Banda Oriental, or more fully Banda Oriental del Uruguay (Eastern Bank), was the name of the
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
n territories east of the
Uruguay River
The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...
and north of
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and f ...
that comprise the modern nation of
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
; the modern state of
Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
; and some of the modern state of
Santa Catarina, Brazil. It was the easternmost territory of the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called " Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, i ...
.
After decades of disputes over the territories, the 1777
First Treaty of San Ildefonso
The First Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed on 1 October 1777 between Spain and Portugal. It settled long-running territorial disputes between the two kingdoms' possessions in South America, primarily in the Río de la Plata region.
Background
...
settled the division between the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
and the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
: the southern part was to be held by the Spanish
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called " Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, i ...
and the northern territories by the Portuguese ''Capitania de São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul'' ( en, Captaincy of Saint Peter of the Southern Río Grande).
The Banda Oriental was not a separate administrative unit until the ''de facto'' creation of the Provincia Oriental ( en, Eastern Province) by
José Gervasio Artigas
José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a political leader, military general, statesman and national hero of Uruguay and the broader Río de la Plata region.
He fought in the Latin American wars of in ...
in 1813 and the subsequent decree of the
of 7 March 1814, which formally established the ''Gobernación Intendencia Oriental del Río de la Plata'' ( en, Governorship-Intendency East of the Río de la Plata), making it a constituent part of the
United Provinces of South America.
Indigenous tribes and the 16th century
Before the arrival of the Spanish and the Portuguese, several tribes of indigenous people were living in this area as nomads. The principal ones were the
Charrúas, the Chanás, the Guayanas and the
Guaraníes.
Juan Díaz de Solís
Juan Díaz de Solís ( – 20 January 1516) was a 16th-century navigator and explorer. He is also said to be the first European to land on what is now modern day Uruguay.
Biography
His origins are disputed. One document records him as a Portuguese ...
discovered this territory in 1516. During the conquest of the Río de la Plata area by the "Adelantados" (1535–1590), the main concern was to reach the interior in search of precious metals, so this region remained mostly ignored.
The first ephemeral Spanish attempts to start populated centres in this territory happened between 1527 and 1577. These were the ''Fortín de San Lázaro'' (actual
Carmelo
Carmelo is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Carmelo Anthony (born 1984), American basketball player
* Carmelo Antrone Lee (born 1977), Puerto Rican basketball player
* Carmelo Bene (1937-2002), Italian director, actor, phi ...
) and the ''Puerto de San Salvador'' (1527–1530) by Sebastián Gaboto, the ''Real de San Juan'' (1542–1553) and the ''Real de San Gabriel y Ciudad de San Salvador'' (1573–1577) by Juan Ortiz de Zárate.
In 1542 the
Crown of Castile established the
Viceroyalty of Peru
The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...
, a colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima. The Banda Oriental was therefore officially under the administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru from 1542 up to 1776. Although the
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas, ; pt, Tratado de Tordesilhas . signed in Tordesillas, Spain on 7 June 1494, and authenticated in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Em ...
(1494) limited the Portuguese colonies to the east of the 46th meridian, in practice, the Portuguese were free to advance in most of the territory that was not colonized by the Spanish, which included most of the Banda Oriental.
17th century
In the early 17th century the territory was called ''Banda Charrúa'', later ''Otra Banda'' ("other shore"), and then ''Banda Oriental''.
El País newspaper: Banda Charrúa, not Banda Oriental
Later the name was extended to encompass Entre Ríos, to describe the territories in those latitudes that lead to the ''Mar del Nord'' (Atlantic Ocean). The area north of the Banda Oriental was the territory called by the Guaraní word ''Mbiaza'' or ''Ibiazá'', rendered in Spanish as ''La Vera''.
In 1618, during the governance of Hernando Arias de Saavedra
Hernando Arias de Saavedra (September 10, 1561 – 1634), commonly known as Hernandarias, was a soldier and politician of Spanish Criollo peoples, criollo ancestry. He was the first person born in the Americas to become a governor of a European c ...
