The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata or Viceroyalty of the River Plate was the last to be organised and also the shortest-lived viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. It was established in 1776 from several former Viceroyalty of Peru dependencies that mainly extended over the Río de la Plata Basin, roughly the present-day territories of Argentina, northern Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, extending inland from the Atlantic Coast. The colony of Spanish Guinea (present-day Equatorial Guinea) also depended administratively on the Viceroyalty of the Río 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.
Usually considered one of the late Bourbon Reforms, the organisation of this viceroyalty was motivated on both commercial grounds (Buenos Aires was by then a major spot for illegal trade), as well as on security concerns brought about by the growing interest of competing foreign powers in the area. The Spanish Crown wanted to protect its territory against Great Britain and 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 and 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 seize control of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. This enhanced their sense of autonomy and power at a time when Spanish troops were unable to help.
In 1809, the Criollo elite revolted against colonial authorities in La Paz and Chuquisaca, establishing revolutionary governments or . Although short-lived, retroversion of the sovereignty to the people provided 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 revolution in Buenos Aires spread across the other provinces of the Viceroyalty, against the resistance of Paraguay (which declared itself an independent nation in 1811) and the Upper Peru (which was annexed by the Viceroyalty of Peru). Meanwhile, the Governor of Montevideo Francisco Javier de Elío, appointed as a new Viceroy by the Spanish Government in 1811, declared the Buenos Aires Junta seditious. Nonetheless, after being defeated at Las Piedras, he retained control only of Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo. He departed by ship to Spain on 18 November and resigned in January 1812. In 1814, the revolutionary patriots entered Montevideo, following a two-year-long siege. The Viceroyalty was disestablished in 1825 as Spanish political entity with the fall of Upper Peru and the death of the last Viceroy Pedro Antonio Olañeta.
Nomenclature
The most common name in Spanish for this administrative division is virreinato del Río de la Plata (Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata). Nevertheless, while it existed, the name virreinato de Buenos Aires (Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires) was also used, along with virreinato de las provincias del Río de la Plata (Viceroyalty of the Provinces of the Río de la Plata), virreinato de la Plata (Viceroyalty of la Plata), virreinato rioplatense and virreinato bonaerense. The Río de la Plata was the estuary of the most important port of the Viceroyalty, which was located in Buenos Aires, its capital. The word virreinato (viceroyalty) was not part of an official name, but a descriptive term for the administrative division; that is why, following the Royal Spanish Academy's indications, it is written in lowercase in the Spanish language.
On 28 February 1810, the Spanish were fighting against the French occupation of their country. Within that framework, the Junta of Cádiz (provisional Spanish government of Cádiz) issued a proclamation urging the Spanish territories in America to replace their viceroys and found their own juntas as well, while the king was imprisoned by Napoleon. This decision followed the liberal ideas of Cádiz, which pointed to limit the absolute power of the king afterwards. Therefore, as they did not want viceroys, they used the name Provincias del Río de la Plata (Provinces of the Río de la Plata) to refer to the South American provinces in the proclamation, since virreinato del Río de la Plata implied the existence of a viceroy. The name Provincias del Río de la Plata would be used by the successor state created during the May Revolution, but would later be replaced by Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata.
Río de la Plata was usually translated as River Plate. This translation originated when plate could mean silver in English (“River of the Silver”). The name Argentina comes from argentum, which means silver in Latin.
Reasons that led to the creation of the Viceroyalty
Around 1650, much of South America was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, but this enormous territory made it difficult to administer, which was an important cause for dividing it. Besides, Portuguese settlement in Brazil had been expanding beyond the dividing line established by the Treaty of Tordesillas. In 1680, Portuguese governor of Rio de Janeiro had founded Cólonia do Sacramento on the coast of present-day Uruguay, right in front of Buenos Aires. All of this, along with the increasing commercial importance of Buenos Aires, and the frequent expeditions of France and Britain to Patagonia were reasons to have a separate administration in the region.
The Galleon Route
Since 1573, the Spanish commercial monopoly was carried out following the System of Fleets and Galleons, commonly referred to as Galleon Route, instructed by King Philip II. Every year, the New Spain and the Mainland fleets travelled from Sevilla to Veracruz and Portobelo respectively, and later came back to the Peninsula, serving as the commercial connection between the Spanish metropolis and the American territories. The Mainland fleet, for its part, transported goods from South America, including precious metals from Potosí, Upper Peru.
