private gentleman, an officer of Charles V., Don Pedro de Mendoza, undertook to establish a settlement at his own cost, on the condition of being appointed governor of all territories that might be found as far as 200 leagues from the ocean; and in 1535 he sailed with fourteen vessels and two thousand men. He laid the first foundations of the colony of Buenos Ayres, and he rebuilt the fort of the Sancti-Spiritu, while his lieutenant, Ayolas, in 1536, founded the station of Asuncion, on the Rio Paraguay. The post of Buenos Ayres was abandoned. After the death of Mendoza and Ayolas the new colony was governed by Martinez de Irala for a space of nearly twenty years; reinforced by fresh emigrants, it barely held its own against the losses inflicted upon it by the Indians. Irala, by a voyage of three years’ duration, succeeded in putting himself in touch with the Spaniards of Peru.

Conquerors coming from Chili across the Andes, the Spaniards founded among others, despite the hostility of the Indians, the following stations: Santiago del Estero (1552), Mendoza (1560), Tucuman (1565), Cordoba (1573), Salta (1582), and Jujuy (1592). These at first were little more than camps entrenched. But Santiago del Estero was erected into a bishopric, and so remained until 1700, in which year the episcopal throne was transferred to Córdoba. In the eastern regions, in 1573, Governor Juan de Garay built Santa Fé, re-occupied Buenos Ayres, which was christened, on the 11th of June 1580, Cuidad de la Trinidad y Puerto de Santa Maria de Buenos Ayres (the City of the Trinity and the Haven of Holy Mary of the Fair Winds), and founded Corrientès in 1588.

Trade commenced. A first consignment of hides and sugar was dispatched to Spain in 1551; but the merchants of Seville protested, and as a result their privileges won the day. It is a fact that the monstrous regulations which Spain had imposed upon her colonies forced the Argentines, for

some considerable time to carry their exports across the continent to Callao, whence they were carried by sea to Panama; there they were again transported by land across the isthmus, and were shipped anew at Puerto Bello for Seville. Imports came by the same road.

There were, however, exceptions to this rule: either by grace of provisional permits given by the King of Spain, or, more frequently, through the contraband trade.

In 1617 the Province of Paraguay and the shores of the Plata were divided into three Provinces; Paraguay, Buenos Ayres (erected into a bishopric in 1630), and Tucuman, which were dependents of the viceroyalty of Peru. The captaincy of Chili also extended over both sides of the Andes. The Indians had to a great extent been divided among the colonists en encomiendas—that is to say, in a species of slavery; but other Indians, who were still free, were formidable enemies.

Early in the seventeenth century the Jesuits instituted their first “reductions” in Paraguay, and organised in a community the Guarano Indians of the country. These “reductions,” ravaged by the Mamelukes of Brazil, were replaced by missions established on either bank of the Paraguay River, and on the Uruguay to the south of Yguassu. The order of Jesuits was suppressed in 1766.

The principal towns of the Argentine of to-day were already established by the middle of the eighteenth century. At that period, so Savary informs us, “The city of Buenos Ayres contained about 4000 houses, all built of earth (adobe), but covered with tiles, with the exception of some fifty houses of brick. The inhabitants are rich, and owe their riches to the extensive trade which they carry on, both at home and abroad.” After the advent to the Spanish throne of the son-in-law of Louis XIV., France had the greater share of this trade; the King having conceded to a French company the monopoly of the Assiente—that is to say, of the trade in negroes, until by the Treaty of Utrecht France was forced to cede this monopoly to England.

The two principal articles of export were at that time green hides for Europe and the Paraguayan maté for Peru.

On the northern bank of the Plata the Portuguese had

founded the Colonia del Sacramento (1686), with a view to competing with the Spanish ports. The Spaniards seized this place once in 1724 and again in 1766; they founded Montevideo in 1726. The quarrel between the two colonies was only terminated by the Treaty of Madrid in 1750.

In 1748 Spain somewhat abated the severity of her laws. In 1776 she freed the Argentine from the overlordship of Peru, by creating the viceroyalty of La Plata, with Buenos Ayres as capital. The population, which before this change was only 37,000, rose to over 400,000 in a quarter of a century. In 1780 was founded the colony of Carmen, the first Patagonian settlement, the shores of Patagonia having been first explored by the Jesuit Quiroga in 1746.

During the wars of the Empire the English seized Buenos Ayres by surprise, but were expelled by a Frenchman, Jacques de Liniers, whom the inhabitants had appointed viceroy.

The colonial period ended in 1810.

Such were the origins of the Argentine; a time of difficulties and impediments; but in that period were laid the foundations on which the Argentine civilisation reposes.

The second period is that of the formation of the Republican State.

The first part of this period, that of the deliverance from Spain, opens with the memorable day of the 25th of May 1810, when liberty was peacefully proclaimed at Buenos Ayres. The revolution spread to Córdoba and to Tucuman; it failed in Upper Peru, owing to the reverse of Goyenèche in 1811, and in Paraguay, where the capitulation of Tacuary took place in the same year. Belgrano, one of the heroes of the War of Independence, renewed the offensive and once more invaded Upper Peru—this time victoriously; but the Argentine troops were definitely driven from the country after the battles of Vilcuapujio (1813), and Sipé-Sipe (1816). On the east coast the capitulation of Montevideo in 1814 put an end to the Spanish domination. On the west the brilliant expedition of General San Martin, who crossed the Andes, freed Chili, and struck the decisive blow by the capture of Lima (1817-1821). The victory of General Sucre at Ayacucho (1824) terminated the struggle. Argentine territory had already been seven years free from the Spanish troops.

The second part of this period, that of political construction, was longer, far more laborious, and still more bloody. Questions of race and party divided the inhabitants. Guachos of the Pampa, Creoles[3] and pure Spaniards, Federals and Unitarians, disputed the power, while on the frontiers of the Republic the Indians continued to disturb and alarm the new State. Provinces seceded; many constitutions were drafted. In spite of his talent as a statesman, Rivadavia was unable to obtain the universal acceptance of the Unionist Constitution of 24th December 1826.