Contenido

Por el Tratado de Lisboa "Tratado de Lisboa (1701)") del 18 de junio de 1701 entre ambas coronas, confirmado por el Tratado de Utrecht de 1715, Portugal obtuvo de derecho la Colonia del Sacramento y así el Río de la Plata quedó como un río limítrofe. La Colonia del Sacramento se transformó así en un foco del contrabando entre portugueses y españoles.

Treaty of Madrid of 1750

The Treaty of Madrid "Treaty of Madrid (1750)") was signed by Ferdinand VI of Spain and John V of Portugal on January 13, 1750 to define the boundaries between their respective colonies in South America based on the uti possidetis and leaving aside the Treaty of Tordesillas. Portuguese possession of the upper basins of the Paraguay, Paraná and Uruguay rivers was recognized in the treaty, while Portugal handed over the Colonia del Sacramento and its dependencies to Spain, recognizing full Spanish sovereignty in the waters of the Río de la Plata. These three rivers, along with others, were left with stretches of sovereignty and shared navigation, while in the stretches specific to each monarchy, navigation was exclusive.

The Treaty of Madrid was annulled by the Treaty of El Pardo "Treaty of El Pardo (1761)") of February 12, 1761, which restored the situation prior to 1750, but war returned, Colony passed into Spanish hands and there was a failed Anglo-Portuguese invasion of the Río de la Plata "Anglo-Portuguese invasion of the Río de la Plata (1763)") in 1763, but the Colony and San Gabriel returned to Portuguese hands on December 27, 1763, maintaining the Río de la Plata as the border.

Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1777

On June 5, 1777, Spain retook Colonia del Sacramento and on October 1, 1777, the Treaty of San Ildefonso "Treaty of San Ildefonso (1777)") was signed, by which Portugal once again handed over Colonia del Sacramento and its dependencies to Spain and recognized Spanish sovereignty in the Río de la Plata and the Uruguay River.

The following bordering rivers with shared navigation remained: Pepirí Guazú, San Antonio "Río San Antonio (Misiones)"), Igurey, Corrientes and sections of the Paraná, Paraguay and Iguazú, although the first 4 rivers motivated disputes over their identification.

In 1739 the Royal Court of Charcas established that Santa Fe "City of Santa Fe (Argentina)") was a precise port for the navigation of Paraguay, which was confirmed by the Royal Decree of April 1, 1743. All ships coming from Paraguay had to disembark their cargoes in Santa Fe to continue by land to Buenos Aires, which caused disputes between the councils and governors of the three cities. On April 13, 1780, Viceroy Pedro Melo of Portugal provisionally abolished the privileges of the specific port of Santa Fe, which was confirmed by the Council of the Indies on February 14, 1781.[3]​.

International river law began to take shape on November 16, 1792 when a decree of the Provisional Executive Council of the French Republic declared that on the Scheldt and Meuse rivers the coastal states had the right to communicate with the sea and removed obstacles to navigation.[4]​.

On October 27, 1777, the king of Spain gave definitive status to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and the monopoly of navigation in the Río de la Plata and its tributaries in the territory of the viceroyalty continued without changes until the revolution of May 25, 1810, except for the brief periods of the English invasions of 1806 and 1807. In 1801 Portugal took over the Eastern Missions, making bordering upper Uruguay.

The new Creole authorities in Buenos Aires and the royalists who remained in Montevideo came into conflict. The governor of the latter city, José María Salazar, was left in possession of the Río de la Plata fleet and declared a naval blockade against Buenos Aires on September 3, 1810. The royalists of Montevideo carried out corsair raids along the Paraná and Uruguay rivers while the royalist governor of Paraguay controlled the Paraguay River and the upper Paraná. The situation of realistic control of the rivers was accentuated with their victory in the Battle of San Nicolás, on March 2, 1811, against the incipient revolutionary squad. After several naval battles, the revolutionaries took control of the rivers in 1813 and on May 23, 1814, they took control of Montevideo, definitively expelling the Spanish from the Río de la Plata. Exclusive sovereignty over river navigation was maintained by the Buenos Aires authorities, but Paraguay remained outside their control.

