Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Despite all these drawbacks, the provinces of the interior did indeed
experience a commercial renaissance beginning in the 1830s. Access to
the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers enabled the riparian provinces of Santa
Fe, Corrientes, and Entre Ríos to successfully integrate into their econo-
mies the export commerce in livestock products. Some oceangoing ves-
sels arrived at river ports to load hides and wool. The export trade even
sustained meat- and hide-salting factories in Entre Ríos. Corrientes and
Santa Fe more commonly sent hides and wool to Buenos Aires on smaller
boats. The river port city of Rosario began to prosper as an intermediary
in the trade overland from Córdoba, as goods were transferred to river-
boats for the journey down to the estuary.
Córdoba too recovered some of its commercial importance by mid-
century as the link between the western Andean provinces and Buenos
Aires. It became the key transfer point for trade in native handmade
textiles, especially the ponchos and
chiripás
(bulky cotton trousers)
favored by the country folk of the Pampas. Córdoba cattle hides and
wool also traveled overland to enter into European trade.
Like those of many Andean provinces, Mendoza's economy recov-
ered in lethargic fashion. Its irrigation ditches directed the Andean
snowmelt onto the orchards, vineyards, and wheat fields surrounding
the city. The local wine did not yet compare to European wines, so
cultivators converted most Mendozan grapes into brandy or raisins.
Mendoza sent wheat and flour to the consumers of Buenos Aires, whose
estancias
did not produce grain in bulk until the end of the 19th cen-
tury. Even raw wool from the neighboring San Luis province entered
trade to Buenos Aires.
Economic recovery of the interprovincial trade meant the continued
increase of the population of the interior. Argentina's populace was
growing by around 2.5 percent per annum. Although the number of
Argentines rose from 406,000 in 1810 to 1 million in 1860, the coun-
try was still underpopulated; in fact, its population at the time was
only equal to that of the island of Cuba. Buenos Aires and the ripar-
ian provinces, because they were destinations of foreign immigration
and domestic migration, accounted for most of Argentina's population
growth.
By comparison, the interior provinces suffered from outmigration.
Every cart train headed for the port contained migrant workers, more
of them men than women. The towns of the interior, thus, had more
women in residence than men. La Rioja in 1855 had only 88 men to
every 100 women, whereas the ratio was reversed in the littoral prov-
inces. The male-female ratios were skewed in another fashion in the
