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    Roa Alistair Hennessy © Alistair Hennessy 1978 First published 1978 by Edward Amold (Publishers) Ltd 25 Hill Street, London W1X 8LL Hennessy, Alistair The Frontier in Latin American History 1. Latin America—History I, Title @ 980 F1410 ISBN 0 7131 5915 4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without - permission of Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd. : 8 Types of Frontier ‘The mission frontier “The mission was the Spanish American frontier institution par excellence. Gold und silver may have provided the initial impetus, drawing con- aqistadores and setlers into the far interior, but the work of consolidation, Pacifcatio and trai-blazing was taken up by the missionaries. Until the tnd of the sixteenth century Franciscans played the major role, but Increasingly the Jesuits came to regard missionary work on the frontier as their preserve. After the Jesuits were expelled in 1767 the Franciscans once in tok the initiative, Even today it s often the missions, now swollen Draconian of rte sets whoa the only wit people ‘The era of proselitization among sedentary Indians was comparatively shoved. By the mile of tho sistent ccnury th sors secs of ates and Toca dominayion had been brought under the spititaal eontrol of Ghurch, symboliéed by a spate of church building iu which the practical and aesthetic skills of Indians were harnessed to help ereate an claborate nation. From this period the orders gained architecture of spiritual d valuable experience for their later activities. new challenge to missionary endeavour on travers onthe Zacatecas fey fa em he Chichi LAS a result Sante the nearest Spanish _ Types of Frontier 35, sanioment(o wich tas lake by ssa ty ofS Fe wai he iy Sana Fe na etal i carly successes ofthe fltrs ta thee work of patictin sea Vint the’ Crown of thle worth x contac fet ea vines of frontier expansion in northem Mexen Th. son is aeegnied as a distinctive frontier institution in the New Laws of 1583 reee missions were given ten years to proseltize before moving abesd to begin a new cycle. The original mission woud then be taken over by Gi thority and the secular clergy rye Uanciscenmlsions were supported by the Crows a ya rie sonal stipends of missionaries sere paid by the goverament bythe rec frase were on the payol inthe northern provinces, Soles ‘vere allocated to mission stations from the presidios and new missions Teceived capital grants for bells and other equipment. A Crown subsidy eee npprimer: missions were expected to become sll-spporting except where there might be a clear strategic raton for boltering they are for example, as a bain against French expansion or ia Caifornta against Rassian incursions. The expenses of bath preside and ciesions were debited to the War Fund account. The defensive purpose Sf many of these missions is shown by ther fortesike architesure Conflict between friars and ncn ee the and pacif Indians was endemic even af PE ad ace rots was far advanced. Revolts were ofa ze by ele coro, the witch doctors whose power ad en hit : away sereta nary atvty. Disontent was particularly vile ch a ee morthwestam Mexico to whom congregation and who longed for the freedom ofthe deep pueblos had Berd ee oe ee cums Prnyons, The hechiceros were able so seat dtrbances suchas bad weather nd euthins Fiezontent, as in the great Tepehuana econ oped the Jul isons in tat ae. Jesuit activity had been concentrated between wo sera Madre, ann Sinaloa, Sone n History 56 The Frontier in Latin Americ es played an tmpatant leon the state srinvre seemed to be threatened by French, frontier when the Span Ty Texas, French threats stintlated th English and Bis aips and the foundations of missions whose Todi i amont of presidios and the fo ¥ an etme gas auxiliaries in case of conflict. It was not until Spain converts oul Orleans at tho end of the Seven Years’ War that the thre tert to French rl in 1800. Gilvez alerted Spanish authorities to the threat from English and Russian penetration of Upper California, In 1769 Junipero Serra founded the Franciscan mission at San Diego and in 1776 at San Francisco. When the Spanish Empire collapsed some twenty-one missions and four presidios had been established. Opinions are divided about the success ofthe Franciscan missions. On the eve of secularization in 1834 they comprised 30,000 converted Indians, tending 400,000 cattle and 300,000 sheep and pigs; but California stil remained a largely subsistence economy and Russian and English accounts refer to the miserable aspect of Indian converts. How would the new Mexican state tackle the problem of the northem Provinces after independence? Distance, thinness of population and politcal instability meant that the writ of government scarcely ran in the border regions, This did not imply that the frontier became a cradle of democracy on independence. Governors behaved like caudillos and other aillitary commanders like lesser caudillos. In 1824 a Colonization Law ‘Was passed to encourage settlement and in 1834 the missions were Seeularized in accordance with liberal laissez-faire views and under pressure from enviously coveting mission lands and the labour of Indians. Secularization threw these lands open to occupation and Taian society, much as it had done when the Jesuit. had been jin 1767. In both cases the secular Jatifundia increased in sis ‘was a massive slaughter of cattle by the newly gaaay of whom reverted to thelr former nomacis way ot pressed as cheep labour Who had etabshed ranches’ vanes se few years Mexican California was an loving society, in no. wa North fo, ‘nfl. Those northern mission frontier in Arizona: the Pats exposed the few nti nally on} ‘Types of Frontier 57 By the 1830s New Mexico bad a human population of 44,000 outnume ered by four million sheep scattered on ranches between El Paso and Taos, together with a few stall gold and copper mines; but it remained as isolated at the end of the camino real as on the day when Santa Fe had heen founded in 1609, Santa Fe's future lay in trade with the frontice posts of the Missouri, only 700 miles away, and in 1622 the Mexican government, breaking with Spanish practice and bowing to realities, opened up New Mexico, so inaugurating the twenty-year era of the famous Santa Fe tral, In Texas the problem was again one of underpopulation with only 4,000 settlers strung out along the frontier, tending herds of longhorn cattle, Further north in the United States the westward movement had been temporarily blocked by the barrier ofthe Great Flaius and the Indian reservations beyond Missouri and Arkansas, and this turned the attention of settlers to Texas where rumours of the success of early settlements started a migratory movement southwards. Although new settles had to acknowledge the authority of the Mexican goverment it was a Trojan horse situation. Whereas the old missions and presidios had provided some sort of barrier against Indian incursions, nothing could resist the flow of settlers coming from the north, and the Mexican state was too enfeebled to prevent the breakaway of Texas in 1835 and its incorporation into the United States after the war of 1846-80. With the late arrival of the Jesuits in Spanish America much of the initiative for frontier expansion passed to them. Part ofthe Jesuits’ success lay in their ability to acquire funds which made their missions self- supporting. Initially, the Crown subsidized their efforts but in the financial depression of the seventeenth century they were expected to become self-sufficient. By educating the sons of the creole elite they amassed resources which, together with bequests, enabled them to buy haciendas; ‘soon the Jesuits had established a reputation as eficient estate managers For example, within a decade of arriving in