The British Invasions of the River Plate

Abstract

The British invasions of the River Plate were two unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of areas in the Spanish colony of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata that were located around the Río de la Plata in South America – in present-day Argentina and Uruguay. The invasions took place between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars, when Spain was an ally of Napoleonic France. In Argentine historiography the two successive defeats of the British expeditionary forces are known collectively as the "Reconquista", which is the same term as that used since the 19th century to designate the southward expansion of Christian rule in Spain at the expense of Moorish lands during the Middle Ages.