Jose Gervasio Artigas

José Gervasio Artigas , 1764-1850, national hero of Uruguay, first leader in the movement toward independence. He came from the cattle-raising region Banda Oriental . He joined the revolution against Spain in 1811 and became the leader of the Orientales. In 1813 he instructed the delegates from the Banda Oriental to the Buenos Aires constituent assembly to work for a federation of autonomous La Plata provinces, but they were denied admission to the assembly by the centralist military junta. Artigas then championed Uruguayan independence. After an initial setback in 1813 by Buenos Aires and subsequently the restoration of Spanish power (1816), he still managed to rule much of the territory as protector against Spain, Brazil, and Buenos Aires. Finally in 1820, when Artigas had once again renounced the United Provinces of La Plata (Argentina), the Portuguese captured the territory and annexed it to Brazil. Artigas spent his remaining years in exile in Paraguay.

Artigas, José Gervasio (1764–1850) National hero of Uruguay. He led the Uruguyan movement for independence from Spain during the years 1811–13 and maintained this in the face of the territorial ambitions of Argentina in 1814. Uruguay also had to contend with Portuguese expansionists from Brazil, and Portuguese troops captured Montevideo in 1817. Artigas was unable to dislodge them. He conducted guerrilla warfare against them for three years, but in 1820 was forced to retreat to Argentina and never returned to Uruguay.