Abstract
This article approaches the administration of communication as a constituent of the European overseas empires in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, having as a case of study the Portuguese captaincy of Rio Grande de São Pedro. It analyzes the Portuguese information policy directed to the Spanish viceroyalty of the River Plate, with particular reference to espionage. The objective is to demonstrate the existence of this phenomenon as Portuguese imperial policy for America, observing limits and possibilities for the definition of sovereignty and for defensive and expansionist plans.
Keywords:
Espionage; borderland; Iberic empires; sovereignty