Final answer:
The main goal of the Bourbon Reforms was to centralize control, boost economic productivity, and increase administrative efficiency in the Spanish colonies. These reforms led to discontent among Creole elites, laying the groundwork for rebellions and independence movements influenced by Enlightenment ideas.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary goal of the Bourbon Reforms implemented in the 18th century in Spanish colonies was C) to centralize control, boost economic productivity, and enhance administrative efficiency. These reforms, often unpopular, were meant to make the colonies more profitable by improving tax collection and trade regulations favorable to Spanish interests, curtailing the local and regional autonomy that had existed previously. While the reforms aimed to increase the Spanish Crown's profits and control, they also contributed to growing dissatisfaction among the creole elites, who resented the preferential treatment and power afforded to the peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain) over the creoles (Spaniards born in the colonies).
The Enlightenment ideas adopted by the creoles during the Bourbon Era helped justify their desire for more social and political authority (b). The creoles sought greater participation in governance, but initially their aim was to extend this authority to White males of Spanish descent, excluding other social groups existing within the colonial hierarchy.
Ultimately, the Bourbon Reforms, combined with Enlightenment thinking and other factors, fueled the late eighteenth-century rebellions and the subsequent independence movements within the Spanish American colonies.