Pedro de Cevallos

Pedro Antonio de Cevallos Cortés y Calderón (short: Pedro de Cevallos , also Pedro de Ceballos ; born June 29, 1715 in Cádiz , Spain , † December 26, 1778 in Córdoba , Spain) was a Spanish politician and military man who was the first viceroy of the Río de la Plata .

Cevallos came from a family of the lower nobility from Andalusia. His father was the head of the Cadiz Customs Service. Pedro de Cevallos chose the military career and began his career in campaigns in the Spanish possessions in Italy . In 1747 he was promoted to field marshal and commander in the Order of Santiago .

In 1755 he went to South America with the rank of lieutenant general and took over from November 4, 1756, the office of governor of Buenos Aires within the viceroyalty of Peru . Its main task was to implement the provisions of the Treaty of Madrid , which reorganized the demarcation of the borders between Portugal and Spain.

In the Seven Years' War , Portugal and Spain found each other hostile again: Portugal supported the British while Spain fought on the side of France . With a force of six thousand men, Cevallos attacked the Portuguese at Colônia do Sacramento and conquered Portuguese territory for Spain. In the Peace of Paris in 1763 , the conquests, including Sacramento, were returned to Portugal.

In 1766, Cevallos handed over the office of governor to Francisco de Bucareli and initially returned to Europe. He was appointed military governor of the Extremadura region in 1772 and was admitted to the war council of the Spanish crown in 1775 and appointed general commander of Madrid.

In 1776 the Spanish crown decided to raise the province on the Río de la Plata to a separate viceroyalty and to separate it from the area of responsibility of the viceroyalty of Peru. Since Buenos Aires was far quicker to reach from the motherland by ship than Lima, centralizing decisions about the colony had proven very impractical. Cevallos was sent to Buenos Aires and commissioned to set up the administrative structures for a separate viceroyalty. With a force of nine thousand men and over a hundred ships, he went to South America, conquered the island of Santa Catarina (in present-day Brazil) from the Portuguese in February 1777 and took Colônia do Sacramento by surprise in June 1777. His advance was halted by orders from Spain as the peace negotiations with the Portuguese neared their end. In the Treaty of San Ildefonso , the conquests in Uruguay were awarded to the Spaniards, who renounced their bases in Brazil (including Santa Catarina).

Pedro de Cevallos entered Buenos Aires and was formally proclaimed the first viceroy on October 15, 1777. It allowed free trade between the colonies on the Río de la Plata, Chile and Peru, and allowed direct trade between Buenos Aires and the motherland, without the need for all goods to be delivered centrally to Lima as before. This regulation led to the colony's rapid economic boom. The export of silver, however, remained prohibited.

Cevallos fell seriously ill at the end of 1777 and asked to be dismissed from his position so that he could return to Europe. At the same time, he recommended continuing the institution of the viceroyalty and recommended the governor of Buenos Aires, Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo , as the most suitable candidate for the office of viceroy. The crown followed his suggestion. On June 26, 1778, Cevallos handed over his office and made his way back to Spain.

Soon after his arrival he died there on the way from Cádiz to Madrid in Córdoba.

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Individual evidence

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Viceroy of the Río de la Plata 1777–1778	Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo

personal data
SURNAME	Cevallos, Pedro de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Pedro Antonio de Cevallos Cortés y Calderón
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Spanish politician
DATE OF BIRTH	June 29, 1715
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cadiz , Spain
DATE OF DEATH	December 26, 1778
Place of death	Cordoba , Spain

[1] Data on www.worldstatesmen.org

[2] Biography on www.ejercito.mil.ar

[3] Data on www.worldstatesmen.org

[4] Biography on www.ejercito.mil.ar