“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

ten thousand souls. This made it the second largest comarca, or judicial district, in the
Brazilian borderlands behind Bagé to the south. 15
Alegrete’s steadily expanding prosperity, however, was eclipsed by nearby
Uruguaiana’s spectacular growth. Founded only in 1840, Uruguaiana quickly grew over the
next twenty years into the principal Brazilian port along the Uruguay River. By the late
1850s, the total volume of official trade moving through the city surpassed even that of the
city of Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul province’s sole oceanic port. 16 The growth of
Brazilian rivertine ports in the borderlands further stimulated economic activities in both the
Estado Oriental 17 and Entre Ríos, as the twin-ports of Concordia and Salto emerged as re-
export centers for finished goods such as textiles arriving from European markets. In this
way, the Uruguay River (and the traders navigating along it) linked together diverse
economic spaces and port cities along its banks. 18
By the end of the 1830s, the consolidation of the Rosas regime in Buenos Aires had
set the stage for a commercial export boom along the Uruguay. It had also ensured
continuing violence. From across the estuary in Montevideo, the old unitarist faction longed
to return to power in Buenos Aires. Both Rosas and his enemies gradually aligned
themselves with rival political groups emerging in the neighboring republic. Each side
would seek to use political conflicts to gain an advantage across the border in the Argentine
Confederation. Repeated European interventions against Rosas further exacerbated these
15 Luís Augusto Ebling Farinatti, "Confins Meridionais: Famílias de Elite e Sociedade
Agrária na Fronteira Sul do Brasil (1825-1865)" (Ph.D., Universidade Federal do Rio de
Janeiro: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Sociais, 2007), 45.
16 Ronaldo Colvero, Negócios na Madrugada: O Comércio Ilícito na Fronteira do Rio Grande do
Sul (Passo Fundo, BRA: Universidade de Passo Fundo, 2004), 130-38.
17 The Estado Oriental, derived from the colonial name Banda Oriental, was a
common term during the 19 th century for the Uruguayan Republic. This dissertation uses
the two terms interchangeably throughout.
18 Schmit, Ruina y Resurrección, 139-49.
70