Real Asiento de Inglaterra or Real Asiento de la Gran Bretaña was the name in Spanish of the subsidiary in Buenos Aires of the South Sea Company.[1] In 1713, the British Crown established the asiento in the current Plaza San Martín, neighborhood of Retiro.[2]
In 1718, Thomas Dover, president of the Real Asiento de Inglaterra of Buenos Aires, acquired the luxurious residence belonging to Miguel de Riglos.[7] This residence had originally been owned by the Governor of Buenos Aires Agustín de Robles y Lorenzana. After acquiring that property, Riglos rented it to the Compagnie Royale de Guinée.[8]
The South Sea Company operated in the Río de la Plata until 1739, the year in which Spain declared war against Great Britain. The Plaza de Toros del Retiro was built in 1800 on the former site of the Real Asiento de Inglaterra.[12]Robert Young, Robert Fontaine and Robert Espren, pioneers in the practice of medicine of colonial Buenos Aires, arrived in the Río de la Plata on the ships of the Real Asiento de Inglaterra.[13]