Sobremonte, Rafael de (1745–1827)

Rafael de Sobremonte (b. 27 November 1745; d. 14 January 1827), intendant of Córdoba (1783–1797), viceroy of Río de la Plata (1804–1807). Born in Seville to a noble family, Sobremonte trained for a military career. After service in Ceuta and Puerto Rico, he arrived in Buenos Aires in 1779 as viceregal secretary under Viceroy Vértiz. Three years later he married Juana María de Larrazábal, the daughter of a prominent local family. With Vértiz's patronage, he secured the post of intendant of Córdoba (1783), where he served as a dynamic, model administrator. In 1797 Sobremonte was promoted to subinspector general of the military within the viceroyalty, and seven years later was named viceroy.

Although he was well-known and respected throughout the region, Sobremonte's tenure as viceroy proved to be deeply disappointing. He is best remembered for his ignominious flight to Córdoba (ostensibly to raise fresh troops) during the English invasion of 1806, leaving the city of Buenos Aires to defend itself as best it could. Sobremonte was deposed by the Buenos Aires cabildo in 1807 and arrested shortly thereafter. He was allowed to return to Spain in 1809. Exonerated of any wrongdoing in 1813, he was allowed to continue his military career. Named to the Council of the Indies in 1814, he retired the next year, dying in Cádiz after a long illness.

See alsoBrazil: The Colonial Era, 1500–1808; Brazil: 1808–1889; Brazil, Viceroys of.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Enrique Udaondo, Diccionario biográfico colonial argentino (1945), pp. 845-847.

John Lynch, Spanish Colonial Administration, 1782–1810: The Intendant System in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (1969).

Additional Bibliography

Aspell, Marcela. Sobre Monte: El gobernador olvidado. Córdoba: Junta Provincial de Historia de Córdoba, 2001.

Garzón, Rafael. Sobre Monte y Córdoba en las invasiones inglesas. Córdoba: Ediciones del Corredor Austral, 2000.

                                   Susan M. Socolow