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Cattle Raising in the Argentine Northeast: Corrientes, c.

1750-1870
Author(s): Thomas Whigham
Source: Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Nov., 1988), pp. 313-335
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/156717
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J. Lat. Amer. Stud. 20, 313-335 Printed in Great Britain 3 3

Cattle Raising in the Argentine Northeast:


Corrientes, c. 175 0-i870
by THOMAS WHIGHAM

Though Argentina has long been synonymous with trackless pampas an


teeming livestock herds, this common image requires some qualification.
Before the late nineteenth century, when refrigerated transport made
possible a large international market for Argentine beef, cattle played
less important role in the economy of the Rio de la Plata than is usually
assumed. Except for Buenos Aires province, where stockraising was
predominant even in the colonial period, ranchers often had to struggl
hard and insistently to find their niche in the overall commerce of the
region. Grazing conditions were excellent in many areas of the Rio de l
Plata, but because the port of Buenos Aires always enjoyed a near-
exclusive control over external trade, the portenos effectively blunted th
development of any stockraising that threatened to compete with their
own exports. In the northeastern provinces, this resulted in a cattle
industry marked by technological backwardness and erratic growth. The
chaotic politics of the post-independence era reinforced these conditions,
though reform-minded ranchers and government officials consistently
tried to improve provincial standards of stockraising.
Historically, the Argentine provinces of Corrientes and Misiones are
not as readily associated with ranching as are the southern provinces. Th
subtropical lowlands of the northeast did not easily lend themselves to
stockraising. Until the late I8ios, hides, tallow, and dried beef, as articles
of export, rarely surpassed timber, yerba mate and tobacco which were
more easily transported downriver via the port of Corrientes. Competitio
from Entre Rios, the Banda Oriental, and especially Buenos Aires als
prevented the northern region's emergence as a supplier of dried beef
(charqui) to the international market. But this did not mean that ranchin
had little impact within the northeast. Quite the contrary; in some areas
it was the dominant enterprise.
This was particularly true in southern Corrientes and along the Rio
Uruguay. There, the grassy terrain was more characteristic of Entre Rios

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314 Thomas Whigham

whereas to the north, the waving grasses grew thinner, until in Misiones
stands ofyatai palms encroached upon the steppes, which ultimately gave
way to the dense forests of Paraguay. Before the advent of permanently
settled ranches (estancias), this area had been home to thousands of wild
cattle and horses who shared the plain with tapirs, vizcachas and
anteaters.

The excellence of the Correntino pastures permitted a vas


the wild cattle population by the end of the I 5oos, and in the
century specialised hunters called vaqueros had emerged t
herds. The vaqueros of the northeast are as well represent
lore as the gauchos in the literature of the pampas. The Sco
R. B. Cunninghame-Graham, himself a cowboy of sorts
whose familiarity with pampas life in the I87os was recor
short stories which are as famous in South America as those of W. H.

Hudson, left a description that serves for both vaquero and gaucho

Nothing could be more typical upon the plains than was the figure of the g
dressed in his poncho and his chiripd, his naked toes clutching the stirrups
long iron spurs kept in position by a thong of hide dangling below his heel
hair bound back by a red silk handkerchief, his eyes ablaze, his silver knife
through his sash and tirador, and sticking out just under his right elbow, his p
with its mane cut into castles and its long tail floating out in the breeze.

As with his southern cousin, the vaquero of Corrientes had


possessions and these he kept close at hand: lasso, whip, saddle, a she
double-edged knife (facdn), and the inevitable boleadoras, a weighted
of Indian origin used to throw cattle and horses. A heavy poncho, a
brimmed hat, and the aforementioned chiripd undergarment supplie
vaquero with his complete attire. Aside from a much higher consum
of meat, the vaquero's diet resembled that of other northeasterner
included yerba, cornmush, manioc bread (chipa), and only occasiona
fruit. In the main, the vaquero existed outside the money economy
Because range cattle were regarded as Crown property, by the m
seventeenth century rights were being awarded by the governmen
individuals to round up and slaughter a specified number of cattle
year within a prescribed area. These forays, termed vaquer'as,

A radical Member of Parliament and a well-known Scottish adventurer and pio


R. B. Cunninghame-Graham participated in several military campaigns in Arge
during the I87os. The quote is taken from South American Sketches (Norman, 1
p. 26. The best general work on the gaucho is Richard W. Slatta, Gauchos and
Vanishing Frontier (Lincoln and London, 1983).

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Argentine Cattle Raising 3 5

conducted regularly until around 175o. Generally, they involved nothing


more than the slaughter of the animals for their hides, tongue, and ribs,
the last two being standard fare for vaqueros in the region.
By modern standards, the vaqueria would seem a wasteful economic
activity. The hunting parties left most of a slaughtered animal's carcass to
the jaguars and vultures, and made no effort to preserve the reproductive
capacity of the herd. During the seventeenth century this practice made
little difference due to the sheer size of cattle populations. The right to
conduct vaquerias was a jealously guarded monopoly organised under a
licensing system, and the frequency of expeditions into the rangelands
remained low until the illegal export of hides began on a regular basis at
the beginning of the eighteenth century. The growing economies of
northern Europe required leather in substantial amounts for shoes,
packing, and tack. The faraway Rio de la Plata could meet part of this
rising demand through Portuguese smugglers along the Brazilian frontier,
and through sales to French and British slave traders in Buenos Aires.
An expanded exploitation of the herds soon followed.
Outside demand for Correntino hides increased in the first decades of

the eighteenth century and, in response, vaquerias became far more


prevalent than before. This resulted in serious depletion of range cattle by
the 720zos, and it was not long before the wild herds were exterminated.
Correntino entrepreneurs then turned to the domestication of cattle, a
move that required the formation of estancias to contain the animals, and
this in turn brought a gradual transformation in the northeast away from
a concept of wealth based on the license to conduct vaquerias to one based
on the ownership of grazing land. A landholding elite began to develop,
and estancias and smaller cattle stations (ranchos) became a permanent
feature of the region. The estancia enabled a more rational exploitation of
cattle, which balanced the killing rate with the needs of reproduction, and
as a result, a full recovery of the herds was in sight by the 175os.
In domesticating their herds, Correntinos employed two main practices:
the rodeo and the brand. On the estancia, the rancher's foreman (capatda)
and his men herded the cattle into pastures called rodeos. They brought
the cattle together perhaps once a week in this manner in order to
accustom them both to the cowhand on horseback and to the designated
rodeo area. Once they branded stray cattle with an official mark, the
owners could reclaim their own stock when all cattlemen in the vicinity
assembled their herds on the fenceless range. The castration of bullocks
took place in the autumn months but in other respects the animals were
left alone. This rudimentary husbandry stimulated greater reproduction of

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3 16 Thomas Whigham

herds, and from a low of only 8,000 head on Correntino ranches in 1738,
the herds multiplied to around I6o,ooo head in I76o.2 The estanciero
needed cowhands to watch his herds all year long, and itinerant cowboys
provided most of the labour, some coming from as far away as
Montevideo. As we will see, after the expulsion of the Jesuit Order in
I768, many former Mission Indians also joined the labour pool.3
Labour requirements on the estancia itself were relatively low. A
Spanish imperial commissioner, Felix de Azara, claimed that only one
capatda and ten cowhands were needed to run an estancia of some o0,000
head of cattle, enough to assure an increase in the size of the herd by one-
third each year.4
Labour was also needed, however, for driving livestock from one spot
to another, which was a specialised task given the environmental
conditions in the northeast. The tropical climate bred ticks, worms,
screwflies, and mites of all kinds. Predatory animals could be even more
of a problem. When swimming across piranha-infested waters, for
example, the vaqueros would often kill a calf and throw the carcass
downstream. While the piranhas devoured it, the troop crossed elsewhere.
Even with such tricks as these, many head of cattle were often lost on the
drive.