Zacatecas in 1574, they had become the largest ecclesiastical landowner in the region and in 1616 Te suadon, income from the Jesuits’ extensive hacienda herding sheep for the obrajes (sweatshops) in the Fe eae oe these reeled no suppor rom te Crown in spl ee kae uategic value in pushing Spanish claims in unclaimed jungle story. The Best alf of the seventeenth century saw attempts by Shuntezia to explore and setle the upper Amazon, nel # century after Sean ey expeitions by Conzalo Pizarro and Orellana in 1541. Here, as te Seraguay, the limits of Spanish power were marked by Jesuit missions, Fanning out frm the Presidency of Quito ning oMfost of Quito, Spanish setlement was very thin. A few dozen maomenderes farmed cotton with Fndian labour but any prosperity was 0 58 The Frontorin Latin American History when Indians rose against the encomenderos’ attempyy eas on them. Quijos cotton had been exported as fine cloth, a es panies provnel xy on to Peru butt of this trade. To the south in Maynas a punitive expedition, Penet500 miles east of Quito but it suffered a similar fate to Quijos in 1635 sais only fourteen years after its foundation, an Indian rising wiped out swept away when, 0 twelve of its families. whose discipline, dedication and centralized control provided the drive which the Franciscans often lacked. From 1638 onwards twent Jesuit missionaries pushed down the Maraiion and into the Amazon, Setting up riverside missions, claiming thirty years later to have baptized 100,00. The conception with its geopolitical overtones was grandiose. By the Treaty of Tordesllas the Amazon basin belonged de jure to the Crown of Castile but de facto occupation, albeit thin, had been undertaken by some Portuguese. When two Spanish Franciscans arrived in Belém after travelling don the Amazon from Quito, the govemor despatched a huge ‘expedition of some 2,000 men under Pedro Texeira to establish Portuguese claims to Amazonia. Two years later he returned to Belém after setting up a settlement at Franciscana to mark the westward limits of these clain ‘Texeira’s actual appearance in Quito in 1639 alerted the Spanish authorities to the Portuguese threat and this became more acute the next ‘year when Portugal revolted against the union with the Spanish Grown ‘and began the Portuguese War of Independence. ‘The Spanish mission experience in Amazonia afforded an opportunity to create a perfedt, society without the presence of settlers with their labour demands or the corrupting influence of soldiers. But the success of rissionary endeavours depended on more complex factors then this and in particular on the nature of the culture of the Indians under mission fnfluence: The unit of Amazonian Indian id other Eucopean tte Population i ho en ronting aad polygamy in 1742 when 40,000 ‘Types of Frontier 39 Juan Santos. Atahialp Spain. The Jesuits had no ‘on 10 soldiers and lacked the sanctions ofa foreed labour yor “eRe missions were also a prey to Portuguese attack oe ‘The other major ares of Jesuit activity was in Paraguay and what is now the Boivan Orente tn 1610 the Jouits aushed oan am the banks of the Paranapanema and Guaira, The subdued and congregated Indians were now tempting prey ling bandeirantes of Séo Pautlo, In 1629 an expedition of 3,000 paulistas with their mamelucos and Indian auxiliaries raided the reductions and threw the Jesuits out of Guaira thus ensuring that this region would eventually revert to Portu- guese control, althongh it remained uninhabited until paulisas began to move into it in the 1760s. Pressure from the bandeivantes constantly pushed the Jesuits and their wards further south. They founded fifteen more reductions in Rio Grande do Sul, planning to expand eventually to the Atlantic coast, but this again was blocked by the paulistas, In 1641 alter receiving permission from the Crown to arm their neophytes, the Jesuits made a stand at the battle of Mbororé when the defeat of the paulistas Enally ended their harassment. In the 1680s the Jesuits founded ‘a further seven missions in Rio Grande do Sul where they remained unmolested until the Treaty of Madrid in 1750 which exchanged the missions for the smuggling port of Colonia. 3 ‘Whereas Spanish Jesuits were active on the political frontiers of South America, Jesuits in Brazil were active inland, especially in Maranhio at the mouth of the Amazon where they were locked in a threefold struggle with settlers and the Crown. The settlers in Maranhiio who lived mostly from cotton cultivation were too poor to afford highly priced African slaves and . i nt * ‘But with so depended on Indians brought in by resgates or slaving partes. a the arrival of Father Vieira in Belém in 1653 the Brazilian Indians their Las Casas. 5 wn implicit iitted slavery Father Vieira went to ‘When the! Crows impli pare eens Portugal to dispute the decision and as ees Junta dos Missdes established, by which the settlers had ioe ie oversight oftheir labour demands, By the end of 165 the Jets Ba ot ‘ep 54 aldeiae under such tight control that in 1662 angry eu St ‘expelled them. New legislation the next year e lon = cca with curtailed powers. When the Jesuits were again expelled 1684, the Crov forced to draw up new regulations for the conduct 1684, the Crown was up ae of missions. Tse seeing 1686 7 ier ee Sonmitted to undertake peaceful expedit fesuits, to a ‘mates to the aldeias, the mission villages near Portuguese — cele tiny would be aval a hbo a the same mga othe rotierin Latin American History Jesuit supervision. Only in the case of Indians why ices’ or who resisted efforts to convert there sea ven jostiied Jesuits brought hostility from the other orders, ty sneered archy who resented their freedom from epi a a mae pis of et high pet opal contr, from landowners ee a crenata mn tition for available Inbour and from the go the Fratton of the elightensnent saw them as a barier to rational progress Tn Portugal, where the blow fell first, Pombal was more receptive to the complaints of the colonists than Joto V had been and was prepared to sacrifice them in the interests of winning their cooperation in his scheme to overhan! the Portuguese Empire, When the expulsion did come in 1767 it was unpopular with ordinary people. In Mexico, for example, it was greeted with riots among mine workers in Guanajuato and San Luis Potos{, by risings of Indians as well by numerous popular demonstrations. ‘The secularization of the Jesuit missions threw their land on to the market, released Indians for labour and left a vacuum in the missionary field which the Franciscans (who alone of the big orders had not amassed landed property) were now to enter. The purpose of the Franciscans was not to take over the Jesuit missions but to undertake further expansion of the frontier into Alta California. ~_ In the area of Jesuit reductions in Paraguay the frontier contracted after their expulsion as they no longer pushed further afield in the search for new supplies of yerba maté which was thelr major crop. ‘Their eleven ‘missions with 11,000 Indians in Entre Rios and ‘Misiones were divided on their expulsion among French Dominicans and Mercedarians but con _inuity was destroyed and the discouraged indians fied to the jungle and “oven to communtiet} These jangle loetions became an Indian ‘unsafe for European colonists fora hundred years or more. Ba Ssopesn colonists wore eventually tempted int the egion te which hispanicization and christianization would not Sodentary Indians were reluctant to be assimilated, even in the races had commingled since the sixteenth century: problem of the ‘Indian frontier’ discussed here isnot that of fine dividing the European and Amerindian but those of war hunting and gathering tribes on the periphery of settlement locked the way to further expansion but whose incursions areas compelled the