Royal Audiencia of Buenos Aires

Last updated February 19, 2019

Internal divisions of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata in 1783. Virreinato.png — Internal divisions of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1783.

The Real Audiencia de Buenos Aires, were two audiencias , or highest courts, of the Spanish crown, which resided in Buenos Aires. The authority of the first extended to the territory of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata and operated from 1661 to 1671. The second began to function in 1783 and had as its territory the areas of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata not covered by the Audiencia de Charcas, that is to say the intendancies of Buenos Aires, Córdoba del Tucumán, Salta del Tucumán and Paraguay. In 1810, after the May Revolution, it was suspended, and in 1813 the Assembly of the Year XIII permanently disbanded it. The Audiencias resided in the city's cabildo building.

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the South American continent's southeastern coast. "Buenos Aires" can be translated as "fair winds" or "good airs", but the former was the meaning intended by the founders in the 16th century, by the use of the original name "Real de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre". The Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, which also includes several Buenos Aires Province districts, constitutes the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas, with a population of around 14 million.

The Governorate of the Río de la Plata (1549−1776) was one of the governorates of the Spanish Empire. It was created in 1549 by Spain in the area around the Río de la Plata.

The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was the last to be organized and also the shortest-lived of the Viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire in America.

History

Audiencia of Buenos Aires during the Governorate

Created by Philip IV by decree (real cédula) in 1661, it covered the governorates of Río de la Plata, Paraguay (established in 1617) and Tucumán. This Audiencia was dissolved in 1671.

Philip IV of Spain was King of Spain and Portugal as Philip III. He ascended the thrones in 1621 and reigned in Spain until his death and in Portugal until 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including such artists as Diego Velázquez, and his rule over Spain during the Thirty Years' War.

A decree is a rule of law usually issued by a head of state, according to certain procedures. It has the force of law. The particular term used for this concept may vary from country to country. The executive orders made by the President of the United States, for example, are decrees. In non-legal English usage, however, the term refers to any authoritarian decision. Documents or archives in the format of royal decrees or farming were issued by rulers.

Long before Spanish conquistadors discovered Paraguay for King Charles V in 1524, semi-nomadic Chaco Indian tribes populated Paraguay’s rugged landscape. Although few relics or physical landmarks remain from these tribes, the fact that nearly 90 percent of Paraguayans still understand the indigenous Guarani language is testament to Paraguay’s Indian lineage. The Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1524 and founded Asunción in 1537. Paraguay’s colonial experience differed from that of neighboring countries, such as Bolivia and Argentina, because it did not have gold and other mineral deposits that the Spanish were searching for. Because of its lack of mineral wealth and its remoteness, Paraguay remained underpopulated and economically underdeveloped. Early governor Domingo Martínez de Irala took an Indian wife and a series of Indian concubines and encouraged other male settlers to do likewise. Intermarriage fused Indian culture with that of the Europeans, creating the mestizo class that dominates Paraguay today. From the beginning, however, Indians retained their Guaraní language, even as Spanish influence was accepted, and embraced, in other aspects of society.

The Recompilation of Laws of the Indies of 1680, Law XIII (Audiencia y Chancilleria Real de la Ciudad de la Trinidad, Puerto de Buenos Ayres) Title XV (De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias) of Book II, compiles the limits and functionaries of this Audiencia.^[1]^[2]

Audiencia of Buenos Aires under the Viceroyalty

Created during the reign of Charles III of Spain (1759–1788) and during the government of viceroy Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo, in 1783, as part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, from 1 August 1776.

Charles III was King of Spain (1759–1788), after ruling Naples as Charles VII and Sicily as Charles V (1734–1759). He was the fifth son of Philip V of Spain, and the eldest son of Philip's second wife, Elisabeth Farnese. A proponent of enlightened absolutism, he succeeded to the Spanish throne on 10 August 1759, upon the death of his half-brother Ferdinand VI, who left no heirs.

Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo was a Spanish colonial politician born in New Spain, and Viceroy of the Río de la Plata.

Its territory included the intendancies mentioned above and the subordinate Governorates of Misiones and Montevideo.

Misiones is a department located in the southern region of Paraguay. Its capital is San Juan Bautista. The eighth of Paraguay's 17 departments, it was created in 1906, then known as the San Ignacio Department, and was not given its present name until 1945. Its current name reflects its status as home to several Jesuit Reductions, or missions.

Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 in an area of 201 square kilometres (78 sq mi). The southernmost capital city in the Americas, Montevideo is situated on the southern coast of the country, on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata.

Related Research Articles

Upper Peru is a denomination for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The denomination originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776. It comprised the governorships of Potosí, La Paz, Cochabamba, Chiquitos, Moxos and Charcas.

Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the second-smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the province has the capital of San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and Catamarca. It is nicknamed El Jardín de la República, as it is a highly productive agricultural area.

The Real Audiencia, or simply Audiencia, was ante court]] in Spain and empire. The name of the institution literally translates as Royal Audience. The additional designation chancillería was applied to the appellate courts in early modern Spain. Each audiencia had oidores.

