Misplaced Pages

#30969

77-789: Inspired and led by José Gervasio Artigas , it proclaimed independence from the Spanish Crown in 1815 and sent provincial delegates to the Congress of Tucumán with instructions regarding the nonnegotiable objective of declaring full independence for the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and establishing a confederation of provinces, all of them on equal footing and the government of each being directly accountable to its peoples by direct democratic means of government. The delegates from these provinces were rejected on formalities from

154-660: A diminished Directorial army, ending the centralized government of the United Provinces and establishing a federal agreement with Buenos Aires Province . The league was dissolved after its constituent provinces rejoined the United Provinces, now under a federal provisional organisation, and after the invasion of the Banda Oriental by the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves and

231-679: A guerrilla war against the British. The British tried to capture Buenos Aires a second time. They were defeated by the local troops and returned Montevideo to Spanish control as part of the terms of capitulation. Artigas was promoted to captain in 1809. The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment and the outbreak of the Peninsular War (from 1807 to 1814) in Spain, along with the capture of King Ferdinand VII , generated political turbulence all across

308-597: A province. Artigas was driven into Paraguay , where he lived in exile until his death in 1850. His remains were re-interred at the Central Cemetery of Montevideo in 1855, and in 1977 they were transferred to the Artigas Mausoleum . Artigas was born in Montevideo on June 19, 1764. His grandparents were from Zaragoza , Buenos Aires and Tenerife ( Canary Islands ). His grandparents fought in

385-461: A rebellion at the Banda Oriental . This was the last time Artigas saw the city of Buenos Aires. The alliance between Artigas and the Argentines sustained initial successes, particularly in the late 1810 to mid-1811. Montevideo had financial problems, however, and the measures taken by Elío to maintain the royalist armies were highly unpopular in the countryside. This allowed Artigas to channel

462-407: A strong friendship with Fernando Otorgues , who would work with him in later years. At the age of 12, he moved to the countryside and worked on his family's farms. His contact with the customs and perspectives of gauchos and Indians made a great impression on him. Once he had come of age, he distanced himself from his parents and became involved in cattle smuggling. This made him a wanted man among

539-744: A strong influence on Artigas. Other Hispanic independence leaders, however, were more influenced by the French Revolution and the authors of France. Some historians such as Eugenio Petit Muñoz and Ariosto González, have shown that some paragraphs of the Artiguist documents were taken directly from "The Independence of the Mainland Justified by Thomas Paine, Thirty Years Ago" published by Paine in Philadelphia in 1811 and translated immediately into Spanish, and "Concise History of

616-704: A treacherous move, Artigas abandoned the blockade over Montevideo and moved to Entre Rios with his supporters. The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves conquered the southern part in 1817 and renamed it the Província Cisplatina . By the mid-1820s, the Thirty-Three Orientals led a revolution against its successor state (the Brazilian Empire ), igniting the Cisplatine War . At its conclusion, in 1828,

693-751: Is a street named in honor of Jose Artigas in New Delhi , India . There is a bust of Artigas and an abstract sculpture representing his flag in Avenida do Uruguai, Lisbon, Portugal. There is an order of Merit, the Order of Military Merit of the Companions of Artigas , founded in 1980. There is one in Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States, April 19, 2013. Banda Oriental Banda Oriental , or more fully Banda Oriental del Río Uruguay (Eastern Bank ),

770-805: Is inspired by the Flag of Artigas. Additionally, an extinct giant rodent genus , whose fossils were first found in San José Department , was named Josephoartigasia after José Artigas. There is also a monument and square dedicated to Artigas in Rome, in the Villa Borghese park, Italy . There is a monument in honor of José Artigas in Bucharest , Romania . There is a monument in honor of José Artigas in Sofia , Bulgaria . Jose Artigas Marg

847-594: Is known as the Oriental exodus . The Supreme Director Gervasio Antonio de Posadas offered a reward of $ 6.000 for the capture of Artigas, dead or alive. The only consequence of this action was increased resentment of the Orientals towards Buenos Aires. Several royalist leaders, such as Vigodet or Pezuela, sought an alliance with Artigas against Buenos Aires, but he rejected them: " I may not be sold, nor do I want more reward for my efforts than to see my nation free from

