Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Independence
When Napoleon conquered Spain and put his brother on the throne in 1808, Buenos Aires
became further estranged from Madrid and finally declared its independence on May 25,
1810.
Six years later, on July 9, 1816, outlying areas of the viceroyalty also broke with Spain
and founded the United Provinces of the River Plate. Almost immediately a power struggle
arose between Buenos Aires and the provincial strongmen: the Federalist landowners of the
interior provinces were concerned with preserving their autonomy, while the Unitarist busi-
nessmen of Buenos Aires tried to consolidate power in the city with an outward orientation
toward overseas commerce and European ideas. Some of the interior provinces decided to
go their own way, forming Paraguay in 1814, Bolivia in 1825 and Uruguay in 1828.
After more than a decade of violence and uncertainty, Juan Manuel de Rosas become
governor of Buenos Aires in 1829. Although he swore that he was a Federalist, Rosas was
more of an opportunist - a Federalist when it suited him and a Unitarist once he controlled
the city. He required that all international trade be funneled through Buenos Aires rather
than proceeding directly to the provinces, and he set ominous political precedents, creating
the
mazorca
(his ruthless political police) and institutionalizing torture.
One of the best-known contemporary accounts of postindependence Argentina is Domingo
Faustino Sarmiento's
Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants
(1868). Also superb is his
seminal classic,
Facundo, Or Civilization and Barbarism
(1845).
