Tierra y poder en Salta: El noroeste argentino en visperas de la Independencia (review)

Tierra y poder is a useful contribution to the history of late colonial Argentina. Sara Mata de López presents, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of Salteña rural society, and thus allows us to know the world of the hacendados and gauchos that later on had a legendary role in the Wars of Independence. The work is based on a thorough research that demonstrates the richness and potential of provincial archives.

The book presents a study of the impact that the development of the colonial market had on a regional society. The author shows how in the eighteenth century the booming mule trade that supplied Upper and Lower Peru (the mules raised in the southern provinces were fattened in Salta before they were sent to their final destination) created an important real-estate market in the province. Thus, by the second half of the eighteenth century most landlords in the Lerma valley had access to the land through commercial transactions, and not through royal land grants. This process also entailed a steady rise in the price of land, which placed Salta's estancieros and hacendados among the richest landlords of late colonial Argentina—of this their luxurious urban properties stand in testimony. In spite of the presence of wealthy peninsular merchants in Salta, ownership of land tended to be dominated by creoles, who also had an important presence in the local cabildo and thus proved to be more influential than many of their peers in late colonial Argentina. And, as their intriguing possession of numerous books suggests, they also seemed to have been far more educated than most landlords in colonial Río de la Plata.

Although the life of rural Salta was dominated by large landowners, the author also pays attention to the complexities of the salteño countryside. Indian communities were largely dispossessed of their lands in the seventeenth century, and by the late colonial period most Indians lived as peons, tenants, or squatters, with no land of their own. However, the author shows, there was an important sector of middle- and smallholders (largely of mestizo and Afro-mestizo background—the latter being the largest ethnic group in rural Salta) that depended mainly on subsistence agriculture but also supplied the city of Salta (the famous gauchos!)

In a prosperous economy, with an important subsistence agriculture and land available in the eastern frontier, the author convincingly argues that labor tended to be in short supply. Yet, this shortage was moderated by the markedly seasonal demand of the mule trade and cattle ranching, which did not need a lot of labor throughout most of the year. These commercial activities thus complemented the subsistence economy of tenants, squatters, or smallholders, who met most of the labor demand. This context enhanced the leverage of workers somewhat (that is, there was no debt peonage); however, the majority of workers' salaries was paid in kind (usually at inflated prices). Thus the landowners minimized both their largest operating expense and a drain on perpetually short cash supplies.

Overall, Sara Mata de López succeeds in her project, and provides a much-needed account of rural northwestern Argentina in the late colonial period. Hopefully, historians will carry on with this line of inquiry into the independence period, and show these legendary landlords and gauchos in action.