authorities to divert men andl defences against them. It is often forgotten how long some of resisted. The Araucanians in southern Chile and the Argentina were not finally subdued until the 1880s, and inn the Apaches continued their raiding until the end of the tury. In the sixteenth century Arancanian resistance had so admiration of the Spaniards that Ercilla made them the subject of La Araucana, one of the few epic poems to have been written in ‘America. In New Spain it took the Spaniards a mere five years to establish their power in the Aztec-dominated central valley but over fifty years to subdue the Chichimecs. The expansion of the frontier into the northern deserts with the discovery of silver at Zacatecas created a situation for whith the Spaniards were ill-prepared. They were legatees of a problem which the sedentary tribes before them had never managed to solve, The adopted the Aztec word Chichimee “dirty un generic term referring to the ‘four nations” of Zacatecas and Guachachile tribes who had. ‘Aztec influence. The ‘hard frontier’ between: the north and the sedentary agricultursts to the so ‘parallel with no intervening buffer zone. To 42 The Frontier in Latin American History mall forts were built which j in the mining regions. ‘i poured waggons provided sone ‘the nuclei for towns, and heavy a -_ tection fr comoys of travellers, but the major prablem wag hye ‘conduct offensive warfare. The Chichimees were fe, rthless warrior, Bighting 10 defend they thering grounds “as if they were Moors of Granada’, ‘Long-haireg, pA ie cab beet a earless’, they lived in coven sy mae huts, eating a form of bread made from mesquite shrub and drinking the juice of the agave. The introduction of cattle into the Zacatecas regios provided an added incentive for raids on settlements once a taste had bes aoquited for beef as a relief from desert rat, The Chichimecs’ practice ot ritual cannibalism, scalping and indiscriminate torture struck terror ins ‘the setlers and the only inducement to serve in campaigns against thers ‘was the prospect of capturing prisoners who could be used as slaves However, pacified Indians provided the bulk of the Spanish forces as fighters, porters, interpreters and scouts, and their role was crucial to border defence throughout the colonial period, providing in many cases 2 ‘soft frontier’ between Spanish settlements and hostile nomads. One of the most distinctive features of the northward advance was the ‘colonization of conquered lands by Indians. Once nomads had been Pacifed they were sbsorbed into settlements of northward moving Seamed the cm and Colultecans. The Otom{ chief Don Diego de Tapia ee ok ee geo Calan General ofthe Chichimec Warfare and vras pale the San Luis Potos’ mines. As the price for oe toon tribute payment and personal sercice. The we jin 1521. 11500, four settlements, hundred families suecess by kindness, “Peace the Chichimes a the same time {nto settlements and represented # 18 sedentary Indians | i Indians from outside, and expanding hacendas fest land and pushed the Chichimecs out t6 the fringes, te assimilated or to become pensioners of the state others ed into the peon workforce on the haciendas or drifted to the mining 's. In general they lost their sense of identity. ‘ 7 The experience of the Chichimee Wars provided the pattern fo missionary expansion. Pacified Indians were used to colonize nev! . .co and Sonora. Opatas from south Sonora were sent into ; to teach agriculture to the Pimas and then the Pimas were used | finds in Jesuit, Father Kino, in the 1690s to defend his missions from attack. Thus, in the expansion northwards into Arizona, California, Mexico and ‘Texas, we can talk of a moving Indian frontier which the mission and the Indian pueblo its main institutional expression, = ‘The factor which tumed nomadic Indians into the most formidable obstacle to Spanish expansion was the ‘horse revolution’. The Spaniards had tried to prohibit the sale of horses to Indians but nothing could stop them obtaining mestefios, wild mustangs. After the great revolt of Pueblo Indians in the 1680s, horses became readily available, transforming the economy and culture of the Plains Indians. The Apaches and Comanches {in particular took advantage of their new mobility to raid deep into settled territory. The eighteenth century was the great age of the Plains Indians bbut in the nineteenth century the pressures of the expanding, North ‘American frontier and the destruction of the buffalo herds forced them to proy on Mexican border communities who tended to reesve less p tion from the central government than their more fortunate numbers over the border. é ‘The Apaches were probably the most intractable ofall swhich the Spaniards had to deal. Whereas the nei becoming shepherds and weavers, the Apaches, eo merciless raiders by the horse, became the scourge of t ‘until the 18808. The gran apacheria over which they ries fa length and some 580 miles deep and. ‘Azizona, Although linguistically a nation, the ‘onity and this complicated dealings with them. not bind other and to seek elliances with the ‘tion for buffalos. By the « 64 The Frontier in Latin American History teat i ental Nex, thas leaving the frontier open once agay Ar Gale, as m nothern Mexico, the Spaniards were heirs to g Columbian Indian frontier. The Incas had not succes i the tbe of sothem Chile and their empire never extended bey ag ns River Maule which they reached seventy-five years before the arrive the Spaniards. The stability of Spanish society in the fertile central vac! contased with their precarious foothold in the south. Througone Siteuth century this southem frontier was an armed camp with loot sts avg sve ina ita beease ofthe nay ofthe clon authorities to supply regular troops. But after the great rising of 1598 wh, A Spanish setneats south ofthe Tver Boso were esas eet Spanish authorites instituted a frontier force. Unfortunately, it guaranteed that confict would continue as its members supplemented their meage, pay by raiding forays, malocas, in order to obtain slaves to sell to labore Sarved estates. With the introduction of German colonists from th 4840s onwards, the farmers’ frontier began to expand into the Indi, \critony in the southem rain forests, Unlike the pampas Indians, the Mapuches, as the descendants of the Araucanians are called. were not exterminated, and many Chileans who did not realize they hal a rly problem were rudely disabused when the Al acca a n the Allende government supported Tn spite of some suseses Co wy re gece alee by the frontier missions established caer be reconcilable couslict on either the gn Ina ot, td with Fin wut the Se ets the prodiition of diet Eegee the frontier along a line which was ca id limited settlement had ‘been in 1590, Once the horse hed de a same a 1790 as seventeenth Ae 1 crossed the Andes at the en the eget ene APPS Tn, pry nce om he led in a ded! in conquel {oni or bute between te aces las at ba, WD Hvalled the bay, providing a ‘soft Se Howe’ ttloment in the cate te cern Was increasing nan a? Selene this upset santo conduct ‘Types of Frontier 65 offensive campaigns to dive the Indians back. Rosas the landowning ‘audilo who dominated Argentina from 1820 to 1852, made his reputation fn command of the Indian campaign of 1833 when as many a 10000 Indians may have been killed, and when the frontier was pushed back and salt pans for the needs ofthe saladeros were secured Although the Indians were relentlessly pursued throughout the course of the eentury, it was only with the appearance of the repeating rifle that i became. possible to mount successful campaign of extermination in the War of the Desert in 1879-80—even more effective than the Indian wars of the mid-west. ‘There was another Indian frontier in northem Argentina where fierce ‘Chaco Indians preyed on