The Lautaro Lodge (Spanish : Logia Lautaro) was a revolutionary secret lodge active in Latin American politics in the 19th century. [1] It was initially known as the Lodge of Rational Knights (Spanish : Logia de los Caballeros Racionales). Its initial purposes were to apply the goals of the Spanish Enlightenment, and when Spain began the Absolutist Restoration they promoted instead the emancipation of the South American colonies.
It was for many years believed to have been founded as an extension of the British lodge "The Great American Reunion", created by Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda. However, recent research suggests that the Lodge was founded in Cadiz, Spain, and that Miranda was not amongst its founders, as he himself was living in Paris at the time, from where he returned to London in January 1798. [2] As with other secret societies, such details are difficult to investigate by historians, given the secrecy of their activities. [2] Both lodges had just a superficial compromise with freemasonry, taking advantage of their secret societies merely as a tool to promote liberal agendas, evading punishment from absolutist governments of the time. [1]
A number of officers from the Peninsular War, such as José de San Martín, Carlos María de Alvear, José Matías Zapiola, Francisco Chilavert and Eduardo Kailitz left Cádiz and moved to Buenos Aires. They began to organise a secret lodge, similar to the one in Cádiz. There were other secret lodges already working in Buenos Aires: the anglophile lodges "Hiram sons" and "Southern Star", and the "Patriotic Society" that united the former supporters of Mariano Moreno. This last lodge, opposed to the first two ones, was integrated into the new one created by the Spanish generals. [3]
Although the lodge is most commonly known as "Lautaro", it did not employ that name during all of its existence. The name made reference to Mapuche leader Lautaro, [1] which made sense in Santiago de Chile in the 1817-1820 period, but not in Buenos Aires in 1812 and much less in Europe. [4] Historian Vicente Fidel López points that "Lautaro" was really a masonic code meaning "Expedition to Chile", but similarly, Chile was not a military target for Buenos Aires in 1812. [4] By that point, Chile was still in the Patria Vieja period, and would not fall into royalist control until the 1814 Disaster of Rancagua. Although the secrecy makes difficult to investigate the purposes or even the name, Alcibíades Lappas considers instead that the lodge was named "Lodge of Rational Knights" in 1812, just like the Cádiz one, and that San Martín renamed it "Lautaro" when he recreated it in 1815, after the fall of Alvear. [5]
Gervasio Antonio de Posadas y Dávila was a member of Argentina's Second Triumvirate from 19 August 1813 to 31 January 1814, after which he served as Supreme Director until 9 January 1815.
Justo José de Urquiza y García was an Argentine general and politician who served as president of the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860.
José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras, nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru", was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire who served as the Protector of Peru. Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes, in modern-day Argentina, he left the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata at the early age of seven to study in Málaga, Spain.
José Miguel Carrera Verdugo was a Chilean general, formerly Spanish military, member of the prominent Carrera family, and considered one of the founders of independent Chile. Carrera was the most important leader of the Chilean War of Independence during the period of the Patria Vieja. After the Spanish "Reconquista de Chile" ("Reconquest"), he continued campaigning from exile after defeat. His opposition to the leaders of independent Argentina and Chile, San Martín and O'Higgins respectively, made him live in exile in Montevideo. From Montevideo Carrera traveled to Argentina where he joined the struggle against the unitarians. Carreras' small army was eventually left isolated in the Province of Buenos Aires from the other federalist forces. In this difficult situation Carrera decided to cross to native-controlled lands all the way to Chile to once and for all overthrow Chilean Supreme Director O'Higgins. His passage to Chile, which was his ultimate goal, was opposed by Argentine politicians and he engaged together with indigenous tribes, among them the Ranquel, in a campaign against the southern provinces of Argentina. After the downfall of Carrera's ally, the Republic of Entre Ríos, and several victories against the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Carrera's men were finally defeated by numerically superior forces near Mendoza. Carrera was then betrayed by one of his Argentine helpers, leading to his capture and execution in that city.
Carlos María de Alvear, was an Argentine soldier and statesman, Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in 1815.
The First Triumvirate was the executive body of government that replaced the Junta Grande in the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. It started its functions on September 23, 1811, and was replaced on October 8, 1812.