Paraguayan demand for livestock proved consistently high during the


colonial era. On repeated occasions, this demand actually placed the
stability of the Correntino economy in danger because, as was noted in
1701, 'roundups of Correntino cattle [to sell] in the city of Asun-
cion .. .are affected in such high numbers that their continuation
threatens the fecundity of the remaining herds and promises the total ruin
of [Corrientes]'.5
The incentive of high prices in Paraguay, however, had a great
influence in spurring the northward flow of cattle, so that government
efforts to stem this tide initially met with little success. As herd depletion
continued, the Correntino government tried to prohibit vaquerz'as in 1701.
Then, in 1716 an official outcry arose over the heavy export of tallow and

2 Ernesto J. A. Maeder, 'La evoluci6n de la ganaderia en Corrientes (i81o-1854)',


Cuadernos de estudios regionales 4 (I983), pp. 7-2 .
3 Jamie Cortesao (ed.), Do Tratado de Madri a Conquista dos Sete Povos (17fo-1802) (Rio de
Janeiro, I969), passim; Tulio Halperin Donghi, Politics, Economics and Society in
Argentina in the Revolutionary Period (Cambridge, 1975), pp. I6-I9.
4 Felix de Azara, Memoria sobre el estado rural del Rio de la Plata en 1801 (Madrid, 1847),
p. 8.
5 Informe of the Cabildo of Corrientes [1701] in Archivo General de la Provincia de
Corrientes. Actas Capitulares [hereafter cited as AGPC-AC], libro 13 (I698-1704).

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Argentine Cattle Raising 317

grease.6 Nevertheless, Correntino cattle continued to be driven northward


across the Parana.7
It would be erroneous, however, to attribute the depletion of
Correntino herds in this period solely to seemingly insatiable Paraguayan
demand. Between 1718 and 1739, renewed Indian raids from the Chaco
forced the evacuation of villages quite near the port of Corrientes itself,
and decades passed before this ranching zone could be effectively
resettled.8 At the same time, a series of persistent droughts served to
diminish the herds still further.9
Faced with a near-disastrous situation, local authorities enacted tough
measures. In 1750 governor Jose de Andonaegui announced the absolute
prohibition of cattle exports from Corrientes, a decision slightly modified
three years later to authorise only the export of oxen used as draft
animals.?1 This conservationist stance had its origin, however, in the fact
that taxes on livestock holdings supported colonial administration, and
government officials were concerned that herds should expand to keep up
this source of fiscal income. The ranchers, for their part, after experiencing
the deleterious effect of the vaquerias, now willingly pursued a more
rational course, one that would ensure regular profits from hide exports
without depleting the herds. The recovery was slow but ultimately
successful. Thanks to these changes, and to more consistently favourable
weather conditions, the herds had grown to prodigious size again by the
I76os. This recovery allowed Correntino ranchers to take advantage of
improved market conditions to the south. The regular export of hides
downriver to Buenos Aires now began in earnest, and there appears to
have been a steady rise in hide exports through the remainder of the
century. 1
The establishment of comercio libre in 1778 resulted in a substantial
growth of ranching activities in the newly-created Viceroyalty of La Plata.

6 Bando of Governor Manuel Prado Maldonado, 14 July 1701 in AGPC-AC 13


(1698-1704); Governor Baltasar Garcia Ros to the Cabildo of Corrientes, 28 Mar. 17 6,
in AGPC-AC 5 (171 5-1718).
7 Ernesto J. A. Maeder, Historia econdmica de Corrientes en el periodo virreinal, t776-o181
(Buenos Aires, 1981), pp. 219-24.
8 Ernesto J. A. Maeder, 'La formaci6n territorial y econ6mica de Corrientes entre 588
y I750', Folia Histdrica del Nordeste i (I974), pp. 33-75; Hernan Felix G6mez, El
municzpio de Saladas (Buenos Aires, 1942).
9 Maeder, Historia economica, p. 222, mentions two straight years of drought, 1737-39; see
also Acta of i9 Oct. 1739 in AGPC-AC 20 (1737-I749).
10 Maeder, Historia economica, p. 223.
Juan Francisco de Aguirre, 'Diario del capitin de fragata de la Real Armada Don...'
Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional de Buenos Aires 17-20 (I949-195 1), I, pp. 377-8.

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3 8 Thomas Whigham

Not to be confused with the free trade of a later era, comercio libre was
designed to garner revenues for the imperial exchequer, not so much
through new taxation as through an increased volume of trade with and
between the colonies. The new policy revamped commerce by stream-
lining taxation, abolishing the strict licensing system of the past, and
opening direct trade between different regions of the Spanish empire.
Reverberations of the policy change were felt throughout the Rio de la
Plata and merchants in Buenos Aires now sought profits by building
commercial contacts in the interior provinces.
Increased access to porteno markets affected ranching in Corrientes by
opening whole new avenues of trade. The new traffic consisted of hides
and animal by-products rather than cattle on the hoof. Correntinos drove
their cattle in large numbers to slaughtering establishments along the
Parana River and somewhat later to the Arroyo de la China (Concepci6n)
along the Uruguay. The extant registers usually mention these two
locations as final destination, though they generally add that there the
animals would 'be stripped of their skins to be sent on to Buenos
Aires'.12 In this traffic, 438,662 hides from Corrientes reached the Buenos
Aires market between 1780 and 1797.13
Corrientes also enjoyed rising demand for its livestock in Misiones.
Before the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1768, Misiones had achieved self-
sufficiency in livestock. Jesuit estancias ranked among the largest and best-
managed operations in the Rio de la Plata.14 Father Antonio Sepp, writing
in the early eighteenth century, reported that any mission community that
had less than three to four thousand horses was considered poor.'5 And
according to Pablo Hernandez, the eleven mission settlements still held
381,304 head of livestock at the time of the expulsion.16 But the I750
Treaty of Madrid, and the Guarani war that followed (I754-6), weakened
Jesuit stockraising considerably. The treaty temporarily transferred
valuable Jesuit ranching lands to the Portuguese, and Indian refugees
from the seven missions now in Portuguese hands crowded into the one
12 Aguirre, 'Diario del capitan. . .' III, p. 370 notes that in Concepci6n del Uruguay
'There are now [ 1796] present in the port eight lanchas that carry I,ooo hides each, that
do nothing except transport the same to Buenos Aires.'
13 Maeder, Historia econdmica, p. 237.
14 Guillermo Furlong Cardiff, Misionesy sus pueblos de guaranies (Buenos Aires, i962), pp.
402-10.

