Argentina - free ebook by W. A. (William Alfred) Hirst

ARGENTINA

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PREFACE

In establishing the commercial and industrial greatness of Argentina my countrymen have co-operated with her people for a longer time and more efficiently than any other foreign nation. The land and the people are therefore a subject of lively interest to Englishmen, and it is hoped that this sketch, however inadequate, will help towards a closer knowledge of Argentina. I have received much valuable assistance from many sources, but I do not indicate them, because I do not wish to shift the blam

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INTRODUCTION

The most stupendous achievement ever attained by a nation in so short a time was the discovery, conquest, and settlement of Mexico and South America by Spain within the compass of a century. To fix indelibly and for ever upon the peoples of a vast continent the language, religion, customs, polity, and laws of a nation on the other side of the globe called for qualities which could only be temporarily evoked by an irresistible common sentiment. The sentiment which gave to Spain for a time the pot

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CHAPTER I THE COUNTRY—ITS FOUR DIVISIONS—THE RIVERS—THE CLIMATE

The attempt to present a bird's-eye view of Argentina may well be called presumptuous, for the country is larger than Russia in Europe and offers every variety of climate—"hot, cold, moist, and dry." Nor would the utmost industry of the traveller suffice to glean anything like complete information, for large tracts, owing to the inhospitality of nature or man, are unexplored, and both north and south he would be checked by impenetrable forests, or rugged barriers of rock, or by savage Indians wh

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CHAPTER II EARLIEST HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY

Scanty beyond all belief is our information about the people of the River Plate before the coming of the Spaniards. Mexico and Peru had goodly hoards of gold and silver, and were therefore objects of eager curiosity to the invaders whose chroniclers deigned to inquire into the traditions and mythology of their subjects; but the Silvery River—the Rio Plata—washed no treasure regions, and the settlements in that part of the continent were despised and neglected. Accordingly anthropologists have be

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CHAPTER III THE EUROPEAN CONQUEST

Compared with Mexico and Peru the southern portions of the New World at first excited little interest, because they produced neither gold nor silver. Yet even here the discoverer was very early at work, and achievements less showy but on an almost equally grand scale have to be recorded. In 1515 Juan Diaz de Solis was sent out on a voyage of discovery by the King of Castile, who wished to counteract Portuguese influence on the east coast of South America, and Solis was the first European to sail

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CHAPTER IV THE SPANISH DOMINION

The subsequent history of Argentina during the Spanish dominion does not present much incident, and indeed it is not an uncommon practice for historians of Latin-American countries to make a single leap from the Conquest to the Revolution. But to the real student of history there is much that is of interest in the record of the attempt of Spain to govern a mighty empire and the rapid decay of her power. In the next chapter the Spanish colonial system will be examined; in the present it will be o

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CHAPTER V THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM

Colonies were one of the many new things which were introduced to Europe at the end of the fifteenth century. Of them mediæval Europe had known nothing since the dissolution of the Roman Empire; the means of communication were too bad, the Asiatic races were too powerful, and the Western world itself was too thinly populated to allow of distant excursions. The planting of settlements was familiar to both Greece and Rome. The Greek system was the simpler of the two, for the city state merely prop

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CHAPTER VI THE ENGLISH FAILURE IN ARGENTINA

In the early years of the nineteenth century England was engaged in a life and death struggle with Napoleon, and Spain and Holland, two of the chief colonial Powers, were in alliance with the Corsican. At Trafalgar, in 1805, the naval power of France and Spain had been shattered, but Napoleon was master of practically the whole of Europe, and he was devising weapons against his enemies which he hoped would be more potent than fleets or armies. England's trade and industries were advancing rapidl

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CHAPTER VII THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

When the English retired from Buenos Aires and Montevideo there seemed no reason to expect any change in the relations between Argentina and the mother country. The Spanish rule was not rigorous, and, from a financial point of view, its policy was now highly favourable to the colonists. They also warmly sympathised with their European kinsmen in the apparently hopeless struggle against the oppression of Napoleon. When Charles IV. abdicated in 1808, all the Spanish-American dependencies hailed Fe

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CHAPTER VIII ANARCHY AND DESPOTISM—THE WAR WITH PARAGUAY

The rule of Rivadavia was of great value to the country. He reformed the laws and administration, introduced wide and somewhat drastic ecclesiastical changes, established the University of Buenos Aires, and, in general, pursued an enlightened and progressive policy. [49] But the country was divided into two hostile parties, and neither being prepared to tolerate the triumph of the opposing system, the position of Rivadavia was rendered very difficult. He belonged to the Unitarian party, and its

