Treaty of El Pardo (1778)
Treaty of Friendship, Guaranty and Commerce between Spain and Portugal. | |
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Context | Spain and Portugal finalise boundaries in the Río de la Plata region, Spain gains territories in Equatorial Africa |
Signed | 11 March 1778 |
Location | Royal Palace of El Pardo near Madrid |
Negotiators |
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Parties |
History of Equatorial Guinea |
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Chronological |
The Treaty of El Pardo signed on 11 March 1778 sought to end conflict between Spain and Portugal in the Río de la Plata region, along the modern boundary between Argentina and Uruguay. It confirmed Spanish ownership of Colonia del Sacramento, now in Uruguay, while Portugal ceded possession of strategically important territories in Africa, now the modern state of Equatorial Guinea. In return, Spain withdrew from lands to the north, most of which are in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Background
For nearly 300 years, differing interpretations of the
The two countries attempted to settle this dispute by the
As a result, over the next decade Portugal reoccupied Rio Grande in an undeclared war before formal hostilities commenced in the
Provisions
The treaty confirmed the findings of the Boundary Commission; Portugal ceded Colonia del Sacramento to Spain, which in turn withdrew from lands to the north. It also included a number of commercial clauses, the most significant being the regulation of the tobacco and
Aftermath
Spanish hopes the border settlement would assist economic growth were hampered by the 1779–1783 war with Britain, which restricted trade with mainland Spain and led to high tariffs and taxes to pay for it.[7]
Links between the Spanish central government and their overseas possessions were weakened during the
The African territories awarded to Spain under the Treaty of El Pardo became the colony of Spanish Guinea. Annobón and Bioko had been relatively neglected by the Portuguese, who had focused instead on São Tomé; with the gradual abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in the first half of the 19th century, these lost much of their value to Spain. In 1968, Spanish Guinea became the independent state of Equatorial Guinea.[9]
Notes
References
- ^ Paullin & Davenport 1917, pp. 140–141.
- ^ Owens 1993, pp. 15–24.
- ^ Moses 1919, p. 165.
- ^ "Treaty of Paris 1763" (PDF). Virtual Library of Inter-American Peace Initiatives. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ^ Marley 1998, pp. 450–451.
- ^ Paquette 2014, pp. 55–56.
- ^ Stein & Stein 2003, pp. 187–188.
- ^ Camogli 2005, pp. 26–27.
- ^ Sarmento 2016, p. 81.
Sources
- Camogli, Pablo (2005). Batallas por la Libertad (in Spanish). Aguilar. ISBN 987-04-0105-8.
- Moses, Bernard (1919). Spain's Declining Power in South America, 1730-1806 (2010 ed.). Cornell University Library. ISBN 1112594191.
- Marley, David (1998). Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the Western Hemisphere (2008 ed.). ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1598841009.
- Owens, David (1993). "Spanish—Portuguese Territorial Rivalry in Colonial Río de la Plata". Yearbook (Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers). 19: 15–24. JSTOR 25765781.
- Paquette, Gabriel (2014). Imperial Portugal in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions: The Luso-Brazilian World, 1770–1850. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107640764.
- Paullin, Charles Oscar; Davenport, Frances Gardiner (1917). European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies (2017 ed.). Andesite Press. ISBN 1376158531.
- Sarmento, João (2016). Fortifications, Post-colonialism and Power: Ruins and Imperial Legacies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1138260672.
- Stein, Stanley; Stein, Barbara (2003). Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759–1789. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801873398.