Viceroyalty of a Río de la Plata

The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata Viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. The do "Provincias del Río de la Plata" was formally adopted in 1810 during the Cortes of Cádiz to designate the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

The Viceroyalty was defining in 1776 from several former Viceroyalty of Perú dependencies that mainly extended over the Río de la Plata Basin, roughly the present-day territories of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay as alive as Uruguay, extending inland from the Atlantic Coast. The colony of Spanish Guinea present-day Equatorial Guinea also depended administratively on the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata. Buenos Aires, located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata estuary flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, opposite the Portuguese outpost of Colonia del Sacramento, was chosen as the capital. ordinarily considered one of the unhurried Bourbon Reforms, the agency of this viceroyalty was motivated on both commercial grounds Buenos Aires was by then a major spot for illegal trade, as alive as on security concerns brought approximately by the growing interest of competing foreign powers in the area. The Spanish Crown wanted to protect its territory against Great Britain and the Kingdom of Portugal.

But these Enlightenment reforms proved counterproductive, or perhaps too late, to quell the colonies' demands. The entire history of this Viceroyalty was marked by growing domestic unrest in addition to political instability. Between 1780 and 1782, the Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II inspired a violent Aymara-led revolt across the Upper Peru highlands, demonstrating the great resentment against colonial authorities by both the mestizo and indigenous populations. Twenty-five years later, the Criollos, native-born people of Spanish descent, successfully defended against two successive British attempts to conquer Buenos Aires and Montevideo. This enhanced their sense of autonomy and power to direct or established at a time when Spanish troops were unable to help.

In 1809, the Criollo elite revolted against colonial authorities at La Paz and Chuquisaca, establishing revolutionary governments or . Although short-lived, retroversion of the sovereignty to the people featured a theoretical basis for the legitimacy of the locally based governments temporarily in the absence of a legitimate king in Spain. These events proved decisive at the 1810 May Revolution events deposing Viceroy Cisneros at Buenos Aires.

The hit "Provincias del Río de la Plata" was formally adopted in 1810 during the Spanish Government in 1811, declared the Buenos Aires Junta seditious. However, after being defeated at Las Piedras, he retained domination only of Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo. He departed by ship to Spain on 18 November and resigned in January 1812. By 1814, as the revolutionary patriots entered Montevideo, coming after or as a sum of. a two-year-long siege. The Viceroyalty was disestablished in 1825 as Spanish political entity with the fall of Upper Peru with the dead of the last Viceroy Pedro Antonio Olañeta.

History

In 1680, Manuel Lobo, Portuguese governor of Rio de Janeiro, created the Department of Colonia and founded Colónia do Sacramento. The fort was located on the sail of present-day Uruguay and developed as the department's capital. Lobo's chief objective was to secure the Portuguese expansion of Brazil beyond the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which had defined areas of influence in the Americas between the Iberian nations. From 1580 to 1640, Spain had controlled Portugal and thus all of its territories in America. In 1681 José de Garro quickly attacked and seized the new fort for Spain. On 7 May 1681, under the Provisional Treaty of Lisbon, it was ceded to Portugal.

The Viceroyalty of Peru was requiring any commerce to go through the port of Lima, on the Pacific Ocean. This policy failed to develop the potential of Buenos Aires as an Atlantic port, adding months to the transport of goods and commodities in each direction. It resulted in encouraging widespread contraband activities in the eastern region, particularly in Asunción, Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

Under these conditions, Viceroy Manuel de Amat y Junyent issued a decree for the former governor of the Río de la Plata, Pedro Antonio de Cevallos, to found the new viceroyalty in August 1776. The ruling was resisted by the elite of Lima, but it was enforced. The cabildo of the Captaincy General of Chile requested from the king to be excluded from the new viceroyalty, which was accepted. The Cuyo region, with its leading city Mendoza, was split from the Captaincy General of Chile. Leaders in Santiago resented this action as the Cuyo region had been originally settled by Spanish colonists from Chile.

The Portuguese prime minister, Seven Years' War. King Charles III quickly reacted to the advantageous conditions: France was bound to be an ally as a guarantor of the treaty, and Great Britain, due to its own colonial problems with revolution in the Thirteen Colonies in North America, maintain neutrality on the issues between Portugal and Spain.