Maitland Plan, refers to a plan created by British Major General Thomas Maitland in 1800. The plan was titled Plan to capture Buenos Aires and Chile, and then emancipate Peru and Quito. The plan was never really implemented but was used in some way during the South American wars of independence.
The Second Triumvirate was the governing body of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata that followed the First Triumvirate in 1812, shortly after the May Revolution, and lasted 2 years.
Francisco Narciso de Laprida was an Argentine lawyer and politician. He was a representative for San Juan at the Congress of Tucumán, and its president on July 9, 1816, when the Declaration of Independence of Argentina was declared.
Juan José Esteban Paso, was an Argentine politician who participated in the events that started the Argentine War of Independence known as May Revolution of 1810.
Juan José Castelli was an Argentine lawyer who was one of the leaders of the May Revolution, which led to the Argentine War of Independence. He led an ill-fated military campaign in Upper Peru.
Juan Larrea was a Spanish businessman and politician in Buenos Aires during the early nineteenth century. He headed a military unit during the second British invasion of the Río de la Plata, and worked at the Buenos Aires Cabildo. He took part in the ill-fated Mutiny of Álzaga. Larrea and Domingo Matheu were the only two Spanish-born members of the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina.
Nicolás Rodriguez Peña was an Argentine politician. Born in Buenos Aires in April 1775, he worked in commerce which allowed him to amass a considerable fortune. Among his several successful businesses, he had a soap factory partnership with Hipólito Vieytes, which was a center of conspirators during the revolution against Spanish rule. In 1805 he was a member of the "Independence Lodge", a masonic lodge, along with other prominent revolutionary patriots such as Juan José Castelli and Manuel Belgrano. This group used to meet in his ranch, then situated in what today is Rodriguez Peña square in Buenos Aires.
Antonio Álvarez Jonte was an Argentine politician. He was born in Madrid in 1784 and moved with parents to Córdoba when young. He studied law at Córdoba University and obtained his doctorate at the Real Universidad de San Felipe in Santiago de Chile. He opened a law practice in Buenos Aires, and lived there at the time of the British invasions. He offered his services as volunteer in the militia but was declined due to poor health.
Francisco Javier de Viana (1764–1820) was an Argentine sailor and soldier who actively participated in the politics of his country as an ally of general Carlos María de Alvear.
The Inca plan was a proposal formulated in 1816 by Manuel Belgrano to the Congress of Tucumán, aiming to crown a Sapa Inca to lead the independent territory. After the Declaration of Independence of the United Provinces of South America, the Congress discussed the form of government that should be used. Belgrano proposed that the country be ruled by a Constitutional monarchy headed by a restored Inca ruler. The proposal was supported by José de San Martín, Martín Miguel de Güemes and the northern provinces, but found strong resistance from Buenos Aires. The Congress would ultimately reject it, creating instead a Republican government.
José de San Martín was an Argentine-born general who moved to Spain during his childhood. He served in the Spanish army from 1789 to 1811. During that time he fought among Spanish forces under siege by Moors, in a naval battle against the British navy and in the Peninsular War. In 1795 he was promoted to second lieutenant and during the Peninsular War he reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. However, San Martín ended up resigning his position and moved briefly to Britain, and then to Buenos Aires. In 1811, he participated in the Spanish American wars of independence.
The Revolution of October 8, 1812 took place during the Argentine War of Independence. Led by José de San Martín and Carlos María de Alvear, it deposed the First Triumvirate and allowed the creation of the Second Triumvirate, which called the Assembly of Year XIII.
The Yatasto relay was the handover of the command of the Army of the North by Manuel Belgrano to José de San Martín, in January 1814, during the Argentine War of Independence. It is named after the Yatasto relay, a horse relay at the modern Salta Province, but modern historians consider it could have taken place elsewhere.
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown. On July 9, 1816, an assembly met in San Miguel de Tucumán, declared full independence with provisions for a national constitution.
| Political career |  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Military career |
| ||||||
| Military units | |||||||
| Personal life | |||||||
| Historiography | |||||||
| Legacy | |||||||