On 21 November 1739, Portobelo was attacked, sacked and destroyed by British forces, as part of the War of Jenkins' Ear. After that, the Spanish authorities decided to employ a different and more secure trade route, and considered the one used by smugglers to transport goods from Upper Peru to the Port of Buenos Aires as an option. Thus, since the Río de la Plata was the best alternative to the Galleon Route, it was necessary to improve its security.
In 1778, King Charles III of Spain promulgated the Royal Regulations and Tariffs for Free Trade from Spain to the Indies (Reglamento y Aranceles Reales para el Comercio Libre de España a Indias), which ended the monopolistic route and opened 13 ports in Spain and 25 in the Indies, including Buenos Aires and Montevideo, allowing them to trade with the metropolis. The Consulate of Commerce of Buenos Aires was authorised that year, but legal difficulties prevented it from being established until 1794. This modificication was not free trade —since only Peninsular ships were able to use the legalised ports— but a predecessor to what would develop. Later, in 1795, commerce with non-Spanish colonies was legalised too, and ships registered in the Indies were allowed to use Spanish ports. In the decade of 1778–1788, the commerce between Spain and Spanish America increased by nearly 700%.Abad de Santillán, p. 197. All these changes occurred within the framework of the Bourbon Reforms.
History
Project and creation of the Viceroyalty
On 8 October 1773, King Charles III asked the Royal Audiencia of Lima and the governor of Buenos Aires about the possibility of creating an audiencia in Tucumán. The audiencias were supreme courts of justice that exercised some administrative functions over their territory, in collaboration with the viceroys. A single Viceroyalty could have many audiencias. Both Tucumán and Buenos Aires were part of the Royal Audiencia of Charcas (along with much of the present-day Argentine land), within the Viceroyalty of Peru.
On 22 January 1775, Viceroy Manuel de Amat y Junient answered the request with a different proposal: to create an audiencia in Buenos Aires and a new viceroyalty, which included the Río de la Plata territories (such as Buenos Aires and Montevideo), and had its capital in Chile. On 1 April 1776, the German-born Portuguese general commander of São José do Norte, Johann Heinrich Bohm, attacked the Santa Bárbara and Trinidad forts, and recovered the village of Río Grande, which had been previously conquered by the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires Pedro de Cevallos.Río Grande - Página do Gaúcho This event made the king think about creating a viceroyalty with its capital on the Río de la Plata instead of Chile.
In 1776, a military expedition to South America was being organised. The objective, according to King Charles III, was to recover the lost territory and punish Portugal. On 27 July 1776, Pedro de Cevallos, who at that time was governor of Madrid, received a letter naming him commander of the campaign. Besides, on 1 August 1776 the king gave him control over the Royal Audiencia of Charcas and the corrigimiento of Cuyo, as viceroy and general captain in order to facilitate the mission. When the expedition was finished, Cevallos had to resume its office as governor on Madrid and let the command of Charcas and Cuyo as it was before his arrival. Although theoretically temporary, this separate administration of these territories, with Pedro de Cevallos as viceroy, was the beginning of the new viceroyalty.
Pedro de Cevallos' military expedition
Cevallos started its campaign with the objective of pushing Portugal to the east of the dividing line previously established by the Treaty of Tordesillas. On 20 February 1777, the expedition —that consisted of 116 ships— disembarked on Santa Catalina Island, which surrendered on 5 March. Later, since they were not able to attack Río Grande due to weather conditions, the expedition headed to the south of the Banda Oriental (present-day Uruguay). On 4 June, the Portuguese governor of Colonia del Sacramento surrendered to Cevallos, and the city was destroyed. The campaign continued and captured the Fortress of Santa Teresa and the Fort of San Miguel, advancing towards the population of Río Grande. Nevertheless, the offensive stopped when Cevallos was notified about peace negotiations between Spain and Portugal.
On 1 October 1777, the Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed by the two colonial powers. Portugal recognised Spanish sovereignty over Colonia del Sacramento and San Gabriel Island. In exchange, Spain had to give up the Santa Catalina Island and Río Grande. Besides, Portugal gave Spain the Fernando Poo and Annobón Islands (nowadays part of Equatorial Guinea).
Formal establishment
Once the conflict with Portugal had ended, Cevallos arrived at Buenos Aires on 15 October 1777. He dictated the Auto de libre internación, allowing free trade of both products from Spain and the Indies, between Buenos Aires, Chile and Peru. Besides, since Potosí —land of the precious metals— was under his jurisdiction, on 8 July 1777 he had prohibited the delivery of unminted gold and silver to the Iberian Peninsula if it was not done through the Port of Buenos Aires. These measures affected the merchants from Lima, but were allowed by those from Cádiz.