Founded in 1680, when the Portuguese Crown was trying to expand its possessions in America, Colonia do Sacramento grew from a small fortified market to a major center of trade and settlement in the early eighteenth century. However, the Spanish siege that lasted from 1735 to 1737 limited its character of settlement center and core of the Portuguese expansion in the Rio de la Plata to an exclusively commercial and military role. The lifting of the siege in 1737 did not imply the abandonment of the blockade on the fortification, which continued until its final delivery to the Spanish Crown in 1777. This article has tried to point out similarities between the daily life of the population of Colonia do Sacramento during the period when they lived under the Spanish blockade, and the daily life of the inhabitants of the Portuguese strongholds in Morocco and India, where the population lived under constant control and under threats of enemy invasion.
settlement; war; daily life; Colony of Sacramento; eighteenth century.