The Treaty of the Quadrilateral signed on February 8, 1822 between the provinces of Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, and Santa Fe, provided for free navigation of the rivers for national ships:

The beginning of the civil wars left the coastal provinces outside the control of Buenos Aires and the Eastern Province was subdued by the Luso-Brazilian Invasion of 1816, so the Uruguay and La Plata rivers became de facto borders and the Eastern Province was annexed in 1817 to the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve as the Cisplatina Province. In 1822 Brazil became independent and in 1825 the Brazilian War broke out, which culminated in the independence of the Eastern State in 1828. The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata had not at any time recognized the free navigation of their interior rivers, including the Río de la Plata.

In an additional article of the Preliminary Peace Convention "Preliminary Peace Convention (1828)") that ended the war, a transitional clause was provided regarding the navigation of the rivers of the Plata basin:

That article indirectly favored the ships of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland because on February 2, 1825 that country had signed a Treaty of Peace, Commerce and Navigation with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata that established:

Thus, the free navigation granted to Brazil for 15 years was automatically extended to British subjects, but it also meant British recognition of the exclusive sovereignty of the River Plate over its rivers.

After the French Blockade of the Río de la Plata that took place between March 28, 1838 and October 29, 1840, the governor of Buenos Aires in charge of foreign relations of the Argentine Confederation, Juan Manuel de Rosas, agreed to grant France the same navigation rights that other countries enjoyed in Argentine rivers through the Arana - Mackau Convention.

Following the model of European countries, the Rosas government maintained that navigation of the interior rivers of the Confederation was exclusive of Argentine ships, and that any exception to this rule should be specially authorized by the national authority. That was the policy applied by the United Kingdom in the Saint Lawrence River, and by Brazil in the Amazon River, despite the fact that, in both cases, the interests of countries located upstream were harmed.

By the Federal Pact "Federal Pact (Argentina)") of 1831, regarding foreign relations the national authority was the governor of the Province of Buenos Aires. Therefore, he decided on the navigation of the rivers and maintained that the La Plata and Uruguay rivers should be considered internal, although shared between Argentina and Uruguay. For its part, the Paraná River should be considered without discussion an interior river of the Argentine Confederation. This policy harmed the interests of the countries located upstream of both rivers, especially Paraguay. It also harmed European merchants who aspired to trade directly with Paraguay and western Brazil.

The Paraguayan case had not raised problems in this regard until the death of the dictator Gaspar Rodríguez of France, who had kept that country isolated for decades. But the new president, Carlos Antonio López, aspired to a commercial opening that, under the conditions imposed by the government of Buenos Aires, was very limited. Furthermore, the Rosas government had never recognized the independence of Paraguay, which this country had never proclaimed. When this was announced by López in 1844 Rosas responded with the decree of January 8, 1845 that prohibited all communication with Paraguay from the territory of the Argentine Confederation.

A potential ally of Paraguay in the conflict over river navigation was the Empire of Brazil, which in 1844 tried to agree on actions against the Rosas government. In September of that same year, Brazil recognized the independence of Paraguay, but no joint action was ever planned or executed.

On the other hand, the governments of the provinces on the coast of the Paraná River – especially Corrientes – were greatly harmed by the excessively restrictive application of these principles by the Rosas government. This required that any ship passing through the Río de la Plata, even if its destination was not within the Province of Buenos Aires, stop at the port of the capital and pay import and export duties there. Rights that the government of Buenos Aires used for its exclusive benefit and that were regulated by the Customs Law of 1835.

