Colonia
It has been said, somewhat disingenuously, that the English once acquired an empire in a fit of absence of mind. At the end of the 1960s, two English academics, Robinson and Gallagher, argued that most of the English colonies in Africa, for example, has been acquired largely in order to secure control of the hinterland of Cape Town in the south and the Suez Canal in the north. The quintessential British overseas settlement was thus the heavily defended dockyard and its associated township. If British colonial townships can be recognized anywhere, so can the distinctive styles of the Portuguese and the Spanish. Today, we added a visit to Colonia to our growing list of Portuguese colonial settlements encountered on this voyage, from the Azores via the Cape Verde Islands to Salvador, Ilheus, Rio de Janeiro and on to Parati in Brazil. They too are distinctive, with their basalt-and-limestone sidewalks and enormous cobblestone streets. We had hoped to arrive at Colonia by sea, as we had done at Parati a week ago, but were frustrated by a freak storm that caused extensive damage in Uruguay and necessitated an overnight stay at the dock in Montevideo. Instead, in calmer weather, we drove the 170 kilometers to Colonia by bus through the rich grasslands of Uruguay, noting the tributaries of the Rio Plate in full flood.
Of course, Colonia is now in Uruguay, part of Spanish-speaking South America, but it was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese, only finally becoming a Spanish possession in 1777. On arrival, we stumbled upon a reenactment of Spanish soldiers taking possession of the town following the Treaty of San Sebastian. Today Colonia has a population of some 56,000 people, once living from the textile industry, but increasingly dependent on tourism. The historic district of the town, on the Unesco World Heritage list, reminded us of Parati in many ways: the Street of Sighs (photo), with its large cobblestones and concave surface to enable the incoming tide to cleanse the streets, for example. As a Uruguayan resort - the huge market of Buenos Aires is but a ferry ride away across the Rio Plate - Colonia acquired a bull ring, the third largest in the world when it opened at the beginning of the twentieth century, a casino, a horse racing track and, latterly, a golf course. With its clean, sandy beaches on the south-facing slopes of the Rio Plate, Colonia became a fashionable haunt for high society from Argentina and for Uruguayan intellectuals. Yet it is the Portuguese origins of the town that determine its appearance and contribute so much to its charm.
This evening, we sail for Argentina, where we should expect to find more purely Spanish settlements. The Spanish colonists tended to arrive at their first ports of call with a regulation town plan on board. A suitable site for a township was established, typically an upturned saucer to provide good drainage, on which a central square was laid out - La Plaza Mayor - and from which a rectangular grid of streets was laid out at right angles. Arranged around the square were the church, the law courts, the Palace of the Inquisition and the government offices. In other words, the inhabitants grew up to meet the needs of the town and not vice versa. For splendid dockyard fortifications and a busy commercial centre look to the British, for severity and symmetry in colonial urban planning look to the Spanish, but for pure charm, it's hard to beat the Portuguese. Leaving Colonia, for the long drive back to Montevideo, inevitably seemed too soon.
It has been said, somewhat disingenuously, that the English once acquired an empire in a fit of absence of mind. At the end of the 1960s, two English academics, Robinson and Gallagher, argued that most of the English colonies in Africa, for example, has been acquired largely in order to secure control of the hinterland of Cape Town in the south and the Suez Canal in the north. The quintessential British overseas settlement was thus the heavily defended dockyard and its associated township. If British colonial townships can be recognized anywhere, so can the distinctive styles of the Portuguese and the Spanish. Today, we added a visit to Colonia to our growing list of Portuguese colonial settlements encountered on this voyage, from the Azores via the Cape Verde Islands to Salvador, Ilheus, Rio de Janeiro and on to Parati in Brazil. They too are distinctive, with their basalt-and-limestone sidewalks and enormous cobblestone streets. We had hoped to arrive at Colonia by sea, as we had done at Parati a week ago, but were frustrated by a freak storm that caused extensive damage in Uruguay and necessitated an overnight stay at the dock in Montevideo. Instead, in calmer weather, we drove the 170 kilometers to Colonia by bus through the rich grasslands of Uruguay, noting the tributaries of the Rio Plate in full flood.
Of course, Colonia is now in Uruguay, part of Spanish-speaking South America, but it was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese, only finally becoming a Spanish possession in 1777. On arrival, we stumbled upon a reenactment of Spanish soldiers taking possession of the town following the Treaty of San Sebastian. Today Colonia has a population of some 56,000 people, once living from the textile industry, but increasingly dependent on tourism. The historic district of the town, on the Unesco World Heritage list, reminded us of Parati in many ways: the Street of Sighs (photo), with its large cobblestones and concave surface to enable the incoming tide to cleanse the streets, for example. As a Uruguayan resort - the huge market of Buenos Aires is but a ferry ride away across the Rio Plate - Colonia acquired a bull ring, the third largest in the world when it opened at the beginning of the twentieth century, a casino, a horse racing track and, latterly, a golf course. With its clean, sandy beaches on the south-facing slopes of the Rio Plate, Colonia became a fashionable haunt for high society from Argentina and for Uruguayan intellectuals. Yet it is the Portuguese origins of the town that determine its appearance and contribute so much to its charm.
This evening, we sail for Argentina, where we should expect to find more purely Spanish settlements. The Spanish colonists tended to arrive at their first ports of call with a regulation town plan on board. A suitable site for a township was established, typically an upturned saucer to provide good drainage, on which a central square was laid out - La Plaza Mayor - and from which a rectangular grid of streets was laid out at right angles. Arranged around the square were the church, the law courts, the Palace of the Inquisition and the government offices. In other words, the inhabitants grew up to meet the needs of the town and not vice versa. For splendid dockyard fortifications and a busy commercial centre look to the British, for severity and symmetry in colonial urban planning look to the Spanish, but for pure charm, it's hard to beat the Portuguese. Leaving Colonia, for the long drive back to Montevideo, inevitably seemed too soon.
