Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
invade the city but were once again, fought off
by volunteers, including women and children
who, perched on roof tops, doused them with
boiling water.
Independence
The successful defense of the city by locals gave
impetus to a movement that had been silently
growing for several years - independence from
Spain. The city's
criollo
leadership was fed up
with restrictions on trade that had favored the
Spanish and with being forced to play a neglible
role in the growth of a nation. As elsewhere in
Latin America, large landowners and clergy
often brought over from Spain formed the city's
power base, effectively preventing the
criollos
from having any real influence.
Emboldened, the
criollos
formed a local council
and voted to unseat the Spanish Viceroy. The
council formed to rule was composed of Argen-
tina's finest intellectuals, including Bernardino
Rivadavia, Manuel Belgrano and Mariano
Moreno. They wanted to create a nation based
on European ideas of democracy and liberal-
ism. Naturally, the establishment vehemently
opposed any changes in the status quo.
Each has an
important street
named in his
honor in down-
town Buenos
Aires.
On May 25, 1810 the council voted to dissolve
the Viceroyalty and form a local government.
But the definitive break from Spain did not
occur until 1816. Those intervening six years
were filled with political anarchy and civil war
sparked by the conflicts of interest among the
various factions which arose from the dissolu-