Banda Oriental, or more fully Banda Oriental del Uruguay, was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay; the modern state of Brazil Rio Grande do Sul; and some of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It was the easternmost territory of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, earlier known as the United Provinces of South America, a union of provinces in the Río de la Plata region of South America, emerged from the May Revolution in 1810 and the Argentine War of Independence of 1810–1818. It comprised most of the former Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata dependencies and had Buenos Aires as its capital.

The name of Argentina, traditionally called the Argentine in English, is ultimately derived from the Latin argentum "silver" and the feminine of the adjectival suffix -īnus, the Latin "argentum" has its origin from the ancient Greek-Hellenic word "argyro(s)", άργυρο(ς) meaning silver. The first use of the name "Argentina" can be traced back to the first voyages made by the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors to the Río de la Plata, in the first years of the 16th century.

The Spanish East Indies were the colonies of the Spanish Empire in Asia and Oceania from 1565 until 1899. At one time or another, they included the Philippines, Marianas, Carolines, Palaos and Guam, as well as parts of Formosa (Taiwan), Sulawesi (Celebes) and the Moluccas (Maluku). The King of Spain traditionally styled himself "King of the East and West Indies".

The Royal Audiencia of Santiago was an Audiencia Real or royal law court that functioned in Santiago de Chile during the Spanish colonial period. This body heard both civil and criminal cases. It was founded during the 17th century and abolished in 1818.

The Real Audiencia of Charcas was a Spanish audiencia with its seat in what is today Bolivia. It was established in 1559 in Ciudad de la Plata de Nuevo Toledo and had jurisdiction over Charcas, Paraguay and the Governorate of the Río de la Plata, today Uruguay and northern Argentina. This court oversaw the incredible silver output of the mines at Potosí. It was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until 1776, when it was transferred to the newly created Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and began to be referred to as Upper Peru.

Don Rafael de Sobremonte y Núñez del Castillo, 3rd Marquis of Sobremonte, third Marquis of Sobremonte, was an aristocrat, military man and Spanish colonial administrator, and Viceroy of the Río de la Plata. He was accused of cowardice by the people of Buenos Aires after escaping the city during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1806.

The Real Audiencia of Guadalajara, was the highest tribunal of the Spanish crown in what is today northern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was created by royal decree on February 13, 1548, and was originally located in Compostela and permanently seated in Guadalajara in 1560. Its president was the chief political and executive officer of the district, subordinated only to the Viceroy.

The Real Audiencia and Chancery of Lima was a superior court in the New World empire of Spain, located in the city of Lima, capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. It was created on November 20, 1542 as was the viceroyalty itself, by the Emperor Charles V. The Audiencia began functioning in 1543 and initially had jurisdiction over the entire viceroyalty—virtually all of Spanish-controlled South America and Panama. Later other audiencias were established in the Viceroyalty. The Audiencia functioned until 1821 when the forces of José de San Martín entered Lima.

The Real Audiencia of Santiago de Guatemala, simply known as the Audiencia of Guatemala or the Audiencia of Los Confines, was a superior court in area of the New World empire of Spain, known as the Kingdom of Guatemala. This area included the current territories of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Mexican state of Chiapas. The Audiencia's presiding officer, the president, was the head of the government of the area. The Audiencia was initially created by decrees of November 20, 1542 and September 13, 1543, and had its seat in Antigua Guatemala.

Colonial Argentina is designated as the period of the History of Argentina when it was an overseas colony of the Spanish Empire. It begins in the precolumbian age of the indigenous peoples of Argentina, with the arrival of the first Spanish conqueror.

The Governorate of Paraguay, originally called the Governorate of Guayrá, was a governorate of the Spanish Empire and part of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Its seat was the city of Asunción; its territory roughly encompassed the modern day country of Paraguay. The Governorate was created in December 16, 1617 by the royal decree of King Philip III as a split of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata and of Paraguay into its respective halves. The Governorate lasted until 1782, after which the massive Viceroyalty of Peru was split, and Paraguay became an intendency (intendencia) of the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

Baltazar García Ros was a Navarrese-Spanish soldier and administrator. He was maestre de campo and interim governor of the Governorate of Paraguay from 1706 to 1707 and governor of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata from 1715 to 1717. During his career, he campaigned against the indigenous Charrua, Yaro, and Bohán people; the Portuguese; and the comunero rebels of Paraguay.

Tribunal Mayor de Cuentas de Buenos Aires was a governmental organism of the control of the public accounts of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

Batallón de Pardos y Morenos was a military unit formed with soldiers of African roots and indigenous natives. This military unit had its baptism of fire during the first English invasion of the Río de la Plata, From 1810 this military unit was part of the Argentine troops that served in the War of Independence.

References

↑ [Ley India "Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias"] Check |url= value (help) (in Spanish). 1680.
↑ Gandia, Eduardo (1935). La anexión de Santa Cruz a la República de Bolivia. Historia de Santa Cruz de la Sierra una nueva república en Sud América (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Talleres gráficos argentinos de L. J. Rosso Doblas. .

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] [Ley India "Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias"] Check |url= value (help) (in Spanish). 1680.

[2] Gandia, Eduardo (1935). La anexión de Santa Cruz a la República de Bolivia. Historia de Santa Cruz de la Sierra una nueva república en Sud América (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Talleres gráficos argentinos de L. J. Rosso Doblas. .