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William Home Lizars. Map of the Viceroyalty
of the Río de la Plata. Bolivia or Upper Peru: Chili
and the United Provinces of South America or La Plata.
Edinburgh, Scotland, 1842.
On loan for the exhibit from the private collection of Ivan Jaksic, University of Notre
Dame.
Engraved in 1842, the map depicts the Viceroyalty of the
Río de la Plata (River Plate) around 1810. The Viceroyalty
covered the greater part of Southern South America, including
the present day countries of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
and Southen Bolivia. The Paraná and Uruguay rivers,
which drain about one-fourth of the continent, flow into the
River Plate which in turn empties into the Atlantic. Buenos
Aires became the seat of the Viceroyalty due to its favorable
location at the mouth of the River Plate.
From this enormous expanse, the nations of Argentina, Bolivia,
Paraguay, and Uruguay would emerge. In Argentina, much of
the conflict between the provinces and Buenos Aires related
to distinct cultures and economies of these widely separated
areas.
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