Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
16th-century engraving showing the nascent settlement of Buenos Aires on the banks of Río de la Plata
The Growth of Buenos Aires
In the late 16th century, Spain,
threatened by Portuguese ambitions
in the region, renewed efforts to settle
eastern Argentina, and in 1580 an
expeditionary force re-established the
port of Buenos Aires. However, in an
empire that coveted gold and silver,
the new port offered neither and for
decades it languished as a colonial
backwater. Prosperity came in the 17th
century with the smuggling of silver from
Upper Peru and then the appearance of
Argentina's first estancias (ranches) - the
few cattle left behind by Mendoza's
aborted expedition had multiplied into
thousands on the fertile Pampas.
Apart from consolidating their
empire, Spain's main aim was also to
spread Roman Catholicism. Jesuits led
the effort, founding several missions
from 1610 onwards. Exempt from tax-
ation, the missions developed lucrative
plantations of yerba
mate,
used for
infusions, and tobacco.
Reform and Discontent
The War of the Spanish Succession (1702-
1713) brought the Bourbon dynasty to the
Spanish throne and also major changes in
Crown policy. In 1768 Spain expelled the
Jesuits from its colonies: their protection
from taxation represented lost revenue.
In 1776, it created the new Viceroyalty of
the Río de la Plata, declaring Buenos Aires
capital of a territory encompassing
Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Upper
Peru. The effect was stunning: Buenos
Aires's population boomed with immigrant
merchants as it transformed itself into a
dynamic commercial center. Interior cities
expanded as the capital became an
important market for their produce,
shipping tobacco and yerba mate from the
northeast, wine from the Cuyo region, and
cotton from the northwest.
The commercial ascendancy of the new
viceroyalty led to strict Crown enforcement
of its monopoly over the trading system.
This eventually created tensions between
criollos
, American-born Spanish who were
1553-82
Expeditions
establish towns in the
northwest and Cuyo
area
1595
Sale of African
slaves begins in
Buenos Aires
1630-37
War between the Spanish
and Diaguita Indians
1550
1590
1630
1670
Ruins of the San
Ignacio Miní
mission
1610
First Jesuit missions
established in the
northeast
1580
Spanish rebuild
settlement of Buenos Aires
Jesuit seal