outlying settlements and pack train. Owing to restricted economic activity in that region, it did not cause govertimental concern, until in the late nineteenth century the eattle trade from the Chaco to supply the mines and nitrate fields of northem Chile attracted the attention of Indian raiders. Discussion so far has centred on the conflict which occurred when an expanding frontier of settlement threatened the traditional hunting grounds of nomadie Indians. There are two other types of confrontation to be considered: one, where Indian communal landholdings which had been protected during the colonial period were threatened by liberal land legislation, thus enabling haciendas to expand at their expense: the other, where a frontier expanded into an area of hitherto free jungle villages. ‘The most striking case of the former occurred in the Mexican state of Morelos in the 1800s and 1900s. Sugar haciendas, established in the sixteenth century but geared to local markets, began to expand! in response to-a growing external demand caused by the decline of sugar production in Cuba during the Cuban War of Independence (1895-8). The need for additional Jand and labour could only be — baie on neighbouring village lands, by depriving previo of the telhoo ard forcing eno Reome epliv bout the land legislation of Mexican Liberals liad Bhroughout Mexico, it was only in Morelos that effective form, ia the zapatista movement. In the Andes too, Indians experienced! hacienda expansion. In Bolivia, the process a ‘Melgarejo's "istribution of the lands of 70,000 | ight hundred or so of his own supporters 180s Tn ora, where costal ction ‘expand with migrant labour from the Sierra t . Sern the slot bel, re domand frauen sn the First World War, combined with the shortened sea route to Europe after secre of the Panama Canal in 1914 stimulated the growth of 66 The Frontier in Latin American History ndas at the expense of Indian communitieg highland avi teseinat of theie members. The submerged history of contd th in lated alleys i only now being unearthed by historians, stilt fetoes of this process are caught by such writers as Ciro Alert MOUBh tuvel Broad and Alien i the World Hin hy "The dearest casein Spanish America of the impact of frontier Saijuogle Indians is provided by Yucatén: Yucatin had se backwater since the original Spanish conquest in the sixteenth cents! Gat aff rom the rest of Mexico by thick jungle, it had develope a Shower pace, preserving both the language and cultural fore indigenous Mayan Indians. Encomionda interests the ninety per cent ofthe towns were held in encomienda only fity.five per cent in the rest of Mexico, and the institation In ‘unt 1785, longer than anyrwhere ese in the country, Little we eae for export: poor rainfall excladed European grains, but a few edvtle nen epented to Cuba. Social control was largely in’ the hands ef Meee aciques, The town of Valladolid marked the frontier between the tehde okt ines of the north and the free Mayan villages of the o uth, se ilages Were a refoge for those escaping from Spanish, ava ler revolts which increased as fraer thwarts onsede ae, AH abour exploitation pushed the ‘Spansion mained ata the re Were very stron, a in comparison with ‘than the sti ; Valladolid e straitlaced creole elite of towns li aes Weer cad Tain eee Wee cae a the Cate : dowed don 139 2840s and 1850s. To some extent plantation in the barren northwest Ke De riepment of the henequen my not identify qe estar, where Indians had ayas: The end ofthe ninetecnee te Aspirations ofthe jungle : Yueatiin's boom years as ake Prairies. The boom 4 3® {or the mechanical binders ed of tse fom far of Sonora pet Indians from eee Tink of Yaqu ndians, had conan Pont Sabbers, avid for the is. Thousands of Types of Frontier 7 was no contrast between sedentary Indians, with and gatherers, living for the most part in jungle cleaeings: early settlers to enslave them for work on the coastal plantations drove them further inland but, in spit oftheir esiveness, the Portuguese were tletermined to make them participate in colonise gage saci ae ten le oe issued a decree encouraging Portuguese settlers in regions adjeent to Spanish territory to marry Indian women as a way of ereating a stable mixed population, But most settlers, especially those unable to afford highly-priced African slaves, were more interested in enslaving’ the Indians or in using them as auxiliaries in coniicts ageinst other powers; this was the case in the alliance between the Portuguese andl the Tupiniquim against the French and the Tupinamba in the 1550s and foreshadows similar alliances during the Franco-English eonfiet ia North America in the eighteenth century. Finally, the Jesuits, the order whieh consistently guarded Indian interests, he their own aims, the ereation of a state within a state which ran counter to the aims of both settlers and the Crown. Apart from Amazonia, and-even there they had to be satisfied with an uneasy compromise, Jesuit influence was unable to prevent the resgates or shiving expeditions which were both a cause and a conse- ‘quence of the open warfare typical of settler-Indian relationships. ‘One of the most disturbed regions was Piauf, the hinterland of the coast between the Amazon delta and the northeastern hump. Here and in Maranhio to the north, colonists could not compete with the sugar plantations for African slaves and so were cot to enslave jungle Indians. This provoked the great revolt of the Tapuayas of the north in ‘1712-13 when a quarter of the four hundred ranches there were and which was only finally suppressed through the loyalty Indians. The Jesuits had no doubts thatthe rising had. by the depredations of caqueiras who rode down fight’. In contrast to the nomadic Indians of pampas, very few Brazilian Indians took to the | being the Guiacurus, the nomadic River Paraguay who had harassed Indians were primarily jungle d could not be defeated or enslaved. burned off jungle cover, so maki expansion as, for example, inn find Xicriabe on the west bank of the: of many estates, As late as 1808 the {6 The Frontier in Latin American History attacks in Espiritu Santo which compelled th ‘ficial war against them, thas permitting prison their captors he reduction of missionary protection alter the expulsion of 4 Jesuits in 1767 combined with a pastoral frontier pushing into yy the Britsh blockade, seems to have resulted in a sharp rise in. «2 fncidence of Indian slavery in the early days of independence. In Pang, especially, always plagued by labour shortages, conditions became so bad that in the middle 1830s, the state was con wars or eabanagems, lela 8 to be used as sh slaves by ed by a series of guerrilla The maroon frontier ‘The Indian frontier was not the only frontier of resistance in the Americas, Wherever there were slave plantations—in the Carolinas, Florida, Central America, in the Caribbean or South America, there were also runaways ‘who fled into uninhabited hinterlands to establish hideouts. These maroon ‘communities, palengues in Spanish America, and quilombos or mocambos jn Brazil were by definition frontier societies, sited in inaccessible un- settled and inhospitable regions. Many were ephemeral, consisting of a handful of fugitives who were Soon recaptured, but others were numbered in hundreds or thousands and Broved imposible to destoy. Deprived of the simplest tools which other filers could take for granted, maroon had to improvise, drawing on the i —— nizing experienoes of plantation life, on memories of their oe water on Bomowings ftom neighbouring Indians if these ‘organization based on African traditions,” M8" Zmba, with a social This constituted such a threat that six further ‘against it in the 1680s. However, it was not. paulistas, the most ruth] expeditions were sent until the government finally