Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The transport trades, benefiting directly from the commercial devel-
opment of the port, flourished throughout the Río de la Plata. Legal
trade between Buenos Aires and Potosí expanded significantly. In
1800, Potosí received goods worth 600,000 pesos from Buenos Aires
and approximately only half that amount from Peru. This commerce
redounded to the prosperity of trade centers between the two poles of
the La Plata economy. Already, in the early 1770s, caravans of 20 carts
or more regularly arrived in Buenos Aires with dried fruits, wines,
brandies, flour, dried peaches, and passengers from provinces such as
Mendoza and San Juan. Trade with Chile, formerly conducted through
Lima, now flowed from Buenos Aires overland to Mendoza and through
the Andes to Santiago de Chile. Tucumán and other trading towns par-
ticipated in the export market of Buenos Aires as teamsters transported
silver and vicuña wool from Jujuy to Buenos Aires for export overseas.
Increased river trade in hides and domestic products gave rise to con-
siderable boatbuilding not only in Buenos Aires but also in river towns
closer to the forests, such as Corrientes and Asunción. The volume of
such commerce in the interior of Argentina probably grew 20 times
over during the latter half of the 18th century.
The Banda Oriental (“east bank,” today the nation of Uruguay)
also emerged as an exceptionally productive supplier to Buenos Aires.
In the latter quarter of the 18th century, small and large landowners
alike sent hides, dried meat, and wheat to Buenos Aires. The area's first
cattle-slaughtering plants were located on the Banda Oriental. These
plants, called
saladeros,
produced salted meat and hides in factory-
like production for export. This was the first step in eliminating the
time-consuming and labor-intensive process of slaughtering cattle on
the hacienda itself. But the age of intensive specialization in the cattle
industry still lay in the future. As trade rose in the estuary of the Río
de la Plata, Montevideo (founded in 1726) became a complementary
port of call for foreign ships, especially for local produce and trade with
Brazil. Many merchant houses in Buenos Aires also maintained branch
offices and warehouses in Montevideo. The port of Colonia, recaptured
from the Portuguese in 1776, served local shipping that carried ranch
products from the Banda Oriental and along the Uruguay River to
Buenos Aires.
Population growth rates indicate that all areas of the viceroyalty
benefited from the late 18th-century growth (see table opposite). But
Buenos Aires province grew more rapidly than all others. What is
more remarkable is that the population in the countryside grew at a
faster pace than in the port city.
