The Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia, is generally considered to be the oldest national library in the Americas. It was founded at the end of the eighteenth century in 1777 by Viceroy Manuel De Guirior, who established the library in the city of Bogota. The original collection of the library consisted of books expropriated from the Jesuit community, which had been expelled from all the dominions of the Spanish Empire, as a result of the 1767 order of King Charles III of Spain.