This article presents a reinterpretation of the Pombaline reforms in the Portuguese Atlantic, proposing as a case-study the archipelago of the Azores. The 1766 reforms are placed in the context of the fiscal crisis of the state and analysed according to the cameralist tradition and the concepts of "reason of state" and "police". We then comment upon the goals and limits of the Pombaline reforms within the frame of center-periphery relationships.
Marquis of Pombal; Reason of State; 18th century