Fenowned slave catch only after ers, that two years’ str a AW: tne vr eee Se ‘Types of Frontier 6 pubic syed destroy the lope Nismo, wa that ok ‘ralmares was the largest but not the lst qullombo, Miwves under close control and a number of gutlombor were extablidhed the gl ren, the Wl population of ih ante a Ia icin Brazil, though, unlike eliewhere, was the colonial fot tlly dependent on hve au aud wee wes we tninorty. Had Palinares not been destroyed i might have provided an Inspiration and model for other Ain sates i te hee cong the Portuguese to their original coastal possessions ‘in Haiti, a large maroon community survived for some seveuty yeas at Le Manel, in the frontier area between French end Spanish Hispaniola, and was never subdued by the colosial authorities. In Jamaica maroons fought so successfully in the Maroon War which seached « imax in the 1730s after many decades of running skinnishes, that the British were compelled to acknowledge their rights by testy. The Guyanas were the Classic site for maroon communities and, although most of those in British find French Guyana were destroyed in the course of the eighteenth century, those in Dutch Guyana, now Surinam, sareived, were recogsized by treaty and exist today in six tribal entities, numbering some 4000. In Colombia, one community was but was absorbed in the early twentieth century as its members went of to work in sugar and Danan: plantations or on the Panama Canal. In Mesico, where been imported in large numbers at the end of the sxteents offset the drastic decline of the Indian population, the revolts was a constant preoccupation of vicereys but ony ‘ever seems to have been recognized by treaty. In & Small towns in mountainous and heavy wooded to palengues. : ‘Many maroons, protected by geographical self-sufficient communities; others were depents from which they had 40. The Frontier in Latin American History blacks and whose descendants are a distinctive group today), Shor ‘ge of lack women generally led to attempts to capture Indian women aah jor obstacle to peaceful cooperation, making it gut? oriies to use Indians to hunt down maroons, With a, reluctance of European troops to adopt counter-guerrilla tactics. Ind” militias wer the most favoured and succesful slave-catchers; in Jama where there were no Indians, they were importe! from the Mosquito cone of Central America, although there and elsewhere free blacks and even slaves were also used. Gases ean also be cited of Indian maroon settlements; in Yucatin where the jungle afforded shelter from the plantations of Campeche, in Pers where whole Indian villages might escape to the wildemess outside Spanish influence, as in the case of the Morocochas Indians who live today, near Ayacucho and are a rare example of a surviving Amerindian horse calture, and in Cuba where there were matiy Indian maroon hamlets in the sixteenth century before the Indian population was wiped out. Although colonial governments feared slave hideouts as springboards for offensive attacks, maroon communities were essentially defensive in onception and outlook, wishing to be let alone. Neither the maroons of Le Maniel in Haiti nor those in Cuba played an active part in their country’s independence movements. Indeed they sometimes became slave owners themselves or agreed to become slave catchers as part of the bargain by which the colonial government recognized their autonomy, and they would not welcome more fugitives than their community: could i became a more frequent form of —* ae and Guba while marronage took the form of naval fan mass fight: Runaway slaves in Cuba, whether Sak ike Este be elt ey mparted Yooatecan Todians or indentured Pare (ue) ee as etby Bein of rch se Blotatos wig ere mat to all otf et, TEE SUE Bee i tes which provided aashags nt eine oO Spanish or Portuguese and whose sill oy eis: ‘The city gave anonymity or, win the the them to pass as ass abolitionists, 58° Paulo in the Types of Frontier 71 their hideo maguuet for other slaves on the plantations While hideouts were to exist there was always an alternative way We and the risk (0 was worth taking. of aavagory of the slaveholding system war displayed at its most brutal 1 ihe punishments meted out 19 captured runawaye—branding, in to a clememberment, rostog ove sow keg a aaa cfces of frightened societies which sensed on whab slender bases helt de imaey rested. The instituonalized terror of fugitive lave rapa ered by colonial governors and their literal application was the Meponse of colonists on the ground to the slave exces passed ia te srotiopolis and designed in theory to allard the slaves some measure of Pr rnarooas tended tobe rece eile ous Nes or would not adapt to slave conditions. This was one reason why so many (juilombos and palenques show a multiplicity of African influences but the ir tiuences of plantation cultures should not be ignored or oversimplified; ; on comm the vay the varety of ultra forms in maroon communities pars
    legaey of turbulence and desperation. oe ‘The endless grasslands of Rio Grande do Sul invite comparison with the Argentinian pampas or the Banda Oriental of which it is a northerly extension. Described in glowing terms by foreign travellers, it stands in complete contrast to the arid serdo. It had been disputed territory be. tween Spaniard and Portuguese; but although the Treaty of Ildefurso of 1777 had demarcated the claims which had been in dispute since the Treaty of Tordesilas of 1494, twas not unt the Banda Oriental came ‘aides and smugelers and tended to slain this character unt tee ones years ofthe nineteenth century. Soe i to establish its claim 4 Senta Gos ie ith this in view the 0 Santa Catarina. These sna oh 2288 a Madeira ws rt the demand ford aa stlements provided @ |Gerais was more important. I the far-off mining not be ‘Types of Frontier 81 sun-baked, which was a staple food of the slave popul iat anid also in demand for sailors on transatlantie shi be) iela, like Brazil, had a mixed plar a Veneauela, 1 mixed plantation and cattle economy but had languished until the carly eighteenth century. ‘Then the Caracas ‘Company had laid the basis ofits prosperity by trading in eacao produced on the slave-run coastal plantations, Tnland, the Hanos of the Orinoco valley was one of the great cattle areas of South America, In common with the sertio, the lanos was a hinterland rea of a plantation society, and so a refuge for runaway slaves —hence its vyaried population of mixed-bloods (pardos) and free-coloureds. Both were branded by their origin and were frustrated in their attempts to buy certificates of whiteness by the creoles, anxious to keep them in a Subordinate position—even Bolivar dreaded the prospect of rule by a pardocracia. The cattle economy was stil aa primitive stage atthe end oF, the colonial period. There were few established estancias, and laneros, like gauchos, were free-ranging cowboys, chasing half-wild herds. There was little export trade in cattle products and meat and hides supplied mainly the coastal towns and plantations, but what was exported was controlled by merchants who bought cheap and sold dear. 3 ‘Attempts to whittle down the cowboys’ free-range grazing, rights threatened to disturb traditional customs, roused their anger and made them t formidable force during the wars of independence and sls0 invaluable allies with their superb horsemanship. At first, it had been comparatively easy for the Spaniards to mobilize them against the creole Tandowners leading the revolt from Spain and it was only after Bolivar won over their leader Paéz that the tide of war turned, with the ie cavalry playing a similar role to that of the gauchos mentoneras in ‘west Argentina. The hope of booty offered by Paéz was one attraction as was also the promise of the lands of rds, By a law of 1817 these