SECTION 10

#1732772422031

924-791: Is regarded as a national hero in Uruguay and the father of Uruguayan nationhood. Born in Montevideo , Artigas enlisted in the Spanish military in 1797 and fought the British in the Anglo-Spanish War . At the outbreak of the Spanish-American wars of independence , Artigas supported the Primera Junta in Buenos Aires against Spain. He defeated the Spanish royalists at Las Piedras and laid siege to Montevideo, but

1001-1259: The Colorado or the Blanco party, while being reviled by the other side. As such, Artigas has been the namesake of numerous places, vessels, etc. throughout Uruguayan history , particularly during periods of peace and reunification between the parties. Artigas's birthday (19 June) is celebrated as a national holiday in Uruguay. Statues of José Artigas stand on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.; on 6th Avenue in Spring Street Park , New York; in Plaza Artigas Salto, Uruguay ; in Caracas , Venezuela ; in Athens , Greece ; in Mexico City ; in Newark, New Jersey ; in Quito, Ecuador as well as in

1078-834: The Eastern Bank . At the beginning of April he returned to his country with approximately 180 men provided by the Government of Buenos Aires; on April 11, he issued the Mercedes Proclamation, assumed control of the revolution and on May 18 defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Las Piedras . He then began the siege of Montevideo and was acclaimed as The First Chief of the "Orientals" (the first names of current Uruguay being Banda Oriental (Eastern Bank) and later Provincia Oriental (Eastern Province), Uruguayans thus refer to themselves as 'Orientales'). He soon turned against

1155-479: The Eastern Province (with tacit complicity from Buenos Aires), with the intention of destroying Artigas and his revolution. The Portuguese forces, led by Carlos Frederico Lecor , captured Artigas and his deputies and occupied Montevideo on 20 January 1817, but the struggle continued for three years in the countryside. Infuriated by Buenos Aires's passivity, Artigas declared war on Buenos Aires while he

1232-687: The Fortín de San Lázaro (actual Carmelo ) 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 , a colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from

1309-660: The Provincia Oriental (English: Eastern Province ) by José Gervasio Artigas in 1813 and the subsequent decree of the Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata of 7 March 1814, which formally established the Gobernación Intendencia Oriental del Río de la Plata (English: Governorship-Intendency East of the Río de la Plata ), making it a constituent part of the United Provinces of South America . Before

1386-609: The Spanish Empire . The absence of the king from the throne (replaced by the French Joseph Bonaparte ) and the new ideas of the Enlightenment sparked the Spanish-American wars of independence , between patriots (who wanted to establish republics or constitutional monarchies) and royalists (who wanted to keep an absolute monarchy). Artigas, who thought that the gauchos were not treated well, supported

1463-600: The Supreme Directorship at the same time that he faced the Portuguese with armies that were being decimated by successive defeats. Without resources and without suitable men for the struggle, Artigas finally retreated to Entre Ríos Province, across the Uruguay River . In 1820, governors Francisco Ramírez and Estanislao López , of Entre Ríos and Santa Fe provinces respectively, both members of

1540-583: The Treaty of El Pardo (1761) repealed all aspects of the previous treaty. 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 Portuguese territories of Colonia del Sacramento were conquered by

1617-512: The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. 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

SECTION 20

#1732772422031

1694-598: The Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata (1776–1814). The line that separated the Spanish from the Portuguese territories, however, was a sinuous one, lacking any natural formations to define it precisely, and 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. A result of

1771-648: The War of the Spanish Succession and moved to the Americas to escape from poverty, settling in Buenos Aires in 1716. Artigas was the son of Martín José Artigas and Francisca Antonia Arnal, who came from a wealthy family. His parents enrolled him in the Colegio de San Bernardino , to pursue religious studies, but Artigas refused to submit to the school's strict discipline. Before he left the school, he developed