The Anglo-French Blockade of the Río de la Plata occurred between August 2, 1845 and August 31, 1850, during which a large fleet left Montevideo on November 17, 1845, with the mission of opening the Paraná River to transatlantic trade. It was made up of 22 warships and 92 merchant ships, including the first steamships that sailed up the Paraná. She had on board 113 guns, of calibers from 24 to 80. She was commanded by admirals Massieu De Clerval" and Sir Charles Hotham"). On November 20, 1845, the Battle of the Vuelta de Obligado took place in the waters of the Paraná River, in which the Anglo-French squadron managed to force the passage guarded by a coastal battery commanded by General Lucio Norberto Mansilla and reach Corrientes and Paraguay. Upon their return eight months later they had to force the passage in the Battle of Quebracho on June 4, 1846.

On November 24, 1849, the United Kingdom and the Argentine Confederation signed the Arana-Southern Convention, which established British recognition of Argentine sovereignty in the Paraná.

On August 31, 1850, the Arana - Le-Prédour Convention was signed with France, which put an end to the war and by which France recognized Argentine sovereignty in the Paraná:.

In the Convention held between Brazil, the Eastern Republic of Uruguay and Entre Ríos (which had resumed the exercise of foreign relations with the Urquiza Pronouncement of May 1, 1851) for an offensive and defensive alliance in order to maintain independence and pacify the territory of Uruguay, signed on May 29, 1851, it was established:

After the resignation and exile of Rosas due to the Battle of Caseros on February 3, 1852, in which the alliance led by Justo José de Urquiza triumphed, with Brazil, Uruguay and the Unitary Party "Unitary Party (Argentina)"), the free navigation of the rivers agreed between the allies was carried out by Urquiza.

The War between the Argentine Confederation and the State of Buenos Aires gave British diplomacy the opportunity to request from Urquiza in April 1852 a treaty that would free the rivers for international navigation in exchange for blocking the Port of Buenos Aires.[5]​.

The San Nicolás Agreement between the provinces of the confederation, of June 1, 1852, conferred upon Urquiza the regulation of the rivers:[6]​.

On August 28, 1852 Urquiza decreed free navigation of the rivers and on October 3, 1852 he decreed in Paraná "Paraná (Argentina)") that: navigation of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers is permitted to all merchant ships regardless of their nationality, origin and tonnage and extended the permission to warships of friendly nations.[7][8]​.

The State of Buenos Aires, separated from the Confederation, passed a law on October 18, 1852 recognizing the free navigation of the rivers and a decree signed by Bartolomé Miter and Adolfo Alsina on November 24, 1852 freeing the navigation of the Paraná to ships of all flags without subjecting them to visits, stays or taxes.[9]​.

A free navigation clause was included in the Argentine Constitution approved on May 1, 1853:

With that constitutional declaration, the Argentine Confederation renounced preventing or taxing the navigation of its internal rivers by ships of any flag, limiting its sovereignty to only regulating it.

The constitutional clause of 1853 remained unchanged during the constitutional reform of 1860 when the country was reunified and remains in the current constitution.

Urquiza signed three identical treaties with the representatives of the United Kingdom, France and the United States on July 10, 1853 in San José de Flores:

Each of the three treaties stated:

The three treaties were approved by Congress through Law No. 14 of December 1, 1854. [10] Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil later joined.

A Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed by Argentina and Chile on August 30, 1855, stating:

A Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed by Argentina and Brazil on March 7, 1856, stating:

A Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed by Argentina and Paraguay on July 29, 1856, stating:

A Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed by Argentina and Bolivia on December 7, 1858, stating:

Paraguay opened its rivers to foreign navigation through decrees of October 3, 1854 and May 22, 1855, Brazil did so in 1866 and 1867, and Bolivia decreed it on January 27, 1853. In Uruguay, a decree of October 10, 1853 declared its navigable rivers open to ships and trade from all nations, validated by law. No. 383 of June 27, 1854, but law No. 703 of May 7, 1862 closed the rivers to foreign ships.

