Spanish colonial era

Europeans arrived in the region with the 1502 voyage of Amerigo Vespucci. Spanish navigator Juan Díaz de Solís visited the territory which is now Argentina in 1516. Spain established a permanent colony on the site of Buenos Aires in 1580 as part of the Viceroyalty of Peru; initial settlement was primarily overland from Peru.

The natural port of the Río de la Plata estuary could not be used because all communications and commerce were meant to be made through Lima’s port, a condition that made contraband the usual way of commerce in cities such as Asunción, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo.

The Spanish raised the status of this region by establishing the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (Virreinato del Río de la Plata) in 1776. This short-lived viceroyalty comprised today’s Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, as well as much of present-day Bolivia.

During this era, Buenos Aires became a flourishing port only after the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, as the revenues from the Potosí, the increasing maritime activity in terms of goods rather than precious metals, the production of cattle for exports of leather and other products, and other political reasons, made Buenos Aires gradually become one of the most important commercial centers of the region.

However the viceroyalty was shortlived, due to lack of internal cohesion among the many regions that constituted it and lack of Spanish support. It crashed when Napoleon successfully invaded Spain and overthrew the Spanish monarchy.

The failed British invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1806 and 1807 had also boosted the confidence of the colonists, because they successfully stood up against one of the world powers.

Next: Birth of Argentina

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Spanish colonial era

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