15 Anton Sepp and Anton Boehm, Reisebeschreibung: Wie nemlichen dieselbe auss
Paraquarium kommeni und kurzer Bericht der denchwuerdigsten Sachen selbiger
Voelkein und Arbeitung der sich alldort befinden (Ingolstatt, I7I2), p. 233.
16 Pablo Hernandez, Misiones del Paraguay. Organiracidn social de las doctrinas de
de Jesus, z vols (Barcelona, 1913), I, p. 544.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 3 19

community of Yapeyu in I769.17 Although these lands were eventually


restored to the Spaniards and remained in their hands until 80o , ranching
in Misiones was still conditioned by the nearby pressure of the Portuguese
over the next decades.

In theory, the expulsion of the Jesuits did not imply any fundamenta
change in regime. The reality was different: the Crown officials who now
administered the missions were bent on quick profits for themselves and
exploited their Indian charges accordingly. As the years went by, the latte
responded with growing passive resistance, and eventually refused t
work even under compulsion. This was the beginning of a vicious cycle
that left secular authorities with little choice but to continue the

importation of Correntino livestock and to pay for these purchase


the dwindling funds of the Indian communities. The number of a
driven to Misiones between 1770 and I779 cannot be determine
certainty because the licenses for those years covered only cattle im
via river transport, omitting those driven overland.18 Relatively co
accounting does exist, however, for the I780-97 period, and from
figures it seems clear that erratic supply and demand charact
livestock trade between the two areas. The number of live cattle
despatched to Misiones was 3,I85 in I780. The annual exports climb
18,703 seven years later, but then quickly dropped by one-half in
The exports rose and fell in this irregular manner for almost a d
Why they did so is not evident in the record. In any case, the m
establishments never recovered. They soon faced an all-encomp
poverty and were finally abandoned by their Indian occupant
languishing livestock trade with Corrientes likewise diminished a
the turn of the nineteenth century had nearly disappeared.20
Not so the commerce with Paraguay. There the demand for live
remained constant. Paraguayan herds proved insufficient in those y
meet local needs, in part because ecological factors severely li
stockraising north of the Parana. The Spanish naval officer Juan Fr
Aguirre, a noted expert on Paraguay, put it this way: 'Unlik

17 Cabildo of Corrientes to Francisco de Paula Bucarelli, 6 July I769 in Archivo


de la Naci6n, Buenos Aires, room IX, cabinet 3, shelf 3, legajo 7 [hereafter
AGN 9--35-7].
18 The guias for the 1770-79 period describe only those cattle exported to Mis
way of the Uruguay and Alto Parana. See Maeder, Historia econdmica, pp. 22
19 Maeder, Historia economica, pp. 231-2.
20 Ernesto J. A. Maeder, 'El caso Misiones, su proceso hist6rico y su pos
distribuci6n territorial', in P. H. Randle (ed.), La geografia y la historia en la id
nacional, 2 vols (Buenos Aires, I98I), 11, 153-7.

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320 Thomas Whigham

[provinces] of the Rio de la Plata, this is not the place for the raising of
animals. All such attempts will be impaired by the [poor quality] of the
soil and by the climate. The vermin, the heat, the rains, and the frosts all
make an impact and the cattle are invariably infested with worms.'21
Between 1780 and 1797 more than 149,000 head of cattle passed into
Paraguay from Corrientes, mostly via the Itati-Pilar route on the
Parana.22 The herds generally crossed the river on rafts, with the
inhabitants on both sides of the river reaping some benefit from the
imposition of transit fees, usually set at o % of assessed value.23 At low
water, the animals could swim to the other side, thereby reducing the
transit fee to 5 %. When the river rose to any significant level, as occurred
in 1785 and again in 1786, the passage could prove difficult indeed. In
those years, a full 50% of the cattle and nearly a third of the horses
perished in the crossing.24 Rafts for the transport of stock were almost
always in short supply.
The final destination for much of the livestock was the northern
rangelands adjacent to the Jejul and Ypane rivers, the main centres of
yerba production in Paraguay. The animals provided not only food for the
labourers, but packing material, in the form of hides, for the processed
yerba. Some .Correntino cattle also reached communities in centra
Paraguay near Villarica and especially along the Rio Tebicuary. This
ultimately reduced demand for imported livestock, since the grasslands
near these settlements could support sizeable herds without the need for
further imports. As Felix de Azara noted in I80o, 'When I went to
Paraguay in 1783, we ate for the most part meat that had come from
Corrientes; today there are z,ooo,ooo head of cattle in the country.'25
Clearly, the earlier pessimism regarding Paraguayan stockraising wa
21 Aquirre,' Diario del capitan ... ' I, primera parte, p. 383; Azara emphasised these same
points, noting that as a result of such conditions, 'the cows of Paraguay begin to breed
only when three years old, whereas those of Montevideo produce young at the age of
two'. He also stressed that Paraguayan stockraising suffered from the absence of
barrero, a saline soil devoured by cattle in other parts of the Plata and 'without which
they perish'. Adequate supplies of salt were also lacking in Misiones. See Azara, The
Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and the River La Plata (Edinburgh, I838),
pp. 64-5; Jules Huret, La Argentina. De Buenos Aires al Gran Chaco (Paris, n.d.), pp.
436-8.
22 Ernesto J. A. Maeder, 'La producci6n ganadera de Corrientes entre I700 y I8Io', in
Bicentenario del virreinato del Rio de la Plata, 2 vols (Buenos Aires, i977), i, pp. 329, 343-5.
See also guias of 1782-84 in AGN 9-3-27-7.
23 Acuerdo of 2 June 1783 in AGPC (Papeles de gobernador Alonso de Quesada).
24 Alonso de Quesada to Governor-Intendant Francisco de Paula Sanz, Sept. 1787, in
AGN 9-3-4-1.
25 Maeder, Historia economica, p. 235.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 321

unfounded. The shift to livestock self-sufficiency in Paraguay, so often


associated with the era of Jose Gaspar de Francia (I814-40), was already
evident at the end of the eighteenth century.
The freer commercial climate of the late colonial period brought
increased production of cattle by-products throughout the region.
Northeastern artisan industries reflected this growth. Ready-made
saddlery, candles, shoe soles, and rawhide whips, while primarily intended
for local consumers, were also exported to Buenos Aires. The small port
of Goya, previously little more than a bend in the river, had become the
main centre for these activities on the Parana river by i8i .26
Growing demand also led to a thriving trade in stolen hides. Rustling
had always played a role in the economy of the region, despite
interventions by governmental authorities and the bitter opposition of
urban-based merchants. The rural zones of Corrientes pursued a life of
their own, and largely ignored legal restraints on their trading activities.
Though many landowners lived in the provincial capital, they felt
themselves comfortably above the law and drew profits from both legal
and extra-legal sales. On their ranches the foreman and day-workers
proved only too willing to deal on their own with hide traffickers since this
brought some useful supplementary income. In the upper reaches of the
Parana, every outcropping on the banks could become an improvised
port, and fragile craft, often filled to capacity, carried to Buenos Aires the
hides acquired in the course of a successful voyage. The ranch hands were
not always concerned with the interests of the patron, and the forests and
swamps offered easy refuge for rustlers.27
The Viceregal government addressed this problem by forbidding the
loading and unloading of vessels anywhere between the tiny port of
Esquina and Corrientes, an order issued in 1792 and again in I795, but
without much effect because movement of vessels along the rivers
remained unsupervised.28 The estimated number of hides illegally
exported from Corrientes at this time was put at nearly 20,000 annually,
a figure equal to one-third of the legal commerce.29
The only partial solution left to fiscal-minded authorities was to
establish provincial customs houses (receptorzas) in the towns of Goya and