lands were distributed to veterans on a siding seule but it was easy for Paéz and other officers to buy up the ‘rdinary soldiers and thus to lay the basis fora new landowning las "The Hanos of Colombia are similar in many ways, except deter teen cut of from the major highland settlements by precipitous pee sve remained a perpetaly stato frontier’ supporting «sated savion of herders tending high-cost, low quality cattle. in the north. ‘iota bere a shift from the highlands to lowlands Toes tho “anfoezing” ofthe rural population by the oe jdexico, mining towns in the north sim arene herding, Poor frigtion facilities forced 88 The Frontier in Latin American History the Ballo and Michoacin for its wheat supplies but good cate coung the vicinity of Zaca mulated ranching and it was common for fo ‘of up to 40,000 to be branded yearly and so send as many as apg ets expat exci Mest guild npr bythe powers yesh aeieal Spain. New Spain was, in fact, the only region where qn 22 was introduced: a oe there than elsewhere. The Ordinances of 1574 prescribed high ¢ deterred the rise of the small stockman, Many cattle haciendae yoga by mineowners who had accumulated estates by grants nore a : ; 8 by grants, purchas mariage and simple occupation of empty lands. ‘These extéter nae sometimes entailed in mayorasgos to prevent them being broken up es death, The ‘rich and powerful men ofthe north’, the Tharras, Urdyos and Velascos, accumulated estates of hundreds of thousands of acres nce the administration of ranching was more eff icient i divs to Cans bower to ralheads in the United States for onward on aero Were able to compete with seated a ‘and this created resentment cn ee na Diaz, who had deliberately wero eae te ee of northern Mexico transmitted the values eine ute t0 Tesas and beyond, ‘Ths the voce, ry. ethos anish peninsular 1 ec — hhactendas had to ag the bone a Wee and a system of ee jon one of endemic indit Th Mex sents “teen ot eget 3 dlende ofthe ae Toul MA dt rete to the hated ging set or aaeelid e Vi dane nyc oto dng enagtusfomed by the feign Rot wise a ami ety ge bce oe backbone of hi srmy nt deco $ Sea oo ‘ E Secs st ‘Types of Frontier 89 the Battle of Celaya in 1915, The exploits of Villa's dorad ballads, and the values of the Mexican cattle culture recalled’ the 1 formalized rodeo charreada, n which the exaggerated, dress of the charro, the affluent rancher, recalls bygone days Agricultural frontiers Je was an intention of the Spanish Crown to encourage Spaniards to settle down and farm their own lands. Cleries such as Las Casas and Vasco de ‘Quiroga also argued for the Indies to be settled by farmers who would be given land rather than encomiendas, which they could then farm 2s family units. But most Spaniards did not emigrate to the New World to become farmers. ‘The small farms which quickly became the economie basis for much North American settlement kad scarcely any parallel in Latin America until the wave of European immigration in the nineteenth century and then they tended to be concentrated in specific areas such as southern Brazil, Santa Fe and Corrientes in Argentina, and southern ile. In the early years of settlement, land was subordinated to labour, and the major social differentiation between Spaniards lay between those who had encomiendas and those who had not. With the decline of the en- comienda and the rising importance of land, economic distinctions were based on landownership. Apart from the basic juxtaposition between private landed estates of Spaniards and communally held Indian lands, there was now a further conflict between big landowners and small pro- prictors. Merchants were attracted to invest in land through the applica- tion of the Spanish law of inheritance. By this, capital acquired during @ marriage belonged equally to the partner so that on the death of one partner the other’s share was divided among all the children; but as 90 such discrimination applied to landed wealth where ental could preserve intact, the tbation of landownerip were chou ‘The latifundio, the general a labourers, became the backbone of Latin American san History (0 The Frome in Latin Ame ‘a social system as it would have been to expect thy feeders recy wes ct ee ater lof Eb aloet rth entury that governments encouraged sinallseale proprietorship in order ‘to people empty spaces. Concentration of ownership was not so ‘asa consequence of redistribution in the first decades of indepen. ence. Where there was no strict poticy for occupation it was possible for individuals to buy up huge expanses of public domain at knock-dowe prices. Although this was often made conditional on effective use, there ‘was in fact no method of enforcement. The attempts of governments dominated by landowners to control frontier lands were designed to head ‘off colonization and to discourage the fight of labour from poorly paid sharecropping. During the first forty or so years of Argentinian independence small [proprietors were conspicuously absent. Early attempts in the 1820s to attract European immigrants to establish agricultural colonies petered ox Pre-emption of the best land by cattlemen, difficulties in obtaining title, vulnerability to Indian raids, the general absence of amenities and the high wages to be gained in Buenos Aires where there was always an acute shortage of labour, discouraged agriculture. Rivadavia had attempted to ‘use public lands and a system of emphyteutic tenure to settle European immigrants and make Argentina self-sufficient in cereals, but the cattle wich a legacy of the colonial spers si after some viciait : Ere dovelopmects, the tuber of salam pape one to 365 thirty years later. In neighbouring Entre Rios there was ¢ ome {rom 3 in. 1875 to 200 twenty years later, ed colonization and crop-farmiog, As the pri ofits the English company buldng th Hota railway line in the 186s had to reserve a three-mile strip on either side ofthe track for Tp soe of fae ca ae companies to follow suit and landowners, their land would increase with crop ; spur to land-hungry peasants from Italy and Spain was the prospeet of ‘roning land and ts wae pote Eases acm Ce by an industrious peasant in four or fve years in Buenos Aires province where land was atleast four times as expen- sive, immigrants could not afford to buy, nor were extancieros willing to sell at a time when European demand for meat opened up dazzling prospects. But the immigrant could become a . Prohibitive labour costs and the reluctance of gauchos to til the soil made immigrants doubly welcome. Selective breeding required sophisticated forage, and land for alfalfa was rented to Italian peasants on a three year: i basis. In return for tools and food, the sharecropper had to hand over half the harvest in payment. Tenuous though this might appear, it often suited the immigrant who could either raise himself to a tenant farmer or return to the city with his small stock of capital and set a merican History 92 The Frontier in Latin \ doings owls) who seere sant anotly 100 southern Spy, Bt et itch thw season at howe to work Foright Ths we find ‘pampas without settles. frontier Fill wih i Centos, tat ples were a eopy tn 10 F force There were lew houses, no schools, 0 churches, roads or villages, nd the radwway system. the densest in Latin America, radiated like spokes fram a wheel from Buenos Aires and contributed little to knitting together fsolated settlements. The railway led back to the city where real oppor: tunities existed for tenant anid shareeropper alike, and did not beckon the land-hungry peasant into land of limitless promise. Colonization schemes Colonization was seen by both government and private comp: way of filling in empty spaces gobemar es poblar’, in the words of the “Argentinian, Alberdi, Colonization schemes, designed to settle farmers on ‘vacant public land, took various forms, They could be official, government sponsored (either state, as ia the ease of Sio Paulo, or national) or they ould be based on commercial speculation; they could be utopian, either secular of religious. