Every Day Is Special: June 27 – Anniversary of the British Invasion of Buenos Aires

June 27 – Anniversary of the British Invasion of Buenos Aires

Posted on June 27, 2014

Here's a great plan:

Invade a neighbor's far-off colony. Grab the colony for yourself. Assure all the people living in the colony that you will be a better master than their old master, because you will guarantee certain rights to all...

Naturally, you will be welcomed by the people with open arms. An all-new and improved master, right? What's not to like?

Umm...plenty!

In 1806 and 1807, British forces made several attempts to conquer the Rio de la Plata region of South America – an area now split between the nations of Uruguay and Argentina. They apparently wanted the region for trade opportunities – plus the Brits were in the middle of yet another war with Spain elsewhere in the world – so they judged that Spanish troops were too busy elsewhere, and they seized control of Buenos Aires.

However, the local forces were not prone to accepting new masters. They regrouped, planned, and eventually (after 46 days) forced the British out of their nation.

I suppose some of them thought, “Better the devil we know than the devil we don't know.” Or, “We will have OUR masters or no masters at all.”

Probably that latter thought. It seems that Spain was so busy fighting elsewhere, it could do little to help the local forces against the British troops. Because the local forces succeeded, the people of Buenos Aires and elsewhere in the Spanish colonies decided that they could and should be an independent nation. Soon independence fever swept the region, and the locals kicked out the Spanish masters, too!

Check out Buenos Aires in this fun, dance-y, happy video. Does it look like just any other modern city in the world, with a diversity of people? It's got a lot of pretty buildings, that's for sure. Maybe that's why it's called “the Paris of South America.”

Argentina has some wilderness, too, of course. I LOVE the magnificence of the scenery featured in this video slideshow of Glacier National Park in Argentina!