SILVA (Silvestre Ferreira da). RELAÇÃO do Sitio que o Governador de Buenos Aires D: Miguel de Salcedo poz no anno ...

SILVA (Silvestre Ferreira da). RELAÇÃO do Sitio que o Governador de Buenos Aires D: Miguel de Salcedo poz no anno de 1735 à Praça da Nova Colonia do Sacramento. Lisboa. 1748.
SILVA (Silvestre Ferreira da)
RELAÇÃO do Sitio que o Governador de Buenos Aires D: Miguel de Salcedo poz no anno de 1735 à Praça da Nova Colonia do Sacramento. Sendo Governador da mesma Praça António Pedro de Casconcellos, Brigadeiro dos Exércitos de S. Magestade: Com algumas Plantas necessarias para a inteligencia da mesma Relação. Lisboa: Na Officina de Francisco Luiz Ameno, 1748.

[ ]4, A-L4, M6; [8], 110 pp.; 2 eng., 3 maps: il.; 230 mm. Modern full calf in a full cloth case.

First and only edition of the description of the siege imposed by Spanish troops on Colónia do Sacramento, on the River Plate, in 1735. The siege was commanded by D. Miguel de Salcedo and lasted around two years, until September 1737, having been the culmination of some tension between the Portuguese and Spanish crown regarding interests in that region and of a government that brought some prosperity to that colony under the baton of António Pedro de Vasconcelos who, according to a Spanish document, "due to this colony, have continually the Portuguese and English traded throughout the kingdom of Peru". The colony resisted valiantly, having received several reinforcements from Brazil, but the siege left deep marks. During the winter of 1736, hunger forced the inhabitants "to eat horses, dogs, cats and other filthy animals that were in need", writes Ferreira da Silva in his work. And, after the siege, everything outside the walls had been looted or destroyed and, "even in complete peace, the Spanish continued to keep the square under a tight blockade, hoping to make the position untenable for Portugal" [ cf. DHP, v.5, p. 410] The work is illustrated with 2 engravings and three maps, all drawn by the author himself and engraved by Olivarius Cor, a well-known engraver in the time of D. João V. It is a very rare, valuable work and an indispensable document for the history of the Colony of Sacramento, being also one of the first with a description of the city of Buenos Aires.

¶ Inocêncio, v.7, p. 258; v.19, p. 212; BdM2, 812; Sabin, 24173