26 J. P. and W. P. Robertson, Letters on South America Comprising Travels on the Banks of the
Parana and the Rio de la Plata, 3 vols (London, I843), III, pp. 58-9, 82-7.
27 See, for example, Juan Jose L6pez to the Consulado of Buenos Aires, 3 June I803, in
AGN 9-4-6-4 (folio 2 1).
28 Decrees of i8 June 1792 and i8 May 1795 in AGPC AC 27 (1790-97).
29 Informe of Serapio Benitez, 27 May I795 in AGPC AC 27 (1790-97).

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322 Thomas Whigham

Esquina in I802 and I803 respectively.30 In this way, the Correntino


government tried to maintain some control over the sparsely populated
southern half of the province, always a frustrating task. Many ranchers
simply ignored tax regulations or falsified revenue documents. Thus, the
smuggling of cow and horse hides continued at an alarming rate. As in the
previous century, the town council of Corrientes in I803 warned of the
imminent extinction of the region's livestock should the slaughter go
unabated, now estimating the yearly outflow of hides at 8o,ooo.31
In fact, the fears of the council were premature since, as we have seen,
the reduction in trade with Paraguay and Misiones was already serving to
curb exports. Then came the British occupation of Buenos Aires in 806-7
which cut off the viceregal capital from the provinces and left Correntino
hides to accumulate rapidly on the docks at Goya. Though the British
presence lasted only a year, the free trade policies they advocated benefited
many porteno merchants, especially those linked with the smuggling of
hides and cattle by-products. These merchants did not easily readjust to
monopoly control by Spain after 1807 and caused no end of trouble for
Crown officials. In fact, the opposition they aroused in Buenos Aires
explains the curious status of hide exports in the first decade of the
nineteenth century. While, on the one hand, we see production expanding
in response to local conditions, on the other we see the Crown attempting
to shift demand into areas more accessible to government control.
Nevertheless, the Correntino registers for 1805-9 give a figure of over
320,000 hides exported to Buenos Aires, nearly a third of which relates in
the last year alone.32
As the colonial period drew to a close, the cattle-producing areas of the
northeast had undergone some profound changes. Vaquerzas were now
much the exception rather than the rule. The labour base for the estancias
had also grown due to the dramatic emigration of Indian population from
Misiones. The structured communities established by the Jesuits
disintegrated under a harsh secular rule which emphasised European
standards in dress and custom while preserving the unfavourable aspects of
the earlier disciplinary system. As opportunities for individual prosperity
in the missions practically disappeared, the Indians looked instead for
opportunities as vaqueros in the nearby cattle zones of Corrientes. As this
was happening, liberal trade policies opened the region to wider demands
from Buenos Aires, Brazil, and indeed, from Europe. These trends helped

30 AGPC Documentos de Gobierno 37 (i803) and 40 (I806-7).


31 Acta of 19 Aug. 1803 cited in Maeder, Historia econdmica, pp. 244-5.
32 Ibid.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 323

to crystalise the estancia as a major productive unit in the northeast, and


they placed the estanciero in an advantageous position vis-a-vis other
regional elites.

Stockraising in the early national period


The bright future foreseen by Correntino ranchers at the beginning of the
nineteenth century proved to be largely illusory. The export of hides, like
regional trade as a whole, depended on an open river traffic, something
that could not always be guaranteed, especially after the separation from
Spain in I 8 10. Buenos Aires came out of the independence struggle trying
to bring the rest of the Rio de la Plata under its sway, an objective that
encountered strong opposition in the northeast. Paraguay, under the
nationalistic Jose Gaspar de Francia, isolated itself from the rest of the
region. Corrientes itself entered a period of civil war which lasted until
I852.
The ranching industry did not escape the ravages of these conflicts.
Passing troops could easily confiscate animals, ruining in one day what
had taken years to build. Moreover, unlike logging and the gathering of
yerba, the other main economic activities of the northeast, which enjoyed
the advantage of being located in the isolated northern part of the region,
the principal ranching zones lay on the southern frontier of Corrientes.
The herds lay within easy reach of rustlers from Entre Rios who
multiplied in numbers with the lawlessness of the times. Thus extremely
sharp declines in the size of herds, followed by slow recovery,
characterised Correntino ranching during these years.
Between 1810 and I821 civil war produced a dramatic decline in
northeastern cattle production. First came the disorder associated with the
failed Manuel Belgrano expedition to Paraguay (i8Io-II), when the
portenos made an early attempt to bring that province under the sway of
their revolutionary movement. Soon thereafter Portuguese invasions
along the Uruguay River destroyed what remained of the Guarani
missions. Then, in rapid succession, came the campaigns of the gaucho
chieftain Jose Gervasio Artigas and his adopted Indian son, Andres
Guacurari, and, finally, the intervention of yet another gaucho leader,
Francisco Ramirez, who forcibly united the region into the ephemeral
I820-I 'Republic of Entre Rios'.33 These bloody events left the
countryside 'infested with wicked deserters and invaders whose common

33 Regarding the 'Andresito' campaign, see Salvador Cabral, Andresito Artigas en la


emancipacidn americana (Buenos Aires, I98o).

