Cevallos, Pedro Antonio de (1715–1778)

Pedro Antonio de Cevallos (b. 29 June 1715; d. 24 December 1778), governor of Buenos Aires (1756–1766); viceroy of Río de la Plata (1777–1778). Born in Cádiz, the son of the general superintendent of customs of that city, Cevallos studied for a military career at the Seminario de Nobles in Madrid. Promoted to field marshal by 1747, Cevallos arrived in the Río de la Plata in 1756 as governor and chief of a sizable military expedition charged with containing the Portuguese. During his tenure as governor, Cevallos traveled extensively in the Misiones area. He returned to Spain in 1767, but in 1776 was again called upon to confront the Portuguese. Proving himself to be a fine strategist, he successfully ousted the Portuguese from Colonia in 1777, proceeding to Buenos Aires as first viceroy of the Río de la Plata. During his brief term of office, Cevallos promulgated free-trade ordinances. Shortly after taking office, he fell ill on a trip to Córdoba and died. A lifelong bachelor, Cevallos left at least one illegitimate son in Buenos Aires, born shortly after his father's death.

See alsoArgentina: The Colonial Period .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Enrique Udaondo, Diccionario biográfico colonial argentino (1945), pp. 249-252.

Hialmar Edmundo Gammalsson, El virrey Cevallos (1976).

Enrique M. Barba, Don Pedro de Cevallos, 2d ed. (1978).

Additional Bibliography

Lesser, Richardo. La última llamarada: Cevallos, primer virrey del Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires: Editorial Biblos, 2005.

                                    Susan M. Socolow