Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
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
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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.
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.
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Argentine Cattle Raising 3 5
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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.
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Argentine Cattle Raising 317
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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
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
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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
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
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Argentine Cattle Raising 323
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324 Thomas Whigham
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Argentine Cattle Raising 325
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326 Thomas Whigham
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
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328 Thomas Whigham
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Argentine Cattle Raising 329
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330 Thomas Whigham
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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
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3 2 Thomas Whigham
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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
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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
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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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