THE EUROPEAN CONQUEST
Compared with Mexico and Peru the southern portions of the New World
at first excited little interest, because they produced neither gold
nor silver. Yet even here the discoverer was very early at work, and
achievements less showy but on an almost equally grand scale have to
be recorded. In 1515 Juan Diaz de Solis was sent out on a voyage of
discovery by the King of Castile, who wished to counteract Portuguese
influence on the east coast of South America, and Solis was the first
European to sail up the River Plate, which he named after himself. But
he trusted to the natives, who proved treacherous. They invited him to
land, and when he had accepted their invitation they attacked and
killed him and every man in the boat-crew, and afterwards roasted and
devoured them in the sight of their companions. It was long before the
Spaniards touched on that coast again, and the name of Solis had no
permanence in the land which he discovered.
Some ten years later a more fortunate expedition was made by the
Englishman Cabot. In the service of the King of Spain he left Seville
with four ships, intending to make a search for the islands of Tarsis,
Ophir, and Eastern Cathay by the newly discovered Straits of Magellan.
The little fleet touched at Pernambuco and remained there for three
months. The Spaniards still appear to have had a design to check the
Portuguese in Brazil, but Cabot evidently found them too strong in
that quarter, so, says Purchas,[20] "he thought good to busy himself
in something that might be profitable; and entered the year 29
discovering the River of Plate, where he was almost three years; and
not being seconded, with relation of that which he had found, returned
to Castile, having gone many leagues up the River. He found plate or
silver among the Indians of those countries, for in the wars which
these Indians had with those of the kingdoms of Peru they took it, and
from it is called the River of Plate, of which the country hath taken
the name."
Here Purchas makes two mistakes. The discovery was not made in 1529,
but several years earlier, and the river derived its name not from any
metallic booty but from its silvery colour. Cabot went some distance
up the Paraguay River, where he met with many adventures and lost
many of his followers, and he made a serious endeavour to lay the
foundations of Spanish power in Argentina, but the natives were
unfriendly and he found the enterprise too formidable for his limited
means. It is not surprising that he failed to secure the goodwill of
the Indians. Cabot was a skilful and daring navigator and less
ruthless than most of the Spanish adventurers, but he was rough in his
methods and tainted by the prevailing inhumanity of the time. At San
Vincente, for example, he bought fifty or sixty slaves of both sexes
for the benefit of his partners in Seville. He had, in fact, disobeyed
his instructions, which were to make for the Pacific, and when he
returned to Seville in 1530 he was at once prosecuted and punished on
various charges, though his disgrace was but temporary. His expedition
has merely a geographical importance.
Charles V. had too many anxious concerns in Europe to take an active
part in organising expeditions to the New World, and he found it
convenient to commit the task to wealthy nobles. Pedro de Mendoza had
enriched himself at the sack of Rome and had dreams of still greater
wealth. Accordingly he obtained a grant of the whole country from the
River Plate to the Straits of Magellan, with a salary of 2,000 ducats
a year as Governor, a similar sum as an official allowance, and
valuable privileges as to ransom and booty. In return, he engaged to
take out an adequate force and to open up a land route from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. In August, 1534, he set sail from Cadiz with
eleven ships and 800 men. This was the largest expedition which had
ever sailed from Europe to the New World. Mendoza seems to have been
an enterprising leader, but his lack of experience brought many
unnecessary hardships upon his followers. The fleet entered the River
Plate in January, 1535, and Mendoza landed on the right bank and
founded the city of Buenos Aires, "so named in regard of the freshness
of the air, and the healthfulness of his men, during their abode
there."[21] The Adelantado, or Governor, was eager to push up the
great rivers and discover a land fabulously rich in gold, such as was
then enriching many of his more fortunate countrymen. But still the
difficulties were insuperable; the Indians were implacably hostile and
cut off all foraging parties; the Spaniards had come with inadequate
provisions and were frequently in danger of starvation. Many died of
their privations, and the site of Buenos Aires was abandoned within a
year of its foundation. Mendoza's lieutenants made many adventurous
expeditions up the vast waterways and the ill-fated Azolas founded
Asuncion in 1536.[22] But their deeds belong more to the history of
Spanish conquest than to Argentina proper. The estuary of the Plate
was subject to sudden storms, and Mendoza, having lost eight ships and
being thoroughly wearied by his misfortunes, decided to return home.
