The founding of Colonia do Sacramento resulted in the creation of a borderland region between Spain and Portugal in the Americas. Furthermore, the presence of several Indigenous groups added characteristics of a fluid ethnic frontier between Spanish and Portuguese subjects and Amerindian groups. The continuous interactions among Spanish, Portuguese, foreign merchants, and indigenous peoples in the Rio de la Plata estuary and in the interior of the North Bank shaped political institutions, social practices, and the integration of region into the Atlantic World.

Fabrício Prado is an associate professor of history at the College of William and Mary, where he teaches classes on Colonial Latin America and the Atlantic World. Prado is the author of Edge of Empire: Atlantic Networks and Revolution in Bourbon Rio de la Plata (2015) and Colonia do Sacramento: o extremo sul da América portuguesa (2002).