Intendance

Intendance is a historical term for a system of centralized administration used by several monarchies, notably 17th–18th century France and the Bourbon-era Spanish and Portuguese empires, referring to the office of an administrator and the territory placed under their supervision.

In France, the intendants were royal civil servants appointed to provincial governments to supervise taxes, justice, policing, and public works. Created in the early modern period, the intendance system centralized royal power and reduced provincial privileges. The system expanded under the Bourbon monarchy and was a key instrument of state control until weakened by the French Revolution and subsequent reforms.

In the Spanish and Portuguese empires, especially during the 18th century Bourbon reforms, intendencias were created as administrative subdivisions within viceroyalties. Intendentes held broad executive and fiscal authority to oversee revenue collection, governance, and public administration, aiming to improve efficiency and control. The framework persisted in various forms until the independence movements of the early 19th century.

In modern Portuguese and French usage, the term persists as intendência or intendance referring to a government department or office, or to the jurisdiction of an administrator, rather than a separate political office. In some countries, the title intendant or intendente survives in ceremonial or municipal contexts.