Antonio Olaguer and Rafael de Sobremonte: viceroys by “pliego de providencia”

Abstract

The Viceroyalty of the provinces of Río de la Plata was created in 1776, after Pedro de Ceballos’s victorious military campaign. Until the independence of the territory, Argentina, there were eleven viceroys. This paper presents a small comparative study between two of them: Antonio Olaguer Feliú and Rafael de Sobremonte, the only ones who took office by pliego de providencia, and who share some features that simultaneously approach and take them away, as regards the procedures followed with and by other viceroys.