Rivadavia was born in [[Buenos Aires]] on May 20, 1780, the fourth son of Benito Bernardino González de Rivadavia, a wealthy [[Spain|Spanish]] lawyer, and his first wife, María Josefa de Jesús Rodríguez de Rivadeneyra. Both parents were born in the [[Galicia (Spain)|Galician]] town of [[Monforte de Lemos]]. Because of his dark appearance it has been falsely alleged Rivadavia had African ancestry.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/archipielago/article/view/20033|title=La negritud. Pasado y presente en Argentina|access-date=December 6, 2022|journal=Archipiélago|publisher=[[Universidad Nacional de México]]|last=Pérez Martín|first=Norma|date=2010|volume=16|issue=60|issn=<!-- none, the journal just made one up to sound legit 1402-3357 -->|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telam.com.ar/notas/201503/96488-el-sur-negro-cronicas-de-un-tema-silenciado.html|work=[[Télam]]|title="El sur negro", crónicas de un tema silenciado|last=Boccanera|first=Jorge|date=March 1, 2015|access-date=December 6, 2022|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Peñaloza|first=Fernanda|year=2007|title=Mapping Constructions of Blackness in Argentina|journal=Indiana|volume=24|pages=211–231|url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/2470/247016522010.pdf|access-date=21 September 2023}}, p.227</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Gott|first=Richard|year=2007|title=América Latina como una sociedad de colonización blanca|journal=Estudios Avanzados|volume=5|issue=8|language=es|url=http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/Chile/idea-usach/20100713102728/gott.pdf|access-date=21 September 2023}}, p.24</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Solomianski|first=Alejandro|year=2015|title=Argentina y negritud: desde la otredad radicalizada hacia discursos más igualitarios|journal=Cuadernos de Literatura|volume=XIX|issue=38|pages=99–118|doi=10.11144/Javeriana.cl19-38.ando |language=es|url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/4398/439843035008.pdf|access-date=21 September 2023}}, p.111</ref> On December 14, 1809, Bernardino Rivadavia married [[Juana del Pino y Vera Mujica]], daughter of the [[viceroy]] of the [[Río de la Plata]], [[Joaquín del Pino]] and his second wife, the [[vicereine]] Rafaela Francisca de Vera Mujica y López Pintado. His military appointment was rejected by [[Mariano Moreno]].