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324 Thomas Whigham

attributes include[d] murder, theft, and abduction'.34 The devastation was


widespread, extending not only to ranching but to all other areas of the
economy as well. Certain stockraising zones, such as Curuzu Cuatia, were
ravaged on several occasions, first by the Portuguese and then by the
Artiguistas.35
Starting in 1821, however, the situation in Corrientes took a turn for
the better. The civil wars had momentarily subsided and ranchers looked
forward to a period of recuperation. The task they faced was not easy. The
wars had left the province destitute, and the ranching and mercantile elites
in Corrientes felt that only through sweeping reform could stockraising
recover its former prosperity. They found in the person of Juan Jose
Fernandez Blanco a governor ( 821-4) who combined honesty and
administrative skill and who was in tune with much of the progressive
thinking he found in the port city. Fernandez Blanco had worked as a
merchant in Buenos Aires before the I82os; his ideas of economic
organisation were influenced by late Enlightenment thinkers and, one
suspects, by such liberal-minded men as the porteno leader, Bernardino
Rivadavia.36 Decrees of 820 and I821 had already forbidden the
slaughter of cows and mares; Fernandez Blanco affirmed these measures
and extended the restriction to colts as well.37 Though such constraints
proved difficult to enforce, they nonetheless constituted the first real
attempts to bolster Correntino stockraising since independence. This
conservationist pattern of legislation remained in place for nearly two
decades and was only abandoned with renewed civil war in the late
I830S.
The governorships of Pedro Ferre (1824-7, I830-3), Pedro Dionisio
Cabral (1827-30), and Rafael Atienza (1833-7) added a degree of
sophistication to the regulation of Correntino ranching. Ferre in particular
showed considerable insight. In 1825 he promulgated a law which allowed
the export of horses to the Banda Oriental while obliging the exporters to
return a third of their profits to Corrientes in the form of live cattle.38 He

34 Informe of Josd Ignacio Aguirre, commandant of San Roque, cited in Manuel


Florencio Mantilla, Crdnica historica de Corrientes, 2 vols (Buenos Aires, 1928-9), I, p.
182.

35 Maeder, 'La evoluci6n de la ganaderia,' p. 14; Hernan Felix G6mez, La ciudad de


Curuzti Cuatid. Antecedentes de su fundacidn su dominio jurisdiccional (Corrientes, 1929).
36 Regarding the career of Fernandez Blanco, see Mantilla, Crdnica histdrica, I, pp. 236-41;
and Federico Palma, 'Cronologfa de gobernantes correntinos 1588-I963', Archivo
General. Cuadernos de Historia, serie 1: (I964), p. Is.
37 Law of 29 Dec. I82I, and Decree of 19 May 1822, in Registro oficial de la provincia de
Corrientes (1821-18r9), 8 vols, reprint (Corrientes, I929-3 ) [hereafter ROPC], i, pp. 63,
ii5-i6 respectively.
38 Law of 7 Feb. I825 in ROPC i, p. 366.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 325

also decreed a prohibition on the export of cowhides, a temporary


measure which theoretically benefited 'not just the public at large, but the
individual propietario as well'.39
The governorships of Ferre and Cabral witnessed the Cisplatine
struggle with Brazil (i826-8), a conflict that, because it was centred in the
Banda Oriental, did not hinder Correntino ranching. Quite the contrary,
because through the forced removal of Brazilian herds to Corrientes, the
province actually gained as a result of the conflict.40 Though precise
figures are lacking, some historians regard this cattle transfer as a major
element in the recovery of northeastern herds.41 The policy of the
Correntino government, as reflected in the Registro Oficial, continued to
promote stockraising. Temporary prohibitions on the slaughter of cattle
were enacted in I829 and 1834, as well as new laws in 1838 regulating
brands and roundups.42 The government also facilitated the importation
of salt through the elimination of tariffs.43
Perhaps the most far-sighted measure of this period was one to
encourage the establishment of provincial salting plants (saladeros).44
Salted beef in great quantities was required for slave rations in Brazil and
Cuba, and though salting plants had operated in the Rio de la Plata for
several decades, they were confined to the province of Buenos Aires and
the Banda Oriental. These saladeros tended to be primitive affairs. An
animal's carcass was placed on a flatbed cart and pulled over rails to the
flayers, whose knives quickly removed the hide and meat, which was then
stacked and dried over poles in the sun. The fat, bones, and excess flesh
were placed in vats and steamed to extract their tallow and grease.45
The kind of salting plant envisioned by Correntino authorities
employed newer methods and technologies. Some innovations had made
their mark in Buenos Aires during the i82os and had rapidly gained

39 Law of 13 May i83 in ROPC IIn, pp. 25--6.


40 Alcides D'Orbigny, Viaje a la America meridional, 4 vols (Buenos Aires, 1945), I, pp.
203-5. D'Orbigny, a French traveller who visited the northeast between i826 and
1833, remarked that the Riograndense cattle were originally stolen by Mission Indians;
the Indians were despoiled of their prize by Correntino troops and subsequently took
revenge by raiding Curuzti Cuatia in 1827.
41 Maeder, 'La evoluci6n de la ganaderia', pp. 4-5.
42 Law of 23 Dec. 1829, in ROPC 11, p. 330, nonetheless permitted the export of bulls and
oxen; law of 3I Oct. I835 in ibid., in, pp. 229-30; decree of 26 July I838 in ibid., iv,
pp. 80-3; and decree of II May I838 in ibid., Iv, pp. 76-7.
43 Law of 27 Jan. I835 in ibid., inI, p. 268.
44 Ibid.; see also Law of 3I Oct. I834 in ibid., III, pp. 229-30.
45 Jonathan Brown, A Socioeconomic History of Argentina i776-i86o (Cambridge, I979), pp.
I I0-I I.

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326 Thomas Whigham

acceptance throughout the Plata. An immigrant French chemist, Antoine


Cambaceres, was chiefly responsible with his introduction of assembly-
line techniques. He designed cattle chutes in the corrals, a truck and rail
system to move carcasses within the sheds, and steam vats to render the
animal fat from bones and flesh. Cambaceres' workers in Buenos Aires

even utilised dried bones as fuel and then packed the ashes, along with
manure from the pens, for export as fertiliser.46 In addition to the usu
hides and tallow, saladeros could process salted meats, bones, horsehide
mare's grease (much in demand for soap and fuel for street lighting), a
horsehair (for upholstery). This was the kind of salting plant Ferre an
others hoped to see in Corrientes.
The Correntino governing elites had some reason for feeling optimist
about ranching in the province. Their conservationist stance had achieve
some success as the herds were on the increase in all parts of the northeast.
Even with large herds, however, the Correntinos could not hope to off
the tremendous advantage enjoyed by Buenos Aires in terms of she
numbers of cattle and of access to markets. Only under a system of stri
controls might the northeast retain a fair portion of the market. To do
required a measure of cooperation from the port city, which was not
reasonable expectation. Ferr6 wanted to promote trade for Corrientes b
limiting the foreign share of the porteno market. This, he felt, woul
naturally bring a demand for goods produced in the northeast, and th
benefit Argentines as a whole rather than only portenos and foreigners
Such a major shift in policy could only be accomplished through heav
tariffs. Not surprisingly, the merchants and cattle breeders of Bueno
Aires, who had gained much from their government's policy of free trad
opposed Ferre's protectionist scheme.47
Cattle raising was not the only dynamic sector of the economy o
Corrientes in the period after independence. The production of timbe
came next in importance. Unlike ranching, lumbering operations were
localised in the northwest corners of the province and on the islands of the
Rio Parana. These hardwoods evidently fuelled a building boom in Bueno
Aires during the mid-nineteenth century but they were not generally
exported overseas. Citrus fruit, cotton, tobacco, cheeses, and various fu

