Argentina’s Pampas, Gaucho And Julio

Alejo Julio Argentino Roca Paz (July 17, 1843 -October 19, 1914) was an army general who served as President of Argentina……

Front : 1000 Australes (1988-90)

Back : 1000 Australes (1988-90)

…. from 12 October 1880 to 12 October 1886 and again from 12 October 1898 to 12 October 1904.

Banknote 1000 Australes – front is image of past President Julio Roca and reverse is Liberty with torch and shield

In the period before Roca, a distinguished author and historian as well as soldier named Mitre was elected president. He moved the capital to Buenos Aires, where it has remained ever since – though its status as permanent capital is not formally accepted until 1880. Argentina, founded in 1816, has finally established its political identity. Its economic nature however is about to undergo a transformation.

The Argentinian pampas has traditionally been a lawless area, the preserve of wild cattle and horses (descendants of animals which have escaped from Spanish domestic use) and of equally wild gauchos. The only indigenous inhabitants of the area, the American Indians, are nearly exterminated by the colonists in a series of 19th-century wars. In 1878-9 the remaining Indians are either killed or are driven south into Patagonia in a campaign commanded by Julio Roca, a general who is voted into the presidency of Argentina in 1880 on the strength of this success.

His victory over the Indians is a significant step in a process which is steadily