Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
12
INDEPENDENCE &
WARFARE
All revolutions are political as w ell as eco-
nomic, and Argentina's was no ex ception.
By the late 1700s, B uenos Air es was the
preeminent por t within the r egion, and
cattle hides became a major component of
the economy . The trade, ho wever, was
heavily taxed and strictly r egulated by the
Spanish crown, so smuggling and cir cum-
venting became the norm, along with
illicit trade with the B ritish. D owntown
Buenos Air es is still riddled with under-
ground tunnels. M any of them opened
directly to what had been the por t ar ea
along the Río de la Plata, and cargo passed
untaxed thr ough them during this time
period. To this day, it is not clear whether
the Jesuits may have built them, ev en far-
ther back, as secr et passage ways. I n any
case, the merchants' desire to end taxation
began to foment, feeding a gr eater driv e
for overall political independence.
Indirect trade was not enough for the
the national her o of Argentina, and later
by S imón Bolív ar, fr om 1820 to 1824.
With Lord George Canning as their main
representative, Britain officially recognized
Argentina's independence. Argentina 's
relationship with this E uropean world
power, however, would remain tenuous.
Spain's defeat, ho wever, did not mean
that Argentina had peace. Boundaries and
the po wer str ucture w ere still unclear .
Strongmen with priv ate armies, called
caudillos,
controlled remote regions, as was
the case in other ar eas of S outh America
after independence. E ven with a national
constitution, the territory that now consti-
tutes modern Argentina was fr equently
disunited until 1860. The national debate
included the question of whether B uenos
Aires would be the new capital.
The internal and external struggles were
brutal, changing both the physical and
ethnic str ucture of the countr y. In 1864,
the War of the Triple Alliance (also known
as the Paraguayan War), broke out between
Paraguay and an alliance of Argentina,
Brazil, and Uruguay. Paraguayan president
Francisco Solano López saw himself as an
emperor and hoped to give the country an
Atlantic por t. The war, which dev astated
Paraguay, lasted 6 y ears, and was among
the bloodiest fighting ev
2
British. S ensing that the S panish E mpire
was weakening, they attacked Buenos Aires
in 1806 and 1807. The battles were known
as the Reconquista and the D efensa. These
battles ar e memorializ ed in the names of
the streets of Buenos Aires that feed into the
Plaza de M ayo, which w ere the r outes the
Argentine armies used to oust the B ritish.
Able to defend themselv es without the aid
of Spain, many Argentine-born E uropeans
began to debate the idea of self-government
in Buenos Aires.
The R evolution of B uenos Air es was
declared on M ay 25, 1810, mar king the
beginnings of the independence mo ve-
ment. On July 9, 1816 (N ueve de J ulio),
Buenos Air es officially declar ed its inde-
pendence fr om S pain, under the name
United P rovinces of the Río de la P lata.
Several y ears of har d fighting follo wed
before the Argentines defeated the Spanish
in northern Argentina, and the Europeans
remained a threat until Perú was liberated
by General José de San Martín, considered
er on S outh
American soil.
Of the thr ee countries fighting P ara-
guay, Argentina r ecovered fr om the war
quickest, and it ser ved as an impetus for
unification. From this point on, Argentina
was the most po werful and w ealthiest
country on the continent—and r emained
so for nearly 80 years.
Modern Argentine historians dispute
this subplot, but the Argentine army
fought its battles b y placing black soldiers
at the fr ont lines, wher e they faced im-
mediate slaughter, ahead of white soldiers.
For this reason, Argentina, unlike much of
South America, is home to fe w descen-
dants of slaves brought from Africa.