(commonly known as Hernandarias), the Banda Oriental was integrated into the Spanish colonial Governorate of the Río de la Plata
The Governorate of the Río de la Plata (1549−1776) ( es, Gobernación del Río de la Plata, links=no, ) was one of the governorates of the Spanish Empire. It was created in 1549 by Spain in the area around the Río de la Plata.
It was at fir ...
. Following the recommendation of the King of Spain, Hernandarias introduced a large amount of cattle in the Banda Oriental, an act which has played a decisive role in the future of the economy of the area. Starting around 1626, fathers of the Franciscan order attempted to establish reductions
Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such red ...
south of Río Negro. Some of them were short-lived missions like the ''San Francisco de los Olivares de los Charrúas'', the ''San Antonio de los Chanáes'' and the ''San Juan de Céspedes''. In contrast, the one of ''Santo Domingo Soriano'', founded with Charrúas and Chanáes in Entre Ríos, Argentina, in 1664, was moved on the Isle of Vizcaíno, on the mouth of Río Negro and then in 1718 it was moved again at its present location in the modern Soriano Department
Soriano () is a department of Uruguay. Its capital is Mercedes. It is located on the west of the country, south of Río Negro Department, north of Colonia Department and west of Flores Department. Its western border is the Río Uruguay, separat ...
.[
Another notable development came from the reductions of the ''Compañía de Jesús'' further north the Uruguay River, where indigenous Guaraníes and Tapes were being kidnapped from the missions by the ''bandeirantes'' to be used as slaves in ]São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
. To prevent this, in 1631, father Antonio Ruiz de Montoya migrated with 12,000 Guaraníes further east, in the modern State of Paraná
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of Brazil, while in 1636, father Nicolás del Techo migrated with another 12,000 Tapes towards the modern Rio Grande do Sul, which constituted the north part of the Banda Oriental of the times.[
Although Spain claimed the territory of the Banda Oriental, based on the Treaty of Tordesillas, it did not officially belong to the Spanish Crown during the 17th century. The Portuguese, being able to advance without resistance in the sparsely populated territory, founded the city ]Colonia del Sacramento
Colonia del Sacramento (; pt, Colónia do Sacramento) is a city in southwestern Uruguay, by the Río de la Plata, facing Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is one of the oldest towns in Uruguay and capital of the Colonia Department. It has a population ...
on the banks of Rio de la Plata, across from Buenos Aires, in 1680. Apart from being seen as an evidence that the Portuguese intended to occupy all of the territory, this port in the mouth of the Uruguay River
The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...
also permitted the Portuguese ships to carry out illegal trade evading Spanish taxation. Spain took the city twice, in 1681 and in 1705, but had to give it back by the Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne of ...
of 1713.
18th century
The following years saw an expansion of the Portuguese settlements around Colonia del Sacramento, until 1723, when Field Marshal Manuel de Freitas da Fonseca of Portugal built the Montevieu fort. As a reaction, on 22 January 1724 a Spanish expedition was sent from Buenos Aires, organized by the Governor of Río de la Plata, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, who forced the Portuguese to abandon the location and founded and fortified Montevideo
Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern ...
. The Spanish started populating the city, initially with six families moving in from Buenos Aires and soon thereafter by families arriving from the Canary Islands who were called by the locals "gauchos" or "canarios".
In this way Montevideo became the center of Spanish control over the Banda Oriental. Its government was carried out by the Cabildo, in which criollos (locally born people of pure or mostly Spanish ancestry) could participate. In 1750, the office of Governor of Montevideo was created, with jurisdiction in the southern departments of the modern Uruguay. The rest of the territories of the modern Uruguay, along with part of the modern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul remained under the jurisdiction of the Superintendencia de Buenos Aires, while another part of the territory of the Banda Oriental at the northwest was governed by the authorities of the Missions.
The Portuguese, having lost the possibility of building a fort in Montevideo, established the Fort of San Miguel in 1737 and then the much larger Fortaleza de Santa Teresa in 1762 on the Atlantic coast of the current Rocha Department
Rocha () is a department in the east of Uruguay. Its capital is the city of Rocha. It borders Maldonado Department to its west, Lavalleja Department to its northwest, Treinta y Tres Department to its north, while to its northeast Laguna Merí ...