1848-647: The outbreak of war between Britain and Spain in Europe was the British invasions of the River Plate (1806–1807). The invasions occurred in two phases. A detachment of the British Army occupied Buenos Aires 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

1925-646: The Argentine secretary of war, wrote at the Operations plan that Artigas would be a decisive ally against the royalists in Montevideo, and called him for an interview. However, by the time Artigas arrived in Buenos Aires, Moreno had already left the government. He was still welcomed, but received little help. He was promoted to colonel and received some weapons, money and 150 men, very little to organize

2002-569: The Cabildo, in which criollos (locally born people of pure or mostly Spanish ancestry) could participate. In 1750, the office of the Governor of Montevideo was created, with jurisdiction in the southern departments of modern Uruguay. The rest of the territories of 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

2079-485: The Congress that declared the independence of the United Provinces of South America on July 9, 1816. The Federal League confronted the centralist governments, as well as the interests of the economic and cultural elite of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, in what later amounted to a civil war . In 1820, the federalist governors of Santa Fe and Entre Ríos provinces, Estanislao López and Francisco Ramírez , defeated

2156-716: The Federal League, managed to end victorious the struggle against the centralism of Buenos Aires, defeating a diminished Supreme Directorship army at the Battle of Cepeda and signing a federal agreement with Buenos Aires Province . As these Provinces, and Corrientes Province, rejoined the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata , the Federal League effectively came to an end as a separate political entity. The Treaty of Pilar resulted unacceptable to Artigas so he ordered Ramírez and López to renounce it, but they disobeyed. Because of this, Artigas entered into conflict with his former ally Governor Francisco Ramírez, who defeated

2233-782: The Franciscan order attempted to establish reductions 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

2310-432: The French authors of the Enlightenment as Jean-Jacques Rousseau . Some books Artigas read in his teens include Paine's Common Sense and Rousseau's The Social Contract. The first "Caudillo" or Founding Father of the La Plata territory seems to be inspired more in the British enlightenment than from the French. The ideology of Artigas is partially taken from U.S. legal texts. The American political liberalism exerted

2387-440: The Montevidean naval blockade of Buenos Aires. Fearing a complete defeat, Buenos Aires signed a truce with Elío, recognizing him as the ruler of the Banda Oriental and half of Entre Ríos. Artigas felt the truce to be treasonous. He broke relations with the city, and lifted the blockade over Montevideo. Artigas left the Banda Oriental and moved to Salto Chico , in Entre Ríos. All his supporters moved with him. This massive departure

Federal League (1815–1820) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-416: The Portuguese to abandon the location and founded and fortified Montevideo . 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

2541-405: The Portuguese. Without resources and men, Artigas withdrew to Paraguay in September 1820. In Paraguay, Dr. Francia , the dictator, banished him to Candelaria. He then disappeared from the political life of the region. (B. Nahum). After a long exile, he died in Paraguay on September 23rd in 1850, at age 86. It is said that Artigas, feeling himself to be near death, asked for a horse and died in

2618-411: 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 of 25 May 1810. During the British occupation of Montevideo, José Gervasio Artigas , who had joined the body of Blandengues in 1797, organized groups of gauchos and engaged in a guerrilla war against the British. As a result, he

2695-419: 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

2772-402: The Spanish rule ". Despite the deep disputes, Artigas was still eager to return to good terms with Buenos Aires, but only if the city accepted a national organization based on federalist principles. Posadas sent two more armies to capture and execute Artigas, but they mutinied and joined the Orientals. When the Artiguist influence expanded to Corrientes, Posadas sought to negotiate by accepting

2849-458: The United States" by John McCulloch. Artigas had both books. The first of the works cited contained a large appendix of documents with the United States Declaration of Independence , the Federal Constitution of 1787 and the State Constitutions of Massachusetts , New Jersey , Pennsylvania and Virginia . Artigas has become a national hero in Uruguay. This is significant as, since independence, many Uruguayan figures have been heroes of either

