# Appendix: History of the Banda Orientál explained — The Purple Land > Chapter companion for The Purple Land by W. H. Hudson. ## What happens This appendix provides a historical overview of the Banda Orientál (the Purple Land), from its discovery by Magellan in 1500 through the colonial period, the English invasion, the wars for independence, and the political turmoil of the nineteenth century, setting the stage for the adventures described in the book during the late 1860s or early 1870s. ## Themes in this chapter ### Civilization vs. Nature The appendix describes how European colonists neglected the Banda, allowing cattle to return to a feral life and overrun the country, contrasting the tame with the wild. ### Freedom and Oppression The Banda's struggle for independence from Spain and Portugal, and later between Whites and Reds, reflects ongoing themes of political freedom and oppression. ### Cultural Clash and Identity The conflict between Spanish and Portuguese colonial powers, and the eventual formation of a distinct Banda Orientál identity, highlights cultural clashes and the search for belonging. ## Key lines > The country, called in this work the Purple Land, was discovered by Magellan in the year 1500, and he called the hill, or mountain, which gives its name to the capital, Monte Vidi. Magellan discovered the Purple Land in 1500 and named the hill Monte Vidi, which later became the name of the capital Montevideo. _Establishes the historical origin of the region's name._ > For two centuries it was neglected by its white possessors, while the cattle they had imported continued to multiply, and, returning to a feral life, overran the country in amazing numbers. For 200 years, the Spanish owners ignored the Banda, allowing imported cattle to become wild and multiply across the land. _Highlights the theme of civilization versus nature._ > The accumulated treasures had been squandered. The cruel crusades of the Paulists against the Jesuit missions had ceased for the inhuman slave-hunters had utterly destroyed the smiling gardens in the wilderness. The wealth was wasted, and the Paulist slave hunters destroyed the Jesuit missions and their gardens. _Describes the destruction of Jesuit missions and the end of an era._ > At the beginning of the nineteenth century the English invasion burst like a sudden terrible thunderstorm on the country. In the early 1800s, the English invasion struck the country suddenly and violently. _Metaphor for the impact of the English invasion._ > After thus acquiring its independence, the little Belgium of the New World cast off its pretty but hated appellation of Cisplatina and resumed its old joyous name of Banda Orientál. After gaining independence, the country rejected the name Cisplatina and returned to its original name, Banda Orientál. _Symbolic reclamation of national identity._ > With light hearts the people then proceeded to divide themselves into two political parties⁠—Whites and Reds. The people cheerfully split into two political factions: the Whites and the Reds. _Irony of division after independence._ > The rambles and adventures described in the book take us back to the late ’sixties or early ’seventies of the last century, when the country was still in the condition in which it had remained since the colonial days, when the ten years’ siege of Montevideo was not yet a remote event, and many of the people one met had had a part in it. The book's adventures are set in the late 1860s or early 1870s, when the country was still unchanged from colonial times and the ten-year siege of Montevideo was a recent memory for many. _Connects the historical context to the narrative timeframe._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_purple_land_se/chapters/appendix - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_purple_land_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_purple_land_se/chapters