, in order to keep a route open for their southward advances into the sparsely populated territories of the Banda Oriental.
The Treaty of Madrid (13 January 1750)
The Spanish–Portuguese treaty of 1750 or Treaty of Madrid was a document signed in the Spanish capital by Ferdinand VI of Spain and John V of Portugal on 13 January 1750.
The agreement aimed to end armed conflict over a border dispute betwee ...
between the kings of Spain and Portugal, allowed further expansion of the Portuguese Empire west of the 46th meridian. The treaty also stipulated that Spain would receive Colonia del Sacramento and Portugal would receive the Misiones Orientales
The Misiones Orientales (, ) or Sete Povos das Missões/Siete Pueblos de las Misiones (, ) is a historic region in South America, in present-day Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost State of Brazil.
Together with present-day Misiones Province ...
. This, however, resulted in the Guaraní War (1754–1756), after which the Treaty of El Pardo (1761)
The Treaty of El Pardo was signed on 12 February 1761 between representatives of the Spanish and Portuguese empires.
Based on the terms of the treaty, all aspects of the Treaty of Madrid in 1750 were repealed. The reasons for this were the diffic ...
repealed all aspects of the previous treaty.
Spanish–Portuguese Wars
The First Cevallos expedition was a military action between September 1762 and April 1763, by the Spanish forces led by Don Pedro Antonio de Cevallos, Governor of Buenos Aires, against the Portuguese in the Banda Oriental as part of the Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754– ...
. The Portuguese territories of Colonia del Sacramento were conquered by the Spanish and the Anglo-Portuguese forces were defeated and forced to surrender and retreat. Colonia del Sacramento and the nearby territories came under Spanish control until the Treaty of Paris (1763), by which all the territory conquered by the first Cevallos expedition was given back to Portugal. Santa Tecla, San Miguel, Santa Teresa and Rio Grande de São Pedro, however, remained in Spanish hands, which became the cause of further Portuguese attacks.
At the conclusion of the Spanish–Portuguese War of 1776-1777, by the First Treaty of San Ildefonso
The First Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed on 1 October 1777 between Spain and Portugal. It settled long-running territorial disputes between the two kingdoms' possessions in South America, primarily in the Río de la Plata region.
Background
...
, Spain returned the island of Santa Catarina to Portugal and recognized Rio Grande de São Pedro as Portuguese territory, but kept the Colonia del Sacramento, along with the Banda Oriental, and the Misiones Orientales. In this way the Banda Oriental became integrated into the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata (1776–1814). The line that separated the Spanish from the Portuguese territories, however, was a sinuous one, which lacking any natural formations to define it precisely, underwent various changes during the next decades.
In 1796, the body of the Blandengues was formed to protect the ranchers and peasants from vagrancy, theft and contraband. The government, lacking resources, offered to pardon any outlaws that would join this body, and they in turn brought also their horses into it.
19th century
A result of the outbreak of war between Britain and Spain in Europe was the British invasions of the River Plate
The British invasions of the River Plate were two unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of areas in the Spanish colony of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata that were located around the Río de la Plata in South America – in p ...
(1806–1807). The invasions occurred in two phases. A detachment of the British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...
occupied Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...
for 46 days in 1806 before being expelled. On 3 February 1807, during the Battle of Montevideo, the British captured the city and occupied it for half a year. They had to abandon it after their defeat in the Second Battle of Buenos Aires and the armistice of 12 August 1807. The sociopolitical effects of the British invasions have been among the causes of the May Revolution
The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terr ...
of 25 May 1810.
During the British occupation of Montevideo, José Gervasio Artigas
José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a political leader, military general, statesman and national hero of Uruguay and the broader Río de la Plata region.
He fought in the Latin American wars of in ...
