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II. Argentina: Patterns of Urbanization in Argentina, 1869–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2022

James R. Scobie
James R. Scobie*
Affiliation:
Indiana University
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This study probes two major questions of urban growth: What are the significant forces that give physical form to the city, and what are the characteristics of human relationships within the city. In answering the first, the study seeks to move beyond the long accepted “plaza orientation” of Hispanic cities to explore hypotheses such as the “pampean urban structure,” the “commercial” city, or the “commercial-bureaucratic” city. The response to the second question attempts to cast further light on the powerful influences of cultural continuity and class structure in determining human associations through family and neighborhood or in occupational and ethnic groupings. In the long run, comparison of the results of this investigation with research on Latin American cities, such as the Caracas or Mexico City projects, or with urban histories of distinct cultural areas such as Australia and the southern United States, may yield more meaningful discussion of urban patterns in the developing world.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , Summer 1975 , pp. 132 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © 1975 by Latin American Research Review

References

Notes

1. See Patricio Randle, “Estructuras urbanas pampeanas,” Cahiers des Ameriques Latines, January-June 1969, pp. 87–123, maps; John W. McCarty, “Australian Capital Cities in the Nineteenth Century,” Australian Economic History Review 10, no. 2 (September 1970): 107–37; James R. Scobie, “Buenos Aires as a Commercial-Bureaucratic City, 1880–1910: Characteristics of a City's Orientation,” The American Historical Review 77, no. 4 (October 1972): 1035–73, and Buenos Aires, Plaza to Suburb, 1870–1910 (New York: 1974), pp. 250–58.

2. Urban population of these three cities grew as follows:

1869 1895 1914
Comentes 10,321 15,781 28,681
Mendoza 8,114 27,655 58,790
Salta 12,685 15,414 28,436

Note: The data for 1869 and 1895 come from manuscript census returns and differ slightly from the published figures in the national censuses.

Note: The data for 1869 and 1895 come from manuscript census returns and differ slightly from the published figures in the national censuses.

3. In the process of defining “upper-class,” the presence of servants in the household proved to be the only factor that consistently seemed to identify such families. In terms of data given in the censuse's, males of “upper-class” families almost always belonged to landowner, professional, or merchant categories; but the occupational terms used, particularly comerciante or agricultor, also embraced many individuals who, on the basis of other criteria such as literacy or property ownership, did not seem to belong to the upper classes. In preliminary coding, the presence of one servant was tentatively used to confer “upper-class” status with the result that an unrealistic number of households appeared, many of which seemed to possess dubious credentials. The subsequent increase to two servants successfully eliminated almost all households that had illiterate males or men who worked as artisans or laborers, while at the same time conserving almost all households with men practising professions, owning property, having had schooling until at least fourteen years of age, or possessing names clearly associated with the city's ruling groups.

The following numbers represent “upper-class” households coded in this study:

1869 1895
Corrientes 94 127
Mendoza 142 357
Salta 198 306

4. The interval between individuals used to secure each sample was determined by dividing total population by one thousand. In order to insure random selection, a new random number was used with each new census taker to select the starting number of the interval for that section of the census returns.

5. Information coded for “upper-class” households included age, place of origin, and occupation for the head of household, spouse, two eldest sons, and oldest daughter; the numbers of nonservant and servant members of the household; the sex, literacy, property ownership, and schooling of head of household; the number of children and years married for females, and the family name of household heads. Similar information was compiled for “individuals” in the sample subpopulations, omitting names and including age, origin, and occupation for parents and/or children.