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cattle breeder, and the leader of mounted police forces that attempted to
bring order to the countryside. Instability had abounded in the Banda
Oriental, stirred up by Spanish and Portuguese conflict over control
of the contraband trading port of Colonia. After Spain eliminated the
Portuguese from the Banda Oriental in 1776, the area became a prosper-
ous zone of cattle breeding and illegal trade in Brazilian black tobacco.
The port of Montevideo developed as a commercial auxiliary to Buenos
Aires (although Montevideo had a better harbor and its warehouses over-
flowed with hides and other pastoral products, Buenos Aires retained the
commerce in slaves, mercury, and Bolivian silver).
The rivalry between the two sides of the Río de la Plata estu-
ary continued into the period of revolution. In 1810, the
orientales,
or “Easterners,” as they were known then, preferred to support the
Spanish governor at Montevideo rather than submit to the Creole junta
at Buenos Aires. However, Spanish officials in 1811 raised their tax
demands on the cattlemen—even questioning their property rights—
then invited a Portuguese expeditionary force from Brazil to help fight
Buenos Aires. Although the British finally persuaded the Portuguese to
leave, Artigas turned his fellow landowners against the Spaniards and
raised a gaucho army to besiege Montevideo.
The combined opposition of Spaniards, Portuguese, and the
porteños
forced Artigas and 3,000 followers into a dramatic retreat across the
Uruguay River to Entre Ríos. There he quickly became the champion of
the rural popular classes made up of mulatto and mestizo cowboys, small
cattle raisers, and indigenous groups. In the politics of the region, Artigas
represented federalism. He became the “protector” of the Federal League
of the Río de la Plata, demanding equal status with Buenos Aires and
retaining military and political autonomy within his region.
Federalism during the revolutionary wars rested firmly on a popular
base. Many revolutionary military leaders understood federalism to be
antithetical to old-fashioned Spanish authoritarianism. Those advocat-
ing federalism believed in decentralized political power, with local
elites electing their own representatives. They envisioned a federal
nation consisting of a weak executive and a powerful congress that
would preserve the political prerogatives of the provinces. In the wars
of independence, many local federalists also promoted social reforms in
order to recruit volunteer combatants from the popular classes.
Wherever social authority had eroded to the extent that the popular
classes were able to act on their own agenda, a popular caudillo such as
Artigas emerged to represent their interests. The caudillo himself might
have been a landowner, as was Artigas, but his followers determined the