, who had joined the body of Blandengues since 1797, organized groups of '' gauchos'' and engaged in a guerrilla war
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...
against the British. As a result, he was promoted to Captain of the Blandengues by the Spanish in 1809. However, when the Primera Junta
The Primera Junta ( en, First Junta) or ''Junta Provisional Gubernativa de las Provincias del Río de la Plata'' (''Provisional Governing Junta of the Provinces of the Río de la Plata''), is the most common name given to the first government of ...
was proclaimed in Buenos Aires, Artigas abandoned the ranks of the Spanish and joined the revolution, which promoted him to Colonel. With little help from Buenos Aires, he was sent to organize a rebellion in the Banda Oriental, where Montevideo was now the new capital of the viceroyalty, with Francisco Javier de Elío as the new viceroy.
The Battle of Las Piedras (1811) was the decisive defeat of Elío by land, although he was still keeping Montevideo supported by naval forces. At this point, Elío allied himself with Brazilian forces and requested their intervention in the conflict. Fearing defeat, Buenos Aires signed a truce with Elío, recognizing him as the ruler of the Banda Oriental and half of Entre Ríos. Considering this a treacherous move, Artigas abandoned the blockade over Montevideo and moved to Entre Rios with his supporters.
Provincia Oriental (1813–1817)
* Second Banda Oriental campaign
* Liga Federal
Provincia Cisplatina (1817–1828)
The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was a pluricontinental monarchy formed by the elevation of the Portuguese colony named State of Brazil to the status of a kingdom and by the simultaneous union of that Kingdom of Brazil ...
conquered
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms.
Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
the southern part in 1817 and renamed it the Província Cisplatina. By the mid-1820s, the Thirty-Three Orientals
The ''Treinta y Tres Orientales'' (English: Thirty-Three Orientals or Thirty-Three Easterners) was a militant revolutionary group led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja and Manuel Oribe against the Empire of Brazil. Their actions culminated in the foun ...
led a revolution against its successor state (the Brazilian Empire
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom ...
), igniting the Cisplatine War
The Cisplatine War (), also known as the Argentine-Brazilian War () or, in Argentine and Uruguayan historiography, as the Brazil War (''Guerra del Brasil''), the War against the Empire of Brazil (''Guerra contra el Imperio del Brasil'') or t ...
. At its conclusion, in 1828, the former Provincia Oriental was declared an independent state, Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, by the Treaty of Montevideo. Uruguaiana
Uruguaiana is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located on the eastern shore of the Uruguay River
bordering Argentina. Opposite to Uruguaiana, and joined to it by a road/railway bridge, lies the Argentine city of ...
remained with Brazil.
The northern part, between the years of 1836 and 1845, formed a full independent republic, named as Riograndense Republic. This territory was reconquered by the Brazilian Empire
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom ...
in the Ragamuffin War
The Ragamuffin War (Portuguese: ''Guerra dos Farrapos'' or ''Revolução Farroupilha'') was a Republican uprising that began in southern Brazil, in the province (current state) of Rio Grande do Sul in 1835. The rebels were led by generals Ben ...
, and rejoined the empire under the Poncho Verde Treaty. It is today the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul.
See also
*History of Uruguay
The history of Uruguay comprises different periods: the pre-Columbian time or early history (up to the 16th century), the Colonial Period (1516–1811), the Period of Nation-Building (1811–1830), and the history of Uruguay as an independent co ...
References
Further reading
* Mulhall, Michael George, and Edward T. Mulhall. ''Handbook of the River Plate: Comprising Buenos Ayres, the Upper Provinces, Banda Oriental, Paraguay'' (2 vol. 1869
online
* Salvatore, Ricardo, and Jonathan C. Browen. "Trade And Proletarianization In Late Colonial Banda Oriental: Evidence From The Estancia De Las Vacas, 1791-1805," ''Hispanic American Historical Review'' (1987) 67#3 pp 431–459
in JSTOR
* Sarreal, Julia. "Disorder, Wild Cattle, and a New Role for the Missions: The Banda Oriental, 1776–1786." ''The Americas'' (2011) 67#4 pp: 517–545
* Historia 2 - Mundo, América Latina y Uruguay Siglo XV al XIX, Ediciones Santillana Uruguay,
External links
{{Uruguay topics
*
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
18th century in Uruguay
19th century in Uruguay
1777 establishments in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
1814 disestablishments in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata