Colonia del Sacramento as seen by travelers (18th century)

Abstract

Due to the policy adopted by the Portuguese crown to protect their colonies from other powers, we have only a few descriptions of Colonia del Sacramento, a fortification built in 1680 in the banks of the Prata River. Hence the importance of the accounts of travelers. Few described the Prata frontier, and the ones who took on this task were mostly clerics, such as the Dominican Domingo de Neyra and the Jesuits Diogo Soares and Florian Paucke. There were also reports by Frenchman Louis-Antoine de Bougainville and Spaniard Francisco Millau. It is through them that we gather knowledge about the details that were not registered in the administrative documentation, our main source of study for research of the daily life in Colonia del Sacramento.