Notes on the History of Argentine Independence

In this engaging, lecture‑style account the author reverses the usual narrative of Argentine nation‑building, beginning with the decisive battles fought in Peru and then moving eastward and northward to chart how the early settlements spread across the Río de la Plata basin. By questioning the romantic myth of a simple “refoundation” of Buenos Aires, the work reveals a frontier where Spanish colonists and indigenous peoples blended, allowing native leaders to assume prominent roles in exploration and town‑founding. This pattern of early assimilation set the Argentine frontier apart from the harsher feudal structures that dominated much of Spanish America.

The narrative also shines a light on the crippling trade policies imposed by Spain, which forced every Buenos Aires shipment to pass through Panama and Lima, inflating prices by up to six hundred percent. Those tariffs nurtured a thriving contraband network—often aided by British and Portuguese rivals—and fostered a simmering resentment among the Creole population. With the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776, a semi‑autonomous local government sparked a burst of internal commerce, from cattle hides to Andean silver, planting the economic frustrations that would soon drive the push for independence.