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries most colonization schemes were designed to attract foreign immigrants, mostly from Europe but also from Japan. More recently, emphasis has been placed on using internal colonization as part of overall agrarian reform jprogrammes, to move surplus people from overpopulated regions, as is ing with jpoth spontaneous and sponsored colonization from the Balin etl Ta the emosal ce of French Cuyann the meso politan government fn recent years to sponsor immigration but mae — years to sponsor immigration bi support for colonization schemes was not always wholehearted. In the nineteenth centiry under the iluence of racials dens, Enropecns northern Europeans) were regarded as the key to economic through their racial superiority and because of their educa nd skills. They would also help to whiten populations which were Fe ay are a Ceti as wall as 1 Tndian and negro groups. Colonization wy with, fand the settling of farmers on land une contre ne way #9 erate a stable society aid remedy the fastabity Inherent rae te rire se ot saci ra ee roti pat a fm ct Fata wed cr oplce saves x apace donna 8 Ol ers or tenant farmers. This provides ox! - ‘Types of Frontier 95 failed to 0 give adequate support » border regions such tio Grande do Sul or northern Medion In the che Reursions, Apache raids and Indian rebellions esas 0 oo 1545-9 war but they were only partially successful, and reluctance to alow religions Mberty remain (itary colonies were ‘The failure of early colonization sche oS) in grins homed ta sae ct Woh cm, pale a cate the Immigration Commission set up by Rivadavia, he tried to establish military colonies on the Indian frontier, similar in some respects to the presidios of northern Mexico. These were nct sucessful weer, becatse Of the reluctance of soldiers to serve in them voluntarily. Slightly more successful were the few colonies in Chihuahua to settle veterans of Pancho Villa's army. Religious commonites such asthe Russian Old Believers in soutien Brazil and Mennonites in Paraguay regarded the absence of markets and physical hardships as a challenge and an opportunity to develop a self ‘sufficient community where their customs and beliefs could survive untainted by outside influences. They have Sourished in environments lke the Chaco desert which have daunted less highly motivated farmers. The common religious bond has clearly been an important factor io the success of these colonies, inviting comparison ie the Scene similar soups in North America. Without the drive to preserve: Tanguage pienris® religion, the Welsh colonies in isolated Patagonia ‘would almost certainly have collapsed, Similarly, the Baron Hirsch colony in Argentina, founded as a refuge for Jews Seeing Russian ‘pogroms, ‘owed its success (which involved the transformation of —— into pampas herders) to the cohesion provided by religious faith, in tts ease the lege injection of capital by Baron Hirsch was 8 ETE tant contributory — Prk yee ort nit which were n the United States but whi at eciy eae have been so su carious Australian socialist colony’ in Paraguay. One siastie but ‘in contrast to colonization schemes in southern tended to be failures, ‘Guatemala i? @ 4 The Frontier in Latin American History ncans of utilizing the technical expestise of Buitish settlers o develop the aster jungle proviices. But temperate agriculturalists do not necessarily ed tropical frontiersmen and the scheme collapsed as did thy, BP Ee catty to whom the British concessionaire sold out. The mute ‘eater Scottish attempt to set up a colony at Darien in 1609 was a similar fiasco. Attempts by British colonists to farm jungle land in southern Brazi were equally unsuccessful and Angel Clare's experience in Tess of the @Urbervilles accurately reflects what Hardy had heard of the failures of the brief Brazil craze which sent groups of British colonists to Brazil jy the 1870s. In any case, the United States and the British Empire were more attractive to British emigrants. Few who went to Latin America were successful, hampered by prejudices against Catholicism and against “inferior races’, unable to cope with the climate and prone to drink. Their dislike for Latin Americans was reciprocated except in elite circles. A few family dynasties were of British, or rather, Irish origin—soldiers of fortune who had risen in Bolivar's armies or shepherds on the pampas from the 1850s. However, many British, such as Scots engineers or textile technicians from the north of England, went out on short-term contracts. ‘One of the largest communities of this kind were the sheep-managers of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, site of some of the world’s largest and ‘most desolate sheep runs. ‘The success of a colonization scheme wherever it was founded depended on it being well capitalized at the outset together with sub- Sequent easy access to credit, as well as on being able to get round inheritance laws which subdivided plots on tho deoth of the head of the family. Colonists also had little chance of achievement unless they had some previous farming experience. Thus the self-sufficient German Colonies of southern Brazil transplanted European mixed farming tec! niques into a fertile area and were sufficiently flexible to adept taerselv2> a horse-culture. ‘When export opportunities did present themselves in sarly 1900s with the opening up of Porto Alegre, they ere well to take advantage of them. Colonization by German settlers in in Entre Rios in northeast Argentsa, neil os Spas practices, illustrates the transference of traditions! sats.emon" ase the Waldhufenderfer, o: serie of ncisect ‘Types of Frontier 9% sernans to colonize the southern frontier evento the extent of cas {vom colonization projects in a lw of 187, for fear of 1 ates of central Chil, It also served late to ensure ee ‘ny suxplus labour would be available fr the nitrate working in the srnortl. fa; no eass failure canbe atbted to fated eipettionn, by the glowing accounts of unscrupulous zecruiting agencies. Some idea PF the excessive optimism bred by the potentialities of the Amazon, Sotoriously the most intractable pioneering area in the whole of Latin ‘America, may be gained from this description by Alfred Wallace, a colleague of Charles Darwin, who wrote: When I consider the excessively small amount of labour required in this country, to convert virgin forest into green meadows and fertile 1 almost Jong to come over with half-a-dozen friends, try; and show the inhabitants jour from the plantations, g @isposed to work, and enjoy the count be hhow soon an earthly paradise might be created, which they bad never conceived capable of existing....1 fearlessly assert that here the primeval forest can be converted into Heh pas edn ee land, into cultivated fields, gardens, and orchards ay ‘of prodice, with balf the labour, and what is ore i lf the time that would be required at home.” ee ‘Wallace believed that three or four families oth coy ee Could reat a paraieon eth na few yes Behind 8 SEG optisteaatertions Ixy ungpokensssumptions oe ee and, lack of entropreneusel aly = ele Wallace sbviously not linger ng enous a of hemi, ‘and all the other problems of junale —— oe not daunt the ammeheir enthusiast. Among oe ee. ventured into the Amazon the Japans recessful, TES Jacaseve ave, fac, provided me oT ian Cree coloniste in Latin Ameriony: Fest of Chis suegses Oa: 96. The Frontior in Latin American History icality. A further factor in their succe as hea banks and merehants in the citie " has encouraged prodi thei lose Tinks with Japanese cae