Contenido

Por el Tratado de Lisboa "Tratado de Lisboa (1701)") del 18 de junio de 1701 entre ambas coronas, confirmado por el Tratado de Utrecht de 1715, Portugal obtuvo de derecho la Colonia del Sacramento y así el Río de la Plata quedó como un río limítrofe. La Colonia del Sacramento se transformó así en un foco del contrabando entre portugueses y españoles.

Treaty of Madrid of 1750

The Treaty of Madrid "Treaty of Madrid (1750)") was signed by Ferdinand VI of Spain and John V of Portugal on January 13, 1750 to define the boundaries between their respective colonies in South America based on the uti possidetis and leaving aside the Treaty of Tordesillas. Portuguese possession of the upper basins of the Paraguay, Paraná and Uruguay rivers was recognized in the treaty, while Portugal handed over the Colonia del Sacramento and its dependencies to Spain, recognizing full Spanish sovereignty in the waters of the Río de la Plata. These three rivers, along with others, were left with stretches of sovereignty and shared navigation, while in the stretches specific to each monarchy, navigation was exclusive.

The Treaty of Madrid was annulled by the Treaty of El Pardo "Treaty of El Pardo (1761)") of February 12, 1761, which restored the situation prior to 1750, but war returned, Colony passed into Spanish hands and there was a failed Anglo-Portuguese invasion of the Río de la Plata "Anglo-Portuguese invasion of the Río de la Plata (1763)") in 1763, but the Colony and San Gabriel returned to Portuguese hands on December 27, 1763, maintaining the Río de la Plata as the border.

Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1777

On June 5, 1777, Spain retook Colonia del Sacramento and on October 1, 1777, the Treaty of San Ildefonso "Treaty of San Ildefonso (1777)") was signed, by which Portugal once again handed over Colonia del Sacramento and its dependencies to Spain and recognized Spanish sovereignty in the Río de la Plata and the Uruguay River.

The following bordering rivers with shared navigation remained: Pepirí Guazú, San Antonio "Río San Antonio (Misiones)"), Igurey, Corrientes and sections of the Paraná, Paraguay and Iguazú, although the first 4 rivers motivated disputes over their identification.

In 1739 the Royal Court of Charcas established that Santa Fe "City of Santa Fe (Argentina)") was a precise port for the navigation of Paraguay, which was confirmed by the Royal Decree of April 1, 1743. All ships coming from Paraguay had to disembark their cargoes in Santa Fe to continue by land to Buenos Aires, which caused disputes between the councils and governors of the three cities. On April 13, 1780, Viceroy Pedro Melo of Portugal provisionally abolished the privileges of the specific port of Santa Fe, which was confirmed by the Council of the Indies on February 14, 1781.[3]​.

International river law began to take shape on November 16, 1792 when a decree of the Provisional Executive Council of the French Republic declared that on the Scheldt and Meuse rivers the coastal states had the right to communicate with the sea and removed obstacles to navigation.[4]​.

On October 27, 1777, the king of Spain gave definitive status to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and the monopoly of navigation in the Río de la Plata and its tributaries in the territory of the viceroyalty continued without changes until the revolution of May 25, 1810, except for the brief periods of the English invasions of 1806 and 1807. In 1801 Portugal took over the Eastern Missions, making bordering upper Uruguay.

The new Creole authorities in Buenos Aires and the royalists who remained in Montevideo came into conflict. The governor of the latter city, José María Salazar, was left in possession of the Río de la Plata fleet and declared a naval blockade against Buenos Aires on September 3, 1810. The royalists of Montevideo carried out corsair raids along the Paraná and Uruguay rivers while the royalist governor of Paraguay controlled the Paraguay River and the upper Paraná. The situation of realistic control of the rivers was accentuated with their victory in the Battle of San Nicolás, on March 2, 1811, against the incipient revolutionary squad. After several naval battles, the revolutionaries took control of the rivers in 1813 and on May 23, 1814, they took control of Montevideo, definitively expelling the Spanish from the Río de la Plata. Exclusive sovereignty over river navigation was maintained by the Buenos Aires authorities, but Paraguay remained outside their control.

