Juan Hipólito Vieytes, was an Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 merchant and soldier. He was born in San Antonio de Areco

San Antonio de Areco

San Antonio de Areco is a town in northern Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and capital of the partido of San Antonio de Areco. It is located on the Areco River away from the Buenos Aires city, the country's capital....

, Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province

The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

 on 6 August 1762, son of Juan Vieytes and Petrona Mora Fernández de Agüero. His family's house was at 133 Calle Real (today's Ruiz de Arellano street) in front of the central square.

Biography

When still a young child, his family moved to Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 and enrolled him and his brother at the Jesuit school Colegio Real de San Carlos.

He married Josefa Torres and adopted two children: Carlota Joaquina and José Benjamín (his son studied medicine and became a doctor in 1827).

Vieytes started as a successful businessman, in a soap factory in partnership with Nicolás Rodríguez Peña

Nicolás Rodríguez Peña

Nicolás Rodriguez Peña was an Argentine politician. Born in Buenos Aires in April 1775, he worked in commerce which allowed him to amass a considerable fortune. Among his several successful businesses, he had a soap factory partnership with Hipólito Vieytes, which was a center of conspirators...

. There he began to get involved in politics and used the business as a meeting place for the conspirators before the May Revolution

May Revolution

The May Revolution was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish colony that included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...

 (1810), with other prominent citizens, all members of the "Patriotic Society" ("Sociedad Patriótica"), (Belgrano

Manuel Belgrano

Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano , usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano, was an Argentine economist, lawyer, politician, and military leader. He took part in the Argentine Wars of Independence and created the Flag of Argentina...

, Castelli

Juan José Castelli

Juan José Castelli was an Argentine lawyer. He was one of the leaders of the May Revolution, which started the Argentine War of Independence...

, Moreno

Mariano Moreno

Mariano Moreno was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, and politician. He played a decisive role in the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina, created after the May Revolution....

, Paso

Juan José Paso

Juan José Paso, was an Argentine politician who participated in the events that started the Argentine War of Independence known as May Revolution of 1810....

 and French

Domingo French

Domingo French was an Argentine revolutionary who took part in the May Revolution and the Argentine War of Independence.- Biography :...

).

He was also a newspaperman and founded the second newspaper published in Buenos Aires, the "Semanario de agricultura, industria y comercio" ("Weekly news on agriculture, industry and commerce").

He played a part in the reconquest of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata

British invasions of the Río de la Plata

The British invasions of the Río de la Plata were a series of unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of the Spanish colonies located around the La Plata Basin in South America . The invasions took place between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars, when Spain was an ally of...

, where he attained the rank of captain. In 1810 he supported the May Revolution and assisted the Cabildo

Cabildo (council)

For a discussion of the contemporary Spanish and Latin American cabildo, see Ayuntamiento.A cabildo or ayuntamiento was a former Spanish, colonial administrative council that governed a municipality. Cabildos were sometimes appointed, sometimes elected, but were considered to be representative of...

. He was named war auditor, but was later removed when he declined to take part in the execution of Santiago de Liniers

Santiago de Liniers

Jacques de Liniers was a French officer in the Spanish military service, and a viceroy of the Spanish colonies of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. He is more widely known by the Spanish form of his name, Santiago de Liniers...

. After the death of Mariano Moreno

Mariano Moreno

Mariano Moreno was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, and politician. He played a decisive role in the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina, created after the May Revolution....

, he replaced him as secretary to the Primera Junta

Primera Junta

The Primera Junta or First Assembly is the most common name given to the first independent government of Argentina. It was created on 25 May 1810, as a result of the events of the May Revolution. The Junta initially had representatives from only Buenos Aires...

, until 1811.

Conmemoration

Today, there are streets and schools named in his honor in Buenos Aires and in his hometown of San Antonio de Areco.

In popular culture

Hipólito Vieytes is the subject of the book Vieytes, el Desterrado

Vieytes, el Desterrado

Vieytes, el Desterrado is an Argentine historical novel written by Francisco N. Juárez in 2001, narrating the life of Hipólito Vieytes...

, wrote by Francisco Suárez in 2001. Despite not being a real autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

, the book is written in first-person narrative

First-person narrative

First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...

, and shows the investigations made by Suárez.

External links

Bio of Hipólito Vieytes in es.Wikisource, written by Juan María Gutiérrez

Juan María Gutiérrez

Juan María Gutiérrez was an Argentine statesman, jurist, surveyor, historian, critic, and poet.He was a major figure in Argentine liberalism and one of the most prominent promoters of Argentine culture during the 19th century...

 and published in 1860 todo-argentina.net