A Survey of British Literature on Buenos Aires During the First Half of the 19th Century

Abstract

The British involvement with Argentina has a long and, at times, tumultous history. Dating as far back as the 18th century the Rio de la Plata basin held a great attraction for British merchants. England needed Spanish America as a source of bullion and an outlet for individual goods.As early as the 1540s British vessels explored the coastlines, of Argentina. There already existed a considerable amount of trade between Brazil and England throughout the sixteenth century. The buccaneer William Hawkins, along with other Englishmen, was intent on expanding on this clandestine trade to other areas in the New World. Sometimes with the cooperation of the Spanish authorities, certain British merchants were able to maneuver themselves into the commercial life of these new colonies. By the eighteenth century the British had established numerous slave markets in Hispanic America including one in Buenos Aires.