The Treaty of the Quadrilateral signed on February 8, 1822 between the provinces of Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, and Santa Fe, provided for free navigation of the rivers for national ships:

The beginning of the civil wars left the coastal provinces outside the control of Buenos Aires and the Eastern Province was subdued by the Luso-Brazilian Invasion of 1816, so the Uruguay and La Plata rivers became de facto borders and the Eastern Province was annexed in 1817 to the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve as the Cisplatina Province. In 1822 Brazil became independent and in 1825 the Brazilian War broke out, which culminated in the independence of the Eastern State in 1828. The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata had not at any time recognized the free navigation of their interior rivers, including the Río de la Plata.

In an additional article of the Preliminary Peace Convention "Preliminary Peace Convention (1828)") that ended the war, a transitional clause was provided regarding the navigation of the rivers of the Plata basin:

That article indirectly favored the ships of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland because on February 2, 1825 that country had signed a Treaty of Peace, Commerce and Navigation with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata that established:

Thus, the free navigation granted to Brazil for 15 years was automatically extended to British subjects, but it also meant British recognition of the exclusive sovereignty of the River Plate over its rivers.

After the French Blockade of the Río de la Plata that took place between March 28, 1838 and October 29, 1840, the governor of Buenos Aires in charge of foreign relations of the Argentine Confederation, Juan Manuel de Rosas, agreed to grant France the same navigation rights that other countries enjoyed in Argentine rivers through the Arana - Mackau Convention.

Following the model of European countries, the Rosas government maintained that navigation of the interior rivers of the Confederation was exclusive of Argentine ships, and that any exception to this rule should be specially authorized by the national authority. That was the policy applied by the United Kingdom in the Saint Lawrence River, and by Brazil in the Amazon River, despite the fact that, in both cases, the interests of countries located upstream were harmed.

By the Federal Pact "Federal Pact (Argentina)") of 1831, regarding foreign relations the national authority was the governor of the Province of Buenos Aires. Therefore, he decided on the navigation of the rivers and maintained that the La Plata and Uruguay rivers should be considered internal, although shared between Argentina and Uruguay. For its part, the Paraná River should be considered without discussion an interior river of the Argentine Confederation. This policy harmed the interests of the countries located upstream of both rivers, especially Paraguay. It also harmed European merchants who aspired to trade directly with Paraguay and western Brazil.

The Paraguayan case had not raised problems in this regard until the death of the dictator Gaspar Rodríguez of France, who had kept that country isolated for decades. But the new president, Carlos Antonio López, aspired to a commercial opening that, under the conditions imposed by the government of Buenos Aires, was very limited. Furthermore, the Rosas government had never recognized the independence of Paraguay, which this country had never proclaimed. When this was announced by López in 1844 Rosas responded with the decree of January 8, 1845 that prohibited all communication with Paraguay from the territory of the Argentine Confederation.

A potential ally of Paraguay in the conflict over river navigation was the Empire of Brazil, which in 1844 tried to agree on actions against the Rosas government. In September of that same year, Brazil recognized the independence of Paraguay, but no joint action was ever planned or executed.

On the other hand, the governments of the provinces on the coast of the Paraná River – especially Corrientes – were greatly harmed by the excessively restrictive application of these principles by the Rosas government. This required that any ship passing through the Río de la Plata, even if its destination was not within the Province of Buenos Aires, stop at the port of the capital and pay import and export duties there. Rights that the government of Buenos Aires used for its exclusive benefit and that were regulated by the Customs Law of 1835.