46 Ibid.; see also Wilfred Latham, The States of the River Plate: Their Industries and Comme
(London, 1866), pp. 6-I , 113-25.
47 Ferre's defence of interior interests over those of Buenos Aires was longstanding. S
Pedro Ferre to the Government of Buenos Aires, Corrientes, 3 March 1825 in
AGN 10-5-7-2. See also Miron Burgin, The Economic Aspects of Argentine Federalism,
1820-1812 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, I946), pp. 148-5 I, 228-37.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 327

were also exported on a modest scale. The provincial government, as well


as private speculators, tried to revive the once-impressive yerba mate
plantations of Misiones but these efforts always faced severe labour
shortages and political difficulties with neighbouring states. Misionera
yerba did not fully recover until the 189os. Subsistence agriculture and
fishing, though permanent features of economic life in Corrientes, changed
very little over these years since both activities remained outside the cash
economy.
The economic development fostered by Ferre and others during the
i82os and i83os emphasised the commercialised sector of the economy,
particularly ranching, inasmuch as any upturn promised fiscal benefits for
the government. With this in mind, in July 1827 provincial authorities
decreed a new tax on estancias as part of a general plan to enhance rural
security.48 The new tax required estancieros who possessed between 100
and 200 head to pay two pesos annually; those with 200 to 500, four
pesos; those with 500 to ,ooo0, eight pesos; and those with more than a
thousand head, ten pesos. More importantly, the new tax structure
necessitated an accurate accounting of all cattle in Corrientes on a
presumed year-to-year basis. Under the auspices of this law cattle censuses
were conducted in 1827, 1829, 1832, I834, 1835, 1836, and 1838.
Taken together, these censuses reveal a great deal about the structure
of Correntino ranching. For one thing, they demonstrate a steady increase
in both cattle and sheep herds over the eleven-year period covered (see
Table i). The number of horses, on the other hand, fluctuated
considerably, due to military requirements and apparently to the
uncontrolled slaughter of mares, which were considered valuable only to
provide grease for street lighting fuel. The fact that sheep were raised at
all indicates a minor diversification of stock, though wool remained a
marginal export.49
The censuses also permit some analysis of the estancieros themselves,
whose numbers increased from 523 in 1827 to over i,000 in I838, and
eventually reached 2,373 in i854.50 However, there was only slight
growth in the wealth of individual ranchers. In 1827 no estanciero
possessed more than 2,000 head. Within five years, twenty men were in
this category, and by 1837, thirty-eight, of whom two, Pablo Bernal and
48 Law of 26 June 1827 in ROPC II, pp. 117-22. The tax paid for the upkeep of a rural
police force.
49 Twenty years later, the situation for sheep raising had improved in the northeast,
thanks to the expanding carpet and weaving industries of France and Belgium, which
fostered an increased demand for wool from the region.
50 Provincial census of I854 in AGPC Censos 8, 9, Io.

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328 Thomas Whigham

Table I. Livestock holdings, Corrientes, 1827-38


Year Cattle Horses Sheep
I827 171,800
1829 z29,1 8 61,938 59,847
1832" 3 17,684 72,984 70,402
I834 338,415 67,947 86,2i6
1835 403,984 74, 114 88,io8
1836 432,152 73,871 96,222
I838 466,590 81,147 107,958
a Does not include figures for Bella Vista department.
Sources: Manifiesto de haciendas, I827 in AGPC Censos, legajo 3;
haciendas, 1829 in AGPC EA, 1829, legajo 27; Manifiesto de haciendas
EA, 1833, legajo 38; Manifiesto de haciendas, I834 in AGPC EA, I834
Manifiesto de haciendas, 8 35 in AGPC EA, 1835, legajo 5 I; Manifiesto de
in AGPC EA, 1835, legajo 5 ; Manifiesto de haciendas, I838 in AGPC E
54; Maeder, 'La evolucion de la ganaderia en Corrientes'.

ex-governor Pedro Dionisio Cabral held more than Io,ooo


These thirty-eight individuals, however, comprised only 4 %
number of Correntino ranchers in 18 3 7. Small and middle-level
dominated the pastoral economy of Corrientes.
Ranching, it appears, was overwhelmingly a Creole activity
estancieros in the 1832 listing, only one, the North American
had a non-Spanish surname.52 He was, moreover, the only r
non-Creole merchant engaged in ranching, thus demons
mutually exclusive nature of the two groups. While a very f
were related to merchants, such relationships were not the
The ranchers and the merchants in uneasy combination held
power in Corrientes. Each group reinforced the other's stake
and set limits upon the political participation of farmers and
but the ranchers and merchants remained separate. Unlike t
based merchants, the ranchers could usually claim a long-ter
with the northeast, sometimes dating as far back as the ear
ranchers could also appeal to the traditional loyalty of the r
and thus remained a potent force during the civil wars.
Endemic civil war returned to Corrientes between 1838 an
resulting anarchy brought a temporary halt to the post-ind
growth of provincial ranching. Furthermore, in 1839-43 a tic
disease (garrapata) swept through Corrientes and into Pa
51 Maeder, 'Evoluci6n de la ganaderia en Corrientes', p. 2.
52 Manifiesto general de haciendas, afio I834 [sic], 4 Mar. i833 in AG
Administrativos [hereafter EA] (i833), p. 38.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 329

ravaged livestock herds on a large scale. The consequences for ranching


in Corrientes and along the Brazilian frontier are difficult to gauge, though
the epidemic clearly alarmed Paraguayan authorities. Dr. Francia, the
Dictator of Paraguay, reacted angrily towards the private ranchers and
state officials who had allowed herds of potentially infected animals to
enter his country. He ordered all sick or suspected animals to be
destroyed.53 Tens of thousands of cattle were eventually put to the knife
before the disease had run its course. In the process many of the smaller
private estancias in Paraguay were ruined.54
In Corrientes itself, war evidently proved as destructive to the herds as
garrapata. The provincial revolt that erupted next door in the province of
Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil - the Farroupilha (1835-45) frequently spilled
over into the borderlands and rustling increased on both sides of the
Uruguay. The rebellion, in fact, centred on the issue of jerked beef. The
Imperial Brazilian government had levied burdensome 'export taxes' that
made it impossible for Rio Grande charqui to compete with the prices
offered in Rio de Janeiro by the saladeristas of Buenos Aires and the Banda
Oriental. The Riograndense ranchers eventually abandoned the hope of
satisfactory redress within the Empire and launched a futile war of
independence under the banner of the Farrapos (Ragamuffins). The
combatants in this struggle found horses and mules for military use far
more attractive than cattle, especially since each mounted soldier required
three to five horses. Imperial Brazilian forces attacking from the north
generally brought enough horses with them, but the rebels had to depend
on what they could garner from Corrientes, Paraguay, and the Banda
Oriental. Sometimes troops purchased horses from a sympathetic rancher
though, just as often, they simply took horses 'on loan' or seized them
outright.55 In early I844, for example, Imperial cavalry crossed the
Uruguay on just such a mission and confiscated nearly i,200 horses in the
district of La Cruz. Protests sent to the Barao (later Duque) de Caxias, the

53 Decree of 30 Apr. I839 in Archivo Nacional de Asunciori, Secci6n Hist6rica [hereafter


ANA SH], vol. 2.
54 Juan Andres Gelly, Paraguay: lo quefue, lo que es,y lo que sera (Paris, I926), p. 5 5, argues
that the massacre of livestock was designed to reduce the herds of private ranchers
while leaving state holdings untouched. In fact, the April decree applied to all animals
regardless of ownership. Diseased cattle were still being reported at Paraguayan ports
of entry as late as I844. See Santiago Marin to Carlos Antonio L6pez, Pilar, 8 Aug.
1844, in ANA SH, vol. 395.
55 Jose Mariano de Matos to Ignacio Jose de Oliveira Guimaraens, Alegrete, 25 Aug.
i839 in Arquivo Hist6rico do Rio Grande do Sul [hereafter AHRGS], ColeSao Varela,
no. xxI; Domingos Jose de Almeida to Jose Mariano de Matos, Caleira, 26 July I841,
AHRGS, Colecao Varela no. xxvIII.

