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Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata

The last viceroyalty Spain created (1776), ruled from Buenos Aires to guard the southern Atlantic and the silver road from Potosi.

The May Revolution of 1810 in Buenos Aires shattered it; effectively dissolved by 1814, it fragmented into Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia (formal abolition 1825).

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Borders over time

The atlas holds 2 border frames for Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata — the shape you scrub through changes in 1776 · 1810.

Moments from the Chronicle

• 1776 Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata created By royal decree of 1 August 1776 Spain carved its fourth and last South American viceroyalty out of southern Peru, with Buenos Aires as capital, to defend the Atlantic and the Potosi silver route.
• 1814 Rio de la Plata viceroyalty dissolves With Paraguay independent, Upper Peru back under royalist Peru, and Montevideo fallen to the patriots in June 1814, the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata effectively ceased to exist (though formally abolished only in 1825).

Further reading

• A Brief History of Argentina Jonathan C. Brown · 2003

  Covers the 1776 viceroyalty centered on Buenos Aires and its fragmentation after the May Revolution.

• Colonial Latin America Mark A. Burkholder & Lyman L. Johnson · 1990

  Places the last Spanish viceroyalty in the wider colonial system (broad context).

Sources

• Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata — Wikipedia