Borders at sea through the fog: disputed sovereignties in the Atlantic between politics, force and rights (notes on the eviction of Puerto Egmont, Gran Malvina, June 1770

BARRIERA, DARÍO G.

LISBOA

Congreso; CHAM CONFERENCE - Frontiers of Humanity and Beyond - Towards new critical understanding of borders; 2021

UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA

On June 10, 1770, a Spanish expedition under the command of Juan Ignacio de Madariaga expelled the British garrison that had established itself on Trinidad Island (north of Grand Malvina Island). On this occasion, the Spanish military superiority was so evident that the British chiefs had no alternative but to agree on the best terms to be allowed to return to their land. This episode is well known above all for its consequences. The crisis of 1770 refers to two facts singularly emphasized in books on the period: a strong diplomatic confrontation that almost led to war between the Bourbon crowns and the United Kingdom and the solution of that same confrontation through concessions to the English that Charles III would have accepted in a "secret clause", for which he was later heavily criticized. In this paper, however, I would like to focus on the moments preceding the expulsion, the period of negotiations between Commander Juan Ignacio de Madariaga and his British counterparts William Maltby and George Farmer. The brief oral and written exchange between them will be the basis of a situational analysis where the voices embodying the interests of the entangled empires allow us to access uses in the field of the notions of sovereignty, force and politics.