Mariquita Sánchez

Who was Mariquita Sánchez?

María Josepha Petrona de Todos los Santos Sánchez de Velazco y Trillo de Thompson y Mendeville, better known as Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson, was a patriot from Buenos Aires and its leading salonnière, whose tertulia gathered all the leading personalities of her time. She is widely remembered in the Argentine historical tradition because the Argentine National Anthem was sung for the first time in her house, on 14 May 1813.

One of the first politically active Argentine women, Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson has been considered the most active female figure in the revolutionary process. She was also a pioneering advocate of the need for education for women.

She was born in Buenos Aires, and married her cousin, Martín Thompson, in 1805. She authored a description of the failed British invasions of Buenos Aires in 1806 and 1807. Her writings are most valued for their illustration of the ambivalence felt by the locals regarding the invasions.

She became a widow in 1817, and re-married in 1820, this time to the French expatriate Washington de Mendeville.