Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Population Growth in Colonial Argentina, 1777-1809
Intendancy
1777-78
1809
Buenos Aires
37,130
92,000
Córdoba
Córdoba
40,203
60,000
Mendoza
8,765
21,492
San Luis
6,956
16,242
San Juan
7,690
22,220
La Rioja
9,723
12,619
Total
73,337
132,573
Salta del Tucumán
Jujuy 13,619 12,278
Salta 11,565 26,270
Tucumán 20,104 35,900
Santiago del Estero 15,456 40,500
Catamarca
13,315
24,300
Total 74,059 139,248
Note: Three other intendancies of the viceroyalty—Paraguay, the Banda Oriental, and
Chuquisaca (Bolivia)—are excluded from this table.
Source: Comadrán Ruiz, Jorge.
Evolucióndemográicaargentinaduranteelperiodohispáno
(1535-1810)
(Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires, 1969), pp. 80-115.
Settlement of the Pampas
South of Buenos Aires, colonial ranching remained a modest endeavor fit
for Creoles who had some commercial connections and for many small
farmers of immigrant or racially mixed backgrounds. Animal husbandry
was replacing the
vaquería
cattle hunt as the chief method of rural live-
stock production. These ranchers domesticated cattle herds, which,
when slaughtered right on the ranch, provided the hides for export.
Some cattle were sold on the hoof to supply the city with meat. These
landowners also produced wheat, which they delivered to Buenos Aires
in hide bags via oxcarts. The bigger ranch families tended to intermarry
and act as bourgeois imitators of their wealthier Spanish cousins, but
they were a rustic lot. The rancher and his sons worked at the branding
and butchering alongside the hired gauchos, while the women pounded
