Background
José Gervasio Artigas was born, probably on June 19, 1764, in Montevideo, Uruguay.
José Gervasio Artigas was born, probably on June 19, 1764, in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Artigas was educated by the Franciscans in Montevideo but spent much of his youth in the interior and early showed himself an expert Gaucho leader.
In 1797 he joined the Blandengues, a cavalry regiment formed to protect the frontiers and pacify the interior. In 1811 Artigas joined the revolutionaries of Buenos Aires against the Spaniards and the loyalists, and became the leader of Uruguay's fight for liberation. The patriots laid siege to Montevideo, but after initial successes, they were forced to retreat in October 1811. The Buenos Aires revolutionaries signed an armistice with the Spaniards, and Artigas, who refused to submit, led 16, 000 men, women, and children out of the country. Artigas blamed the politicians of Buenos Aires for the failure of the revolt and, from the end of that year, advocated the complete independence of Uruguay except as part of a proposed confederation of free provinces. The armistice of 1811 was soon broken, and the revolutionaries of Buenos Aires liberated Montevideo from the Spaniards in June 1814. Artigas, having realized that Buenos Aires wanted Montevideo for itself, attacked the Argentinians and forced them to evacuate the city after the battle of Guayabos on Jan. 10, 1815. He reorganized the country at the same time as he consolidated the Federal League, which included the Argentine districts of Santa Fe, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba. The government of Buenos Aires, which was centralist, remained hostile and probably hinted to the Portuguese in Brazil that Artigas and his country could be attacked without fear of opposition from Buenos Aires. The Portuguese troops crossed into Uruguay in August 1816 and steadily wore down Artigas' resistance, until in December 1819 the occupation was completed. Artigas continued to fight from Federal League territory, but his leadership was undermined by intrigues begun by Buenos Aires, and he was finally defeated in September 1820 by one of his lieutenants. He was forced to seek refuge in Paraguay and to see his country annexed by Portugal and later by Brazil. The war for Uruguayan independence was finally carried to a successful conclusion in 1828, but Artigas remained in Paraguay. José Francia, dictator of Paraguay from 1811 until his death in 1840, allowed Artigas a frugal exile at a farm in Curuguaty, some distance from the capital, Asunción. Asuncion. At Francia's death it was feared that Artigas might form some dangerous movement, and he was imprisoned. When Carlos Antonio López rose to power in 1841 Artigas was freed, but his farm was ruined, and he lived from that time as a pensioner and respected friend of the new dictator. Artigas refused to return to Uruguay, preferring an honorable exile to becoming a figurehead in the civil wars which were dividing his country. He lived in obscurity until his death on Sept. 23, 1850, in Asunción.
In his thought is visible the influence of Catholic clerics.
Artigas was a staunch democrat and federalist, opposed to monarchism.