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330 Thomas Whigham

Brazilian military commander, apparently went unheeded.56 Seizures of


mules were even more common.57
The general lawlessness of the I830s and early I84os cost many lives in
the Argentine northeast, resulting in the near ruin of Correntino ranching.
The provincial government's benevolent attitude towards ranching meant
little to estancieros who saw their precious livestock driven off by each
passing army. In addition, treaty provisions with the governor of Buenos
Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, depleted further the Correntino herds.
Rosas was an assiduous defender of the ranching interests of his home
province and his governorship (I829-52) witnessed the political
entrenchment of those interests. He evolved policies calculated to keep
Correntino products out of the competition for foreign markets, which
Rosas reserved for Buenos Aires alone. And he was willing to back up this
posture with force. Following his victory against the Correntinos in the
battle of Arroyo Grande in 1843, Rosas's general, Justo Jose de Urquiza
imposed on the northeastern province an extortionate indemnity of
320,000 head of cattle and 20,000 mares.58 Attempting to comply with
these terms, the Correntino government instructed all estancieros possessing
more than fifty head to survey their herds and present an accurate
accounting to the government.59 Although only a portion of the
requisitioned livestock ultimately reached Urquiza's province of Entre
Rios, the indemnity payment had a negative impact on livestock holdings
in Corrientes, so much so that the provincial government imposed new
prohibitions on exports in i845.60
Despite these problems, as well as frequent river blockades occasioned
by the civil war, the northeast still managed to maintain a limited
commerce in hides and animal extracts. For example, in 1840 Goya
registered a total of 21,562 hides exported by convoy to Montevideo, a
figure, however, far below that of late colonial times and the decade
1800-o0, when yearly exports of hides had averaged nearly three times
higher.61 When the relative security of convoys was not available, exports
56 Joaqufn Madariaga to Barao de Caxias, Villanueva, i6 Mar. 1844 in AGPC Copiador
de Notas, Ministerio de gobierno, no. 9.
57 Spencer Lewis Leitman, Raires Sdcio-Econdmicos da Guerra dos Farrapos (Rio de Janeiro,
1979), p. 95; Paraguay had been the chief source of mules for Rio Grande do Sul in
th early period of the war, but sporadic disputes with the Correntinos cut the trade
drastically by I838.
58 Treaty of Villanueva, cited in El Republicano (Corrientes) 20 Aug. I843; for
consequences of the treaty, see Mantilla, Crdnica histdrica., I, pp. 88-9.
59 Decree of 20 Mar. I843 in ROPC v, p. 115.
60 Ibid., pp. 301, 303.
61 AGPC EA I840, legajos 61-2; I84I, legajo 63; Maeder, Historia econdmica, p. 245.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 3 3

made their hazardous way down the Uruguay River to the Banda Oriental
as best they could. This easterly route for Correntino exports bolstered the
limited trade in cattle towns like Curuzui Cuatia and Restauraci6n. The end
of hostilities in Rio Grande do Sul in i845 and in Corrientes in 1848
permitted the implementation of new laws for the promotion of cattle
ranching in Corrientes . One of these laws declared unclaimed cattle the
property of the estanciero upon whose land they grazed (i 5 February I 849),
another established standards for branding and shearing practices (30
June 1849), and a third prohibited the forced confiscation of beeves for the
army (Io August I85 ). Other decrees set export duties on colts, mares,
and mules (4 December I85 i), and allowed the renewed export of live
cattle (6 January i85 2).62 The enactment of these measures illustrated the
Correntino government's desire to bring provincial ranching practices
more in line with modernising trends in Buenos Aires and elsewhere. And
in all of this, the Correntino authorities kept a steady eye on the potential
for large fiscal returns.

Recovery in Corrientes

The relative tranquility of the period after I848 permitted an upswing in


northeastern ranching that benefited ranchers and merchants alike. As the
herds recovered, so did the trade in animal products, especially when the
fall of Rosas in 1852 permitted free navigation downriver to Buenos Aires
and other ports. Even the town of Corrientes, which had never been
prominent in hide exports, now claimed a share of that commerce.
Between I848 and I850 the legal export from this port amounted to
123,069 hides.63
The decade of the 18 5 os brought the first real peace that Corrientes had
enjoyed since I835. Moreover, the province now enjoyed the boon of
honest and efficient government, first under Benjamin Virasoro (i 848-5 2)
and then under the far-sighted Juan Pujol (i852-59). The Correntino
economy, and especially ranching, grew more during the governorship of
Pujol than during any previous administration since independence. The
provincial census of I854 recorded for Corrientes totals of 673,390 cattle,
365,124 horses, 202,621 sheep, and 3,849 mules, all substantial increases
over the totals for the 8 3os (see Table I).64 Growth was also evident in the
62 ROPC vi, pp. I12, 232-3, 349-5 , 360, 459-60.
63 AGPC Comprobantes del Libro de Caja 1848, legajos 57-8; I849, legajos 59-61; I850,
legajos 62-4. See also Alberto A. Rivera, 'El comercio de cabotage desde el puerto de
Corrientes. Exportaciones entre I848-855 ', Cuadernos de Estudios Reginales, no. 7
(I984), p. 41, for a somewhat larger figure of just over I6o,ooo hides exported.
64 AGPC Censos, legajos 8, 9, Io.

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3 2 Thomas Whigham

number of individuals engaged in private stockraising in 854 - four


times the number noted a generation earlier.65 As before, the great
majority (some 88 %) were small ranchers who possessed less than 2,000
head each.

The greatest advances, however, lay in technological improvements.


