The landing of the 33 patriots is a national day in Uruguay that commemorates the arrival in 1825 of Juan Lavelleja, an anticolonial leader, and his 33 fighters, who are known as the Treinta y Tres Orientales (Thirty-Three Easterners). This landing marked the first stage in the fight for independence from Brazil in 1828.
On April 15th 1825, Lavalleja and his men took ship from San Isidro, a Buenos Aires neighborhood on the banks of the Río de la Plata at the northwest outskirts of the city. They advanced carefully among the isles of the Paraná Delta, evading the vigil of the Brazilian flotilla. After nightfall they crossed the Río Uruguay in two boats and disembarked at Agraciada Beach in the dawn of April 19. There they planted what would become known as the Bandera de los Treinta y Tres Orientales (Flag of the Thirty-Three Easterners), a flag of blue, white, and red horizontal bars. These colors had been traditional since the times of Artigas, not only in Oriental Province but also in others of the Río de la Plata region. Long afterwards, in 1877, the event would be portrayed by the painter Juan Manuel Blanes, in El Juramento de los Treinta y Tres Orientales (Oath of the Thirty-Three Easterners, pictured) one of the images most deeply inscribed in the historical memory of Uruguayans.
The military expedition of the Treinta y Tres proceeded to attract countryside inhabitants to the cause of freedom from the Brazilians, and made way to Montevideo, where they arrived on May 20, 1825. On June 14, in the town of La Florida they installed a provisional government which in turn held an election of representatives. This was known as Representatives' Hall, or more commonly as the Florida Assembly. The goal of the assembly was to rewrite the laws of Oriental Province.
On August 25 the assembly declared the independence of Oriental Province from Brazil, and its alleigiance to the United Provinces of Río de la Plata. The United Provinces recognized the incorporation of Oriental Province on October 24, 1825. This instigated a declaration of war by the Empire of Brazil in December of the same year. The Argentina-Brazil War had begun.This conflict extended until August 1828. After mediation by Viscount Ponsonby, a British diplomat, Oriental Province was established as a state independent of both the United Provinces and the Brazilian Empire. This accord was the foundation of modern Uruguay. Known as the Preliminary Peace Convention, it was affirmed on August 27, 1828.
The true number of the group has been the object of controversy, based on the existence of various lists of members, published between 1825 and 1832. Albeit thirty-three is the officially accepted number, the names differ from list to list; it is unclear whether these differing names may be nicknames of the true members. According to Jacinto Carranza, Santiago Gadea is a name appearing in every list. Although called Orientales, not everyone was from Oriental Province. Among them were various Argentines from the isles of Paraná, as well as Paraguayans.
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