A política do Brasil para o Prata: da formação dos Estados à guerra contra Rosas

Abstract

This paper analyzes Brazil’s policy toward the Río de la Plata Basin throughout the nineteenth century, with emphasis on the period culminating in the Brazilian intervention against Juan Manuel de Rosas. It adopts a long term perspective, tracing back to the economic, social, and territorial dynamics of the colonial period. The study aims to demonstrate how the formation of a regional economic space, initially structured by the circulation of silver and later by cattle derived products, conditioned patterns of settlement, social relations, and political projects developed in the Río de la Plata region. The approach combines a chronological analysis of political and military events with an interpretation of the region’s economic and social transformations, based on the analysis of primary sources, supported by specialized bibliography. It discusses the role of the frontier as a space of circulation, the consolidation of pastoral landownership, caudillismo, and the fragmentation of sovereignties after independence, as well as the centrality of control over river navigation and customs houses in the organization of regional power. Brazilian foreign policy was progressively reoriented in response to Platine instability, threats to territorial integrity, and the need to ensure free navigation of inland rivers. It concludes that Brazilian intervention in Uruguay and the war against Rosas represented a stage of a historical process marked by the persistence of colonial structures, regional economic interdependence, and the incorporation of the Río de la Plata into the nineteenth century international system.