Juan Tomás Julián Marcos de Rocamora y del Castillo (27 April 1740 – 16 March 1819) was the governor of three provinces

Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 and the founder of several towns in Entre Ríos Province

Entre Ríos Province

Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

.

Born in Granada, Nicaragua

Granada, Nicaragua

Granada is a city in western Nicaragua and the capital of the Granada Department. With an estimated population of 110,326 , it is Nicaragua's fourth most populous city. Granada is historically one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically...

, he moved to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 at an early age. In 1750 he entered the Spanish Royal Guard

Spanish Royal Guard

The Royal Guard is an independent unit of the Spanish Armed Forces dedicated to the military protection of H.M. the King of Spain and the members of the Spanish Royal Family. It currently has a strength of 1,900 troops. While the guard does participate in parades and other ceremonial events, it...

. As an officer he came to the Río de la Plata

Río de la Plata

The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...

 to fight in Montevideo

Montevideo

Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

, Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

 against the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. In 1782 he was sent to explore and pacify the area of the settlements around the Uruguay River

Uruguay River

The Uruguay River is a river in South America. It flows from north to south and makes boundary with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of the Mesopotamia from the other two countries...

 by the newly installed Viceroy

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, , was the last and most short-lived Viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire in America.The Viceroyalty was established in 1776 out of several former Viceroyalty of Perú dependencies that mainly extended over the Río de la Plata basin, roughly the present day...

 Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo

Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo

Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo was a Spanish colonial politician born in New Spain, and Viceroy of the Río de la Plata.-Biography:...

. He founded five towns in present-day Entre Ríos, among them Gualeguay

Gualeguay, Entre Ríos

Gualeguay is a city in the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina, on the Gualeguay River, about 226 km from the provincial capital Paraná and 234 km north-west from Buenos Aires. It has a population of about 39,000 inhabitants as per the...

, Concepción del Uruguay

Concepción del Uruguay

Concepción del Uruguay is a city in Argentina.It is located in the Entre Ríos province, on the western shore of the Uruguay River, some 320 kilometers north from Buenos Aires. Its population is about 65,000 inhabitants .-History:...

 and Gualeguaychú

Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos

Gualeguaychú is a city in the , on the left bank of the Gualeguaychú River . It is located on the south-east of the province, approximately 230 km north-west of Buenos Aires...

. He was also the first to use (in letters to the viceroy) the name Entre Ríos (literally "Between Rivers") for the land whose southern limits are the rivers Uruguay and Paraná

Paraná River

The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...

.

Rocamora was the governor of three provinces

Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 of the Argentine Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia, Argentina

La Mesopotamia, Región Mesopotámica is the humid and verdant area of north-east Argentina, comprising the provinces of Misiones, Entre Ríos and Corrientes. The region called Litoral consists of the Mesopotamia and the provinces of Chaco, Formosa and Santa Fe...

: Entre Ríos, Corrientes

Corrientes Province

Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...

 and Misiones

Misiones Province

Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamiсa region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.- History :The province was...

. He was the governor of Misiones when the May Revolution

May Revolution

The May Revolution was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish colony that included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...

 of 1810 installed the first national government in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, and accepted its authority. He was relieved from his post at the age of 71, and in 1812 he retired from the army as a colonel.

Rocamora died in 1819, at the age of 79. Today, his remains rest at the Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy in Buenos Aires. By a decree of the government of Entre Ríos, since 1958 Rocamora's work is remembered on 11 August.

Sources

• LaCalle. Fundación de la histórica ciudad de Concepción del Uruguay.
• University of Commercial Sciences, Nicaragua. El Granadino Tomás de Rocamora.