The Southern Star (Montevideo)

Front page of the newspaper.

The Southern Star / La Estrella del sur (the last name is the Spanish translation, but both names were used in conjunction) was a bilingual newspaper edited in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1807. It was the first newspaper edited in the city,^[1] but it only lasted for a couple of months, while Montevideo was under British rule during the second British invasions of the Río de la Plata. The newspaper was used to promote free trade and loyalty to the British Crown, as a possible way to achieve independence from the Spanish Crown.

The Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires forbade the distribution or possession of those newspapers in the city of Buenos Aires, with the unauthorized possession charged as treason against the King and the State. The lawyer Mariano Moreno was requested to write editorials countering the opinions held by the newspaper. However, Moreno refused to do so because, even while he rejected British presence in the Viceroyalty, he still thought that some of the critics made to the Spanish government were right.^[2]

The newspaper was closed after the defeat and removal of the British troops, and the printing machines were sent to Buenos Aires.

See also

• British invasions of the Río de la Plata

References