“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

smugglers and other imperial outlaws to raid peripheral properties and settlements. In the
process, they exacerbated simmering conflicts along the eastern reaches of the Uruguay
River drainage.
As the Iberian empires struggled over the eastern Río de la Plata, they equally
confronted broader crises that threatened their very survival. Intensifying rivalries between
aggressive European imperial states led to a nearly permanent state of war across the Atlantic
basin. Both Iberian empires saw their possessions and commercial sinews swept up in the
conflicts between the British and French for supremacy in the Atlantic World. To avoid
becoming prey, they turned to reforms to secure the resources necessary to sustain the costs
of international warfare. The Spanish in particular embarked on a campaign to reorganize
their imperial possessions. The so-called Bourbon reforms aimed to foster more commerce
and extract greater wealth from internal trading networks. The reforms also sought to
modernize the empire’s centuries-old administrative structure. This culminated in the
creation of the Río de la Plata viceroyalty in 1776. In a single administrative stroke, Buenos
Aires replaced Lima as the official artery for South American silver. Over final decades of
the 18 th century, the port experienced explosive growth. It became a powerful commercial
center not only for the silver trade, but also for the export of hides from its rivertine
hinterlands. The end of trading restrictions between ports within the Spanish empire in
1778 further stimulated not only the port’s development, but also Montevideo’s growth
across the estuary in the Banda.
As the economic center of gravity within the Spanish empire’s South American
possessions tilted decisively towards the Río de la Plata estuary, frictions between the
Portuguese and Spanish over the region correspondingly increased. With the ports of
Buenos Aires and Montevideo developing into important commercial centers, the ranching
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