ol oe Ite rein key of cpeions and Ww ering ag abou intensity, and this produces distinctive societies as can be seat Be ag wees Eepntiors in Guntrinls, Cabs. Colombin and Set Tn Ghatenals, coffee production expanded in response to marter opportinities in the 1870s. Early attempts hy development-conseings governments to stimulate colonization in eastern jungles failed with the collapse of the Nueva Liveypool experiment in the 1830s, after which tention switched to the west and northem highlands, Here, the succes, of German planters, who as merchants had been impressed by 1 possibilities of coffee cultivation, was largely due to the availability of cheap labour from Indians who had been dispossessed of their comminal lands by successive Liberal governments, The Guatemalan coffes plantation, based on peon labour, therefore, shared features of the traditional hacienda, The initial impetus to coffee production in Cuba came from French colonists Reeing from the Haitian slive revolt of 1790. They established cole eats cues) in Oriente, some of which expanded westward {nto land not already pre-empted by sugar plantations, which would move exstwards as the sugatrevoltion of the early nineteenth centing gathered momentum. Short of capital, cafetales were limited in size and worked by small numbers of slaves. It was from these planters that leaders of the revolution against Spanish rule in 1868 were dram, Working on narrow Profit margins comion withthe smaller sgn planters of Oriento, they ere unable 4 bear the increased fiscal burdens of new tex veforn, Cuban coffee wns, therefore, «small-scale, marginal slave csonamy Ie did not generate dynamic frontier expansion inte fa se empty lands, and Oriente & backward province and breeding ground for ‘every subsequent id stated to low into Cuba in the te capital from the mainland from Spain itl ot rene sPrshed Into rich uncultivated lands of then eas SIS cote Brel where al ssh atPR rods ts cultivation, ‘These huge mare od was alrendly: under : nies of scale and ler the high costs of blockade, unlike the smaller planters of Oriente ict” Of the British in the War of Independence in 1868 was to, jhe OF whose fi ig ee Siete one rg epartment of Types of Frontier ‘Antioquia, 12 a marked contrat: Antioquia provides one of the mms ddynanie expanding frontiers in Latin America. From the 1830s the eafles frontier pushed into the southern part of Antioquia at 4 consequence of yes by Medellin merchants, whose purpose in scquling lend wat nconrage migration and settlement. New towns such as Fredonia and Valparaiso were founded under merchant patronage. ‘This was a policy of ilightened self-interest. Merchants required a settled labour Force on hich they could draw for their own speculatv, ‘They. abi heeded labour to build mountain rouds. This facilitated future development of their own coffee estates but assisted the emergence of a sizable class of sinallholders who tured to pigdbreeding aod growing coffee themselves when the economy expanded, In its early” stages, therefore, the coffee market was dominated by big estates but later these were overtaken by production on smallholdings. Population pressure provided a push for the southward movement of smallholders into ‘empty lands at the same time as merchants began to invest ther surplus capital in industry, the internal market for which was provided by an increasingly prosperous class of coffee homesteaders: Thus the small man frontier of coffee farmers and Medellin industry grew together in a mutual Dut not always peaceful relationship. The reason for Antioqui's remarkable eoooomic growth which has earned for antioquefios the sobriquet, ‘yankees of South America’, as Jong puzzled historians, for many of the aormal of econ szowth were absent. The hypotiets which ee sin ei Of status deprivation of antioguefios who were unable Bogoti lis lee claneeled bow int entered ei {is not sufficient. More important was the legacy of the mining econo Of the colonial period. The absence ofan Indian popalation whieh soul be impressed for mining, combined with the high Os transportation costs from the slave markets of : ‘work the mines themselves and to ac prospectors and their families to work. the ee Qui entreprenuial kills which gave them eer olegranuaa ial opportunities when these occurred. With no traditions of mt fntensive agriculture, and lacking a landowning egos ‘the frontier to merchant elite had little incentive to try to close in onder estab + fui as rare case racks eT tale clas; t wax an exeption eve ducing ar pies se oat esha of Cnc Sa E finally bolic and eater 7 deserted afer the Aight from ther Gg. The Frontier in Latin American History tine Colonia, the estence of «ev ceonomy in Braz requ Ata th enter be sala ff in oer 10 checs the growth of sq Papo Tis wes pally achieved bythe Tad Law of 1850, whieh Uta in the platcrcy bal monopoly, of cons fo te ving ag Teceey scot for cxf culdention. Cols st bone an poe. Mascot inthe 1830s ancl was orginally confined (0 the Paravba Val tan don slave labour imported through Rio. Many planters were and Pin Mines Gerais where mining had been in dectine since tree Reckless farming methods and prodigal landase pushed the Frontgs westwards into the rich terra roxa of Sto Paulo, Here a combing Homo local capital and British expertise achieved the difficult engineering teak of Linking Sio Paulo with the port of Santos, thus contributing from the 1870s to one of the most spectacular cases of frontier expansion in the ‘whole of Latin America. At fist, this relied on slave Tabour recruited via the interprovincial slave trade from the declining northeast where short fage of and had made it impossible to meet the challenge for Cuban sue Coffee planters became seriously interested in recruiting labour from Fiurope only when the town-based abolitionist movement assisted slaves to desert plantations With European labour, mostly reeruited from Italy on. short-term a rt pst wet anni So Paso Poti land and massive immigration encouraged prodigality as it had before inthe Haat val. As oon os productivity bogus to fll planters would sellout at high prices and move on into new land which had earlier been bought up asa speculation. The speculators frontier might precede actual cecupstionby uth as ahundred mes rtwenty yeas cits Re olfotir erpanson gave rise to a “hollow frontier” where he exhausted Ids were occupied by immigrants, ethe z plantations after their contract had expired or moving out from the ci Bae sc wero At Se eo rom the rapidly expanding urban centres. The So Paulo hantice nee speculative entrepreneurial cofee plantocracy wh ties thus produced ‘near monopoly of the world market, on ae were bas Jand and on cheap contracted south European lake oD, of chee ‘was tobe invested in industrial development SPN? 884 much of hens Pan cole ote vides ot ‘of successful frontier expansion by colonisation different caso, this ti Plantations Ltd, an English company found, (although Eni O44 it was sold to a consortium of Sip Paula get EDSUsh setters). ¢ original policy as well as running thelr which cont ot eg ter pbpseabpiy, Sse 9 Provide moe f 1981 anotizer land ‘Types of Frontier 8 company began opening op the fone further wet onthe bade of catenin state The cole ronter as been beset by ifs Sie of soll depletion, fall pics and recent fons Another bts been the proxy of cheap frontier and one unde netFay hilometves to the west which has siphoned ofthe small and AY amers who prefer to try their lick ov a new frontier rather than melita tle oF nse expensive fertlirs. The moving ot of the rural se cls hus ltt behind an ineeasngystatifed two-class soe aud rated the possiblities for social moby as the mumber of share: reapers (dhe mast soilly mobile group who could nommally bave es

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