O Porto mais ao sul da América Portuguesa:

a Colônia do Sacramento

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the Portuguese expansionist policy in the Rio de la Plata when the Colony of Sacramento was founded, in 1680. Through the difficult navigation of the Plate estuary, the Portuguese sought to exchange European manufactured goods and Brazilian colonial products for the silver that circulated in Buenos Aires. Colonia do Sacramento was a hub of expansion and commerce for almost a century. Portuguese expansionism was put in check when it lost the strategic site of Montevideo to the Spanish in 1723, but Sacramento continued as an active smuggling center until it was ceded to Spain in 1777.