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CHAPTER IX MODERN ARGENTINA—SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS

The era of modern Argentina is inaugurated by the Presidency of Sarmiento in 1868. Hitherto her business had been to work out her destiny with much waste of human life and wealth, now her task was to create both. Population [53] began to increase and industries flourished. Railways were extended and the administration was improved. It was a season of prosperity in almost every part of the world, and in this Argentina fully shared. Brazil had suffered much during the war, and Argentina profited b

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CHAPTER X THE CONSTITUTION—THE ARMY AND NAVY—GENERAL POLITICAL CONDITIONS

Argentina is nominally a Federal Republic and her Constitution closely resembles that of the United States. But, in fact, the federal element is much fainter in the southern Republic, for, as has been shown, the struggles between the two great parties eventually led to the attainment by the central Government at Buenos Aires of that preponderance which was inevitable in view of the vast superiority of the capital to the Provinces in population, civilisation, and geographical position. But the Sp

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CHAPTER XI CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE—WAGES AND COST OF LIVING—IMMIGRATION

The Condition of the People question, as Carlyle says, is the most pressing of all. But it is a question almost impossible to answer, and few inquiries are more futile than the attempt to ascertain the comparative well-being of different countries. Two inquirers with equal knowledge of a country will collect statistics and compile elaborate volumes, and one will come to the conclusion that the people are extremely well off and the other that they are in extreme destitution. They will then apply

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CHAPTER XII BUENOS AIRES

It is not strange that South Americans generally, as well as all Argentines, are proud of Buenos Aires; indeed, as the second Latin city of the world with a population of twelve hundred thousand, it arouses feelings of satisfaction among those who have been watching with anxiety signs of sterility or poverty in the Latin race elsewhere. The political history of the city has been dealt with in former chapters. Its effective foundation dates from the year 1580, and within forty years it was a pros

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CHAPTER XIII ARGENTINE LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY

Difficult as it may have been to describe Buenos Aires, it is still more difficult to describe the people. Of all the men and women who reside many years in foreign parts few gain more than a superficial knowledge of those with whom they come in daily contact, for the qualities necessary to gain such knowledge are very rare and their exercise is difficult and often inconvenient. If, then, old residents learn little, the hasty visitor is at a much greater disadvantage, and especially in the case

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CHAPTER XIV RELIGION—EDUCATION—JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE

Very few writers upon Argentina refer to the subject of religion at all, and those who do give very scanty information. There are in existence several good-sized works which make not the faintest allusion to the Church. And yet one would have thought that the subject possessed some general importance, or, at any rate, that in a daughter State of Spain and one of the great fields of Jesuit labour there was room for a few remarks upon the relations of the Church to the State and people, and also u

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CHAPTER XV INDUSTRIAL ARGENTINA—RAILWAYS AND MINOR ENTERPRISES

Undoubtedly at the present time the main interest of Argentina is industrial. The wonderful rapidity of her expansion is perhaps the most remarkable phenomenon of this generation, and can only be realised by a visit to the country. No nation has more thoroughly appreciated this fact than France, which hails with triumph the rapid progress of a Latin race as a counterbalancing force to industrial degeneration in Europe. If able and eloquent essays and elaborate statistics, written with great lite

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CHAPTER XVI THE PASTORAL INDUSTRIES OF ARGENTINA

This is, on the whole, the most striking of the many very remarkable industrial features of Argentina. To begin with, some figures should be given. No doubt they are dry bones, but a body cannot be made without bones, and for the understanding of industrial phenomena it is necessary to have a skeleton map in the form of figures to guide us. If we keep a few round figures before us, we can form an idea of the progress of a country in industrial matters and its position in regard to other nations.

