| rdfs:comment | - The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, (), was the last and most short-lived Viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire in America. The Viceroyalty was established in 1776 out of several former Viceroyalty of Perú dependencies that mainly extended over the Río de la Plata Basin, roughly the present day territories of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. Buenos Aires, located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata estuary, opposite the Portuguese outpost of Colonia del Sacramento, was chosen as the capital. Usually considered one of the late Bourbon Reforms, its creation was both motivated on commercial grounds (Buenos Aires was by then a major spot for illegal trade), as well as on security concerns brought about by the growing interest some foreign powers had over the area, namely Great
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| abstract | - The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, (), was the last and most short-lived Viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire in America. The Viceroyalty was established in 1776 out of several former Viceroyalty of Perú dependencies that mainly extended over the Río de la Plata Basin, roughly the present day territories of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. Buenos Aires, located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata estuary, opposite the Portuguese outpost of Colonia del Sacramento, was chosen as the capital. Usually considered one of the late Bourbon Reforms, its creation was both motivated on commercial grounds (Buenos Aires was by then a major spot for illegal trade), as well as on security concerns brought about by the growing interest some foreign powers had over the area, namely Great Britain and the Kingdom of Portugal. However, the Enlightening reforms proved counterproductive, or perhaps too late to quell the colonies' demands. In fact, the entire existence of the Viceroyalty was characterised by growing unrest and instability. Between 1780 and 1782, the Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II inspired a violent Aymara-led revolt across the Upper Peru highlands, evidencing the huge resentment towards colonial authorities from both mestizos and indigenous populations. Twenty-five years later, two successive British attempts at conquering Buenos Aires and Montevideo were successfully repelled by Criollo-led defenses, enhancing their perceived autonomous capabilities as the Spanish troops were unable to help. In 1809, the criollo elite revolted against colonial authorities at La Paz and Chuquisaca, establishing revolutionary Juntas. Albeit short-lived themselves, they provided some strong theoretical basis for the legitimacy of the locally-based governing juntas that proved decisive at the 1810 May Revolution events that deposed Viceroy Cisneros at Buenos Aires. The revolution spread all over the Viceroyalty, except for Paraguay (which declared itself an independent nation in 1811) and the Upper Peru (which remained controlled by royalist troops from Lima, and was eventually re-incorporated into the Viceroyalty of Peru). Meanwhile, the Governor of Montevideo Francisco Javier de Elío, appointed as a new Viceroy by the Cortes of Cádiz in 1811, declared the Buenos Aires Junta seditious. However, after being defeated at Las Piedras he was only left in control of Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo, so he returned to Spain on 18 November and resigned as Viceroy on January 1812. By 1814, as the patriots entered Montevideo, following a years-long siege, the Viceroyalty effectively ceased to exist.
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