During the I83os, Ferre could only dream of saladeros functioning within
the confines of the province, while Pujol saw several in operation twenty
years later. One was located on the outskirts of the capital city, by the
banks of the Paranai. Owned by an Englishman, Richard Bannister
Hughes, this new salting plant offered the business community of the port
an ample opportunity for investment.66 The North American Thomas
J. Page, who visited the establishment in I85 5, was favourably impressed,
and particularly noted the profits to be made through this modern
process: 'Mr. Hughes ... a few days before purchased from the southern
part of the province a fine lot of cattle, for which he paid nine [pesos] the
head .. .In the Buenos Aires market the [resulting hides are] worth six
and one-half [pesos] each; the jerked beef-about 200 pounds to the
animal - twelve [pesos]; and the tallow - from twenty-five to fifty
pounds - about three [pesos].'67
Despite Page's optimism, the Hughes saladero apparently did not
prosper, and by April I858 was put up for sale, along with all its
machinery and adjoining land.68 Saladeros in Goya, on the other hand,
apparently had better luck: by I863 two such plants spurred the town's
'thriving' economy.69
The Pujol administration placed great emphasis on ranching as an
industry. To further this goal, the provincial government encouraged
European colonisation in Corrientes; and foreign experts, like Aime
Bonpland and Jean Martin de Moussy, were contracted to advise the
government on possible innovations in raising and processing livestock.
With the opening of the rivers, contacts had been established with
Europe, and elites in the interior of the Rio de la Plata rapidly learned the
advantages of modern organisation and methods. Indeed, as time wore
65 Maeder, 'La evolucidn de la ganaderia', p. 14.
66 This seems to be the same Hughes who was instrumental in early attempts to open
Paraguay to British commerce. He visited Asunci6n in October I84I, and was well
received by the consular government of Carlos Antonio L6pez and Mariano Roque
Alonzo. See notice of I5 Aug. I855 in El Comercio (Corrientes), 23 Aug. I855.
67 Thomas J. Page, La Plata, the Argentine Confederation and Paraguay (New York, 85 9),
p. 303.
68 La Opinion (Corrientes), i Apr. 8 58.
69 M. G. and E. T. Mulhall, River Plate Handbook, Guide, Directory, and Almanacfor i86j
(Buenos Aires, I863), p. 225.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 333

on, ranchers behaved less and less as rustic cowpunchers and more like
rural capitalists. The official newspaper reflected this change: no longer
was it emblazoned with crossed swords and mottoes such as 'Death to the

Unitario savages!' Now the paper offered its readers listings of current
market prices in Buenos Aires and articles on 'The Proper Conservation
of Meats'.70 For the Correntinos, the horizons seemed limitless.
Foreign visitors often commented in their writings on this sense of
enthusiasm, usually attributing it to Pujol. Page regarded the governor as
'far in advance of his countrymen. . . liberal, intelligent, a fine
gentleman'.71 A promoter of laissez-faire and liberal economics generally,
Pujol carefully defended the right of property. Yet he was pragmatic
enough to reestablish some controls on exports when such edicts served
the interests of the Correntino government. In January 1855, for example,
Pujol outlawed the export of calves on a temporary basis.72
As the decade of the I 86os opened, prospects for cattle raising appeared
bright in all parts of the Argentine northeast. The expulsion of Rosas in
I852 had brought an end to the rural anarchy that had so frequently
plagued the region, and with the rivers now opened to all flags, foreign
vessels soon appeared on the Parana river. In some areas European
immigrants began to arrive. Indeed, until the middle of the decade, the
successful economic trends of the i85os continued and were, with some
exceptions, even surpassed: trade boomed, new saladeros were installed,
and stockraising looked more profitable than ever.
Northeastern ranching, moreover, began to experience a greater degree
of integration with the rest of the Argentine economy. The old conflicts
between the Argentine Confederation and Buenos Aires subsided after
Mitre's victory over Urquiza in the battle of Pav6n (I86I). For the
northeast, this was a positive development since Buenos Aires remained
the obvious commercial link: the port provided Corrientes with the
largest regional market and, as always, controlled access to the outside
world. Even so, the export of hides, animal products, and livestock was
not completely oriented towards Buenos Aires. For instance, in the cattle
zones along the Uruguay, export patterns favoured the development of
Entrerriano ranching enterprises. Between January and September I864,
the department of Curuzu Cuatia sent 33,720 head of cattle and 5,046

70 La Opinion, 25 Sept. 1857.


71 Page, La Plata, p. 295; see also Ernesto Quesada, 'Pujol y la epoca de la
confederaci6n', Revista argentina de ciencias politicas 8 ( 917), 257-92.
72 He argued specifically that this measure did not attack the right of property. See Juan
Pujol, Corrientes en la organitacion nacional, 0o vols (Buenos Aires, i9I i),' v, p. 9.

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334 Thomas Whigham

horses to saladeros in Entre Rios.73 Thus, options other than the well-
defined porteno outlet existed for Correntino exports. The growth of
Rosario as an alternative port to Buenos Aires served a similar function,
albeit limited, on the Parana. The real effect of these new export
possibilities remains uncertain however, partly because of continued
porteno dominance of shipping and credit and partly because of the
outbreak of yet another war.
Ranching in all parts of the northeast was hit hard by the War of
the Triple Alliance, the Paraguayan War (1864-70), particularly when
Paraguayan troops spilled over the border into the stockraising areas of
Corrientes. As they advanced southward along the rivers, the Paraguayans
seized livestock and burnt ranches. One observer remarked that their

invasion of Corrientes left 'the country for miles round white with
bleached bones of cattle slaughtered in sheer wantonness'.74 Only
most isolated estancias escaped destruction. The Argentine and Brazili
counter-offensive, which began in September I865, did almost as muc
damage, and before the war ended nearly five years later, ranching
suffered tremendously both to the north and to the south of the Para
At the same time, in Paraguay itself, cattle holdings plummeted from some
two million head to only 5,ooo75 and this provided opportunities for
renewal of livestock exports from Corrientes to Paraguay from the m
I87os - a topic that lies beyond the scope of this study.76

Conclusion

From the middle of the eighteenth century to the Paraguayan War t


cattle industry in the northeastern provinces of the Rio de la Plata show
resilience and great potential for growth. Despite the wastefulness of
vaqueria and the depredations associated with the various civil conflic
Corrientes always managed to recapture a portion of the foreign mark
for hides and cattle by-products. However, without continuous and o
access to outside trade, Corrientes could not achieve the economic
prosperity it might otherwise have achieved. Buenos Aires had little desire

73 El Progreso (Corrientes), 4 Dec. I864.


74 A. J. Kennedy, La Plata, Brazil and Paraguay during the Present War (London, 1869), p.
37. Another eyewitness stated that Ioo,ooo head of confiscated cattle accompanied the
Paraguayans across the river during their retreat from Corrientes some weeks later. See
George Thompson, The War in Paraguay (London, 1869), p. 97.
75 Ursula I. Neddermann, 'El proceso ganadero y el poblamiento en la provincia de
Corrientes (I854-1914)', Cuadernos de Estudios Regionales 4 (1982), p. 29.
76 Ibid., pp. 2-50o.

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Argentine Cattle Raising 3 3 5

for products that its own ranchers could supply in abundance. Nor, to be
sure, was the port city interested in promoting an industry that might rival
its own. (And periodic flow of livestock from Corrientes to Paraguay
could not serve as an alternative basis for long-term economic expansion.)
Porteno intransigence, therefore, together with unfavourable geography,
was ultimately responsible for the relatively poor showing of Correntino
stockraising. The technological revolution that accompanied the advent
of refrigerated and frozen beef in the late nineteenth century served only
to reinforce the supremacy of the cattle industry of Buenos Aires.

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