On the voyage he fell ill and died, and of his large force not more
than one hundred and fifty survived their privations and dangers. A
highly interesting and important matter should here be mentioned. The
Spaniards brought only thirty mares and seven stallions for breeding
purposes, but a Portuguese mariner states thirty years later the
country near the coast was full of horses.
[Illustration: TROOP OF MARES.]
As successor to Mendoza the Spanish Government appointed Cabeza de
Vaca, an experienced adventurer, who sailed from Spain in 1540 with
four hundred men. He landed at Santa Catherina in Brazil, and thence
made a most adventurous march to Asuncion. He set out on October 18,
1541, and did not arrive till March 11, 1542, after suffering
extraordinary hardships. At Asuncion he found that the Spanish
settlers had chosen Domingo Irala as their chief. The two rivals,
however, had enough work for both, and Cabeza de Vaca sailed down to
the River Plate where the Spaniards had practically abandoned their
settlements, and the few survivors were in great danger of destruction
by the Indians. He refounded Buenos Aires towards the end of 1542; but
the time was not yet ripe for the planting of colonies, and not many
months later the city was abandoned for the second time. Nor was
Cabeza de Vaca fortunate in his undertakings in Paraguay. His attempts
to reform abuses made him unpopular with the settlers, who preferred
Irala, and in 1544 Cabeza de Vaca was seized and sent a prisoner to
Spain where, after the law's long delays, he was acquitted, but never
compensated.
Irala, who was an able and daring leader, contrived to maintain his
authority till his death, which occurred in 1557, and credit is due to
him for keeping the Spanish flag flying in the isolated post of
Asuncion, which was rapidly growing in importance, and in 1547 was
made the seat of a Bishop by Pope Paul III. All this time, however, it
should be remembered that we are dealing rather with the history of
what is now Paraguay than Argentina, for the southern settlements on
the River Plate were once more in the hands of the Indians. It was at
this time that another important town was established in territory
which now belongs to Argentina. Peru had been conquered by Pizarro,
parts of Chile by Almagro, and in 1559 Hurtado de Mendoza passed over
the Andes from the west and founded the pleasant city which bears his
name. This work of building cities on the eastern side of the Andes
was carried on by other Spaniards from Peru, and they founded Tucuman
in 1565 and Cordoba in 1573.
In the meantime the Guaranies of Paraguay steadily resisted every
advance of the Spaniards, but in 1560 they were defeated in a
great battle at Acari, and the Spaniards began to push southwards
with the determination of again colonising the Parana country--a
step, indeed, which was almost essential to their safety, since it
would secure their communication with the Atlantic. The necessary
exploit was achieved by a man who deserves an honoured place among
Spanish-American worthies--Juan de Garay.[23] He advanced slowly
towards the south from Asuncion, and in 1573 founded Santa Fé at the
junction of the Parana and the Paraguay. In 1580 he took the still
more important step of re-establishing Buenos Aires for the third
time. With a true statesman's instinct he recognised that a mere
military post would not be sufficient for the security of the rapidly
growing colonies, and he took with him, besides Creoles and Spaniards,
two hundred Indian settlers, and he laid out a town on a considerable
scale, while farms and ranches were established in the neighbourhood.
There was sharp fighting with the Indians, and Garay was unfortunately
killed in a skirmish, but his work remained behind him. "The city,"
says Southey,[24] "immediately began to prosper, and the ship which
sailed for Castile with tidings of its refoundation, took home a cargo
of sugar, and the first hides with which Europe was supplied from the
wild cattle which now began to over-spread the open country, and soon
produced a total change in the manners of all the adjoining tribes."
In 1588 Corrientes had been founded, and the people began to acquire
pastoral wealth, although the advantages which they drew from the
rapidly increasing herds of horses and cattle were seriously discounted
by the exactions and restrictions of officials. It was a piece of great
good fortune for both settlers and Indians that neither gold nor silver
was to be found in the River Plate country, and thus European marauders,
whether Spanish or English, were without one great temptation to harry
them. The next generation was one of steady progress, and by the year
1620 the city of Buenos Aires contained three thousand inhabitants. The
indefatigable Jesuits established themselves in the country in 1590, and
though their history properly belongs to Paraguay, they did much good in
Argentina by protecting the Indians and spreading civilisation.
