Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Documentary heritage
of the Viceroyalty of the
Río de la Plata
Inscribed 1997
What is it
The documentary archive of the Spanish Viceroyalty
of the Río de la Plata which was established in 1776
and lasted until 1810.
Why was it inscribed
The documentary archive covers the political and
administrative history of the last Spanish viceroyalty in
South America against a background of decline in the
Spanish overseas empire.
Where is it
Archivo General de la Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Viceroyalties were the administrative territories through
which Spain governed its extensive and far-flung
empire. The viceroyalities of New Spain and Peru were
responsible for vast areas of land in South America and
beyond, but growing pressures on the administration
in the 18th century, and especially encroachment from
Portugal and Great Britain, forced the creation of two new
viceroyalties: New Granada, in 1717, and the Río de la Plata
in 1776. This was the last viceroyalty Spain established in
South America.
The capital of the new viceroyalty was in Buenos Aires
and its extensive lands took in the areas that comprise
modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and
a part of Peru. The documentation for the viceroyalty
covers the administration of government, justice, defence,
economics and religion from the 17th century when the
Spanish established their foothold on to the first decade
of the 19th century.
A separate part of the archive relates to trade and
shipping. Documents on the ports of Buenos Aires and
Montevideo allow an insight into the viceroyalty’s political
and commercial relations with other American countries,
with Europe and with Africa. This included the registration
of ships, ship arrivals, cargoes, crews and passage
and departure to foreign ports. Shipping officials also
supervised the slave trade.
292 Documentary heritage of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
� Documents from the collection
Papers relating to the slave trade are also spread through
other parts of the archives, including censuses, legal
records, registers and account books. As a whole, they cover
the processing of slaves from the time they were brought
in, through their taxation, sale and distribution. The history
and development of the trade can be followed through the
documents up to the end of the viceroyalty. Slaves were
brought into the Río de la Plata until 1812, when the postindependence
government banned their import.
The administration and practice of enforced indigenous
labour was dealt with at the level of governorship, of which
there were eight in the viceroyalty. The Laws of the Indies,
the corpus of Spanish Crown laws for the regulation of
its imperial possessions, prohibited enslavement of the
native peoples; nevertheless as the papers show, various
categories of enforced labour existed. The viceroyalty
experienced a large-scale rebellion by indigenous people
in the early 1780s.
The inscription includes colonial documentary collections
from the republics of Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia
as well as from Puno, a district in Peru. �