The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata meaning "River of the Silver", also called "Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, in southern South America, was the last to be organized and also the shortest-lived of the Viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. The name "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 May Revolution was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and parts of Brazil. The result was the removal of Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros and the establishment of a local government, the Primera Junta, on May 25.
The British invasions of the River Plate were two unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of areas in the Spanish colony of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata that were located around the Río de la Plata in South America – in present-day Argentina and Uruguay. The invasions took place between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars, when Spain was an ally of Napoleonic France. In Argentine historiography the two successive defeats of the British expeditionary forces are known collectively as the "Reconquista", which is the same term as that used since the 19th century to designate the southward expansion of Christian rule in Spain at the expense of Moorish lands during the Middle Ages.
The Primera Junta or Junta Provisional Gubernativa de las Provincias del Río de la Plata, is the most common name given to the first government of what would eventually become Argentina. It was formed on 25 May 1810, as a result of the events of the May Revolution. The Junta initially only had representatives from Buenos Aires. When it was expanded, as expected, with the addition of representatives from the other cities of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, it became popularly known instead as the Junta Grande or Junta Provisional Gubernativa de Buenos Aires. The Junta operated at El Fuerte, which had been used since 1776 as a residence by the viceroys.
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 Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; and some of the modern state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It was the easternmost territory of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
Mariano Moreno was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, and politician. He played a decisive role in the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina, created after the May Revolution.
Cornelio Judas Tadeo de Saavedra y Rodríguez was an Argentine military officer and statesman. He was instrumental in the May Revolution, the first step of Argentina's independence from Spain, and was appointed president of the Primera Junta.
Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros y de la Torre was a Spanish naval officer born in Cartagena. He took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent and the Battle of Trafalgar, and in the Spanish resistance against Napoleon's invasion in 1808. He was later appointed Viceroy of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, replacing Santiago de Liniers. He disestablished the government Junta of Javier de Elío and quelled the Chuquisaca Revolution and the La Paz revolution. An open cabildo deposed him as viceroy during the May Revolution, but he attempted to be the president of the new government junta, thus retaining power. The popular unrest in Buenos Aires did not allow that, so he resigned. He was banished back to Spain shortly after that, and died in 1829.
Miguel de Azcuénaga was an Argentine brigadier. Educated in Spain, at the University of Seville, Azcuénaga began his military career in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and became a member of the Primera Junta, the first autonomous government of modern Argentina. He was shortly exiled because of his support to the minister Mariano Moreno, and returned to Buenos Aires when the First Triumvirate replaced the Junta. He held several offices since then, most notably being the first Governor intendant of Buenos Aires after the May Revolution. He died at his country house in 1833.
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.
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.
Congressional Plaza is a public park facing the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires. The plaza is part of a 3 hectare open space comprising three adjoining plazas to the east of the Congress building. The Kilometre Zero for all Argentine National Highways is marked on a milestone at the Plaza.
The Liniers Counter-Revolution took place in the Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata after the May Revolution in 1810. The former viceroy, Santiago de Liniers, led an ill-fated counter-revolutionary attempt from the city of Córdoba, and it was quickly frustrated by the patriotic forces of the newly formed Army of the North. Francisco Ortiz de Ocampo, the leader of the Army of the North, captured the leaders and dispatched them to Buenos Aires as prisoners, but, on the orders of the Primera Junta, they were intercepted and executed before arrival.
The Gazeta de Buenos-Ayres (sic) was a newspaper originating in Buenos Aires, United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, in 1810. It was initially used to give publicity to the government actions of the Primera Junta, the first post-colonial Argentine government. In the beginning it was written by Mariano Moreno, with the aid of the priest Manuel Alberti; Manuel Belgrano and Juan José Castelli were also part of its staff.
Alejo Castex was a distinguished lawmaker of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and of the United Provinces, where he was president of the Supreme Court and also a congressman.
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.
Juan de Canaveris was an Piedmontese lawyer and politician, who served during the viceroyalty of Río de la Plata as accounting officer in the Tribunal de Cuentas de Buenos Aires. He had achieved a high social status in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, where he supported the revolutionary movements of May, being the only neighbor of Italian origin who attended in the Open Cabildo, of May 22, 1810.
Juan Ángel Michelena was a Spanish naval officer, he fought against the Royal Navy in Cape St. Vincent, and participated heroically in the defense and reconquest of Buenos Aires against the English invaders. He also served as Acting Governor of the city of Montevideo (Uruguay).
Marie Anne Périchon de Vandeuil (1775-1847), known as la Perichona, was a French noblewoman, who had an active role in the politics of Buenos Aires during the last year's of Spanish rule over the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
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.
