Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
2
THE COLONIAL RÍO
DE LA PLATA
Many Argentines have neglected their colonial past. The reasons
are fairly evident: Subsequent economic modernization and
immigration radically changed the outward appearances of the nation,
and the colonial past is simply not as visible in Buenos Aires as in other
Latin American capitals such as Lima or Mexico City. Yet the colonial
period established many more fundamental elements of Argentine life
and society than modern residents may care to admit.
Certainly, in the colonial legacy of the Río de la Plata (a region encom-
passing modern-day Paraguay and Uruguay as well as Argentina), one can
find ample evidence of official corruption as well as hostility and warfare
between the native peoples and the European settlers. This racial and
cultural conflict persisted without solution for more than three centuries.
There are also examples of political conflict within the Spanish colonial
community. In terms of social inequality, the colonial period was forma-
tive. Spaniards marginalized the nonwhite laborers and exploited them
in the interest of economic development. The import of African slaves
contributed a mighty pillar to the edifice of a fundamentally inequitable
social order.
Yet, a historian would be remiss not to mention the remarkable
successes and vitality of colonial Argentina. The region had not been
blessed with readily disposable resources, such as lodes of silver ore and
large numbers of sedentary native agriculturists, features that had made
Mexico and Peru the centers of the Spanish Empire. Argentina was a
fringe area. It depended on colonial activities elsewhere, especially in
the silver mining region of today's Bolivia. Nonetheless, the settlers
successfully developed Argentina into a prosperous and productive
colony, despite the many obstacles. By the time the long colonial period
came to a close, Argentina had become one of the jewels of the Spanish
Empire.
