With the eighteenth century Spain adopted a little more liberal policy toward her colonies in regard to trade. The prestige which England and Holland had obtained practically forced certain concessions. Uruguay began to be settled by Spaniards. The increase in population and greater demand for wool and hides in Europe caused a remarkable advance in trade. In 1767 the Jesuits were expelled, as they had been in Brazil some time previous. This order had accumulated enormous wealth and ruled a large section of the country with an iron hand. The members of the order were forcibly driven out and their property sold at auction or divided among other orders. In 1776, just a few days after the declaration of independence in the American colonies, Buenos Aires was established as a viceroyalty. Lake Titicaca on the north, and the Andes on the west, were established as the boundary lines. It included the territory now divided into the four republics of Uruguay, Bolivia, Argentina and Paraguay. South of the city of Buenos Aires, however, there was practically no development. The first viceroy was named Pedro de Zeballos, who came over with a large force of soldiers and sailors in order to drive out the Portuguese. Free commerce with Spain was now permitted and commerce greatly increased. Buenos Aires became the centre of all this trade, was greatly prospered and its population rapidly increased. Wines, brandies, hides, tobacco and maté (Paraguay tea) were the principal articles exported to Europe. The beginning of the nineteenth century saw unrest all over South America. It began in Quito, Ecuador, and spread in every direction. It did not take long to reach the loosely cohered sections of the viceroyalty of Buenos Aires, in which the different elements had not coalesced. The Spaniards generally lived in the populated centres, while the gauchos, mostly half-breeds, had their homes on the broad pampas. It was essentially democratic as compared with more aristocratic Peru and Mexico. The only common bond was religion, and that was not strong. Spain’s selfish policy had destroyed her prestige, while the revolutions in France and North America had propagated the idea of democracy among the youth.