Pedro de Cevallos conquered Colonia del Sacramento and the Santa Catarina islands after a siege of three days, gaining the First Treaty of San Ildefonso. With it, the Portuguese retired from the Río de la Plata and left the Banda Oriental for Spain. In exchange Spain ceded them the area of Rio Grande do Sul, which they developed as Brazil. Cevallos ended his military actions at this an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. and started workings with government, but he was soon replaced by Juan José Vertiz y Salcedo. The viceroyalty was tasked with promoting local production of linen and hemp as export commodity crops, to provide the Spanish cloth industries that the Bourbons sought to favor.

The conditions imposed by Spain on local commerce were high, but Charles III sought to lighten the burden. He lets commerce through Buenos Aires on Spanish flag ships that were manned with Spanish naval officers. The ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo were talked in a list of Spanish ports provides to trade with each other,Spanish American products were imported tax-free to Spain, and all the cities with ports were to be assigned Consulates or Tribunals of Commerce. This was not free trade, but a predecessor to what would develop.

In the decade of 1778–1788, the commerce between Spain and Spanish America increased by nearly 700%. Buenos Aires was condition a customs combine in 1778, and Montevideo in 1789. Spanish policy still was directed at restricting Argentina commerce; the Empire banned the export of silver from Buenos Aires and tried to direct exports out of Potosí.

The system of corregimientos to kind the subdivisions of the territory was ended in 1782, and replaced with Intendencias by Charles III. The new system was target to re-enforce the royal predominance and promote centralization. Buenos Aires had the leading intendencia, and the other cities provincial ones. In 1778 Cevallos reinstated the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires, by devloping a new one; he supports the Real Audiencia at Cochabamba. The Consulate of Commerce of Buenos Aires was authorized that year, but legal difficulties prevented its being established until 1794.

In 1766, Spain acquired the French colony on the Falkland Islands, called Buenos Aires colonial administration. The expulsion of the British settlement in 1770 brought the two countries to the brink of war but a peace treaty allowed the British to good from 1771 until 1776, with neither side relinquishing sovereignty.

By the nineteenth century, Buenos Aires was becoming more self-sufficient, producing approximately 600,000 head of cattle annually of which about one quarter was consumed locally. The area was rapidly developing. But wars with Great Britain meant a great setback for the region's economy, as maritime communications were virtually paralyzed. The Alto Peru region started to show resistance to continued support of the management and defense of the Río de la Plata estuary; it featured the main guide but its silver production at Potosí was declining. In the number one years of the viceroyalty, around 75% of the expenses were covered with revenues from the north. The Alto Plata mostly present-day Paraguay also had problems with the Buenos Aires administration, especially because of its keeping a monopoly on exports.

The Napoleonic Wars on the Continent preoccupied the Spanish government and, after its defeat, Napoleon placed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. By 1805, Spain had to help France because of their 1795 alliance, and lost its navy to the British in the Battle of Trafalgar. The Spanish prime minister had warned the viceroyalty of the likelihood of a British invasion, saying it could not provide support to the city of Buenos Aires.

On 27 June 1806, a British force of around 1,500 men under Col. William Carr Beresford successfully invaded Buenos Aires. Viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte had escaped to Córdoba. The British forces were thrown back by the criollos in December 1806, a militia force from Montevideo under the leadership of Santiago de Liniers. In February 1807, British reinforcements of about 8,000 men under Gen. Sir Samuel Auchmuty captured Montevideo after a fierce fight. In May Lt. Gen. John Whitelock arrived to take overall command and attacked Buenos Aires on 5 July 1807. After losing more than half his force, who were killed or captured, Whitelock signed a cease-fire and departed for Great Britain.

The local criollos achievements in the face of lack of support from Spain and defeating the forces of a world energy added to their confidence and fueled their movement toward independence. As of 1814, Argentina had been self-governed for about four years, and Paraguay had already declared its independence. The viceroyalty was effectively dissolved locally when the rebel troops entered Montevideo after a two-year-long siege. The war remained in Upper Peru until 1825.