Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Slaves and Livestock on the Jesuit Ranches of Córdoba, ca. 1748
No. of Slaves No. of Livestock
Santa Catalina 317 7,400
Altagracia* 175 9,200
Candelaria
98
26,000
Total 590 42,600
* Figures for Altagracia are estimated based on statistics for preceding and succeeding years.
Source: Cushner, Nicholas P.
JesuitRanchesandtheAgrarianDevelopmentofColonial
Argentina,1650-1767
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983), pp. 54, 56.
living in Asunción so much so that the priests were ordered to observe
the highest standards in their business practices.
The Jesuits enjoyed the typical religious exemptions from most colo-
nial taxes and controlled much of the available Indian labor. In addi-
tion, the Jesuit missionaries maintained commercial links with other
Jesuit institutions throughout South America—haciendas, chapels,
schools, and urban headquarters called colleges. Finance capital arrived
from the colleges, along with European and American textiles, iron-
ware, and wine. Jesuits ranches in Córdoba provided mules and cattle
(see table). The missions exported
yerba
and some handicrafts directly
to other Jesuit institutions as far away as Ecuador. At the beginning of
the 18th century, the Jesuits already had great advantages over their
secular competitors at Asunción.
Therefore, as the domestic South American markets advanced on
the strength of export and population growth, so did the commerce of
Paraguay. The Spanish Jesuits extended their missions in a wide arc from
what is now Minas Gerais, Brazil, through Paraguay down the Paraná
River into the Banda Oriental of Uruguay. The order's large haciendas on
the northern side of the Uruguay River produced cattle and mules, which
were driven via Salta to the mining camps of Upper Peru (modern-day
Bolivia). Jesuit haciendas along the opposite bank of the Paraná River
specialized in producing hides for international trade at Buenos Aires and
in wheat and other foodstuffs for the growing local market. The Jesuit
estates brought in Guaraní workers from Paraguay and bought African
slaves at Buenos Aires to staff these estates. By virtue of entrepreneurial
talent and generous tax breaks, the Society of Jesus became one of the
most successful colonial economic institutions in the 18th century.