2926-413: The age of 33, with the rank of lieutenant. The attack finally came in 1806, when William Beresford invaded Buenos Aires, in the first British invasion of the River Plate . Although Artigas's unit was tasked with patrolling the frontier with Brazil, he requested to take part in the military expedition that Santiago de Liniers launched from Montevideo to drive the British out of Buenos Aires. His request

3003-581: 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 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

3080-402: The autonomy of the provinces. Artigas accepted the terms, but clarified that such autonomy must not be understood as national independence. He did not want to secede the Banda Oriental from the United provinces, but to organize them as a confederation. Posadas, who supported the authority of Buenos Aires as the head of a centralized state, delayed the approval of the treaty. Buenos Aires renewed

3157-409: 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 (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. In

Federal League (1815–1820) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-417: The cause of further Portuguese attacks. At the conclusion of the Spanish–Portuguese War of 1776-1777 , by the First Treaty of San Ildefonso , 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

3311-424: The city supplied and enabled them to endure the blockade. On the verge of defeat, Elío allied himself with Brazilian forces, requesting their intervention in the conflict . Dom Diogo de Sousa entered the Banda Oriental, leading an army of five thousand men. This added to the Argentinian defeat of Manuel Belgrano at the Paraguay campaign , the defeat of Juan José Castelli at the First Upper Peru campaign and

3388-430: The defeat of Artigas. At its largest extent, the League extended over the territories of present-day Uruguay, the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and the Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Corrientes , Misiones and Córdoba . It was instrumental in the Guaraní participation in the revolutionary cause. Although the country was intended to extend throughout modern-day Argentina , its leadership

3465-407: The division between the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire : the southern part was to be held by the Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and the northern territories by the Portuguese Capitania de São Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul (English: Captaincy of Saint Peter of the Southern Río Grande ). The Banda Oriental was not a separate administrative unit until the de facto creation of

3542-441: The early 17th century the territory was called Banda Charrúa , later Otra Banda ("other shore"), and then 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

3619-459: The flag created by Manuel Belgrano (which would later become the flag of the Argentine Republic), but added a diagonal festoon in red, red being the sign of federalism in Argentina at that time. Original member provinces were the present-day Argentinian provinces of: The constant growth of influence and prestige of the Federal League frightened Buenos Aires (due to its federalism) and Portugal (because of its republicanism), and in August, 1816

3696-409: The former Provincia Oriental was declared an independent state, Uruguay , by the Treaty of Montevideo . Uruguaiana remained with Brazil. The northern part, between the years of 1836 and 1845, formed a fully independent republic, named as Riograndense Republic . This territory was reconquered by the Brazilian Empire in the Ragamuffin War , and rejoined the empire under the Poncho Verde Treaty. It

3773-416: The governance of Hernando Arias de Saavedra (commonly known as Hernandarias), the Banda Oriental was integrated into the Spanish colonial Governorate of the Río de la Plata . 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

3850-408: The government of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and in 1814 he organized the Unión de los Pueblos Libres (Union of the Free Peoples), of which he was declared Protector. In the following year, as a federalist, he liberated Montevideo from the centralizing control of the " Unitarians " from Buenos Aires, and in 1815 declared the Liga Federal . In this Congress Artigas ratified the use of

3927-432: The latter invaded the Eastern Province with the intention of destroying the protector Artigas and his revolution. The Portuguese forces, led by Carlos Frederico Lecor , thanks to his numerical and material superiority, conquered the Eastern Province and took Montevideo on January 20, 1817, but the struggle continued for three long years in the countryside. Infuriated by Buenos Aires's passivity, Artigas declared war on

SECTION 50

#1732772422031

4004-452: The military actions against Montevideo. This time, the naval skills of Argentinian William Brown helped to overcome the strength of the Montevidean navy, leading to the final defeat of the royalist stronghold. Carlos María de Alvear led the capture of Montevideo, and lured Artigas there by promising that he would turn over the city to the Oriental patriots. Alvear attacked them without warning at Las Piedras, but Artigas managed to escape from

4081-457: The modern State of Paraná 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

