Captain Barral (1 results)

The mouth of the River of Silver Double-page engraved chart, on 2 joined sheets. Separate issue, price "Prix Deux Francs". The Rio de la Plata River of Silver, is the estuary at the confluence of the Uruguay and Parana Rivers where they empty into the Atlantic Ocean; and now marks the border between Argentina and Uruguay. At the height of his powers, and while the Peninsular War was going well for him, Napoleon Bonaparte had thought that he might be able to extend his empire to include Spanish colonies in South America. However, that was not to be the case. By 1818 Argentina had won its independence from its Spanish rulers, and by 1830, Uruguay had attained its independence from the Empire of Brazil, which had formerly been a Portuguese colony. Nevertheless, France retained its Caribbean colonies of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and French Guiana on the coast of South America, the latter of which Henri Freycinet was such a successful governor, from 1827 to 1829, that he was promoted to Rear-Admiral, and Baron. Provenance 1. Probably Louis Henri de Saulces de Freycinet; 2. Freycinet family archives.