alternatehistory.com

Between 1806 and 1807 Britain laucnched a series of invasions of the Rio de la Plata, which is the area dividing modern day Argentina and Uruguay. This invasion wasn't officially sanctioned by the British Government, but they did give unofficial approval of a little piece of British enterprise. Suffice to say that the British bit off more than they could chew and the two invasions were repulsed by Argentine militia and Spanish colonial forces; the second invasion getting bogged down in quite horrendous street fighting in Buenos Aires.

However, say if,the British invasion of the Rio de la Plata succeeded and Britain claimed the area for the Crown from a declining Spanish Empire (whose mainland was about to be invaded by Napoleon's hordes at this time) and before the 'South American Wars of Liberation' had really started. Taking into account the feelings of nationalism already present in South America, how far could a British Empire of South America have got?
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