4158-460: The new ideas. Buenos Aires deposed the viceroy in 1810, during the May Revolution , replacing him with the Primera Junta . Spain declared Buenos Aires a rogue city, and appointed Montevideo as the new capital, with Francisco Javier de Elío , who was an experienced hard-line colonialist from Cádiz , as the new viceroy. In February 1811, he declared war on Buenos Aires and this sparked the independence movement of Banda Oriental. Mariano Moreno ,

4235-418: 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

4312-460: The other ten provinces were under pressure from Royalist forces. In 1810, Spain moved the headquarters for the Viceroyalty of the River Plate to Montevideo after the May Revolution forced them to abandon Buenos Aires. On February 15, 1811 José Gervasio Artigas left his home of Montevideo and moved to Buenos Aires to offer his military services. The people of Spanish America were fighting for their freedom and Artigas wished to defend these ideals in

4389-444: The owners of haciendas and with the government in Montevideo. A reward was put out for his death. Things changed with the opening of the Anglo-Spanish War , and the threat of a British invasion upon the viceroyalty. The viceroy Antonio de Olaguer y Feliú negotiated a pardon with his family, on the condition that he joined the Corps of Blandengues with a hundred men, to form a battalion. Thus, he began his military career in 1797, at

4466-425: The patriots at the Battle of Las Piedras , but they were defeated, and the city was put under siege. José Rondeau , commanding forces from Buenos Aires, joined the siege. Artigas wanted to attack the city right away, but Rondeau thought that there would be less loss of lives by establishing a blockade and waiting for the city to surrender. However, the besiegers did not consider the naval forces of Montevideo, who kept

4543-405: The popular discontent against the colonial authorities. A hundred men met near the Asencio stream and made the cry of Asencio , a pronunciamiento against the viceroy. They captured many villages in the Banda Oriental , such as Mercedes , Santo Domingo , Colla , Maldonado , Paso del Rey , Santa Teresa and San José . They also captured Gualeguay , Gualeguaychú and Arroyo de la China ,

4620-415: The remnants of Artigas' army. Artigas withdrew to Paraguay , where he settled as an exile until his death. The Eastern Province was annexed by Portugal to its Brazilian dependences in 1821. Jos%C3%A9 Gervasio Artigas José Gervasio Artigas Arnal ( Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse xeɾˈβa.sjo aɾˈti.ɣas aɾˈnal] ; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a soldier and statesman who

4697-430: The saddle, as a gaucho. His remains were buried and then re-interred at the Panteón Nacional in 1855. On 19 June 1977, his remains were transferred to the Artigas Mausoleum in the centre of the Plaza Independencia . Artigas was a staunch democrat and federalist, opposed to monarchism and centralism . Artiguism has two main sources: the works of American authors such as Thomas Paine (supporters of federalism ) and

SECTION 60

#1732772422031

4774-418: The sparsely populated territories of the Banda Oriental. The Treaty of Madrid (13 January 1750) 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 . This, however, resulted in the Guaraní War (1754–1756), after which

4851-448: The sparsely populated territory, founded the city Colonia del Sacramento on the banks of Rio de la Plata, across from Buenos Aires, in 1680. Apart from being seen as evidence that the Portuguese intended to occupy all of the territory, this port in the mouth of the Uruguay River 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

4928-408: 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 , in order to keep a route open for their southward advances into

5005-596: The town centre of Montevideo, Minnesota and in Punta del Este , Uruguay. Asunción, Paraguay has a statue of Artigas in its Plaza Uruguay, and the Calle Sebastián Gaboto was renamed the Avenida Artigas in his honor in 1926. An imposing monument of the Uruguayan caudillo stands in Buenos Aires ' Recoleta district on the Avenida Libertador, the work of Uruguayan sculptor Juan José Zorrilla de San Martín and architect Alejandro Bustillo. A bust of José Gervasio Artigas can be also found at Luis Muñoz Rivera Park in San Juan, Puerto Rico . The Crest of Club Nacional de Football

