Azcuénaga, Miguel de (1754–1833)

Miguel de Azcuénaga (b. 4 June 1754; d. 19 December 1833), Argentine military man. Born in Buenos Aires, the son and grandson of prominent Basque merchants (Vicente de Azcuénaga and Domingo Basavilbaso), Azcuénaga was related by blood or marriage to many of the more conservative Spanish monopoly traders in Buenos Aires. After studying in Spain, he returned in 1773 to the city of his birth as a commissioned military officer. Between 1776 and 1800 he served as a member of the cabildo, a colonel in the militia, and the chief of militia in Buenos Aires. He was especially active as the commander of a volunteer infantry battalion during the English invasions of 1806–1807.

A participant in the cabildo abierto (open town council meeting) of 23 May 1810, Azcuénaga was a fervent supporter of the end of viceregal rule. He served in the first independence government and was especially active in organizing the military forces of the new government. Dismissed from the government as the result of political intrigue, Azcuénaga later held a variety of posts, including gobernador intendente of Buenos Aires (1813), president of the War Commission, and Buenos Aires deputy to Congress (1818). He died in Buenos Aires.

See alsoArgentina: The Colonial Period .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Enrique Udaondo, Diccionario biográfico colonial argentino (1945), p. 125.

Bernardo González Arrili, Hombres de Mayo (Buenos Aires, 1960), pp. 47-50.

Additional Bibliography

Lesser, Ricardo. La infancia de los próceres: Belgrano, Rivadavia, Moreno, Castelli, Azcuénaga. Buenos Aires: Editorial Biblos, 2004.

                                      Susan M. Socolow