
Félix de Azara: Drawn from Life - Vigier
https://jhiblog.org/2016/06/29/felix-de-azara-drawn-from-life/
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cousin_it
That bird drawing is the most beautiful thing I've seen today.

[https://blogjhi.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/3-azaras-
bird.pn...](https://blogjhi.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/3-azaras-bird.png)

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annatoledano
Glad to share it with you!

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edko
"Charged by the Spanish army with the task of drawing maps of the Spanish and
Portuguese territories in the Río de la Plata region of what is now Paraguay
and Brazil"

Río de la Plata was never what is now Paraguay or Brazil, but what is now
Argentina and Uruguay. I suspect the river in question must be the Paraná, not
the Río de la Plata.

~~~
benbreen
I think the OP is correct; the Portuguese crown had designs on the Rio de la
Plata region in the late 17th century. For instance, they founded this city in
present day Uruguay, opposite Buenos Aires:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_del_Sacramento#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_del_Sacramento#History)

Edit: seems that you might be right in that potentially the post mixes up
Paraguay with Uruguay, though. I guess it depends on what we mean by "Rio de
la Plata region." In 18th century geography, those kinds of boundaries are a
lot hazier.

~~~
annatoledano
I agree that international boundaries were blurrier then - to solidify them
was the purpose of Azara's whole mission - and I should have been more
specific about the modern locations to which I was referring. I think the
Viceroyalty of Rio de La Plata
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroyalty_of_the_R%C3%ADo_de...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroyalty_of_the_R%C3%ADo_de_la_Plata))
might have made that particular name apply to a broader region then than it
does now. As for Azara, he started his stay in South America mostly in Buenos
Aires, but then spent the bulk of his time in Asunción, traveling from there
to the Brazilian border that he was supposed to demarcate only to be met with
lack of cooperation from the Portuguese. For a more comprehensive biography,
this is the best I've found online:
[http://www.fundacionazara.org.ar/ingles/felix-
azara.html](http://www.fundacionazara.org.ar/ingles/felix-azara.html). Many
thanks to you both for taking the time to read and comment!

