Argirópolis or Sarmiento's book uses in the title but in page 87. (from Greek "silver city") is a proposed city conceived by Argentine statesman

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. He was a member of a group of intellectuals, known as the '' Generation of 1837'', who had a great influence on 19th-century Argent ...

as the capital of the Confederated States of Plata (

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

). It is also the title of the 1850 book that outlines this proposal.Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. (spanish)

Proposal

Sarmiento proposes Martin Garcia Island, at the junction of the Parana and

Uruguay River The Uruguay River ( ; ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La Mesopotamia from the other two countr ...

, as the site for Argirópolis, which in turn would ultimately be a point of unity between the interior provinces of Argentina and the Estado Oriental (i.e.:

). Sarmiento based his argument on the following points: * The example of the United States, whose capital,

Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, does not depend on any state. * Closing the entrance to the Parana and Uruguay would ensure that the provinces of

Corrientes Corrientes (; Guaraní: Taragui, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from Buenos Aires and from Posadas, on National Route 12. It has ...

, Santa Fe and Entre Rios, Paraguay and the Republic of Uruguay would unite in their common interest in favor of the independence of the island of Martín García. * The independence of the island from the

United Provinces of the Río de la Plata The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (), earlier known as the United Provinces of South America (), was a name adopted in 1816 by the Congress of Tucumán for the region of South America that declared independence in 1816, with the Sove ...

, Uruguay, and Paraguay would make these three states equal in negotiations on the free navigability of rivers. * By placing the capital in neutral territory, no preference is given to the rival cities of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. * This could facilitate the island's return from its French occupiers.

Orthography

The 1850 edition tries to follow the

Spanish orthography Spanish orthography is the orthography used in the Spanish language. The alphabet uses the Latin script. The spelling is fairly phonemic orthography, phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like English orthography, Engl ...

proposed by Sarmiento in 1843, and similar to that of

Andrés Bello Andrés de Jesús María y José Bello López (; November 29, 1781 – October 15, 1865) was a Venezuelan Humanism, humanist, diplomat, poet, legislator, philosopher, educator and philologist, whose political and literary works constitute a ...

. Still occasional slips into the

RAE Rae may refer to: People *Rae (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Rae (surname), including a list of people with the surname Nicknames for *Rachel (given name) * Rachelle * Raquel * Raven (given name) * Reema *Reena ( ...

standard happen. Later editions follow the common orthography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Argiropolis Works by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Proposed populated places Argentine Civil War propaganda 1850 books Islands of the Río de la Plata Confederations 1850 in South America Political history of South America