The Anglo-French Blockade of the Río de la Plata occurred between August 2, 1845 and August 31, 1850, during which a large fleet left Montevideo on November 17, 1845, with the mission of opening the Paraná River to transatlantic trade. It was made up of 22 warships and 92 merchant ships, including the first steamships that sailed up the Paraná. She had on board 113 guns, of calibers from 24 to 80. She was commanded by admirals Massieu De Clerval" and Sir Charles Hotham"). On November 20, 1845, the Battle of the Vuelta de Obligado took place in the waters of the Paraná River, in which the Anglo-French squadron managed to force the passage guarded by a coastal battery commanded by General Lucio Norberto Mansilla and reach Corrientes and Paraguay. Upon their return eight months later they had to force the passage in the Battle of Quebracho on June 4, 1846.

On November 24, 1849, the United Kingdom and the Argentine Confederation signed the Arana-Southern Convention, which established British recognition of Argentine sovereignty in the Paraná.

On August 31, 1850, the Arana - Le-Prédour Convention was signed with France, which put an end to the war and by which France recognized Argentine sovereignty in the Paraná:.

In the Convention held between Brazil, the Eastern Republic of Uruguay and Entre Ríos (which had resumed the exercise of foreign relations with the Urquiza Pronouncement of May 1, 1851) for an offensive and defensive alliance in order to maintain independence and pacify the territory of Uruguay, signed on May 29, 1851, it was established:

After the resignation and exile of Rosas due to the Battle of Caseros on February 3, 1852, in which the alliance led by Justo José de Urquiza triumphed, with Brazil, Uruguay and the Unitary Party "Unitary Party (Argentina)"), the free navigation of the rivers agreed between the allies was carried out by Urquiza.

The War between the Argentine Confederation and the State of Buenos Aires gave British diplomacy the opportunity to request from Urquiza in April 1852 a treaty that would free the rivers for international navigation in exchange for blocking the Port of Buenos Aires.[5]​.

The San Nicolás Agreement between the provinces of the confederation, of June 1, 1852, conferred upon Urquiza the regulation of the rivers:[6]​.

On August 28, 1852 Urquiza decreed free navigation of the rivers and on October 3, 1852 he decreed in Paraná "Paraná (Argentina)") that: navigation of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers is permitted to all merchant ships regardless of their nationality, origin and tonnage and extended the permission to warships of friendly nations.[7][8]​.

The State of Buenos Aires, separated from the Confederation, passed a law on October 18, 1852 recognizing the free navigation of the rivers and a decree signed by Bartolomé Miter and Adolfo Alsina on November 24, 1852 freeing the navigation of the Paraná to ships of all flags without subjecting them to visits, stays or taxes.[9]​.

A free navigation clause was included in the Argentine Constitution approved on May 1, 1853:

With that constitutional declaration, the Argentine Confederation renounced preventing or taxing the navigation of its internal rivers by ships of any flag, limiting its sovereignty to only regulating it.

The constitutional clause of 1853 remained unchanged during the constitutional reform of 1860 when the country was reunified and remains in the current constitution.

Urquiza signed three identical treaties with the representatives of the United Kingdom, France and the United States on July 10, 1853 in San José de Flores:

Each of the three treaties stated:

The three treaties were approved by Congress through Law No. 14 of December 1, 1854. [10] Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil later joined.

A Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed by Argentina and Chile on August 30, 1855, stating:

A Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed by Argentina and Brazil on March 7, 1856, stating:

A Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed by Argentina and Paraguay on July 29, 1856, stating:

A Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed by Argentina and Bolivia on December 7, 1858, stating:

Paraguay opened its rivers to foreign navigation through decrees of October 3, 1854 and May 22, 1855, Brazil did so in 1866 and 1867, and Bolivia decreed it on January 27, 1853. In Uruguay, a decree of October 10, 1853 declared its navigable rivers open to ships and trade from all nations, validated by law. No. 383 of June 27, 1854, but law No. 703 of May 7, 1862 closed the rivers to foreign ships.