The Historiography of the Río de la Plata Area Since 1830
Two traditions have dominated the Rio de la Plata area since the colonial period.t One has been characterized by a strong liberal tendency, by its stress on freedom for the individual under elected civilian governments, by an anti-clerical (but not anti-religious) outlook, and has looked to France, England and the United States for inspiration in achieving the area's destiny. The other tradition, at times, has gone to the extremes of conservatism with its generally pro-clerical outlook and preference for Spain and the area 's own past as its guideline to the future; and in the name of "order" has been willing to accept an authoritarian government, under a man on horseback if necessary, with strict limits set on the exercise of individual liberties. This tradition has had its greatest strength in the interior, where until late in the nineteenth century local caudillos employed their gaucho followings to defy the authority of the national governments in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The liberal tradition has had its principal following in the urban areas, particularly in