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Argentina - The Pampas

A little history

The Spaniards first managed to gain a foothold on Argentine soil in 1536. An expedition led by Pedro de Mendoza found portage in the mouth of the Rio Del Plata. A small settlement was established - Puerto de Nuestra Senora Santa Maria del Buen Aire. A handful of men and a handful of Spanish horses, Sevillan horses. In 1541 the Spanish settlement was attacked, and the men fled by sea, north to Paraguay. They left behind nothing, except a few horses. Seven horses, so the story goes. The horses of Argentina, the horses of the pampas. Vast expanses of grass, no natural predators. Nothing but to thrive and reproduce.

During the winter of 1580, the Spaniards returned, this time they were led by Juan de Garay, well fortified and prepared to conquer and to hold. Buenos Aires. For the next three centuries the pampas grasslands of Argentina and the more barren lands of Patagonia remained largely unchanged, primarily populated only by the settlement of Buenos Aires, the various tribes of native Indians, and the Gaucho.

By the 18th century contraband smugglers of Buenos Aires were trading successfully with Portuguese and British vessels (Spain had forbidden Buenos Aires to conduct commercial trade with other countries) and in 1776 Buenos Aires became the capital of the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata - Spain was losing it's grip on Argentina. In May of 1810, Argentina declared independence from Spain, and finally in 1816 Spain granted independence to the new nation. But another century passed before Buenos Aires really began to grow and the pampas was transformed from open expanses of grasslands to the fenced and managed Estancias. The small port of Santa Maria de Buenos Aires was becoming a city. Europeans were becoming attracted to the wonderful climate and new opportunities for farming and ranching that the fertile land provided.

In 1879, the 'Conquest of the Desert' resolved the final barrier to expansion - the final barrier - the native people. The Indians of the pampas and Patagonia were tough and mobile. They had the horses, they knew the land, they knew the keys to survival on the vast expanses, and they proved much more difficult to conquer than the peoples of the northern provinces. But they had no firearms, they had no guns. Their primary weapons were knives, spears and boleadora, no match for the rifle. Eventually the natives were conquered, and tamed or relocated. Soon the grasslands were divided up and deeded to the gentry, to the friends of the goverment, to the select few.

Today Buenos Aires is the largest city in Argentina, very cosmopolitan, very European. 14 million people, one third of the population of Argentina. And the pampas produces corn, soya, sunflower, cattle, sheep and horses. Always the horses.

The history of Argentina is fascinating - there are similarities to our own history and to the settling and eventual independence of North America - to the last frontiers (our western lands, the pampas grasslands) - to the final campaigns between the cavalry and the Indians, opening the land up for expansion and settlement. But where North America was settled by opportunity (if you can take it and make it and hold it, it's yours), Argentina was gifted to the gentry and monied people. There is a stark class difference here, the wealthy and landed people, and the peones - those that never have and never will own land.

But - of all the cultural and historical aspects of Argentina that I've seen so far, nothing has captured my imagination and delight like the Guacho - the art, history, culture - it's rich and beautiful and has the allure of the wild and the flavor of the native people. The 'cowboy' of South America, the independent soul, a mixture of Spanish and Indian blood, who preferred a free life on the land, with no tether.

next - the Gaucho, and the Fiesta de Tropillas

Steph