The Preliminary Peace Convention was a bilateral treaty signed on 27 August 1828 between the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...

and 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 ...

, after

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

mediation, that put an end to the

Cisplatine War The Cisplatine War was an armed conflict fought in the 1820s between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata over control of Brazil's Cisplatina province. It was fought in the aftermath of the United Provinces' an ...

and recognized the independence of Uruguay. Called the Preliminary Peace Convention as a result of the meetings held by representatives from the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces — the predecessor state for

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 ...

— between 11 and 27 August 1828 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil. This convention, or treaty, accorded independence to Uruguay in respect to Brazil and Argentina. Uruguay's independence would be definitively sealed on 4 October of the same year when, in

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 ...

, the signing nations ratified the treaty.

Purpose

By 1828 the

had been fought to a stalemate with Argentina's land forces unable to capture any major cities, and Brazil forces pinned down and with severe lack of manpower for a full-scale offensive against Argentine forces. The heavy burden of the war and the increasing unlikelihood of any positive outcome led to heavy public pressure in Brazil to end the war through diplomacy. In this context, on 20 February 1828 Brazil and Argentina decided to begin peace talks with mediation by Great Britain, who also had an interest in a peaceful resolution of the war due to the severe trade impediments the blockade of Buenos Aires had brought to the Plata region. Lord John Ponsonby was chosen as mediator for the talks and was immediately faced with Argentina's unwillingness to allow Brazil to retain its sovereignty over Uruguay and by Brazil's demands to keep its sovereignty over the Missões Orientais, to free navigation in the Plata River and refusal to allow Argentina to annex any area of the Cisplatine Province. With these considerations in mind, Posonby made a proposal for an independent Uruguay to placate both Brazil and Argentina in order to reestablish peace on La Plata, and conceded to the Brazilian demands regarding its sovereignty over the Missões Orientais and the right to freely navigate in the Plata River. Although faced with initial Argentine opposition, the diplomat managed to convince Argentina that it was no longer viable to spend money on a war for the Eastern Province and managed to strike a deal on August 27, 1828.

Form of Declaration of Independence

The first and second articles of the treaty declare the independence of the Eastern Province from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves or its immediate successor, the Empire of Brazil, and from the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

Character of Independence: Definitive or Temporary

The tenth article of the convention established that if five years after the approval of the constitution the interior tranquility and security was perturbed by a civil war, they (the signers) would give the legal government the necessary assistance to maintain and sustain itself. After that time all protection would cease and the province would be considered to be in a state of perfect and absolute independence. The right to intervene in assistance of the "legal government" was established by the contracting parties without need of express request on the part of the new state.

Control of the Constitution

The seventh article establishes that the Representatives will be occupied with forming the political constitution of the province and before being judged (approved), the constitution would be examined by commissioners of the contracting governments for the sole purpose of seeing if it contained any articles in opposition to the security of their respective states.

Free navigation

One additional article guaranteed to the two nations (Argentina and Brazil) free navigation of the Río de la Plata and of all others that feed into it, for the period of fifteen years.

Historiography

Uruguayan historians have two main visions about the treaty and the birth of Uruguay as an independent nation. The first group considers that an idea of Uruguayan nationhood existed before the treaty, and cites the rivalry of Montevideo with Buenos Aires, the weak links that united the

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata or Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires ( or Virreinato de Buenos Aires or ) meaning "River of the Silver", also called the "Viceroyalty of River Plate" in some scholarly writings, in southern South America, was ...

, and the strong rejection of

José Gervasio Artigas José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a soldier and statesman who is regarded as a national hero in Uruguay and the father of Uruguayan nationhood. Born in Montevideo, Artigas enlisted in the Spanish ...

of the centralism of Buenos Aires. This vision is held by Francisco Bauzá, Juan Zorrilla de San Martín, Pablo Blanco Acevedo, Mario Falcao Espalter and Juan Pivel Devoto. The second group considers instead that the Uruguayans still wanted to be part of the

, pointing that Artigas was against centralism but never held actual separatist ideas. They attribute the Uruguayan independence to foreign factors, mainly the British influence. This vision is held by Eduardo Acevedo Vásquez, Ariosto González, Eugenio Petit Muñoz, Washington Reyes Abadie, Alberto Methol Ferré and Oscar Bruschera.Nahum, p. 29 Historian Leonardo Borges argues that

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

, celebrated on August 25, does not reflect the actual birth of the nation. When the independence of the

Brazilian Empire The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a representative parliamentary constitutional ...

and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata was signed on August 25, 1825, Uruguay remained part of Argentina, the

Banda Oriental Banda Oriental (Eastern Bank), or more fully Banda Oriental del Río Uruguay, was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay, the modern state of Ri ...

. Borges says that " seems like nonsense" to establish August 25 as Independence Day. Ana Ribeiro, Undersecretary of Education and Culture, argues that all such dates are arbitrary, and points out that

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...

does not celebrate the determining date of the French Revolution.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:1828 Treaty Of Montevideo Treaties of the Empire of Brazil Treaties of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata Treaty Of Montevideo, 1828 1828 in Uruguay Argentina–Brazil relations Argentina–Uruguay relations Brazil–Uruguay relations Argentina–United Kingdom relations Brazil–United Kingdom relations United Kingdom–Uruguay relations 1828 in the Empire of Brazil August 1828 19th century in Montevideo Events in Montevideo