Robertson, John Parish (1792-1843)

This is a biography of John Parish Robertson, a Scottish merchant and writer who became one of the first British traders in post-revolutionary Paraguay. He gained literary fame through his dramatic accounts of the dictator Dr Francia, helping shape European views of Paraguay. After building a trading empire across South America, Robertson lost his fortune in the 1825–6 crash and turned to writing. His works were influential but often sensationalist, and his more serious critiques of Latin American politics and British policy remain underexplored.