BLOG1: politics and economics

Greetings again from BA,

I will use this blog entry to summarize Argentinian history from 1500 - early 1900's & will attempt to incorporate politics & economics. Since there was a pre-reading for the 1st class regarding the history of Argentina, I learned several items from the reading such as (I have opted to include one portion of my notes & will sequentially integrate historical facts throughout my blogs):

a) BA was founded twice (1536, & 1580) & May 25, 1810 is Independence Day
b) initially two political parties:
- Federalists: wanted a loose confederation of autonomous provinces
- Unitarans: desired a strong central government based out of BA
c) smuggling was a main form of income
d) Spanish immigrants intended to make lots of $$$ in Argentina & then return home
e) Constitution was drawn up in 1853
f) 3 individuals that made Argentina into a country: Mitre, Sarmiento, & Arellanada
Sarmiento visited USA & suggested that Argentina develop provinces by putting up fences & increased the # of schools

Our first day of class was "on wheels"; we toured BA & discovered that the neighborhood we reside in, Palermo, is the biggest neighborhood and San Telmo is the oldest with many immigrants (we noticed this on our trip to the Sunday artisan market at San Telmo). With respect to economics, grain and meat are the main exports; cows are a significant resource which found their way from Spain (yes they swam all the way to Argentina, lol) & due to the vast pampas, farming played a major role. Also, like most developing nations, to obtain FREE labor, slaves were imported. In addition, Argentina's Golden Age sprouted from the development of railroads & this led to a booming need for workers. Consequently, marketing efforts were deployed in Europe which promised immigrants "land, house, and a job". Optimistic immigrants poured into Argentina only to discover that none of these benefits would be met. However, due to World War I, the need for agricultural products drastically increased thereby improving the economies of agricultural nations like Argentina.

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