5082-408: The trap. In 1814, Artigas organized the Liga de los Pueblos Libres ( League of the Free Peoples ), of which he was declared Protector. In the following year, he liberated Montevideo from the control of the "Unitarians" from Buenos Aires. In 1815, Artigas attended the Congress of Oriente, a year before the Congress of Tucuman, held in Arrollo de la China (today known as Concepción del Uruguay). It

5159-492: The use of the flag created by Manuel Belgrano (which would later become the flag of the Argentine Republic ), adding a diagonal festoon in red, the color of federalism in Argentina at that time, and changing the Borbonic light blue for Revolutionary dark blue. The continued growth of influence and prestige of the Federal League frightened the governments in Buenos Aires (because of its federalism) and Portugal (because of its republicanism), and in August 1816, Portugal invaded

5236-464: The west of the Uruguay River. Elío sent some soldiers to kill Artigas, but they failed to accomplish their mission. Then, he sent Manuel Villagrán, a relative of Artigas, to offer him a pardon and appoint him general and military leader of the Banda Oriental if he gave up the rebellion. Artigas considered the offer an insult, and sent Villagrán prisoner to Buenos Aires. Montevideo was soon surrounded by Artigas's forces. A Montevidean army tried to stop

5313-422: Was at this congress that the provinces of the Oriental Province (today the country of Uruguay ), Córdoba , Corrientes , Entre Ríos , Misiones and Santa Fe declared themselves independent from Spain and formed the Liga Federal ("Federal League"). The Liga Federal invited other provinces of the former Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata to join them under a federal system. In this congress, Artigas rectified

5390-414: Was based on Purificación and the Eastern Bank of the Uruguay River . Therefore, it is sometimes considered a predecessor state of modern Uruguay . On May 13, 1810, the arrival of a British frigate in Montevideo confirmed the rumors circulating in Buenos Aires: France , led by Emperor Napoleon , had invaded Spain , capturing and overthrowing Ferdinand VII Bourbon , the Spanish King. The situation

5467-560: Was clear: with the authority of the vice-regency gone, there was a power vacuum. Leading figures in Buenos Aires quickly arranged a meeting and after much discussion it was decided to replace the Spanish rule with a local Junta . After the May Revolution , most of the provinces of the former Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata joined to form the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata , also known as United Provinces of South America in 1810. The four provinces of Upper Peru (current-day Bolivia ) were occupied by Spanish Royalist forces and

5544-480: Was forced to withdraw in the face of Portuguese intervention . Artigas subsequently broke with the centralist government of Buenos Aires and took over Montevideo in 1815. He then oversaw the creation of the Federal League , an alliance of six provinces under a federal style of government. In 1816, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves invaded the Banda Oriental , eventually annexing it as

5621-459: Was granted, and the British were defeated. After the recapture of Buenos Aires, he was tasked with returning to Montevideo and informing the governor Pascual Ruiz Huidobro of the result of the battle. A second British invasion was launched culminating in the Battle of Montevideo , which ended in the fall of Montevideo. Artigas was taken prisoner, but he managed to escape and took refuge in the countryside. He organized groups of gauchos and began

5698-499: Was losing to the Portuguese. His subordinates, members of the Federal League— Francisco Ramírez , governor of Entre Ríos , and Estanislao López , governor of Santa Fe —managed to defeat the centralism of Buenos Aires . But hope for a new nation was short-lived; both commanders entered agreements with Buenos Aires that went against the principles of Artigas. They rebelled against him and left him to be crushed by

5775-608: Was moved again at its present location in the modern Soriano Department . Another notable development came from the reductions of the Compañía de Jesús further north of 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 . To prevent this, in 1631, father Antonio Ruiz de Montoya migrated with 12,000 Guaraníes further east, in

5852-424: Was promoted to Captain of the Blandengues by the Spanish in 1809. However, when the Primera Junta 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

5929-502: Was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay , the modern state of Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil , and part of the modern state of Santa Catarina , Brazil. It was the easternmost territory of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata . After decades of disputes over the territories, the 1777 First Treaty of San Ildefonso settled

#30969