May Revolution
The mutiny of Aranjuez in 1808 led King Charles IV of Spain to abdicate in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII. Charles IV requested that Napoleon restore him to the throne; instead, Napoleon crowned his own brother, Joseph Bonaparte, as the new Spanish King. These events are known as the Abdications of Bayonne. Joseph's coronation was met with severe resistance in Spain, which started the Peninsular War, and the Supreme Central Junta took power in the name of the absent king. This also led to Spain switching allegiances from France to Britain. France eventually invaded Sevilla, and a Council of Regency based in Cadiz replaced the disbanded Supreme Central Junta.
Legacy of the May Revolution
The date, as well as a generic image of the Buenos Aires Cabildo, are used in different variants to honor the May Revolution. Two of the most notable are the Avenida de Mayo and the Plaza de Mayo at Buenos Aires, near the location of the Cabildo. The Pirámide de Mayo was erected in the Plaza a year after the revolution, and was rebuilt to its present form in 1856. "May 25" (in Spanish, "Veinticinco de Mayo") is the name of several administrative divisions, cities, public spaces, and landforms of Argentina. There are departments of this name in the provinces of Chaco, Misiones, San Juan, Rio Negro, and Buenos Aires, the latter one holding the Veinticinco de Mayo city. The cities of Rosario (Santa Fe), Junín (Buenos Aires), and Resistencia (Chaco) have eponymous squares. The King George Island is under sovereignty claims of Argentina, Britain, and Chile, as part of the Argentine Antarctica, British Antarctic Territory, and Chilean Antarctic Territory, with Argentina naming it "Isla 25 de Mayo".