Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

Virreinato del Río de la Plata

1776–1808. In 1776 Charles III made Buenos Aires the capital of a new viceroyalty that took the Río de la Plata, Paraguay, Tucumán and Upper Peru with its silver at…

Draft: not yet checked against its sources.

What happened

In 1776 Charles III made Buenos Aires the capital of a new viceroyalty that took the Río de la Plata, Paraguay, Tucumán and Upper Peru with its silver at Potosí away from Lima. The decision mixed strategy (Portuguese pressure from Brazil), economics (contraband and the Atlantic trade) and administrative reform; the first viceroy, Pedro de Cevallos, arrived with a fleet of 115 ships and 9,500 men and took Colonia del Sacramento from the Portuguese. The 'free trade' regulation of 1778 let Buenos Aires trade legally with Spain, and the port grew fast. The viceroyalty ended with the May Revolution of 1810, outside this period.

Sources

1. El virreinato del Río de la Plata (Cuadernos Monográficos del Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval, 40) — Armada Española, Ministerio de Defensa
2. 11 de junio: fundación de Buenos Aires — Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires
3. Historia de Buenos Aires — Turismo Buenos Aires, Gobierno de la Ciudad