In 1620 a step of extreme importance was taken. The office of
Adelantado, or Governor, was abolished, and the River Plate country
was formed into two separate provinces. Thus we get a rough beginning
of Argentina, which now consisted of Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, Entre
Rios, Corrientes, and the tract now called Uruguay. This last,
however, was still uninhabited. Buenos Aires became the seat of
a bishop. But the whole of the settlements remained under the
Viceroyalty of Peru.
More important than any measure of partition was the personality of
Hernan Darias de Saavedra, the ruler at that time. Of pure Spanish
blood, he was born in South America in 1561, early distinguished
himself in wars with the Indians, and took as his model the able
Garay. In 1602 he was appointed to act as Governor of Buenos Aires,
and during his term of authority, which did not really end when a new
Spanish Governor was placed over his head, he distinguished himself at
once by his severity to refractory Indians and his energetic measures
to protect those who followed peaceful pursuits. In 1615 he became
substantive Governor, and it was by his advice that the division of
1620 was made.
His whole heart was in the peaceful development of the country; he
encouraged the Jesuits to teach industries to the natives and to
settle virgin tracts, and at the same time he set his face against all
forms of slavery. Few Spanish Americans have exercised more beneficent
rule, and he was the founder of Argentine prosperity--a tradition
which the country never wholly lost in the worst days, and which in
recent times it has renewed in a wonderful manner. Not long after the
partition this noble-minded statesman died, full, as the historian
says, of glory and virtues. Funes[25] remarks: "From tender years he
performed military service, earning fame for valour. His valour was
rendered the more illustrious by that consummate prudence which in war
gives glory to warriors. He distinguished himself by his ability both
in the arts of peace and war. He was a staunch protector of the
Indians and, in fine, being one of the heroes to whom the New World
has given birth, he deserved to have his portrait placed in the
Chamber of Commerce in Cadiz. We regret that time has destroyed the
records which might have enabled us to draw a more accurate likeness."
With his death it may be said that the history of Argentina as a
Spanish colony has fairly begun. It is true that the Governorship of
Buenos Aires was both smaller and larger than the present Argentine
Republic--larger as comprising Uruguay, and considerably smaller in
the absence of Patagonia and much other territory. In fact, there were
three Governorships--Buenos Aires, Paraguay, and Tucuman--and these
were looked upon as a single colony, although each one was an
administrative entity, dependent upon the Crown and independent of its
neighbours. Our narrative will necessarily ignore the interesting
history of Paraguay and embrace the other two provinces. The above
narrative has few of the exciting episodes which marked the history of
the conquest of Mexico or Peru, but the history, though less dazzling,
is less sullied by crimes, and the two figures of Garay and Hernan
Darias afford examples of disinterested toil for the common welfare
which in that age was rare indeed except among a small proportion of
the clergy. And as the earlier years of Argentina were less turbulent,
so have the latter years been more blessed with prosperity than has
been the case with other South American States.
The colonisation of South America proceeded upon lines very different
from those pursued in the northern continent. The latter was the
objective of men who belonged, for the most part, to the Anglo-Saxon
race, and who came not for adventure or any kind of gain, but to
escape from uncongenial institutions and live their own life. As far
as possible they avoided contact with the natives, and neither
desired, nor, in fact, maintained, intimate relations with the mother
country. But in spite of the circumstances of their exile, they
carried with them most of the institutions of their own land, and
continued to develop on the lines of their brothers on the other side of
the Atlantic. The Spaniards did not, indeed, treat the natives in South
America with humanity; on the contrary, in the mining regions their
cruelty was notorious, and they were frequently at war with the old
inhabitants. But in Argentina and many other places they showed no
disinclination to intermarry; they made, as we have seen, systematic
settlements of Indians, which assumed that the conquered race was an
integral part of their own body politic, and in some respects their
policy was statesmanlike and even humane according to the standards of
the time. The result was a fusion of races, and the various nations
which sprang up were as much Indian as Spanish. How the Argentine nation
was evolved it will be the business of the succeeding historical
chapters to show, as it will be that of the remainder of this volume to
display the country and the people as they actually are after four
centuries of growth.
FOOTNOTES:
[20] Purchas, "His Pilgrimage," xiv. 546.
[21] R. Hakluyt, Extra Series, xi. 252.
[22] Or 1537 or 1538, according to various authorities.
[23] "A man of indefatigable courage and a rare prudence, he joined
with these qualities the experience of serving in many glorious
campaigns" (Funes, i. 287).
[24] "History of Brazil," i. 349.
[25] "Ensayo de la Historia Civil," p. 318.