Jean (Juan) Bouligny y Largier, a successful merchant of French ancestry, and María Antonia Paret y Vinet, who was from Alicante. When he came of age, Bouligny joined the family import-export business, which traded textiles, spices, wines, and more from both around the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic.[1] In the 1770s, as Bouligny sought a governmental position, he began styling himself as "Juan de Bouligny," to imply royal ancestry.[2]

Engagement with the Ottoman Empire[]

By the late 1770s, Bouligny's extensive network of trading partners had drawn the attention of the Spanish statesman and reformer Floridablanca who tasked Bouligny with negotiating a political and economic relationship with the Ottoman Empire on behalf of the king, Charles III.[3][4] A particular goal of the negotiations was to end the Spanish-Algerian war and attacks from North Africa on Spain's commercial activities and ports.[5]

In 1779, Bouligny and his son José Eliodoro, arrived in Constantinople. Bouligny sought an agreement based upon the treaty of trade and friendship the sultan signed with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1740, but the negotiations were long and drawn out, as well as complicated by the need to rely on non-Spanish dragomans as interpreters and go-betweens.[5][6] However, an agreement was finally signed between Spain and the Ottomans on 14 September 1782, and Bouligny was officially installed as Spain's extraordinary envoy and plenipotentiary minister to the Sublime Porte.[7] As envoy, he worked to establish a Spanish consular network within the empire and a school to train Spanish boys in Turkish language and culture to serve as dragomans.[6] He also made careful notes about the mercantile activities of traders from across Europe in Constantinople, both to report back to Spain and to strengthen his business interests in the region.[8] Bouligny left Constantinople in 1793, leaving his son to oversee the family's mercantile operations.[3][7] The younger Bouligny continued to serve as Spain's representative to the Ottomans until he was expelled in 1799 following the invasion of Egypt by Spain's ally France.[9]

Personal life[]

Bouligny married Elena Viviana Marconié y Peñarroja (b. 1736), the daughter of a former French counsel, in 1755, and they had two daughters and three sons.[3][2] Elena and her daughters joined Bouligny in Constantinople for several years after his appointment, participating in the first diplomats' opera in the Ottoman Empire in 1786.[10]

After leaving Constantinople in 1793, Bouligny returned to Spain where he died in 1798.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ Hernández Sau, Pablo (2017). "Merchants between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean: The Bouligny family case (1700–1762)". In Herrero Sánchez, Manuel; Kaps, Klemens (eds.). Merchants and Trade Networks in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, 1550–1800: Connectors of commercial maritime systems. New York, New York: Routledge. pp. 196–217. ISBN 978-1-138-18873-0. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Martin, Fontaine (1990). A History of the Bouligny Family and Allied Families. Lafayette, Louisiana: The Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana. pp. 119–125. ISBN 978-0940984516.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Ozanam, Didier. "Juan Bouligny y Paret". Diccionario Biográfico Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  4. ^ Ozanam, Didier (1998). Les diplomates espagnols du XVIIIe siècle: introduction et répertoire biographique, 1700–1808 [Spanish Diplomats of the 18th Century: Introduction and Biographical Directory, 1700–1808] (in French). Madrid, Spain: Casa de Velázquez. p. 507. ISBN 978-84-86839-86-4. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Tabakoğlu, Hüseyin Serdar (2007). "The Re-establishment Of Ottoman–Spanish Relations In 1782". Turkish Studies. 2 (3): 496–524. doi:10.7827/TurkishStudies.146.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Cáceres-Würsig, Ingrid (2014). "Im Niemandsland: Dragomane und „jóvenes de lenguas" in der spanischen Botschaft von Konstantinopel" [In No-Man's-Land: Dragomans and "Jóvenes de Lenguas" in the Spanish Embassy of Constantinople]. Lebende Sprachen (in German). 59 (2): 343–357. doi:10.1515/les-2014-0013.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Çiçek Ünal, Ayşe (2015). The First Spanish Ambassador to the Sublime Porte: Juan de Bouligny and His Early Activities in İstanbul Based on His Diary (PDF) (MA). İstanbul, Turkey: İstanbul Şehir University. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  8. ^ Manolva–Nikolova, Nadia (2010). "Spanish Records of Istanbul at the End of the 18th Century". In Mitev, Plamen (ed.). Empires and Peninsulas: Southeastern Europe Between Karlowitz and the Peace of Adrianople, 1699-1829. Münster, Germany: LIT Verlag. pp. 115–124. ISBN 978-3-643-10611-7. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  9. ^ Tabakoğlu, Hüseyin Serdar (2008). "The Impact of the French Revolution on the Ottoman–Spanish Relations". Turkish Studies. 3 (1): 335–354. doi:10.7827/TurkishStudies.276.
  10. ^ Hüttler, Michael (20 January 2013). "Ambassadors as Cultural Actors in the Ottoman-European Relations". H-Soz-Kult. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
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