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CHAPTER XVII COMMERCE AND FINANCE

In dealing with this subject it will be necessary to make use of a considerable number of statistics, for there is no other way by which to express the unprecedented development of this great Republic. Her genial climate, her fertile soil, her vast waterways, potent alike to fertilise the country and bring produce to the sea, and now her unequalled railways and excellent docks, have caused the trade of Argentina to be surprisingly large in proportion to her population, and, unfortunately, wealth

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CHAPTER XVIII AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL PRODUCTS

Argentina is now one of the leading agricultural countries of the world, and her importance is likely to be enhanced in the near future, because the United States and other sources of food supply are rapidly diminishing their exportable surplus, while in South America population is unable to keep pace with natural production. Wheat, as is well known, is the most important crop. Unlike the pastoral industry, arable cultivation is comparatively modern. In 1854 there were only 375,000 acres under t

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CHAPTER XIX BAHIA BLANCA AND PATAGONIA

Bahia Blanca is one of the youngest of sea-ports. It only obtained railway communication in 1885, and it was not considered of sufficient importance for a separate article in the tenth edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica." It has now a population of about forty thousand. Buenos Aires and Rosario have long been the great wheat ports, but they have now a formidable rival in the new southern city. Much of the best wheat land is in the south of the Province of Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca is th

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CHAPTER XX ACROSS THE CONTINENT TO MENDOZA UNDER THE ANDES

The Buenos Aires and Pacific line across the continent from the Argentine capital to Valparaiso is a magnificent achievement in railway enterprise. Perhaps at no great distance of time the Pan-American railway will be completed and the traveller will be able to take the train at New York for Valparaiso and so to Buenos Aires, but as yet that line consists chiefly of missing links, and the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway Company (which, curiously enough, happens to be English, not German), is th

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CHAPTER XXI THE PARANA, ROSARIO, AND SANTA FÉ

The Parana is one of the most magnificent rivers in the world. It was in the earliest times the most valuable route for the Spaniards into the interior, as is shown by the fact that while they were struggling for a foothold at Buenos Aires, and several times abandoned the settlement altogether, they were in possession of a flourishing colony in Asunçion. Up to recent times few immigrants thought of going to Entre Rios or Corrientes because of the difficulties of the journey, but now there is a t

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CHAPTER XXII THE GRAN CHACO AND THE NORTHERN TOWNS

The Gran Chaco is the least-known part of Argentina which has the reputation of being a land of Pampas, although these grassy plains cover but one-fourth of the total area of the Republic. In the Chaco are to be found the great majority of the flora and fauna which occur in Argentina, for except in its semi-tropical forests there is no considerable variety of either vegetable or animal life. Concerning the origin of the name, the worthy Padre Lozano says [150] : "The Etymology of the name Chaco

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CHAPTER XXIII INFORMATION FOR ENGLISH TRAVELLERS

The first information which the traveller seeks is, naturally, how to get to Buenos Aires, and though such information is very accessible, it seldom seems to come his way, for not uncommonly persons are found who appear to have no idea that there is any route except that which they hit on by chance, and if in the course of the journey any change becomes necessary, they usually have considerable difficulty in discovering the means of making the change. Of course any agent will furnish a number of

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HISTORICAL.

Akers, C. E. A History of South America (1854-1904). London, 1904. Angelis, Pedro de. Coleccion de Obras y Documentos. 3 vols. Buenos Aires, 1900. Anonymous— An account of the Spanish Settlements in South America. London, 1904. The Argentine Republic, by a Friend of Free Government. London, 1865. An Authentic Narrative of the ... Expedition ... of ... Gen. Craufurd. London, 1808. Les Dissensions des Républiques de La Plata. Paris, 1865. La Doctrina Drago. London, 1908. Emancipation of South Amer

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GENERAL.

Akers, C. E. Argentine, Patagonia, &amp;c. London, 1893. Akers, C. E. Article in Enc. Brit. , Vol. XXV., 10th ed. London, 1902. Alberdi, J. B. Confederacion Argentina. Valparaiso, 1854. Alcock, F. Trade and Travel in South America. London, 1903. Alsina, J. A. La Immigracion Europea en la Republica Argentina. Buenos Aires, 1903. Ameghino, Florentino. La Antiguëdad del Hombre en La Plata. 2 vols. Paris, 1880. Andrews, Captain. A Journey from Buenos Ayres, &amp;c. 2 vols. London, 1827. Anon

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THE SOUTH AMERICAN SERIES

Demy 8vo, cloth. "The output of the books upon Latin America has in recent years been very large, a proof doubtless of the increasing interest that is felt in the subject. Of these the South American Series edited by Mr. Martin Hume is the most noteworthy."— Times. "Mr. Unwin is doing good service to commercial men and investors by the production of his 'South American Series.'"— Saturday Review. "Those who wish to gain some idea of the march of progress in these countries cannot do better than

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